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Edition: U.S. Article Comments (1) Save Email Print Reprints Most Popular Most Shared UPDATE 1-Obama warns of 'misguided' immigration efforts 23 Apr 2010 South Korea raises warship, finds clues on sinking | Video 11:32am EDT Police barred from penis enlargement 23 Apr 2010 Potentially deadly fungus spreading in U.S. and Canada 22 Apr 2010 North Korea torpedoed South's navy ship: report 22 Apr 2010 Biggest study on cellphone health effects launched 22 Apr 2010 Thai PM rejects protesters' peace offer | Video 10:32am EDT Obama says auto bailouts have paid off 11:03am EDT Goldman emails laud profit from subprime shorts 10:45am EDT U.S. to WellPoint: Stop dropping breast cancer patients 23 Apr 2010 Police barred from penis enlargement 23 Apr 2010 Potentially deadly fungus spreading in U.S. and Canada 22 Apr 2010 U.S. to WellPoint: Stop dropping breast cancer patients 23 Apr 2010 Britons believe the hills are alive with haggis 23 Apr 2010 South Korea raises warship, finds clues on sinking | Video 11:32am EDT U.S. students suffering from Internet addiction: study 23 Apr 2010 UPDATE 1-Obama warns of 'misguided' immigration efforts 23 Apr 2010 Oil spill contained, search for 11 continues | Video 23 Apr 2010 Corrected: WellPoint routinely targets breast cancer patients 23 Apr 2010 Biggest study on cellphone health effects launched 22 Apr 2010 Pictures Tech watch A recent sampling of our best pictures from the world of science and technology. Slideshow Microsoft, Google eye Arabic web growth potential Alastair Sharp CAIRO Sat Apr 24, 2010 10:23am EDT Related News Privacy chiefs keep watch over Facebook Thu, Apr 22 2010 FEATURE-Privacy chiefs keep watch over Facebook, social media Thu, Apr 22 2010 Fast-growing Facebook aims for more social Web Wed, Apr 21 2010 UPDATE 2-Fast-growing Facebook aims for more social Web Wed, Apr 21 2010 Lenovo looks to mobile internet for growth Mon, Apr 19 2010 One of the business sites of Internet search engine Google Inc is shown on a computer screen in Encinitas, California April 13, 2010. Credit: Reuters/Mike Blake CAIRO (Reuters) - The further integration of Arabic language capabilities in internet and other technological architecture will grant millions access to the digital world, Microsoft and Google executives said. Technology | Media As devices and applications become more ubiquitous in less developed countries, their content will grow and an embryonic e-economy should flourish, they said. "(Microsoft CEO) Steve Ballmer and I a few years ago talked and believed Arabic would be an increasingly important language," said Craig Mundie, Microsoft's chief research and strategy officer. "And yet, because of the way the internet was evolving, it wasn't a language that was getting a lot of use." But while Arab world internet use since 2000 has grown faster than anywhere else and access costs have shrunk, content still punches below its weight and ad spending remains tiny. Arabic content is less than 1 percent of world totals though speakers constituting 5 percent of the global population. The Arabic portal of online encyclopedia Wikipedia carries less words than its Catalan site, Google's regional marketing manager Wael Ghonim said. "There is a lot of Arabic content but it is not well structured," he said. "We want more structured content. We want more of the professional, niche sites, more businesses." "One of our biggest missions is to enable Arabic users to find the right tools to enrich Arabic content," Ghonim said. "It would be great to see more e-commerce in the region, more publishers, more news sites. We are committed to help them." Asked how Google could aid such regional growth, Ghonim said: "We have a very ambitious plan in the next few months, we are working on many initiatives." He did not elaborate. Regional spending on online advertising was around $90 million in 2009, up from $66.5 million in 2008 and $38 million in 2007 but still miniscule compared to Britain's $5.3 billion. Ghonim said Arabic speakers have historically engaged in poorly organized and difficult to archive forums, citing a message board used by 400,000 teachers in Saudi Arabia. Both Google and Microsoft place Arabic in their top ten languages in need of prioritized attention. Microsoft's Mundie was visiting the Cairo Microsoft Innovation Center, a regional hub launched in 2006 that released Windows extension Maren, which converts Arabic written in Roman characters into Arabic script. It is Microsoft's second most popular service by page views after Internet Explorer 8. ARABIC WEB ADDRESSES, MOBILE ACCESS Egypt and Saudi Arabia registered the first domain names written in the right-to-left Arabic script late last year, after global internet regulator ICANN voted to allow non-Latin script to be used in web addresses in November. In Egypt, internet access is becoming cheaper and use of internet on mobile devices is blossoming. Egypt plans a $1 billion upgrade to its broadband capacity over four years to quadruple penetration to 20 percent. "The next few million Egyptian internet users will be people who don't really speak English," Ghonim said. Such users will likely not foray deeply into the internet's marketplace initially, but will no longer be hindering from creating part of the fabric of the web by language constraints. "Think of the guy running a very small one-stop shop in (Nile delta industrial city) Mahalla," Ghonim said. "You should facilitate for him a complete experience in Arabic, from the way he registers his domain to finding a hosting company to communicating to his customers." Mundie said the Arab world was well-placed to skip PC-dominated use and go straight to mobile internet. "The arrival of a very low cost form of computing coupled to the mobile network creates an alternative entry point into the world of computing and internet usage," he added. Technology Media Comments See All Comments (1) | Post Comment Apr 24, 2010 11:22am EDT woooooo!!!I came acorss a great hot cougar dating site. If you put “A GE” and “MIN GLE” together, then you will get the url. It’s a nice and free place for Younger- Women and Older Men, or Older Women and Younger Men, to- interact with each other. Maybe you wanna check out or- tell your friends tracykiss14234 Report As Abusive See All Comments (1) Add a Comment *We welcome comments that advance the story directly or with relevant tangential information. We try to block comments that use offensive language or appear to be spam and review comments frequently to ensure they meet our standards. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. More from Reuters Microsoft, Google eye Arabic web growth potential CAIRO (Reuters) - The further integration of Arabic language capabilities in internet and other technological architecture will grant millions access to the digital world, Microsoft and Google executives said. U.S. students suffering from Internet addiction: study Lenovo emerges as leading candidate for Palm: sources Big expectations for RIM at BlackBerry trade show Privacy chiefs keep watch over Facebook | Video Biggest study on cellphone health effects launched » More Top News Euro risks losing friends Now that Greece has hit the "help" button, spooked investors may pull money out of the euro zone, putting the euro's status as a key reserve currency at risk. Full Article Greece tensions to take center stage Debt quicksand is all around Global Markets Commentary: Does the SEC have a case? Frustration with Wall Street shouldn't be confused with the strength of the SEC's case against Goldman Sachs, writes legal expert Charles K. Whitehead. 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