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1998-03-25
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66 lines
Mideast investment hinges on piracy
By Reuters
November 4, 1996, 12:15 p.m. PT
Software giant Microsoft (MSFT) said today the
Middle East was a major growth area for the
information technology industry, but that further
investment hinged on a more serious approach by
state officials to rampant piracy.
"Piracy is a cancer that could destroy the whole
thing. The information technology industry will not
flourish unless there is good return on investments,"
Ahmad Chami, Microsoft Middle East general
manager said at the Gulf Information Technology
Exhibition.
Analysts put the size of the computer market in the
Middle East at $1.5 billion a year, and growing at
12 to 15 percent annually.
The U.S.-based Business Software Alliance
estimates software makers lost $400 million to
piracy in the Middle East in 1995, of which $100
million was in Saudi Arabia.
Lebanon, Syria, and Kuwait are also big violators.
Chami said Microsoft plans to invest in
tailor-made products for the region by entering
partnerships with Middle Eastern firms. A
partnership agreement with a Saudi company will
come into effect next year and others are planned,
he said.
Chami declined to put a value on Microsoft's
current and future investment in the Middle East,
but said it invested more than $2 billion in research
and development worldwide, most of which was in
Internet and intranet applications.
Microsoft, which introduced the Arabic-language
versions of its latest software programs in
September, said its first Arabic language Internet
explorer would be launched soon.
Chami said Microsoft would urge governments in
the region to address the "harmful piracy issue."
"Through increased investments and local
partnerships we hope to create awareness at
government level," he said.
"We have seen progress, especially in the United
Arab Emirates and Egypt, but there is still much to
be done elsewhere," he added. "We expect to see
fewer losses to piracy in the Gulf and mainly in the
Saudi Arabia," Chami said.
He said manufacturers' figures show 350,000 PCs
are shipped to the Middle East every year.
Story Copyright ⌐ 1996 Reuters Limited. All rights
reserved.
Copyright ⌐ 1996 CNET Inc. All rights reserved.