Q8Ba7th Official Blog

Aramex it seems are extending their Ardiya office working hours to more than 12 a day. At such time when everyone seems to be going away from Aramex for their prices, and slow delivery, I would think this is the last thing Aramex should be worried about.

What people really want I think is, first faster delivery, then cheaper prices, and better (much better) tracking.

Popularity: 6% [?]

The Ministry of Education in Kuwait have released electronic versions of the Kuwait public school course materials and made available for download from their website as PDF files.

I’m not sure if this includes all of the material, as I saw some First Episode books without the second, but it’s still a very good move for both students and teachers, to gain easy and quick access to the material, even if it’s late on print (like always!).

Now the real bad thing about it is how they decided to split it into chapters, and you will have to download each chapter separately.

I wonder why, as the size is really just a few MBs and bandwidth is less of an issue now. Worst case is allow for chapter or full book download. So if you really want it as a single document, follow the two simple steps:

1. Download all PDF files manually, or I suggest you use DownThemAll add-on for Firefox to retrieve all the relevant PDF files. Put them all in one directory.
2. Use MergePDF.net or else the steps described here to merge all the files in one. Make sure to keep them in the right order though.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Name: Dikani.com

Launch Date: Nov, 2008

Languages: English/Arabic

Brief: Dikani.com is like a virtual Kuwait mall for sellers to open their virtual store through it and start selling instantly. Each seller gets his own subdomain on the site, e.g. shop.dikani.com, and each seller pays monthly fees for Dikani based on number of items advertised.

Review: The implementation of Dikani is unique in Kuwait, and is one of the few software as a service providers here now as well. I’ve heard quite several people sharing a thought for such an idea in Kuwait, but this one is the first to see the light. I have to say I was personally not convinced the idea in this way would would be a success, but it seems with the excessive online advertisement campaign by Dikani, things are starting to get some attention.

Right now, there is a total of 5 stores and around 70 items. Not much compared to the size of advertisement it’s making, but it’s still a start, and with a couple of success stories, I can see more people joining in. A point also to make is, for some reason most advertisement clicks take to 404 page rather than Dikani main page, so this must be affecting their conversion.

The target seller I think is small to medium. Small shops who are looking for quick ways to reach online audience. But I think people with highest interest will be the freelancers who normally sell their stuff at home or through friend links. Such a trend is quite popular in Kuwait, and this might be a good chance for them.

The down side of this service however is the cost. Not anywhere else on the net have I seen such an expensive service, and I’m not talking about double the price only here. 45 KD for 20 items only as the minimum offer, and it goes up to 615 KD for 1000 items! The one month free startup is I think what’s keeping stores now open, but with this price it means any seller will only join if he can guarantee minimum of 100 KD income, in which case he can easily hire someone to develop him his own custom unique site and cut down the cost. 45 KD by it self I think is way too expensive, and to limit this price to 20 items only is another bad thing. We all know for that price you can buy a TB of storage. The cost includes service fees as well alright, but still I believe the cost is not justifiable. Compare this to Shopify, which allows 10 items for FREE, and 100 items for $24/month. This includes various customization and extra features that seems to be missing from Dikani.com. If there is one thing that will stand in the face of this service, I believe it would be the cost.

Pros:

• For sellers, quick and easy way to online sales
• Sellers will get FREE exposure among other stores on Dikani without having to make any advertisements, just as you would get FREE customers inside a real mall.
• Customers can shop multiple stores at the same time, and checkout only once.
• Freelance sellers without physical locations can utilize this to reach wider audience

Cons:

• Cost: Cost of the service is pretty high, and to be cost-effective for the seller, the customer may end up paying for extra profit margin on the items.
• Delivery: It’s really not clear how delivery is made. Some stores mention delivery, while others don’t. If they don’t mention the delivery, then what does that mean, and how can I get my item then? Do I have to drive there and get it? Doesn’t sound like online shopping then. Also, on my test checkout from multiple stores, all I got was a message that I will be contacted by the seller soon. I personally hate online shopping that ends up with phone calls, simply because it’s not 100% online and it’s not convenient. If I shop from 5 stores, I will get minimum of 5 calls, and I have no clue about the delivery time. Personally, I didn’t feel comfortable with it.
• Upon checkout, i did not receive any email confirmation for my order, which is really what I would rely on for future reference.
• Lack of customization: Without trying a seller account ofcourse, from the outside it seems to be lacking customization features per seller, which would allow them for more personalization.
• Support & Credibility: Most stores, or perhaps all of them, do not offer any refund or exchange policy. Many of them also are not real stores, and they are not people you know either. Those things would make me think twice and hesitate before buying from any of them. There are some real physical furniture stores however it seems joining the service.

Related Links:

Andra & my Backbone Review
Fonzation

Popularity: 29% [?]

Careerjet.ae is the UAE version of the worldwide job search engine Careerjet.com. In their words “Careerjet is an employment search engine for the United Arab Emirates. It allows you to search a growing selection of jobs listed on company sites as well as jobsites in one go saving you the trouble of having to go to each site individually.”. So if this is a UAE Job Search why am I listing it here?

It’s because they also include jobs from around the middle-east, and a section for Kuwait job listing as well. Their search service is pretty fast you don’t want to stop. And they seem to be an ad powered site, so your individual use of the service is FREE.

Since they fetch the job listing automatically from companies and job listing sites, there is a chance of error ofcourse. I have seen some job listings in Kuwait section that do not belong to Kuwait. But still, the percentage is not that high and you can use it to seek your job easily. Site owners told me also they are bringing a Kuwaiti dedicated domain as well, after which things should be better for Kuwait job search, since it’s more focused.

Popularity: 29% [?]

P2BK is a new youth initiative to organize annual forum for small and startup businesses. A healthy and definitely needed concept I say for startups and small business who can’t afford to take place in big expos like Info Connect and others. Yesterday, 30th April, 08 was the first annual forum which I could not afford to miss. I have to say however I was expecting much more from it. Keeping in mind this is the first annual forum, one can’t expect things to be perfect. They were also very unfortunate in timing with the Islamic Conference traffic jam and the icy storm that struck in the same day. So anyways, the idea is pretty good in general and I would love to see more of it, and here I thought of sharing what I thought was good, bad, and add some suggestions to it.

Pros:

Concept: Great idea and very much useful for small businesses. The number of participants can only reflect how much people want it.

Pricing: The price was meant to serve the small business owners making it affordable to most if not all.

Awards & Surveys: What’s an expo without feedback really? A $1000 award was promised for best design, which is chosen based on visitor reviews. Ofcourse it’s kinda subject to fraud and biased thought, but the idea is good. Also, a lady came in asking for our opinion in the expo which I dont mind at all. Except that my hand writing is bad, and as you can see from the post, I have a lot more to say than a few lines can take.

Cons:

Timing: 1 day expo, 4-10 PM. 6 hours only. I arrived at around 4:30, left around 5:30 PM. If I want to recommend the expo to a friend, he only has like 4 more hours to go. The traffic jam these few days also would make him hesitate more. I understand how the low budget may had something to do with this, but still it’s a point I think worth looking at. 3 days I think is good. Big sponsors can take part of the hosting costs and make it easier for contributors and P2BK to afford 3 days expo.

Space: The large amount of exhibitors condensed inside the small area has made it very difficult to move around, let alone set and talk to exhibitors. To make the most out of these forums, area must be wide enough for a person to walk around and watch. See what he likes and go to it. But rather I literally had to watch my steps while walking, and it’s not the heavy crowd as much as the small areas to be honest. This may have also resulted in the extreme heat inside the place.

Media Coverage: I mostly heard about this expo from the blogs. I may have seen some online ads, not sure though. I also got one spam email somehow about it. But all people I talked to didn’t know about the expo, and I never saw anything about it in the newspaper or streets. Neither I did see any review about it today even in the newspapers.

Varieties: Big portion of the exhibitors were about fashion and food, which would appeal for females maybe, but not for the majority of males.

Preparation: We were there after 5 PM when at least one of the top brand exhibitors was still working out his booth. Taking into account the exhibition is only one day makes it even worse. I know every exhibitor is responsible for his area, but the overall image of the expo depends on it’s exhibitors. So proper time management and more control on exhibitors for the overall good of the expo is needed.

Suggestions:

Categories: Hoping to see larger expo next year with larger varieties, it would help both exhibitors and visitors if the expo is organized into categories. Say Fashion, Food, eBusiness, technology, etc. One would go to the section he wants, finding what he expects. As yesterday, there was almost a whole lane full of women clothes and stuff, for some reason we passed through it and found the car bluetooth hands free device on one of the booths. It was too crowded with women we couldn’t even make a stop and just left. If it’s categorized, people would go to their preferred sections, and exhibitors would get the target audience.

Talk shows: Just like western ones. Certain companies hire the stage to present their new ideas and services to the public. This would attract more attention I presume.

Even though I was in general disappointed, I still like the idea and think there is a potential behind it if some of the points are taken care of.

Last words are: Good luck.

Popularity: 100% [?]

Kuwait ISPs might look like just a blog, but it is a blog with great potential value. Kuwait ISPs is a blog where you will find information, download/upload rates from all various ISPs in Kuwait, from all the different plans. The site is just starting, but you among others can help build it to grow larger, and become the place to go and make a choice about your ISPs. Sample of what you are expected to find there shown below.

Popularity: 25% [?]

WardQ8.com is a very unique service in Kuwait that I’d love to see expand and get more of. As opposed to Q8Flowers.com, this site is an aggregator that combines current physical flower stores, present what they have to sell online, and allows you to shop and buy the bouquet you like from a central location. They seem to take care of delivering the order, settling the payment, and ensuring it gets delivered. The site is still kind of new and currently only consists of 3 physical stores, one of which is the famous Al-Bedaa flower store.

I am not a frequent flowers shopper, but if the site delivers the quality of service it promises, and can do so the same day. Still though, I think the bouquets are over priced a bit. What do you think?

Popularity: 20% [?]

SIXT is a unique online car rental service that allows you to book you car online, and get it at your arrival at the airport. You get to see the type of car, specify the dates, pickup and return place, and pay for the reservation online. Their prices also are not high as well. I don’t know of anyone who tried them so if you happen to be their customer, please share your experience here.

After the above two screens, you will be taken to the online payment and registration form where I have stopped (obviously). Ofcourse SIXT is an international site, but it’s nice to see they have dedicated a domain for Kuwait car rental. Aside from Kuwait airport, you can also pick up your car from Safat Shuwaikh. One thing that was more convenient with European car rental companies is you specify the car and specs you want, put your name and voila. You just arrive at the airport, give them a visit and give them your reservation name. For large airports where they have strong business, it seems to be worthy for them to have over stock of cars and trust no down-payment reservations. In Kuwait however, I understand this could be difficult to apply.

P.S: Sorry I know I’ve been slow in updating the blog. Will try to push it forward again.

Popularity: 26% [?]

While several others have shown online, and we have discussed one of them before, definitely non have raised the bar to the quality of the new YPKuwait.com. The multi-lingual site usage happens either through Flash Based book browsing the whole directory.

The browsing here is cool flashy book like page turning application, however online, why would you wanna do that? The other preferred option ofcourse is, you guessed it, Search. Search either by name, or by the phone number. And what’s cool about this search is that, it does actually work, and gives back lots of relevant results usually. This ofcourse puts my Q8Ba7th Phone Search over the edge, but that’s OK. I’m happy we have the service up and going somewhere at least. If I was Steve Jobs I think people would still find reasons to use it . So anyways, after you click on your desired result from the search, Pizza for geeks:

You will get details about the company profile. The nice feature here is the ability for companies to promote their listing and incorporate road maps. No details about pricing though.

The one sad thing about this site is it’s search engine optimization (I always have to come with some of this crap don’t I?). If you do a search on Google for site:ypkuwait.com, you will see that the Title of pages is not specific. Aside from About Us and Contact Us, you would see things like YellowPagesSearch for search results, and Business Info for Corporate Profile. This could be improved a lot if Search Pages had the title: “YellowPagesSearch – “, and Corporate Profile pages were titled “Pizza Hut Profile – YPKuwait” for instance. This would give the user more hints about the search results, and allow search engines to return much more relevant results from the site, increasing it’s overall value for the advertiser.

All in all, I see it an excellent site to bookmark and refer back to anytime you are in need of finding specific number.

Popularity: 29% [?]