Zain Mobile Signs up for Windows SmartPhones

Microsoft and Zain are co-operating to promote Windows Smartphones in the Middle East, the Kuwait-based telco said in a statement issued on Sunday. The deal was struck last week in Barcelona.

It is planned to launch Windows Phone software later this year, jointly with smartphone devices from selected manufacturers, which will be targeted at businesses and consumers in Zain’s mobile operations in Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and South Sudan.

It is envisaged that the partnership will permit the development of an applications ecosystem within Zain’s mobile network, facilitating developers to create and publish applications for the marketplace.

Nabeel Bin Salamah, CEO of Zain Group noted that, ‘the smartphone has become a necessary item in today’s society…’. Gustavo Fuchs, Microsoft Mobility Director, Middle East and Africa said that the growth of smartphones is fuelling the global mobile market. He quoted research house International Data Corporation (IDC) as having forecast that the Windows Phone will have the second largest share of the smartphone market by 2015.

He noted the growth of smartphones in the region with a prediction of 38 percent year-on-year growth for 2012.