The Arab world presents two contradictory faces to the outside world, one conflict-ridden and full of despair, the other brash, confident, and awash with petrodollars.
Into this uncertainty has ventured the world's hottest internet company, with the launch of Arabic versions of its products to encourage the spread of the internet in the Middle East and north Africa.
Google's decision to expand into the region on the eve of this summer's cataclysmic conflict in Lebanon and against the background of Iraq's seemingly unstoppable descent into civil war may seem premature.
But it comes at a time when the need for instant online news in Arabic has never been greater and it has been welcomed by the business community as a sign that, in the wake of the oil and construction boom in the Gulf, international companies are finally taking the region seriously.
Nevertheless, Google's foray into the Arabic world has received a mixed welcome from the online community. Some worry that the group's technical and financial might could spell the demise of local internet companies that have only just begun to be profitable in the past three to four years.
Dennis Woodside, Google's recently appointed director for emerging markets, says the move into the Arabic language was driven by a belief that the region was poised for a rapid expansion of internet usage - much as mobile telephony took off once prices fell to an affordable level.
Internet usage in the Middle East and north Africa is currently below 10 per cent of the population, compared with about 50 per cent in Spain or Italy. In addition to an Arabic-language e-mail service, Google has launched a version of Google News - the first time the Arab media has been given a unified presence on the internet.
Google's news sources inevitably reflect the limitations of the local press - which is highly self-censoring, online and in print. This has led to criticisms from some observers. "Right now it is not doing a good job of identifying the most important stories or the most important sources," complains Marc Lynch, a US-based Arab media expert.
But despite the apparent teething problems, by aggregating content it should help a wider range of sources reach a larger audience.
The region's two leading internet companies, both based in Amman, Jordan, are convinced that their local knowledge will enable them to hold their own.
AlBawaba, a leading Arabic-language news content provider established in 1999, has been growing at a rate of 80- 100 per cent over the past two years.
Hani Jabsheh, AlBawaba's director, says the company's content service, which consists mainly of news, business and entertainment, and generates 60 per cent of the company's revenues, is likely to benefit from the exposure Google's news site will give it. - (Financial Times service)
