Maktoob geared to be a news portal

By: Gaith Sa

News that maktoob is seeking an editor in chief to hire pin points to the direction where the Arab largest web portal is heading; offering news on politics business technology and entertainment in one portal integrated with other maktoob’s services.

I expect the site to have content from news agency feeds like AP, AFP,  Reuters and others.
maktoob already has a business news site strategiy.com which it has acquired last year, and a sports news portal Arabsport.com which it has developed though the acquisition of Sport Up Jordan and sport4ever.com

The new site I think, will feature maktoob business and sport properties combined with news agency, giving it more source for information and news. It will help strategiy.com evolve from just providing press releases of companies to providing more news and analytical features.

The new site I expect will be integrated with the front page of makttob.com. it will cover news about the world, Arab world and if they are smart it will cover news by the 22 Arab countries. Which will enable maktoob to offer a personalized page mymaktoob.com similar to My Yahoo.

The new site will help maktoob tap into the 25 million Arab internet users, it will help it get more reach to eyeballs and expand its current base of 4 million registered users, which means more money from advertising and e-commerce through its AdabwaFan.com and its auction web site souq.com

What is more, I expect that maktoob will kill the deals it currently have with BBC Arabic and moheet.com as news provider and as a joint featured link.

Recently maktoob.com introduced a new look to maktoob bolg using AJAX technology.

On the global portal front Yahoo went the makeover route on Tuesday with a new, snazzier web site design that makes more efficient use of valuable space, while giving its featured advertisers more than twice the real estate of the old site.