Egyptian function beats Chinese fashion in scanner app battle

It’s plain old function over fashion, but that’s why Softxpert’s mobile document scanning app has caught the collective Middle East tech scene’s imagination this year.

The Smart Document Scanner application was the first idea to come out of the Alexandria-based company’s new in-house entrepreneurship program. Coincidentally, the office productivity app was also the brainchild of Softxpert founder Ahmed Abdelhalim.

Smart Document Scanner debuted in January at the International Computer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, where it was among the top ten in the Mobile Apps Showdown competition. In February it made SAP’s top five apps list, in March it won the People’s Choice award at ArabNet Beirut, and just last month ArabNet named it one of their top ten favorite apps to come out of the Middle East.

Abdelhalim said the reason for its success was that there were few well-made apps on the market and the higher quality contenders were pricey. Softxpert’s researchers were looking for competitiveness within the market and potential for growth. Abdelhalim said they found that the scanner application market was immature with gaps in usability – many were unstable and appeared to be made by “beginners.”

Original article by Rachel Williamson

Continue reading at Wamda:

Egyptian function beats Chinese fashion in scanner app battle