Not playing around: Jordanian startup Yaqut pursuing Arabic ebook market with gamified app

After years of explosive growth, ebooks in English-language markets finally appear to be leveling off and stabilizing as an integral part of the publishing world.

But in Arabic-language markets, it’s a different story. Industry heavyweights like Amazon and Apple Inc., have ignored the market, either featuring very few Arabic ebooks, or none at all.

And yet, having left the door open to a market consisting of upwards of 220 million people, in a region with rising internet usage and mobile saturation, the industry appears to be stagnant—leaving authors, publishers, and readers without a consistent outlet for ebooks.

But it’s not for a lack of trying by entrepreneurs: Nooon Books, Obeikan, Rufoof, Ertiqa and Sibawayh are all Arabic focused eReaders that have entered the market in recent years, but a variety of reasons have kept growth in-check.

A recent entrant to the field, the eBookstore Yaqut, a Jordanian startup headed by Ammar Mardawi, is looking to change that. Since launching as an app on the Google Play Store in March, 2014, Yaqut has grown to attract 150,000 active monthly users; and with that established, Mardawi is in the midst of implementing a “gamified” plan he hopes will creatively monetize Yaqut and open up the ebook market.

A gamified ebook app is a curious idea—but that’s because in established markets no one has needed to resort to gamification in order sell ebooks. But people are intrigued, evidenced by Oasis500 providing seed money this past January.

Original article by Samuel Wendel

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Not playing around: Jordanian startup Yaqut pursuing Arabic ebook market with gamified app