Editorial – Growing Pains

by Magnus Nystedt

I can’t believe we’re only at the second issue of our newsletter because it feels like a lot more. In some ways this was a lot harder to produce, perhaps because we did a pretty good job with the first and expectations are higher. Perhaps because time was tighter this time and I had to put it together in less than a week. Despite that, I think we have some good stuff to bring you once again, with some more reviews, another recipe, Adobe tutorial, and much more.

EmiratesMac.com is doing very well. Since last time we’ve passed 500 registered users and we’re now at almost 6000 posts. Increasingly the site is becoming a valuable repository of Apple-related information and knowledge, and I hope we can help Mac and iPod users with their questions and problems. Traffic overall is increasing month by month and especially encouraging is to see that the number of unique visitors to the site is going up. New users are signing up almost every day and we’re now averaging over fifty new users per month. End of March 2007 it will be one year since the site’s been up and running so it’ll be interesting to see how many users we have then.

Someone asked me what I thought the impact of the site on the Apple-related business community in the UAE was. My answer was more than likely not much of any impact so far, but I think we play an increasingly important role as a third-party mediator and a consumer activist organization. By third-party mediator I mean we can work as a third-party between a customer and a business, and we have a few cases been the go-between and managed to resolve situations to the satisfaction of both parties. We’re also bringing a new element to the everyday life of Apple-related businesses in the Emirates by giving customers a public forum where they can voice their displeasure and dissatisfaction with how they’ve been treated by some business. As willing as members are to voice how unhappy they are with something, we wish they will also tell us when they are really happy with a business. It’s equally important to spread the good as well as the bad, I think.

We sincerely hope that you will enjoy this newsletter. The next one will be out in a month’s time and we hope we can fill it with just as much exciting stuff as this one. We’re also working on some pretty big surprises for the next edition, so please check back with us soon to see what’s happening.