Dubai e-Government launched mDubai last September to offer a platform to government departments to deliver information, alerts and other communications to residents through mobile phones and other mobile devices such as PDAs (personal digital assistants).
"mDubai reflects Dubai e-Government's commitment to explore innovative channels for interaction between the public and government departments.
"The milestone achievement of half a million messages sent by 25 participating departments in just three months demonstrates the efficacy of the new service," said Salem Al Shair, director of e-Services, Dubai e-Government.
"The ultimate aim of mDubai is to allow government departments to communicate with their customers through mobile phones, PDAs and the Web, using advanced technology. The response from the departments indicates that we are on the right track as we move towards an advanced stage of e-governance."
In the first stage, the service will concentrate on SMS via mobile phones. Each participating government has been given a user name and a password to allow them to send SMS to their database of customers using special software, through a new portal www.mdubai.ae.
"mDubai is a direct response to the growing popularity of mobile messaging," said Al Shair. "Market research studies indicate that the number of mobile phone users is set to multiply several times in the near future.
Quelle: Gulf News, 15.02.2004
