DUBAI // Jan Bakowski has a pet hate. Whenever he meets a friend for a coffee he finds he is competing for attention with their smartphone.
“We could be in the middle of a conversation, and then suddenly there’s silence,” said Mr Bakowski, 39, from Poland. “I’m staring at the wall, while he checks his emails.”
Mr Bakowski owns a Nokia X1, a dual-Sim handset without internet access. He is one of a hard core of consumers who are refusing to buy a smartphone as a lifestyle choice, rather than a financial one.
“Smartphones have their uses, but if it means I’m going to be distracted all the time then I don’t want that,” he said.
The UAE has the highest smartphone penetration in the world, at 73.8 per cent of the population, Google says.
Despite that, the most popular handset for sale in the third quarter last year was the Nokia 101/1010, one of the cheapest on the market and with the least functionality.
Statistics from the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority in December show the handset had 4.1 per cent of the market share, compared with the iPhone 5 (2.8 per cent) and the Samsung Galaxy SIII (2.5 per cent).
Matthew Reed, a principal analyst for the region at Informa Telecoms and Media, said the cost of handsets such as the Nokia 101, at Dh95, was only part of the reason for its popularity.
“I’m sure there are people who could afford a smartphone but choose to stick with or buy a basic handset instead,” Mr Reed said.
“For some it might be to assert their individualism by standing aside from the mainstream, and owning a smartphone is increasingly mainstream.
“Maybe for others it’s more of a practical calculation, based on factors such as with a basic mobile phone the battery will last longer between recharges, call quality is fine, you don’t have to worry about data costs.”
Khalid Nofal, 56, an Egyptian photographer living in Dubai, said he still used a beaten-up old Nokia that lasted him well.
“I just love my phone. It has fallen down a million times but nothing happened to it,” Mr Nofal said. “It works as perfectly as it did before the fall.”
He said he never felt like he was missing out if a friend produced their smartphone during a conversation.
“I actually feel angry at them,” Mr Nofal said. “I’m talking to them and they are busy checking their phones.”
A short film called I Forgot my Phone went viral late last year. It showed a world where people would take selfies or check their emails on their phones instead of making conversation with friends.
Many commented on the YouTube video saying they were inspired to go back to using basic, “non-smart” phones.
Retail billionaire Sir Philip Green, and SuperGroup chief executive Julian Dunkerton, both use Nokia 6310 handsets, which do not have internet access.
They were featured in a Financial Times story in December entitled “Need a status upgrade? Get an antiquated Nokia handset”.
Thomas Shambler, editor of the regional edition of technology magazine Stuff, said if there was an emerging trend toward “dumbphones” it was ultimately misguided.
“Some people don’t want a smartphone, as they think walking around with a banged up old Nokia makes them retro and cool – swimming against the tide of technology, so to speak,” he said.
“I applaud these tech revolutionaries and hope that this dedication to the past goes beyond the mobile phone.
“I hope they also use other 1990s tech stalwarts like the fax machine, dial-up internet and a Walkman CD player.”
mcroucher@thenational.ae
* Additional reporting by Salam Al Amir
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Starring: Jamie Foxx, Angela Bassett, Tina Fey
Directed by: Pete Doctor
Rating: 4 stars
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Naga
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Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
