Mobily signs a contract to sponsor an e-gov event on an iPad

This is probably one of the first times an Apple iPad was used to sign a government contract in the world.

From Saudi Gazette: “(Mobily) will sponsor the “2nd e-Government National Conference” to be held under the patronage of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz Sept. 25-29. AbdulRahman Ghaleb, Mobily’s chief business support officer, and Engineer Ali Aal Samaa, director of the Yasser e-Government Program used an iPad to sign the sponsorship agreement. Dr. AbdulRahman Al-Jaafari, governor of the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC), attended the signing along with officials from Mobily and the Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Technology.”

I chatted with Rami Taibah who blogs at [linuxologist] and he had this to say about it:

“Their understanding of tech is superfluous. We use it (the iPad) as a tool to prove something not that we need it. Trust me paperless was the last thing on their mind.”

Photo credit: Alriyadh newspaper.

Arabic version of this post on SaudiMac Arabic Edition.

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