Yahoo! Maktoob have launched a new iPhone application for football lovers in the Arab region. The Arabic iOS app, called Maktoob Football Yahoo!, provides users an easy and entertaining way to follow their favorite team and the latest sports news around the world.

In a simple interface, the app offers live comprehensive coverage for regional and international championships, detailed information about games times and statistics, and a live newsfeed of goals, mistakes and penalties, all of which can be shared instantly on Facebook and Twitter.

Many Alternatives

Many companies in the Arab World offer similar applications on smartphones, targeting the Arab world's avid sports lovers with information about both local and European teams.

Among the most famous applications that Yahoo! Maktoob will compete with are Yalla Kora and FilGoal, which are also available on iPhone. Yalla Kora was developed by Link Development and FilGoal by Sarmady.

Maktoob Football Yahoo! will need to differentiate itself from other competitors with analytical content, which is where quality differs from one provider to another, and by offering superior features for sharing via social media.

“When we searched for sports applications targeting our region, we found a real opportunity in offering an Arabic application to Football lovers, especially because they are really interested in this game,” said Adel Shehadeh, Yahoo! Arabic Football Application Product Manger.

It may have an advantage by already being linked to a content portal. “The new Yahoo! Maktoob Football application benefits from Yahoo Maktoob online content in order to provide a service that highly concentrates on performance, speed and unique user experience," Shehadeh added. "We plan to continue updating the application and add new features with time, to enrich the user experience."   

The application can be downloaded from iTunes application store here. Let us know what you think.