Five talking points from the week in UAE business

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AFP PHOTO / Saeed Khan

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We take a look at Dubai property prices, Etisalat’s busy week, Facebook’s video calling, the faltering iPad and the wealth of a tennis star.

How slow is the property slowdown?

The data from the property experts in the UAE has shown a softening of prices in Dubai during the past two quarters but nothing quite as drastic as the possible 20 per cent fall predicted by ratings agency Standard and Poor's. It first added its bearish voice in January, and released another report this week saying that prices could fall 10 to 20 per cent over the remainder of the year, with more than 20,000 units set to be delivered to the market. JLL reported that about 730 residential units were delivered in the first quarter, so there's a hefty chunk expected to arrive in the latter part of the year. Before anyone starts reaching for the panic button, S&P said developers are now better placed to cope with any sharp fall in prices compared to the previous correction in 2008-09. It will certainly be interesting to see how far this correction has moved on when the second quarter figures are released, and whether S&P has called it right. Ian Oxborrow

Etisalat rings in the changes

On Monday evening, with little build up or advance notice, Etisalat dropped the bombshell that many have long prayed for: 20 per cent of its shares are to be made available to non-Emiratis. Foreign investors have long yearned to get their hands on shares in Etisalat, one of the few remaining listed companies hitherto reserved for local investors. The response from the market was predictable: the operator's shares soared on Tuesday to their biggest one day gain in more than 10 years, with gains extended on Wednesday before falling on Thursday. The timing of the move remains unclear so far, but Etisalat will surely want to move quickly; if the restrictions are lifted before the end of July, its stock is likely to be included in MSCI's Emerging Market Index by August, attracting passive inflows of more than $350m. John Everington

Facing up to video calling

Free ways of communicating are always of interest to people in the Emirates - and perhaps especially to expatriates, who, wherever they are from, will want to keep in regular touch with loved ones back home. This week, we reported that Facebook has introduced free video calling in the UAE. The service, which is embedded in Facebook's Messenger app, works on calls behind mobile phones. However, as with Skype, the regulatory context of the new service is not entirely clear. While these technologies appear to be tolerated, and indeed are an important source of revenue for telecoms companies (data plans), the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority has yet to endorse them. Some readers reported problems getting the Facebook video calling to work, but it isn't clear yet whether that was simply due to a personal software issue. John Everington

Age of the iPad passing by

The lower oil price has hampered many sectors during the past 12 months, but one that may not have immediately come to mind is that of tablet sales. Tablet shipments to the region fell 5.83 per cent to 3.83 million units year on year, down from 4.07 million in the year to March 2014, according to data from the technology research firm IDC. The constraints of the low oil price was affecting government purchases of tablets, IDC said. The more obvious reason for a decline in sales is because of the widespread use of bigger smartphones. Now that the Apple iPhone 6 is out, why buy an iPad? Samsung fans now think twice before purchasing a Galaxy Tab because the Galaxy Note 4 is a superb phone with a screen big enough to watch movies and read text. Tablets are failing to match smartphones in terms of innovation and technological advancement, with powerful front and rear cameras and curved glass edges all the rave. Can tablets be rejuvenated? Ian Oxborrow

Sharapova finds wealth beyond the court

Advertising is repetition, for the most part. The impression it makes in the consumer's mind is cumulative, like a pattern pressed deeper and deeper into dough. Take a story this week that was one of our most popular: a feature article from Bloomberg showing how Maria Sharapova became the planet's highest-paid female athlete, earning $22 million last year from endorsements alone. The article's first paragraph mentions that a tournament at which Sharapova was playing had been improved in recent years with the help of sponsors including Emirates airline. The mention is a small thing, a glancing reference, but it adds to the value of the sponsorship. It creates, if briefly, a temporary association in the readers' mind between Emirates and Sharapova. Advertising is repetition. Rob McKenzie