Emirates and Google offer 90% off Arabic e-books for Year of Reading

ABU DHABI // Emirates Airline and Google have teamed up in an effort to make Arabic books more accessible online.

The Celebrating Arabic Reading initiative is offering readers up to 90 per cent off online Arabic-language books in the Google Play Books store.

The offer is valid in nine countries across the region, including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon.

Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority and Chairman of Emirates Group, said the initiative aims to encourage more people to read Arabic content in digital form.

“Smartphones and tablets are increasingly a part of our daily lives, so it makes perfect sense to promote reading on these new platforms as well,” he said.

“People are hungry for content, especially Arabic digital content, and there isn’t a smarter investment for the future of this region than providing access to e-books to broaden the horizons of millions.”

Ronan Harris, Google’s vice president for large customer sales in Europe, Middle East and Africa, said he hoped the partnership with Emirates would make reading Arabic literature more accessible and enjoyable.

“There is so much opportunity to build the digital ecosystem here and we’re happy to have partners like Emirates make it happen,” he said.

The initiative, which is supporting the UAE’s Year of Reading campaign, is set to last through the month of October and is available on both iOS and Android platforms.