Yamli, a service that launched an Arabic front-end to Google in late 2007, has come up with a system to solve keyboard issues related to typing Arabic. The Massachusetts-based startup run by only two employees (both co-founders), lets users enter words phonetically into a special text box, displaying a list of matching words that are written in Arabic.
According to Yamli: 60% (approx) of Arabic-speaking Internet users dislike using an Arabic keyboard. Yamli CEO, Habib Haddad, states that many users have to use a Latin keyboard for their jobs or school. Hence, as typing Arabic through a keyboard is difficult many of the users switched to using a phonetic web language that spells out Arabic words for you, with Latin letters.
Though useful, the result is messy and often incorrect, and here’s where Yamli jumps in. The startup allows users to keep using the Latin keyboards, alongside providing efficient service. Also, where there are around 22 dialects in the Arab world. Yamli deals with multiple different phonetic spellings, and with 95% accuracy too!
Yamli also released an API in March 2008, where it was recently integrated into a popular Arabic portal Maktoob. The startup is likely to be an acquisition target for Google.
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