Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 23rd of December 2008: Google today announces the launch of the Hijri Google Calendar in English and Arabic. Google Calendar is a tool that simplifies keeping track of events, special occasions, and appointments -- whether they're on your own agenda or on the calendars of contacts who opt to share their schedules with you. Now users that prefer to use the Hijri Calendar can add this feature.

"Launching the Google Hijri Calendar showcases our effort to focus on the needs of users locally. Calendar is a great tool for organizing your life," said Wael Ghonim, Marketing Manager. "It's another of our efforts to provide users with fast, easy-to-use applications that help to simplify your life in a way that is locally relevant for users who want Hijri Calendar dates."

Calendar is fast and easy to use. You can add events just by clicking on a time slot and typing in event information. It's also integrated with Gmail so you can add events mentioned in email messages to your calendar with just one click. Furthermore, you can turn any event on your calendar into an invitation just by adding the email addresses of your guests. They can see and respond to your invitation, whether or not they use Google Calendar themselves. With Calendar, it's also easy to share your calendar with friends and family, and have them share theirs with you.

Another benefit of Calendar is that it's open. It cooperates with many other calendar applications, enabling you to easily get event data in and out. And with the holiday calendar that comes standard, you can see public and national holidays listed automatically on your Google Calendar. Also you can setup your Google Calendar to send you an SMS alert. Google calendar will then text you whenever you have an upcoming event or event invitation!

To add the Hijri Calendar you need to sign in to your Google Account and go to your calendar. Once there click on settings. Under the General tab you can scroll down to Alternate Calendars and select the Hijri calendar of your choice. 

Check out Google Calendar at http://www.google.com/calendar/render?hl=ar

-Ends-

About Google Inc.
Google's innovative search technologies connect millions of people around the world with information every day. Founded in 1998 by Stanford Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google today is a top web property in all major global markets. Google's targeted advertising program provides businesses of all sizes with measurable results, while enhancing the overall web experience for users. Google is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit www.google.com.

For more information, please contact:
Mohammad Zaher
Consultant
Impact Porter Novelli, for Google
m.souleiman@ipn.ae
+971 40 330 4030

Joanne Kubba
Google
Global Communications and Public Affairs Manager,
Middle East and North Africa
Jkubba@google.com

© Press Release 2008