Iraq's high-tech corridor has trove of treasures

BAGHDAD — On Baghdad's high-tech boulevard, pickups squeeze between parked cars to deliver cargos of computer monitors piled in the back. Men wheel metal carts stacked with PC towers down the middle of the street, dodging traffic to distribute their wares to one of the 300 computer shops on the half-mile retail strip known as Sina'a Street.

Sina'a, which means industry in Arabic, has become synonymous with high-tech. And it's not just one street; it branches off onto side streets and alleys. Storefronts throughout the neighborhood advertise Dell, Compaq and IBM computers, and window displays feature the latest Bluetooth technology for cellphones.

Although the signs advertise name brands, many of the products here are Chinese-made imitations. Others are obscure brands and authentic U.S. products. The selection is broad and the prices, even for American brands, are low. "Our biggest seller is video games," said Ghassan Isa, who stands at the counter at the computer store Al Naba'a, which means, "the office."

"We sell spare parts for personal computers, laptops, cameras, flash drives," Isa says. "We sell anything related to computers."

Isa says business is good. Despite high unemployment and a raging insurgency in Baghdad, he says Iraqis who have jobs can afford computers now. Their salaries are much higher than when Saddam Hussein was in power. The average government monthly salary has increased to $200 from $50 under Saddam.

"In the year 2000, there were only 70 or 80 stores on this street," says Faras Behenam, a clerk and engineer at the Tooza computer store. "Now there are 300."

United Nations sanctions prohibited the import of computers into Iraq after Saddam invaded Kuwait in 1990. Behenam says that immediately after the American-led invasion in 2003, a flood of computer products came into Iraq as the sanctions that had crippled the country's economy, and stunted Iraq's technological growth, disappeared with the former regime. A computer that cost $1,000 immediately after the invasion now sells for about $400 at shops here.

The competition is squeezing profits. "You get a new product, and after one month the price goes down," says Wissam Sheehab, the purchasing manager for a Sina'a Street store that sells computers to Iraqi businesses. "My profits are down."

Almost every computer is custom-made. Customers buying a new desktop PC choose the equipment they want — selecting the processor, hard drive, sound card and even the case. Then the computer is assembled in the shop and priced accordingly.

The violence and instability in Iraq have caused Behenam's business to slow down after an initial spike following the U.S.-led invasion. With more competition, and with many Iraqis hoarding their money for all but the basic necessities, they're not spending as freely, or buying as much computer equipment, as they did then.

The attacks haven't stopped retired Iraqi army colonel Baha Abdel Jabar and his son, Abdel Mohammed, from coming to Sina'a Street to purchase a new family PC. They sit on two chairs arranged in front of Behenam's desk, waiting to buy a new computer with a Pentium 4 processor for $320. Jabar and his son have an Internet connection at home, something that was, like cellphones and satellite TV, prohibited under Saddam's regime. Although Internet cafes existed in Iraq before 2003, the state ran them and had strict control over access, including government-issued e-mail accounts and the ability to censor websites.

Abdel Mohammed, a 20-year-old student at Baghdad University's College of Administration and Economics, says he needs the computer for schoolwork. He has other, less-academic ideas for its use, too.

"Sometimes my professors ask me to do reports," he said. "And I also want to chat with my friends outside Iraq in Australia and Germany."
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