Beyond the Screen: Building a Connected Technology Ecosystem Together
The future of connected experiences depends on the relationships between manufacturers, content, design, engineering and people.
No connected experience exists in isolation
A television may be the most visible part of a connected product, but it relies on an entire network of decisions and collaborators. Hardware has to support the software. Software has to serve the experience. Content needs a useful route to discovery. Operations and support matter after the product reaches people.
That is why an ecosystem is more than a list of partners. It is a shared effort to make each part work better with the others. A meaningful partnership begins with a clear understanding of what each organisation contributes and what the end user should gain.
The regional opportunity has measurable scale
GSMA's Mobile Economy MENA 2025 states that mobile technologies contributed $350 billion to the region's economy in 2024, equivalent to 5.7% of regional GDP. It also reports 308 million mobile-internet users. These figures describe the wider mobile ecosystem, not OORO's market share or addressable revenue; they demonstrate why connected services have become an important regional economic conversation.
Different partners, complementary roles
Manufacturers think about product integration, quality, production and the long-term device journey. Content partners focus on the value of stories and how audiences discover them. Technology specialists bring expertise that helps platforms, applications and devices work together. Brands and commercial partners may explore relevant connected-TV opportunities within responsible experience design.
Each relationship needs its own goals, responsibilities and commercial structure. One-size-fits-all language can obscure those differences. Strong collaboration starts by defining the opportunity honestly, then designing a practical way to pursue it.
A shared platform does not remove the need to differentiate
RDK describes an open-source foundation that standardises core functions in video, broadband and IoT devices, while enabling customisation. Its public description explicitly refers to a community spanning operators, OEMs, chipmakers, system integrators and app developers. It is a concrete industry example of complementary roles working around common technology. It does not imply an OORO commercial affiliation or partnership.
Where OORO fits
OORO brings together two complementary pillars. OORO OS expresses our Arabic-first smart TV platform direction. OORO Technology Services brings digital experience, software engineering and hardware engineering into a coordinated capability for connected products.
The services catalogue spans experience design, TV and OTT software, embedded platforms, cloud and analytics, remote updates, testing, operations, application boards and manufacturing support. These capabilities create multiple starting points for collaboration, depending on what a partner is building. The specific delivery scope, ownership and commitments should always be agreed for each engagement.
Connectivity still has gaps
The ITU's 2025 Facts and Figures estimated six billion people online globally, while 2.2 billion remained offline. These are worldwide estimates, not MENA-only figures. They remind us that an ecosystem's success cannot be judged by technical sophistication alone: affordability, access and usability still matter.
Partnership is a design principle
Collaboration works best when it begins before the final handoff. Bringing relevant teams into the conversation early can reveal integration needs, align user journeys and make technical trade-offs easier to understand. It also creates room to explore what a partnership could become over time without overstating what is available today.
For OORO, collaborative growth is both a brand value and a practical way to approach innovation. Our ambition is to connect regional understanding with broad technological capability, creating experiences that are useful to people and commercially meaningful to those who build them.
The opportunity ahead
The next connected experience will not be defined by one organisation working alone. It will emerge from thoughtful combinations of creativity, technology, content and trust. The most exciting possibilities are the ones we can make real together.
References and further reading
[1] GSMA, The Mobile Economy MENA 2025. https://www.gsma.com/solutions-and-impact/connectivity-for-good/mobile-economy/mena/
[2] RDK Central, Official platform overview. https://rdkcentral.com/
[3] ITU, Facts and Figures 2025 press release, November 17 2025. https://www.itu.int/en/mediacentre/Pages/PR-2025-11-17-Facts-and-Figures.aspx