I am also wondering whether this a submarine PR piece for the startup mentioned in the article - TPTQ Arabic. The founder was the primary source for pretty much the entire article. If there were other people quoted (like actual arab newspaper editors, bloggers, web designers, app devs, or even arab readers) i would be less skeptical.
Sometimes authors try to exaggerate to get that "wow!" from the reader. It happens a lot when an author is telling you about a culture or climate you don't know about.
I am not concerned as much by the loftiness of the claims (i honestly don't have much reference to judge them by), as i am worried about the lack of sources cited for the claims.