Last few years will be known as the period of Middle East Oil Kings waking up from the black gold dream and starting to think about their future in doubt. Be it decreasing reserves or a new era of renewable fuels, these guys are slowly converging into innovation leaders that will do everything to keep their land’s wealth once they stop making money out of oil. In terms of innovation strength, they have to have an upper grade than their western counterparts, as they have next to no geographical or historical attraction with all that sand hills and 30+ C temperature. Up to now, they have proven themselves with buzzing Palm Islands and SkiParks in the middle of Dubai, and they made the community wonder about what is coming next.

Omniyat Properties, is reportedly making plans to build an “iPad”, which is a monumental copy of Apple’s iPod, in which real people will ‘live’ and/or ‘work’. Middle East Busines News website Zawya.com reports that the 26-storey MP3 player building in Business Bay district of Dubai will have a docking station at the bottom and be inclined by 6 degrees to have a natural look. The project design is being handled by Hong Kong based James Law Cybertecture International, who says that design will be announced to public in early 2007.

Omniyat is a newly formed company, with no finished projects in the portfolio. Although this can make us a little pessimistic about the future of iPad, passion of similar Property companies in Dubai stands as a strong reference for this one too.