The World’s Number 1 Best Selling BlackBerry Application is MADE IN PAKISTAN!

Taken from TechLahore:

The World's Top Selling BlackBerry Application is Lahore-based Pepper.pk's Photo Editor

Just a couple of days ago we shared Pepper.pk’s amazing achievement; their Photo Editor application for Blackberry devices had made it to the Top 5 best selling BlackBerry applications on RIM’s AppWorld. Just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, I received an email from the Pepper.pk team who sounded on top of the world and could hardly contain their joy! Photo Editor is now the World’s #1 Best Selling BlackBerry Application across all categories. And it’s made in Pakistan! How sweet is that?

Pakistan’s IT industry has come a long, long way. The capabilities and skills of our companies are developing not just in the area of software engineering, but project management, product marketing and promotion. It’s no easy feat to leave HUGE names like Facebook and Monopoly, among dozens of others, behind! But what Pepper.pk’s laudable achievement proves is that not only are Pakistan based software companies ultra-competitive, they are, quite literally, second to none.

In December 2009 I had predicted that 2010 would be a breakout year for Pakistani mobile software companies. Specifically, I said that:

There will be a near-breakout level of success with a Pakistani based mobile software company. At least one company will claim 250K users for its mobile products by the end of 2010. It is very likely that two will.

Well, Pepper.pk has blown past those estimates, with well over a million users of their applications, and a Global Top #1 title for a major platform like the BlackBerry.

I wonder if someone at Adobe is listening, but they certainly need to. This young company has gone from obscurity to stardom in no time flat, and if you listen to them talk about their future plans, it doesn’t sound like they’ll be stopping to catch their breath anytime soon.

Long live innovation, and long live ambition!

The World's #1 Best Selling Top BlackBerry Application is Photo Editor from Pepper.pk!

Pakistani Politicians on Twitter

A very interesting article from ProPakistani Blog

Here's a list of some political figures on twitter:

@SalmaanTaseer (Salman Taseer)

@CMShahbaz (Shabaz Sharif)

@ImranKhanPTI (Imran Khan)

@PMPakistan (Pervez Musharraf)

@SenRehmanMalik (Rehman Malik)

@Kashmala_Tariq (Kashmala Tariq)

@Mushahid (Mushaid Hussain Syed)

@Fbuttho (Fatima Bhutto)

@marvi_memon (Marvi Memon)

Mandatory solar panels on Telco base stations

Universal Service Fund of Pakistan has taken an excellent initiative to ensure use of renewable energy in Pakistan.

In an interesting example of using public policy to drive long term benefits for society, USF has made the use of renewable energy compulsory for all Base Stations funded by USF.

Source: TelecomPK Blog

Telenor EasyPaisa

Further to my earlier post regarding the growth of financial services by telecom companies, here's another very nice article on Telenor's EasyPaisa. Bangkok Post has published this interview with VP (Roar Bjaerum) and Director (Arif Abdul Qayyam) Financial Services at Telenor.

There are three key strategies where a telecommunications company can engage in providing financial services. First is to provide services to those who do not have access, which is what Telenor is doing in Pakistan with EasyPaisa, and in Bangladesh. Second is to provide better financial services through mobile services, which is happening in developed countries and Dtac's ATM Sim project with Kasikorn Bank. Third is exploring the possibilities of technology for the future through Near Field Communciations (NFC), the Internet and other technologies.

Here's why telco-finance makes sense:

Telenor Pakistan has 23 million mobile users. Compared to traditional banks, Telenor's 150,000 dealers and telephone network coverage have a much broader geographic and demographic footprint. Initially, Telenor is training 6,000 of its best dealers to offer financial services and the plan is to expand this training to around 20,000 to 30,000 dealers. In contrast, Pakistan has just 9,000 bank branches and 3,000 ATMs nationwide.

Read the full article here for further details.

Payments using Mobile Phones: Case studies from Pakistan and Other Emerging Telecom Markets

Pakistan Telecom Authority recently held an event in collaboration with LIRNEasia, where delegates from 20 countries discussed

...ideas and research regarding latest developments in various paradigms of cellular mobile services. The event also focuses on the opportunities for delivery of more-than-voice services (such as m-payments, m-government, m-commerce) through mobile platforms, explore the possibility of using mobile as the “triple play” in the developing world 

The event was also covered by TelecomPK blog. They have shared the presentations uploaded on google docs. Telenor's case study was presented by their Chief Strategy Officer:

... shared a presentation on the topic of Telenor’s experience with Mobile 2.0 initiatives and in particular with EasyPaisa. The vision for Easy Paisa is to bank the unbanked. The progress that EasyPaisa has made in 6 months is quite impressive: over 600,000 utility bill payments have been made and money transfer of about Rs.1 billion has been completed.

Kenya's case...

... has seen good progress with its m-Pesa program launched by the dominant mobile company Safaricom. Muriuki Mureithi, Summit Strategies, Kenya shared the reasons for success of mPayments in Kenya. He emphasized that the market was ready for a solution and the company exploited the situation well. See his presentation here. 

Talk with Abid Beli – founder of Beliscity.com

Here's an interesting talk with founder of famous Pakistani online shopping portal Beliscity.com.

"In 2001 I started selling few products through Beliscity.com as well as VOIP Devices & Cards like Yapjack, Komodo, IPStar & Net2phone, Then I add laptops & few unique products on it which is not easily available in the market. After 6months I change complete business module of Beliscity.com from internet hours selling to hardware selling. I have lots of my internet hours customer email data so I used it for new Beliscity.com & gradually its become a Biggest online retail shop in 2years period"

"We offer Cash on delivery & Credit card charge facility for our karachi & Lahore customer, Our riders deliver the products & collect cash from them or charge their card on the spot, For other cities we offered online banking deposit system. We are going to offer very soon COD & Credit card charge facility all over Pakistan inshallah. Paypal is not giving seller protection for Pakistan shipping so we are not using it for our Pakistan customers yes we are loosing our 20 to 25% business because of online money solution but at least we are in peace & not facing any fraud issues.... very soon Easypaisa option available on Beliscity.com"

Full interview here: Green & White Blog

GIKI Participates In The RoboCup Iran Open, 2010, And Qualifies For The RoboCup Finals, Singapore

A team from Pakistan participated in the RoboCup Iran Open, 2010, held from the 5th to the 9th of April, and successfully qualified for the RoboCup Finals, to be held in Singapore in June, 2010. The team consisted of students from the Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology (GIKI), and participated in the Real Rescue Robot League of the RoboCup. The competition was held in Tehran, Iran's capital city.

RoboCup is an international research and education initiative. It is an attempt to foster AI and intelligent robotics research by providing a standard problem where wide range of technologies can be integrated and examined, as well as being used for integrated project-oriented education. It is the premier robotics event of its kind. RoboCup comprises of many leagues, including the Rescue league that focuses on Urban Search and Rescue. 

RoboCup Iran Open 2010 is the first ever competition of its series that witnessed the participation of a Pakistani Rescue Robot, "SAVIOUR", designed and fabricated by a multidisciplinary team of the Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology. The team was selected from hundreds of applicants. It is worth noting that in a highly mechanized world, very few Pakistani institutes are constructively working on autonomous, flexible and tele-operated robotic mechanisms. The same team has previously competed in the RoboCup Finals 2009, in Graz, Austria, adding to the rich history of success for the team.

More than 350 teams from 10 different countries were competing in different leagues.
SAVIOUR was designed and built by a team led by Muhammad Fahd Waseem. The rest of the team comprised of Muneeb Saleem, Arsalan Khalid, Saad Noor, Faisal Kalim, Farrukh Sohail and Waqar Chughtai. SAVIOUR means "Semi-Autonomous Vehicle for Identification, Observation and Ultimate Rescue". The robot completes its tasks using various sensors and is controlled via a wireless network for full remote mobility. The tasks involve the location and mapping of 'victims' in a simulated earthquake hit 'arena'.


Source: GIKI Website

MCB Mobile Money Service Nominated Best in World

Mobile World Congress has nominated MCB Mobile, a service launched by the MCB Bank in 2009, as the best across the world. The nomination was an acknowledgment for the recently launched innovative mobile banking solution by the MCB Bank and GSM Association (GSMA), said a press release. Other mobile payment services nominated were from South Korea (t-cash), Philippines (Smart Money) and Kenya (m-paisa). MCB Mobile is the only bank-led mobile payments service nominated for this contest. The GSMA Awards are known as the “Oscars” of the mobile industry and it is a yearly event held in Barcelona. More than 2,400 members of the press attended the event, representing more than 1,500 media groups from 76 countries. MCB Bank Limited President and Chief Executive Officer Atif Bajwa said that the bank remains committed to broaden the access of financial services to a sizable population in Pakistan owning mobile phones and without bank accounts. “This nomination is a source of great pride not just for the MCB bank, but for the country, as well,” Bajwa said.

Source: MCB Mobile Money Service Nominated Best in World

Kitabain.com Launched – A books marketplace

Kitabain.com is our latest initiative towards making books accessible to a wider audience in Pakistan. About 10 months or so ago we started out The Readers Club, Pakistan’s first online book rental service in Karachi (www.thereadersclub.com) with the overriding goal of promoting reading and books before any financial or commercial interests. It was the overwhelming response and support for The Readers Club, which motivated us to build kitabain.com. For us our success has only been due to the trust our members have placed in us and for that we are eternally grateful to many many people. Very often we get requests from members for the option to purchase books that they’d like to hold on to and also a way to give away books that might be lying around without much use. Well we’ve tried to put the two requests together along with other ideas to come up kitabain.com. Very happy to report that we already have a few bookstores on board who are just starting to catalog their entire inventories. We envision it as a platform to enable individual sellers or independent bookstores to instantly make their inventory available to a much wider audience than they can typically hope to with a geographically constrained brick and mortar establishment. For Buyers; Whether you are looking for the latest releases or something hard-to-find,we hope that you can find it at drastically reduced prices on kitabain.com. Basic details on how the system works can be found by visiting the FAQ page(or you can call us too anytime): http://www.kitabain.com/index.php?view=site_pages&id=3

We eagerly look forward to comments and suggestions from everyone so that we can keep refining the process as we go along. And since we are just starting out please feel absolutely free to report any bugs or omissions that you encounter. Looking forward to seeing with an account on Kitabain.com soon!

Source: Kitabain.com Launched – A books marketplace

SBP Considering Teleco Led Branchless Banking

"We have taken a look at the permissible branchless banking models in our earlier post and have seen them all to bank led. At the third international mobile commerce conference recently held State Banks’s Deputy Governor, Yaseen Anwar, has indicated of a Teleco led model of branchless banking is being considered. The staff report from Dawn News gives the details.

The State Bank of Pakistan is considering introducing a new non-bank led and Telco led model of branchless banking, said deputy governor of State Bank, Yaseen Anwar, while speaking at the third international mobile commerce conference in Pakistan on Thursday.

He said this adds a totally new dimension to regulation that extends beyond the direct supervisory role of the SBP.

“We may need to establish, as in some countries, a National Payments Council that will include other stakeholders to regulate this rapidly expanding business sector.”Mr Anwar said that the SBP has issued guidelines for branchless banking as part of a broader strategy to create an enabling regulatory environment with the objectives of promoting financial inclusion.

He said branchless banking is a significantly cheaper alternative to conventional branch-based banking as it allows banks to offer financial services outside traditional bank premises.

“One inherent power of branchless banking is that it can be used to substantially increase the financial services outreach to the un-banked communities and in a broader perspective provides ways and means in the promotion of financial inclusion in the country,” he added.

At the same conference the PTA Chairman, Dr. Muhammad Yaseen, said that Pakistan Telecommunication Authority has joined hands with the State Bank of Pakistan to produce an all – inclusive mobile banking regulatory frame work which is to be finalised very soon. Daily Times gives the details about this.

Dr Yaseen said billions of mobile and online internet users worldwide are creating huge opportunities for the development of new means of commerce like e-commerce and m-commerce. However, the industry’s growth and its development impact can only be maximized, if stakeholders work together towards identifying the appropriate policy and business models that can achieve scalability. He said, “we have joined hands with the State Bank of Pakistan to produce an all inclusive mobile banking regulatory frame work which is to be finalised very soon”. He said the global mobile money industry has grown significantly in size and scope and there are various modes of transactions via your bank branch, call centers, IVR, ATM online and mobile phones. Amazingly, the lowest of all is mobile money transaction costing around $0.08 per transaction. He said the mobile money not only provides convenience but the lowest transaction cost as well, according to the World Bank, Pakistan is amongst the top 20 remittance – receiving economies with a size of $6.1 billion by 2007. This proves realistic market availability for kick starting various modes of mobile money, he added.

With this regulation coming forward we can expect more telecom players entering in to the mobile banking domain."

Source: TelecomPK

Real Time Traffic Reporting in Pakistan!

Apparently Rasta.PK is first of its kind project initiated by collaboration of UTNT and Punjab Traffic Police that is aimed at providing real time traffic information to general public through website, SMS and other similar sources.

As I mentioned, the project has initiated, however, it may take some time to start offering the services. Currently, a prototype (or feature less) website is in place that reveals the kind of services that Rasta.pk will offer in future.

Features will include

• Real time traffic information
• SMS based traffic information
• Live Traffic Cams
• Live Chat with traffic experts
• FM radio channel
• Traffic TV

Looks, service will offer above mentioned information for Multan, Faisalabad, Lahore, Gujranwala and Rawalpindi in first phase.

Website says that Traffic update will be available after every 5 minutes during peak hours.

As website is not fully functional so no words on feature quality or the reliability. However, what we see is that if executed well, Rasta.PK is going to be a very productive and useful web tool for a general citizen.

Source: ProPakistani Blog

Telenor Pakistan To Use Nokia Siemens Technology For Solar Power Based Service in Rural Areas

Telecom companies in Pakistan are one of the major power consumers and in addition to the increasing cost of electricity, they also face the challenge of lack of access to the electricity grid in rural areas to supply power to base stations. A few pilot deployments of solar powered base stations were luanched earlier.Now Telenor Pakistan and Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) have signed an agreement that will provide NSN’s off-grid site solutions that use solar energy to power Telenor base station sites in rural and remote areas. This is expected to result in substantial cost savings for Telenor Pakistan along with the social benefits that come with using renewable and clean energy.

Nokia Siemens Networks will design the sites, taking into account local solar mapping, site landscape and other factors to maximize the use of an abundant, clean, and natural energy source. Nokia Siemens Networks’ Green Energy Control will help deliver a sustainable solution while optimizing operating costs.

The solar-powered sites will be implemented using Universal Services Fund (USF) that was awarded to Telenor Pakistan in 2009. USF-based contracts aim to provide access to mobile services for underserved and unserved areas of Pakistan. Telenor Pakistan, till now, has been awarded three USF contracts for Mirpurkhas, Malakand and Bahawalpur region.

“It’s important that we connect the world in such a way that not only maximizes benefits for consumers and businesses, but also ensures the welfare of our planet,” said Saad Waraich, the Pakistan country director for Nokia Siemens Networks. “Providing communications to rural areas will become increasingly important and we believe renewable energy will be the first choice for such installations. In fact, the majority of base station sites installed by us by 2011 will use this form of energy. We are especially proud to partner with Telenor – a definite trend setter for the use of environmental technologies in network expansion.”

The GSMA has estimated that more than 75,000 new off-grid sites will be built each year through 2012 in developing countries. About 80% of the energy in a typical mobile telecommunication network is consumed by base stations. Renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power offer a reliable alternative to sites with limited or non-existent electrical grid access. Nokia Siemens Networks has already deployed more than 360 sites that exploit renewable energy and has over 25 years of experience in implementing solar-powered sites.

Source: TelecomPK Blog