The tech industry within Pakistan is very small with major industry players knowing one another very well. As a result, the entrepreneur and technology activists often get together showcase their ideas and get some input. One of the key facilitators for such events has been TiE – The Indus Entrepreneur. Recently, they invited the elite of the tech world to get together at the Royal Palm Country Club to get a firsthand perspective of online marketing for local tech companies. The keynote speaker was Carlos Cashman, an experienced venture capitalist with quite a few successful companies launched in this time. He aimed to provide an overview into how online marketing can easily help reach international and local customers while providing a strong focus on the metrics to ensure measurable ROI. Along with Mr. Cashman’s keynote speech some of the key players in the industry were also moderating a Q&A session afterwards including Zafar Khan from Sofizar, Badar Khushnood as Google’s local country consultant, and Amer Sarfraz from Bramerz.
Although the focus was for local technology evangelists in Pakistan, the techniques and ideas discussed clearly are applicable for any company that plans to utilize the concept of online marketing to generate leads. The concept holds significant weight in Pakistan considering the year on year growth for local Internet users is in the triple-figure growth rates. With the number of mobile users also exponentially growing every year – an impressive 252% growth every year – it’s pretty clear that many people will move towards a digital front where traditional marketing channels will slow down. Looking specifically at Pakistan, digital marketing is looking to overtake traditional radio ads – it’s a staggering feat considering that digital marketing and high-speed broadband Internet has only taken off in the last 3 to 4 years.
The focus remained on how companies need to maintain a strong numerical side for digital marketing considering that almost any metric can be measured. Cost Per Click or Cost Per Thousand Impressions was also another area discussed which showed how local companies could easily reach international customers. Along with these concepts, the focus on maintaining a variety of options for testing was prominently brought up. This is an important concept considering that the metrics of website design can change how customers interact and view a company’s webpage.
We’ve talked consistently about how Apple has managed to turn iTunes into a successful user interface for mobile consumers. Generally speaking, almost all the relevant entertainment related media is available through the iTunes interface. It also serves as a means of updating OSs providing Apple with valuable marketing information to the total number iPhone and iPod Touch owners using their hardware and software. We believe it’s this first-mover advantage in creating iTunes as a software interface that has kept the iPhone squarely in the minds of consumers.
We believe it’s this first-mover advantage in creating iTunes as a software interface that has kept the iPhone squarely in the minds of consumers, and we’re not the only ones that believe this is the case, the industry analysts here also think so.
Other mobile platforms have attempted to address this issue by creating their own attempts of a unique app store concept. Living examples are, Android’s Marketplace, Nokia’s Ovi store, Palm’s App Catalog, Symbian Foundation, etc – however, although some players have established their stores prior to the iPhone revolution, Apple has used the iTunes interface to influencing customers that this is the only user interface that works. This dominance is what has ensured that the iPhone is the phone of choice for consumers.
Umair Javed (CEO) talks with TechLahore and Jehan Ara of CIO Pakistan on Mobile Development Industry
Recently, our company was interviewed by a local technology evangelist (www.techlahore.com) about how technology numerous startups had started growing in various cities across Pakistan. We’ve linked to the interview on TechLahore’s page. Umair Javed talked about how the small startups are changing the face of the software industry in Pakistan and what are the new trends that software developers should be focusing on. It’s a great read for companies who are looking for some direction regarding mobile platform development.
TechLahore is a great website if you want to remain ahead of what’s going on a local front for technology in Pakistan. They’ve covered some great startups and are looking to find more companies to talk about.
Switching gears, recently Umair Javed and Jehan Ara got together to have a talk about the overall IT industry and discussed upcoming trends in the Pakistan IT landscape. Before launching into the details of the interview, we’d like to give a quick introduction to Jehan Ara.
Jehan Ara is one of the leading figures in bringing the IT revolution within Pakistan. As the current President of P@SHA (Pakistan Association of Software Houses Association), she has passionately campaigned for the causes of software houses to the international IT industry. She actively contributes to major IT events in Pakistan and is a wonderful person for supporting entrepreneurial IT initiatives and companies such as ours.
The iPad – tablet computing gets new life from Apple
The hotly anticipated iPad was released on January 27, 2010 by Steve Jobs in his annual press event in California. Touting the device as a new technological revolution for media fans around the world, the device itself has been the focus of many rumors for months on end with spyshots being released tantalizing potential buyers about the specs and features of the device. What’s interesting to note is that the tech world is defining new media in terms of newspapers and books finally gracing the online world in a more comprehensive manner than the traditional online subscription models, and the iPad leading the charge.
Now that some of the hype has died down, we plan on taking a developer viewpoint about the iPad and what are the things that we are really liking and other things that definitely need to be addressed.
Source - guardian.co.uk
Before we launch into the real details, here are some basic specs about the device itself.
Display: 9.7 inch IPS
Size and Weight: 9.56 by 7.47 by 0.5 inches, and 1.5 to 1.6 pounds
Processor: 1GHz Apple A4 Chip
Storage: 16, 32, or 64GB flash
Battery life: 10 hours battery life, over 1 month standby
Connectivity: 802.11n Wi-Fi, 3G, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
Other Features: Accelerometer, compass, speaker, microphone, 30-pin connector
Price: $499 onwards moving to the full 64GB with 3G version costing $829
- (Source)
Our initial impressions about the iPad have been somewhat related to the original rumors circulating. The device is coming with the same hype that the iPhone has but we feel is still missing out on some key aspects. The four main issues that are bothering us are:
