Comment by Riaz Haq on December 11, 2013 at 5:24pm

Here are World Bank reported highlights of the use of mobile phone technology in Pakistan:

The Punjab provincial government’s efforts so far include getting direct feedback from 3 million users of public services through SMS and providing field workers cost-effective smartphones to track their visits and collect data, including to monitor pests on crops, fighting dengue, and managing waste.
A recently-approved project will scale up these activities using innovative financing that emphasizes results, takes a multi-sectoral approach, and increases transparency and citizen access to information, improving citizen-state relations.
This model of innovative and sophisticated mobile governance is almost unprecedented in the public sector in developing countries, and represents one of the largest-scale attempts to hear from citizens to crack down on corrupt and poor performing officials.

http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2013/12/11/leveraging-mobi...

Comment by Riaz Haq on March 29, 2014 at 9:31pm

Smartphones to double next year, reports Dawn:

The market share of smartphones is expected to double next year as stiff competition rages among cellphone makers with moderate prices and cheap Chinese brands penetrating the market.

Nokia Android phones have also hit the markets where Q Mobile, Samsung, Huawei, Sony, LG, Voice, G-Five, VGO Tel, etc continue introducing new smartphones with more advanced features and competitive prices. However, feature phones (not smart or android) still hold 80 per cent market share and cost between Rs2,500 to Rs4,000.

According to Director United Mobile, Azad Lalani, smartphones share will jump to about 40pc next year from the current 15-20pc.

Pakistan’s monthly sales of overall cellphones is estimated at 1.5 to 1.7 million units. The start of 3G services will further boost sales of smartphones.

Market sources said that one of the Chinese cellphones now holds a major market share with sales of 600,000-700,000 units per month, a sector that was previously dominated by Nokia. The price of smartphones (Chinese brands) starts from Rs7,000 and touches up to Rs60,000 plus for many major brands.

Country General Manager Nokia Pakistan and Afghanistan, Arif Shafique said, “We have recently launched the first of our Nokia X range of smartphones in Pakistan. The device runs on the Nokia X Software Platform, which is built on the standard Android Open Source Project (AOSP).”

Shortly, the company will expand the range of Nokia X devices in Pakistan across all price points. The recently launched Nokia X is available at an estimated price of Rs13,500.

“Pakistan’s mobile market is burgeoning and the users are becoming more and more tech savvy,” he said.

On grabbing market share in Nokia Android phones, he said as per Nokia policy he cannot comment on the company’s market share by country or region. “I believe there is consumer demand especially in the affordable smartphone space,” he added.

Regarding investment in the launch of Android phones in Pakistan, he said: “The investment is largely in the marketing and promotion of this new range, as well as in supporting Pakistani developers to come up with more locally relevant apps for Nokia X family.”

Currently Nokia phones are arriving from China for the Pakistani market. “As and when trade between India and Pakistan opens, we will weigh both options — of importing from China and India.”

“We will opt for the one that will offer the best value to our consumers in Pakistan,” he said.

On Microsoft’s acquisition of Nokia devices and services business, the general manager said, “Our transition with Microsoft is shaping up to close in April and our journey towards bringing smarter mobile devices and smarter technology is going ahead with this transition.”

http://www.dawn.com/news/1096258/smartphone-market-to-double-next-year

Comment by Riaz Haq on October 27, 2014 at 9:18am

Samsung and Telenor Pakistan co-launched the Galaxy Note 4 in Pakistan on Friday, at an event held at a local hotel in Lahore. The phablet has been priced at a whopping Rs. 85,000 (approx. $825).

The Galaxy Note 4 will be featured on Telenor Pakistan’s Sales & Service Centers and franchises for its customers across the country starting from October 29, and will come with Telenor’s free 3G Internet for six months.

The offer includes the unlimited usage of WhatsApp, Twitter and Line along with all purchases of Galaxy Note 4.

The device comes with accidental coverage that includes screen breakage, liquid damage and numerous other types of damages that will be repaired by the company within one year of the purchases.

Telenor has also conducted a pre-order campaign from 20th October offering free S-View Flip covers to its Pakistan’s customers.

“We have always been at the forefront of offering cutting edge technology and next generation solutions to our valued customers,” said Omer bin Tariq, Director Internet and Devices, Telenor Pakistan.

“Our collaboration with Samsung is yet another testament of Telenor Pakistan’s customer centric approach to provide services as per the evolving customer preferences and building an ecosystem to facilitate 3G uptake.”

Telenor has recently rolled out its 3G services in 35 cities of Pakistan, becoming the largest 3G mobile operator in the market.

Mr. Omer said the company is determined to strengthen its current efforts, and cover other aspects that are aimed at bringing affordable smartphones and enhancing Internet adoption amongst the growing community.

The Galaxy Note 4 features a 5.7-inch Quad HD (2560×1440) Super AMOLED display, 2.7GHz quad-core Snapdragon 805 processor, Adreno 420 GPU and 3GB of RAM.

The device also includes a 16-megapixel camera with optical image stabilization, a 3.7-megapixel front-facing camera, 32/64GB of expandable internal storage and a 3,220 mAh battery.

The phablet is the first Galaxy Note device to feature a metallic body. It runs on Android 4.4.4 (KitKat) operating system, and also comes with the traditional S Pen stylus.

http://segmentnext.com/2014/10/27/telenor-partners-with-samsung-to-...

Comment by Riaz Haq on October 27, 2014 at 9:36am

Pakistan now has close to 150 million mobile subscribers. A growing number of those are smartphone owners who are pushing forward adoption of web services like ecommerce and social media. Gertjan van Laar, an app developer who published a report this week on smartphone usage in Pakistan, tells Tech in Asia that smartphone adoption has reached between 7 and 10 percent of the population – in contrast to the general mobile penetration rate of 80 percent (1).

But that means Pakistan has a lot of room for growth. Laar and his team at Grappetite dug into data and also conducted a survey to find out more about the current mobile landscape in Pakistan – and then put it all into the infographic you see below. Here are some of the highlights:

• Android is Pakistan’s top smartphone OS with 68 percent share just among smartphone users

• iOS is second on 24 percent share; Windows Phone is third on eight percent

• Samsung is the top brand; iPhone is second; homegrown phone-maker QMobile is third

• 35 percent of smartphone users in Pakistan carry a low-cost phone on them for safety reasons

Here’s the full infographic:

See: Pakistan Startup Report and wiki shine a light on challenging but p...

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For more fun graphics like this one, check out previous entries in our infographic series.

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1. In terms of methodology, Laar says that the team used “reports and statistics from sources such as the World Bank, the PTA, and the Association of Internet Providers in Pakistan. Some reports were quite outdated, [so] based on our expertise we extrapolated data where we found it appropriate.” He adds that their own survey was an “online questionnaire with 15 questions, sent out by us to mainly urban people in Sindh.”  ↩

https://www.techinasia.com/smartphones-in-pakistan-infographic-2014/

Comment by Riaz Haq on December 8, 2014 at 3:59pm

Pakistani cell phone service operator Ufone has partnered with Apple to launch iPhone 6 and iPhone 6Plus smartphones in Pakistan. Ufone customers can register online for iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus at the company’s website.


Smartphone sales have accelerated in recent months after the roll-out of 3G and 4G services in Pakistan. The number of 3G subscribers has reached 4 million mark, apparently surpassing all other broadband technologies in the country, within the first three months of the issuance of 3G and 4G licenses in the country. There are around 3.7 million broadband subscriptions in Pakistan for all technologies combined including WiMAX, DSL, EvDO, FTTH, Satellite, HFC and others till May this year.

Total number of mobile subscribers in Pakistan is over 150 million. A growing number of these subscribers are smartphone owners who are using web services like e-commerce and social media. Gertjan van Laar, an app developer who recently published a report on smartphone usage in Pakistan, told Tech in Asia that smartphone penetration has reached between 7 and 10 percent of the population – in contrast to the general mobile penetration rate of 80 percent.

Here are some of the highlights of the report on smartphones in Pakistan:

1. Android is Pakistan’s top smartphone OS with 68 percent share just among smartphone users

2. Apple iOS is second with 24 percent share; Windows Phone is third at eight percent

3. Samsung is the top brand; iPhone is second; homegrown phone-maker QMobile is third

4. 35 percent of smartphone users in Pakistan own a low-cost phone.

Growing availability of smartphones and 3G/4G services is enabling Pakistani apps developers to build and offer a wide range of apps, including everything from the most-used messaging apps to social networking, games, entertainment, government, banking, business and finance, navigation and utility apps, such as budgeting and data backing, according to a report in The Express Tribune newspaper. In addition to software houses, an active community of mostly self-taught freelance app developers is also bidding for projects listed on global online platforms, such as oDesk, Elance, Guru and Freelancer, the paper adds.

Increasing access to advanced smartphones and mobile broadband augurs well for innovation and investment in Pakistan.


http://www.riazhaq.com/2014/12/apple-iphone-6-6plus-launched-in.html

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