Posted by: Aamir Attaa on August 7, 2008 at 9:55 AM
CIO Pakistan Magazine has been launched officially yesterday (August 05, 2007) in Karachi. CIO is considered as the world’s largest business technology leadership magazine, which is being printed in over 35 countries globally and will now be printing locally in Pakistan to help highlight and support our local technology Industry.
Besides the launch the event also included CIO “Technology Pioneer Awards” to recognize the excellence and the achievements of the best amongst the leaders of the local technology and telecommunication industry.
The details of the CIO Pioneer Awards went as following:
Pioneers in Telecommunication: Tariq Malik, CEO Wateen and Salman Ansari, CEO SATC.
Bringing global technologies into Pakistan: Humayun Bashir, Country manager IBM Pakistan and Kamal Ahmed, Country General Manager, Microsoft Pakistan.
Pioneers In Local Industry: Khurram Hanif Kalia, President and CEO Kalsoft and Khushnood Aftab, CEO Viper Technologies
Pioneer in Contributing to IT Education in Pakistan: Samina Rizwan, Regional Director Oracle SAGE (West) and Naila Kassim, Manager, Intel World Ahead Program, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Taking Technology Global: Building Pakistan’s Image Abroad: Salim Ghauri, Chairman & CEO NetSol and Dilawar Abbas Syed, President OPEN silicon valley
Pioneer in Governance: Syed Mustafa Kamal, City Nazim, CDGK and Dr.Aamir Matin, Former MD PSEB.
In Special Awards Category :
Pioneers in innovation : Monis Rehman, Chairman & CEO Naseeb Networks.
Inspiring innovation: Umer Saif, Associate Professor, LUMS
Recognizing Special contributions to the Local Industry: Jehan Ara, President PASHA.
Posted by: Aamir Attaa on July 19, 2008 at 1:28 PM
Empty slot for Online PR Distribution service in Pakistan has been filled with the launch of PR Palace that claims to be Pakistan’s first Electronic Press Release, Photo News and Video News Release Distribution Service for Professional Communicators.
This is going to be a very productive start for the public relation managers, who are seen struggling while circulating their Press Releases. PR Palace, launched in private beta, offer businesses to post PRs on their website that will also be distributed electronically on daily bases, for free, to a mailing lists of Journalists, Media Managers, Key Officials of Public/ Private Sector, Civil Society Organizations, Industry Professionals, Universities and Students, etc.
The Beta website can be seen here: www.PRpalace.com, and the official launch is expected at ITCN ASIA 2008.
ProPakistani.com is now almost 2 months old, and during this I have been getting tremendous response from my friends and readers. In previous couple of months, I had been keenly focusing various opportunities through which I could engage some revenues to meet my server expenses. But, we all know that earning money online is not that easy as it looks, especially when your blog or website is only couple of months old.
I consistently remained in discussion with my friends and fellow bloggers regarding the ways to earn money through advertisements and other ways. At last I was introduced to this payperpost by Nayni, and found that this programme can satisfy my needs by all means.
Advertisers know that only taking a message to the public may not earn them achievement, hence now they are looking for bloggers and other root level publishers to discuss their products; which is in fact good for both advertisers and their customers as users get detailed review of any product/service and in a way more authentic one.
Xxxxxx is a platform where you write reviews and your opinion about certain products, blogs, mobile phones, teleocm services and so on. And you are free to express positively or negatively, I mean you can write both positive and negative sides of the product.
So if you are a bloggers, and you are trying to monetize your blog, then payperpost is an ultimate stop for you. The good thing I found about payperpost is that there are tons of advertisers to choose from, meaning that you never run short of sponsored posts.
So hurry up, and signup now and collect your share from this emerging media of advertising.
Mobilink, last month, kicked off the war with Jazz one, Telenor responded with A One; however both were defeated by Ufone’s Uwon. And now Zong feeling the heat and joining the club with 8 Anay per Call offer.
Two things are seen common amongst all cellular companies; they are attacking each other…and at the same time deceiving their customers through un-clear advertising campaigns and claiming their packages as best one.
Let’s look at the print ad and try to solve the equation, regarding what actually the pricing would be for this package….
Regular Rate: 75 Paisa per 30 Second
FnF Number: 50 Paisa per 30 Second
How to Activate Package: Call 907, an automated voice will guide you through the process (here you will be asked to enter one FnF number)
Check points:
AD says 40 Paisas for first minute will be charged; for God Sake your pulse rate is 30 second, how can you communicate additional charges per minute? Yes they are charged for first 30 seconds, if you hang the call in 20 seconds that will cost you 50+40=90 paisa + taxes
You can select only one FnF number from any cellular network, while the advertisement clearly stats “Koi bhi Number, Koi bhi Network, Sirf 50 Paisay per 30 Seconds”. I am not sure how many but at least million customers will be negatively affected by this.
FnF number modification: No Information on Print AD, but their website says, Addition/ Modification of FnF will charge you PKR 15 + Tax. How many of Zong customers visit their websites? A 8 x 2 advertisement could be filled with complete information.
Only numbers of Mobilink, Telenor, Ufone, Warid, and Instaphone can be added for this offer, means you can’t add Zong Numbers….
I am feeling pity on our country and our nation who are misguided every other day, and none of us can take these looters to court.
I just called this “Network for Consumer Protection”, and asked them if there is any good way to bug these cellular companies for ambiguous un-ethical advertisements, but the lady there told that there is no advertising law in Pakistan. She confirmed that there are some code of conduct saved by PEMRA or PTV but that’s scattered. I was shocked to learn that we have no code of conduct for advertising for print media; that’s due to the interest of APNS, that they are more of concerned with the money they are getting from advertisers.
I was told that there is a Consumer Protection Court in Rawalpindi, but at the same time, that court is just for the sake of formalities. It does nothing…!
See below what is being followed in US
Unfair methods of competition in or affecting commerce, and unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce, are hereby declared unlawful - Section 12 of the act makes it unlawful to disseminate any false advertisement for “foods, drugs, devices, services, or cosmetics.” - Federal Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. § 45(a).
I remember an American parents sued a Washing Machine Manufacturer for not exclusively mentioning that their washing machines are dangerous for children under 7. Their 3 years old kid was killed when he jumped into machine tub. And interestingly, the couple had won the law suite.
But tell me where should i go to ask for justice in Pakistan?
I am sorry if I am hurting any one, but Pakistan is a jungle not a country, where any one can come and loot you! Bullshit
If you are running a blog or a website that caters to Pakistani audience, like mine, then you must be missing lots of potential revenues despite you are using ADSENSE, AdBright, eTology or any of other available ad networks.
The main reason for very low CTR (Click Through Rate, the rate at which ads are being clicked) is because ads being displayed by AdSense or other ad networks are of no interest to our local visitors. Let’s look into this snapshot (from ProPakistani.com) that displayed 4 ads and I see all of them are of no use for a visitor from Lahore; who is actually more of interested in products and services offered in Pakistan.
I personally had been badly missing a localized ad network, which could bring in local publishers and advertisers. There is no doubt that, in Pakistan, online advertising is not that popular, but the potential is there. As the trends are changing we can expect huge online media buying in coming days, specifically from large multi nationals and eventually the local service providers.
Led by Mr. Aamir Sarfraz, Bramerz (Pvt) Ltd launched this Pakistan’s first ad serving network, named as clickClick, with an aim to bridge the gap between the local advertisers and web publishers;
Process for signing up and other procedures seem quite similar to other ad networks, however the edge that clickClick can get you local advertisers is going to make some difference for publishers and website owners in Pakistan. They have taken aboard few publishers and advertisers already; however my application is still pending. Hope they are going to process it soon.
“In addition to our own tweaks that make our solution better than anything out there, we’re promoting local content. Local advertisers and local publishers. After all, it’s all about who and how you network. That’s the kind of support we’re extending to the local industries” read a PR from Bramerz.
As I am not signed up with them yet, so no words about CPC or CPM rates, but my expectations are high.
For more details for publishers click here
For details regarding advertisers click here
Signup for clickClick account here
Posted by: Aamir Attaa on June 17, 2008 at 1:11 AM
I know Umair Naeem through his posts at NetExpress, and infact i am one of his fan due to his command on the topic for which he writes.
Just went through one of his latest art, that covers Pakistan Telecom Market in a very a effective manner… For those who want to have an insight of the market, must go through this article…. an excerpt is given below
Pakistan is a highly competitive market because consumers are not bound by long-term contracts to cellular service companies. Rather, the consumer simply needs an ID card photocopy to set up a connection, or switch to another provider. The consumer has the option of a post-paid monthly billing connection, which is preferred in the professional segment, or the popular-among-the-masses pre-paid connection, through which the consumer can recharge the connection whenever and by any amount. To add to the consumer’s benefit, mobile phone portability is also available, which allows one to retain the same phone number regardless of changes in cellular service.
Mobilink has announced a new prepaid package named as “Jazz One”. Mobilink, through its advertisements says that calls will be charged at a flat rate or Rs. 1 per minute on all on-net call, and Rs. 1.60 per min on all off-net calls. Here is excerpt from their website
Based on the premise of simplicity, Jazz One truly brings our promise of freedom to life. The freedom to call anyone, anytime, anywhere at the lowest rates ever. With this astoundingly low on-net rate of Rs. 1/min Jazz One now allows you to make 30 million Mobilink numbers your Friends and Family!
Tariff details (including taxes) are given below
To Activate dial 123 and select 3 to convert to ‘Jazz One’ Package (Which will cost a customer Rs. 10 + Taxes)
This looked a reasonably good package, but it comes with some conditions, which are
Call Setup fee of Rs. 0.40 would only be charged with the first minute for each call
Limited time offer
It means that customers will have to pay additional Rs 0.40 on their first minute on every call.
Now if you are going to make only one minute calls then your tariff may look like below
This is the height of deceptive advertising, I am also pasting their Print ad (in Urdu from Daily Jang). Even i was not sure, how could they charge this much money despite of saying flat rate of Rs. 1 per min in their ADs… This confusion led me to call their call center, where i heard they advertisements for 25 minutes but no one responded (Tamaam Officers is waqt costumers ki rah-numayi main masroof hain) and eventually i gave up.
Below is the official coverage of the package from Business Recorder
KARACHI (June 03 2008): Mobilink on Monday announced new tariffs for its prepaid customers, as “Jazz One” customers can now avail unmatched on-net rates of Re. 1 per minute all day.
Speaking at the ceremony held in connection to the launch of new package, Bilal Munir Sheikh said, “Jazz, the leading brand in telecom today presents to its customers the simplest package in the market today. We are proud of the fact that this rate is currently the most competitive in the industry”.
Moreover, he said, there are no time limitations on this, and customers can avail these rates day and night. With such low rates customers can now, potentially have 31 million Friends and Family. It is also noteworthy that in addition to the lowest on-net charges, “Jazz One” also offers its customers one of the most competitive off-net rates, in the market today.
Although a nominal call set-up fee of Rs 0.40 will be charged on the first minute of each call, “Jazz One” would be the most attractive package in the industry today. Convening to “Jazz One” is extremely simple; all that is required is to call 123 and dial 3 for package conversion.
I would like to hear from Telecom experts, to give us the estimations about one minute calls made on Mobilink network each day and the money that Mobilink will make through this Rs. 0.40 thing
Empty slot for Online PR Distribution service in Pakistan has been filled with the launch of 
Led by Mr. Aamir Sarfraz, Bramerz (Pvt) Ltd launched this Pakistan’s first ad serving network, named as 
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