Archive for March 12th, 2008

iPhone 2.0 Jailbroken

Published by Babar on March 12, 2008 under Information Technology, Security, Smart Phones, iPhone

Must see video. Saw this at All Things Digital. As they say this is the price of success!

The iPhone Dev Team, the folks responsible for the notorious iPhone jailbreaks, have cracked iPhone 2.0–before the software has even shipped. After decrypting the version of 2.0 included in the recently released iPhone SDK, the Dev Team jailbroke it so that it will run most any application 

Pakistan Ranks High For Affordability Indicators In South Asia

Published by Babar on March 12, 2008 under Emerging Markets Telecom, Government Regulations, Mobile Companies, Pakistan, Research, Telecommunications, Wireless

pricebasket-asiaAccording to LIRNEasia’s latest comparative study of price and affordability indicators in eight South Asian countries, Pakistan is near the top in terms of affordability. For Pakistan the study used Jazz Budget (Prepaid) and Indigo Freedom Plan 1(Postpaid). See an example comparison chart.

Overall the study concluded that “Bangladesh had the lowest average monthly cost of using a mobile at all levels of use (low, medium and high) for different tariff plans (prepaid and postpaid). Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka follow closely, while Bhutan, Maldives and Afghanistan are seen to have significantly higher average monthly mobile costs.” 

Here’s some background on how the study was done – should be interesting for business & economics students:

The study compares mobile tariffs in South Asia using price baskets, derived from those used by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The baskets are calculated for low, medium and high users for pre- as well as postpaid tariff plans, factoring in usage charges (voice and SMS), line rental, connection charges (depreciated over a three year period), and applicable taxes.

For further information see the original article at LIRNEAsia site or read the Full Report (pdf)