Just recently Zong has come up with an application based e-mail service “Zong M@il“. The service enables Zong customers to access all their e-mail accounts on their mobile phone through an application client. Customers interested in staying connected to their email accounts can do it through Zong mail without necessarily having to buy high-end mobile handsets.
This poll is an attempt to analyze how many mobile users actually use the GPRS/EDGE based data services provided by the networks.
Those who you use such services, share your views. And those who do not use, give reasons in comments.
A cross post from Basit Ali’s blog
Today, Ufone has announced the launch of a very interesting service named UConnect. The service allows you to use your cellphone to control several activities on your PC. In addition to remote PC access the service combos Push-Email-over-SMS as well. It may sound a bit complex but in my initial experience I find the service very easy-to-use. No downloads and installation required on phone, no complex configurations, no issue of proxies and firewalls on your pc, in short, if you have data enabled phone, it’ll work just fine. Following is the list of main features of UConnect:
How to subscribe?
Simply SMS SUB to 292 to sign up for the service.
How it works
Please download the user manual for further details.
Anticipation
I’ll come back on this blog with a detailed review of the product, its features and price later, but right now I’m really excited about this product. File sharing, remote file and PC access is something that has not been available earlier, at least as a VAS in Pakistan. Moreover, Push Email over SMS is a service that targets a big number of users and will help bring Email access to masses.
Please wait for the detailed review to follow.
A cross post from Basit Ali’s blog
MCB Mobile Banking and Payments – Review
MCB has recently launched their mobile banking and payment solution. It is an Internet based service that runs on your mobile phone’s browser. You can link your MCB account with your phone number and that’s all you need to use the service. The basic set of services provided by the solution are:
How to Sign-Up
If you are an existing MCB account holder, you can simply go to MCB ATM machine and insert your card as usual. You’ll see an option to link your mobile with your account in the menu now. Opt for that, give your mobile number and that’s it. MCB representative will get back to you with the confirmation and will provide you with the Mobile PIN. Mobile PIN is used to log-in to the mobile banking site while ATM pin is also required to make the transactions.
If you are not an existing MCB account holder, you have to grab one account. My recommendation, just go get one, its worth it!
Note: You cannot use this services if you are an MCB credit card holder.
A walk-through video
For a detailed walk-through, watch the video below. I’ve made a mobile top-up, mobile bill payment, fund-transfer and balance enquiry etc in this walk-through for you.
First Login
You can simply go to http://www.mcbmobile.com from your mobile phone and can login by giving your cell-phone number and mobile PIN. The login is straight forward and works on SSL to keep the data you are sending encrypted on the way.
Basic Banking on Mobile
The service allows you to perform your basic banking transactions (except cash transactions obviously). You can check your account balance and view mini-statement. Funds transfer option allows you to transfer funds to any other MCB Mobile user by giving his mobile number (registered with the service) or you can simply transfer funds to any MCB account by giving the full account number. For every financial transaction you will have to enter your ATM PIN.
Payments
You can make a number of possible payments using this service. You can purchase mobile top-ups and can send them directly to the phone. You can pay post-paid mobile phone bills. These payments can be made to all mobile networks. You can also pay utility bill payments to a number of electric companies and to nationwide gas and telephone connections.
In addition to mobile and utility payments you can pay your credit card bills and can also donate funds to the Prime Minister’s special relief fund.
Security
Overall mobile site is working over SSL and is as secure as any other Internet transaction. Moreover, it is more secure than paying straight via credit card, as in most transactions we are not using a credit-card or account number.
I have a reason to believe that the service is based on a solution by Fundamo.
Note the word Fundamo in the title!Summary:
What you need to get the service:
The good
The bad
Conclusion
MCB Mobile is a winner by all means. You cannot call it a killer app as this stuff is not new in the market anymore but it reaches the top with the fact that its easy, convenient, ubiquitous, reliable and last but not least, very secure. Simply go to mcb.com.pk, search for your nearest branch, go get an account and sign up for the service. Happy mobile banking!
For Rs.2000 per month you can have blazing fast Internet on the go from PTCL EVO service. There’s a one time cost of Rs 6000 (USB) or Rs 4000 (PCMCIA card) . If you have a land line you pay the broadband charges with the land line bill, otherwise pay at PTCL One Stop Shops or Customer Service Centers. Limited availability for the broadband speeds – Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi – for now. But the lower speed CDMA version is available in other areas. Here’s what PTCL says:
You can use this service in Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Rawalpindi & Mirpur for broadband while traveling. Your Evdo automatically switches to 1 X in non Evdo Coverage areas. Which means you can also use internet everywhere in Pakistan where there is Vfone 1900MHz network. Please note that in non Evdo coverage areas your internet will be connected on lower speed (153Kbps). PTCL provides a very large coverage area where you can stay connected.
For more information including caveats and support for your operating system, look at the main EVO service page and the FAQ page. As usual the service has been getting reviews ranging from great to average. But overall I think PTCL has a winner with EVO, if they can sustain the performance and service.
Here’s a teaser from the review by TechLahore.
I got a sleek looking, black EV-DO wireless USB dongle with an extensible antenna, that happens to go perfectly with my T60. The dongle has a built USB storage, so all I had to do was plug it in and the setup program started… from the dongle itself! Pretty cool. It took me about 5 minutes to run through the install, and boom! I was in business. My first stop was google.com, which loaded instantly. I could already see the difference in performance but I decided to measure it a little more objectively. Speedtest.net is always handy for that.
Like I had mentioned in my previous post, the Nokia Bloggers Meet-up was held on 22nd May at The Sports Bar – Karachi. The event wasn’t just a bloggers meet-up but also a sneak-peak of N97.
N97- The new entrant in the Nokia’s flagship N-series is due to launch in Pakistan in first week of June. This time Nokia came different and thus was this pre-launch meet-up with the bloggers.
Mr. Adeel Hashmi, Communication Manager – Nokia Pakistan, started off the event giving an introduction to the idea of meeting the bloggers for the pre-launch and promised more of such meet-ups. The keynote speakers of the evening were Mr. Khurram Pradhan, Product and Portfolio Manager and Ms. Shabana Shahzad, Program Manager.
Khurram Pradhan gave his presentation on the main theme of N97 – Personal Internet. In his presentation he also focused on what’s driving the transformation of converged devices. He discussed that Nokia has been working on converging mobile phone with internet from last decade to enhance the personal internet experience.
At present out of the 1.3 billion internet users 520 million use it on mobile device and research has indicated this figure will go up to 1.5 billion by the year 2012. Nokia being consumer centric is on the move to make the mobile broadband dream a reality.
Not only this Nokia also plans to attract the market where we have 93 million users using the social network services like facebook, my space and twitter on their mobile devices, 82 million downloading maps on their devices, 22.3 million access the internet on devices daily for news and information and where we also have 184 million blogs among which 77% are actively read and commented. In efforts of enriching the networking experience, the N97 comes with third party widgets, which are standalone programs on your mobile home screen.
Nokia’s customer care is a two dimensional strategy, one, devices for connecting people and second devices for connecting places which it achieves along with Ovi Maps.
Foreseeing the future in application development Nokia has acquired all of the rights to the Symbian operating system (OS) and open sourced it under the Eclipse license.
Khurram’s part ended with a Q and A session and then came the most interesting and most awaited SNEAK PEAK at the N97. Ms. Shabana Shahzad conducted it. Bloggers were also given the feel-it experience of N97.
Some of the N97 features are:
- Easy and fast connections to internet services
- Easy text input with QWERTY keyboard and touch screen
- 3.5 inch sliding tilt display
- Live personalized home screen with widgets
- Up-to-date information via RSS feed
- Fully compatible with Oviservices
- Browse real web pages
- Take pictures and videos and share them immediately
- Watch high-quality video on the large 3.5 inch 16:9 widescreen
- Video playback at 30 fps, for a wide array of formats
- Play videos, music and pictures on TV using TV-out
- Access internet video feeds through Nokia Video Center
- Enjoy great audio through standard 3.5 mm jack headphones, built-in stereo speakers or Bluetooth technology
- Digital music player with support for play list editing, equalizer and categorized access to your music collection
- Search, browse and purchase songs online in Nokia Music Store (for availability, please visit www.music.nokia.com)
- Nokia Maps with integrated compass and A-GPS receiver
- Multimedia city guides and navigation services. Drive: voice guided car navigation, or Walk: pedestrian-optimized turn-by-turn guidance. (Navigation may need to be purchased separately.)
- World-class game titles with N-Gage
- Make you home-screen private any time you want
N97 Tech Profile:
System: WCDMA 900/1900/2100 (HSDPA), EGSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
User Interface: S60 5th Edition
Dimensions: 117.2 x 55.3 x 15.9 mm*mm (L x W x H) *18.25 mm at camera area
Weight: Approx. 150 g
Display: 3.5 inch TFT with up to 16 million colorsnHD16:9 widescreen (640×360 pixels)
Battery: Nokia Battery BP-4L, 1500 mAh
Memory: Up to 48GB (32 GB on-board memory, plus 16GB expansion via micro SD memory card slot)
Video playback: MPEG-4 / SP and MPEG-4 AVC/H.264,up to 30 fps, up to VGA resolution Real Video up to QCIF @ 30 fps Windows Media (WMV9) up to CIF @ 30 fps Flash Lite 3.0 / Flash Video in internet browser
Music playback: MP3, AAC, eAAC, eAAC+, WMA
Lens: Carl Zeiss Tessar™
Image capture: Up to 5 mega pixels (2584 x 1938) JPEG/EXIF (16.7 million/24-bit color)
Video capture: MPEG-4 VGA (640 x 480) at up to 30 fps
Aperture: F2.8
Focal length: 5.4 mm
Flash: Dual LED camera flash and video light
Talk time: Up to 320 min (3G), 400 min (GSM)
Standby time: Up to 400 hrs (3G), 430 hrs (GSM)
Video playback: Up to 4,5 hours (offline mode)
Music playback: Up to 37 hours (offline mode)
The device shall be availabe here in second week of june at an expected retail price of Rs. 60,000.
E-Learning Series: By Phil Cruver, President of KZO Education
Learning 1.0 was about the delivery and management of online courses usually consisting of downloading text-based materials and perhaps the streaming of lengthy videotaped lectures for anytime and anyplace viewing. Learning 2.0 leveraged the vast array of interactive and collaborative Web 2.0 technologies and concepts such as social networks, wikis, podcasts, and blogs with user-generated content as the cornerstone. Learning 3.0 is now appearing on the evolutionary path, which when coupled with emerging digital distribution networks and mobile computing technologies, has the potential to revolutionize education.
In a recent meeting with senior strategists at Intel Corporation, they made it clear that “global extreme learning” and the challenges of its “massive scaling” have been on their radar for years. These articulate and seasoned technology strategists confessed that that they are struggling with defining the composition of extreme learning tools and the supportive ecosystem that must be developed for scaling global education. They also indicated that Learning 3.0 could be the missing link between two of Intel’s major initiatives: WiMAX for wireless broadband access and Atom microprocessors for next generation computing devices.
So what is Learning 3.0 and what technologies will shape its emergence and evolution? Consider: There are 455 WiMAX deployments underway in 135 countries covering over 430 million people and despite the slowing global economy, at least 100 more operators will deploy additional wireless networks this year. Atom chips are fueling the exploding market for low-cost, low-powered Netbooks, which will grow 66% this year to more than 27 million units and is expected to continue at breakneck rates.
Intel has committed $100 million annually for global education and has a huge footprint in Pakistan claiming to have trained 175,000 teachers in this nation with illiteracy exceeding half its population of 175 million – the 6th most populated country on the planet. Coincidentally, Pakistan possesses the first nationwide WiMAX network covering over 22 cities, making it ideal for showcasing how emerging market countries can leapfrog directly into next generation learning technologies.
Could extreme learning with new computing tools and digital distribution technologies assist and advance education in Pakistan? The recent announcement that a national curriculum will be approved in six months for introduction to the classrooms in 2010 may require a back-up strategy. Political risks and bureaucratic delays are inevitable and the costs and logistics for printing and distributing millions of traditional textbooks, vulnerable to obsolescence, are staggering.
According to USAID: “In Pakistan, the cost of teacher professional development is 25.5 times the cost of training a secondary school student. Producing low-grade teachers at such a high cost is a matter of concern”. It is estimated that there are about 1.4 million teachers in Pakistan, which must be doubled if universal education is to be achieved. Therefore, rather than continuing to incur “High Per Capita Cost for Low Grade Teachers”, with advanced and affordable streaming video technologies, lectures from top Pakistani teachers could be recorded for distribution over the Internet resulting in a quality education for millions of students.
WiMAX broadband connectivity to the Internet, coupled with Netbooks, would provide the infrastructure for producing and archiving quality video lectures for teacher professional development. This could serve as a scalable solution for augmenting education in Pakistan with access to the latest and best classroom practices and also provide a parallel back-up strategy.
Netbooks promise to debut this summer at $99 and at $10/school/month, all 25,000 public secondary schools in Pakistan could have access into a “Window on the World” with WiMAX/EDGE. At $3 million a year on a capital investment of about the same amount, this would be a pittance to pay for access to a global world of knowledge where traditional textbooks cannot compete. Furthermore, Learning 3.0 may provide the only opportunity to rapidly scale quality education for millions of Pakistanis wishing to compete in the 21st century global economy.
About the Author: Phil Cruver is President of KZO Education, a provider of comprehensive digital communications and training solutions for government and commercial clients. He is a serial entrepreneur, founder of three start-up companies, and has served as CEO of two public companies. Phil recently visited Pakistan and welcomes those who are interested in assisting education in Pakistan to join this Social Network.
Netbooks - low-cost laptop like devices with small hard disk – are one of the most popular item these days with millions sold in the last few months. Their popularity is for a good reason. Why buy an expensive laptop when a $300 mobile internet device can do most of the work? This is not so good for PC makers but a good trend for consumers, especially in developing economies such as Pakistan and for students and casual home users.
A typical netbook has a 7 inch screen, an Intel Atom or Via Nano processor, a solid state (flash) hard drive and a keyboard that’s 80-85% standard size. Most have Wifi and will work with the usb edge which is common in Pakistan. GPS is also available in some models. It makes sense for those people who use a computer for e-mail, surfing the web and for using online applications (google apps, social networking, media, blogs). Much of the data these days is stored online and all you need is to point to it, so large hard drives are not always needed. Also the trend of offline applications (gmail, calendar etc) is catching on – thereby giving you some flexibility when network is not available. When you are travelling the small size and light weight of a netbook is another useful aspect. However if are a power user, the small keyboard and display will be a strain. I think a netbook best suits a price-sensitive user who uses it for a few hours a day – and I know many such users.
Wired has an interesting article on the evolution of netbooks - that is how one laptop per child project paved the way for netbooks. Some people have doubts about the usefulness of netbooks and their “low power” but I think the cost and feature tradeoff is in favor of those who understand their usage pattern and preferences.
Achieving yet another milestone in the telecom industry of Pakistan, Ufone signs an agreement here with world renowned computer company Dell to offer the latest Dell Vostro Notebook experience bundled with Ufone’s high speed EDGE USB device through Unitech, Dell’s authorized dealer in Pakistan.
This exclusive collaboration between Ufone and Dell will not only let Dell customers experience the power of its latest notebook series but also enjoy one month of free speedy internet access through a free Ufone EDGE USB device – supported by a state-of-the-art EDGE network available in all major metropolitan cities of Pakistan.
Upon purchase of any Dell Vostro Series Notebook from any Unitech authorized dealer in Pakistan, buyer gets a Dell/Ufone cobranded voucher which when shown at any of the 22 Ufone Customer Service Centers will be verified via the new PTA 789 SIM activation initiative and the customer can get a FREE Ufone EDGE USB with a prepaid SIM, 6 months free warranty and one month free mobile internet access. Ufone provides 24/7 support services for all its products.
At Ufone, we have always worked with sheer commitment towards growth, reliability, innovation and customer satisfaction. This alliance with a leading computer company will enable us to provide high speed internet access to valued customers of Dell and Ufone – making sure they feel the absolute power of technology and communication.
Mr. Asher Yaqub Khan,
Chief Marketing Officer – Ufone
This cooperation between Dell and Ufone, will give freedom to our valued customers in accessing Internet connectivity anytime and anywhere. This powerful bundling will enhance productivity and give competitive to Dell users.
Mr. Andreas Diantoro,
the Regional Managing Directo – Dell
Via Sana News
As the world is entering an era of technology convergence, the wireless panorama is changing ‘fast and furious’. The recent convergence of the Internet and mobile radio has also accelerated the demand for “Internet in the pocket” on light, low-cost terminals, as well as for radio technologies that boost data throughput and reduce cost per bit. Mobile networks are now going multimedia, potentially leading to an explosion in throughput from a few bytes for the Short Message Service (SMS) to a few Kbits/s for the Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), to several 100 kbits/s for video content.
This trend to higher data rates over wireless networks will culminate in the introduction of Third Generation (3G) System UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System).
High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) technology is a cost-efficient upgrade to UMTS systems and promises to deliver performance comparable to today’s wireless LAN services, but with the added benefit of mobility and ubiquitous coverage.
Mobile operators who have invested heavy amounts in existing infrastructure will obviously show reluctance towards deployment of new 3G infrastructure. An extremely flexible expansion and migration strategy along the road to the 3G would be “soft” network evolution that does not render existing installations superfluous.
Investment risks are minimized and competitive positions strengthened through the gradual deployment of technology. Intelligently expanding existing infrastructures is often all it takes to be able to offer new forms of mobile data services in practice quickly and flexibly.
Basically four transmission systems play a role in the evolution from GSM to the Third mobile radio generation (3G), namely:
The chart below shows the evolution path.
The present network architecture stands on EDGE, it stands for Enhanced Data Rates for Global (instead of “Global”, originally: GSM) Evolution. Based on the GSM standard, EDGE permits faster data rates – and so is intermediate step from GSM technology toward UMTS.
UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunication System) is the name given to a totally new performance dimension in mobile radio. UMTS is the cornerstone of what is called the third mobile radio generation (3G) for voice and data communication, both packet and circuit-switched. UMTS employs separate frequency bands so is free from the bottlenecks of GSM systems.
Once UMTS is implemented, it would pave the path for HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access). HSDPA provides a smooth evolutionary path for the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) networks to higher data rates and higher capacities, in the same way as Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) does in the Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) world. HSDPA is primarily implemented in the Node B (identical to a BTS in a GSM network) and the RNC (Radio Network Controller, both are the entities oF UMTS RAN (Radio Access Network).
Eventually every UMTS market will see HSDPA deployments – the technology offers operators too much of an edge to be ignored.
Major advantages include:
HSDPA’s improved spectrum efficiency enables much faster downstream throughput – between network and terminal – than current UMTS technology. Although the theoretical maximum data transfer speed of HSDPA is 10- 14Mbps, the technology will deliver a 2 – 3Mbps downlink on average. Shared among users in an adequately covered area, this will provide each user with a 300K – 1Mbps downlink, i.e. comparable to current wireless LANs and domestic fixed line broadband.
HSDPA is an extremely cost-effective path to higher data rates and provides more efficient use of valuable spectrum. It enables operators to compete effectively in increasingly converged markets and satisfy the need for enhanced QoS and bandwidth-hungry services in an efficient and cost-effective manner.
References:
Ufone is little late to the USB mobile Internet game but it has come up with the best offer yet: The USB stick is Rs.6999 and you get first 6 months free. What will be the first year cost for the so called “unlimited” mobile Internet for different companies?
It is clear that after the initial investment on the USB and the promotional period, the monthly cost is not that different and therefore the connectivity and download speed should be the deciding factor.
Ufone UrEDGE works with both prepaid and postpaid and is available in many cities. Unlimited data download – which is 1.5GB per month for Ufone – is also available. Details at Ufone website. This will be a great option for those who waited for a better deal or those who don’t get good coverage for Zong or Telenor.
The first question is – what happens after 6 months? Here’s an example of the rate plan. I found the validity of 15 days to be annoying because if you do not use your volume it may be wasted. Note that it is Rs. 500 for 1.5GB package, also marketed as the Unlimited package. Complete packages & tariff details can be pulled by sending SMS ‘info’ to 800.
There’s not much feedback available about Ufone’s download speeds. If you are a user, please share your experience with others who can benefit from your feedback.
In an earlier post I presented some stats about the growth of mobile Internet based on the advertisements viewed from mobile phones in Pakistan. Additional data from last few months confirms that mobile web and mobile advertising audience in Pakistan are maturing and growing. This is impressive, given the difficult economic conditions and high taxation policies in Pakistan.
The analytics data from mKhoj, a mobile advertising company, shows that the number of impressions (views of advertisement) from Pakistan took an 80% jump in September and in the previous month, the impressions showed 300% growth. Pakistanis have always been big time fans of mobile games, ring tones and other fun downloads, a trend consistent with the mobile users worldwide. Now the public is moving from WAP suites to surfing the web and portals on mobiles. The unlimited data plans and EDGE service are contributors to this trend.
As I wrote a while ago, as long as the marketers follow an ethics guideline and provide relevant ads, the mobile advertising will take off and become mainstream.
Here is a summary of the trends which point to growth of mobile advertising:
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