Babar Ahmeds Mindstorm Studios created Cricket Revolution the first PC game produced by a Pakistani gaming outfit to sell

l in retail stores internationally and recently launched the official game of the ICC WorldCup 2011. Brothers Rizwan and Irfan Virks GameView Studios created the successful Tap franchise, which was recently acquired by Japanese social gaming giant DeNA. Hasan Rizvis Pepper.PK made history by developing two top-ranking paid BlackBerry applications at BlackBerrys AppWorld store. Murad Akhtar left Stanford and Silicon Valley to form Tintash, dedicated to creating innovative casual games designed for the iPhone, iPad, and Android platforms. Umair Javed of TkXeL prides himself in creating not one but two 100% "Made in Pakistan" mobile applications and gaming companies from a university lab in Lahore. Pakistans mobile, gaming, and animation scene is increasingly a hotbed of a new generation of exciting entrepreneurs seeking their fair share in the riches and prosperity of a new age of infotainment, and in the process of proving a point to the rest of the world.

POWERING THE WORLD OF

INFOTAINMENT
A Snapshot of Pakistan's Mobile, Gaming, & Animation Industry

"Aristotle said, 'Quality cannot be an act, it's a habit'. After many years and many projects I've come to continually realize for this to be true with Sharp Image" - Director, Dream Team Films COMPANIES PROFILED IN THIS BROCHURE
MINDSTORM STUDIOS--------------------------------- P1 GAMEVIEW STUDIOS------------------------------------ P1 PEPPER.PK----------------------------------------------- P1 T I N TA S H - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - P 1 T K X E L- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - P 1 GENITEAM----------------------------------------------- P4 FOLIO3--------------------------------------------------- P5 SMONTE TECHNOLOGIES------------------------------ P5 POST AMAZERS----------------------------------------- P6 SHARP IMAGE------------------------------------------- P6 S M S - A L L- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - P 7 AKN MTECH (M3 TECH)-------------------------------- P7 CONVERGE TECHNOLOGIES--------------------------- P7 VA H ZAY- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - T 1 E VA M P & S A A N G A - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - T 1 MOOBILA------------------------------------------------- T1 OTHERS: P A K I S TA N S O F T WA R E E X P O R T B O A R D - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - P 2 P A K I S TA N T E L E C O M M U N I C AT I O N S A U T H O R I T Y- - - - P 2 P A K I S TA N S O F T WA R E H O U S E S A S S O C I AT I O N - - - - - - - P 8 G A M E D E V E L O P E R S G R O U P O F P A K I S TA N - - - - - - - - - - - P 8
Yet, this new generation of entrepreneurs is only part of a larger group of global entrepreneurs riding upon and creating a new wave of innovation and entrepreneurship.

A piece of the global action

Pakistans mobile, gaming, and animation industry not unlike many of its peers has ridden the new media revolution of the twenty-first century driven by three defining events: the launch of Toy Story by Pixar in 1996 and the coming of age of the digital entertainment and animation industry; the launch of Facebook in 2004, and the social networking bonanza that ensued; and the launch, in 2007, of the iPhone, which has since sold over 100 million devices pushing to mainstream the smart mobile devices industry. Pakistans IT and software industry is now a relatively well-established tier-2 player (behind India, China, and Russia) in the global IT industry. With over $2 billion of overall IT market size and more than $750 million in exports1 the industry has come a long way, and has been gradually coalescing around a fast developing ecosystem designed to deliver quality and innovation. The recent downturn in the global IT and software industry has further focussed energies on the new and emerging sub-sectors such as mobile, gaming, and animation whose growth has remained largely unaffected by the worldwide recession. A 2010 Study by the Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) the Government entity responsible for supporting and promoting exports of IT and software from the country hailed Mobile, Gaming, and Animation (MGA) as the most exciting change sweeping across Pakistans IT industry. A number of global and local factors contribute to this trend, the most important of which is Pakistan being home to one of the largest mobile subscriber bases in the developing world if not globally. As per the latest indictors published by the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA), there are more than 97.3 million mobile subscribers in Pakistan a figure that translates to more than 59% of the countrys population, and over 100% of all qualified potential subscribers (excluding people too young to own a mobile device). Although, the penetration

02

of smart phones is considerably less (around 1%) it is growing. The falling prices of smart mobile devices, and better access to wireless Internet and broadband is likely to only hasten the trend. Another important factor in the growth of the MGA industry in the country is a critical mass of well-qualified and quite adaptable technical and creative talent, and a fast growing supply of entrepreneurs with strong linkages to key markets either directly or through diaspora networks in the United States, United Kingdom and Asia. Many of these critical capabilities have been amply displayed in the early successes of Pakistans leading players in MGA industry.There is an increasing appreciation that cross-disciplinary 'left brain - right brain' collaborations is critical to excellence in this area," says Zia Imran, the Managing Director of Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB). Zia is pushing hard for greater collaboration between engineering and art schools in the country. Unlike the DotCom and the Y2K opportunities, where Pakistans IT and software industry lost out on the first movers advantage, the opportunities presented in the mobile, gaming, and animation space are ones where Pakistan has been quite well-positioned to take advantage. The relatively short life-span of the opportunity necessitates that history will not be much of an advantage. Technological novelty puts a premium on the COMPANIES DOMAINS & SPECIALISATIONS

ability to quickly learn and adapt, and the real advantage comes from creativity and innovativeness. Thats where this new generation of entrepreneurs is placing its bets. A sizeable number of companies have cropped up to take advantage of the opportunities presented in this exciting space, and more are coming up almost every day. Some of the more salient ones focusing on a range of domains and platforms are depicted in Table-1.

Enter the world of mobile applications and gaming

One of Pakistan's first - and certainly the most successful - company to jump on this bandwagon was CambridgeDocs (whose mobile gaming division, GameView Studios Inc., has since been spun-off and acquired by Japanese gaming giant DeNA). Starting in 2005, GameView Studios Inc. created the successful Tap franchise, whose flagship TapFish has had 10 million+ downloads on the Apple Appstore or iTunes. The recently launched Tap Jurassic - the newest in this series - allows players to build and manage their very own dinosaur-inhabited theme parks, complete with Tyrannosaurus Rex, Triceratops, Pterodactyls and over 40 other prehistoric animals. In its first 10 days since launch, Tap Jurassic clocked more than 1 million users, 6 million play sessions, and an average 3 logins per player per day.2 We are thrilled with the success and longevity of the whole Tap Fish franchise, says Riz Virk, co-founder of GameView Studios. Our goal has always been to build really high-quality sticky social games. One reason for the success of Tap Fish is that people think of these fish as their pets, enjoy caring for their fish, watching them grow, and showing them off to their friends.

PLATFORMS

GameView Studios Mindstorm Studios SharpImage TkXel Tintash GenITeam Folio3 Converge Technologies SMS-all Vahzay
Smonte

Pepper.PK Evamp & Saanga Moobila

Social Games PC Games, Mobile Games, Architecture and Exterior Visualisation Services Advertising, 2D and 3D Character Animation, 3D Asset Development, Visualisation Services Mobile and social games, social media and infotainment applications, enterprise dashboards Casual Games, Utility Applications Social Games, Business Applications, Educational Games Sports Games, Virtual Worlds, Casual Games, Enterprise mobile apps Traditional digital content for multiple mobile and web platforms, multichannel activation campaigns Group SMS based networking, information sharing, and advertising platform Enterprise Software, mobile games and applications, web, and social media Games, Embedded systems, VOIP, Infotainment, productivity, and Digital mapping Games, productivity, and infotainment applications Mobile, system integration and application development for telecoms, web and voice content Mobile applications and games, cloud computing

iPhone and Android PC, iPhone, iPad, Android TV, DVD, Cable iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Palm, Facebook, Titanium iPhone, iPad, Android, Facebook iPhone and Android Flash, Facebook, Android, iPhone, iPad,, and HTML5 Mobile, Digital Kiosks, IVR, Web Mobile SMS iOS (iPhone and iPad), Android, Facebook, and Web Apple, Android, Blackberry, Win Mobile, Symbian, Palm, Bada, J2ME, Java TV BlackBerry, iOs, Android, Windows Phone 7, Symbian, BADA Linux, Windows iPhone / iPad, Android, Windows Phone
Source: Technomics' Compilation

"Tintash took my idea from a plan on paper to finished app in 3 weeks! They were with me every step of the way, working together to make a great product. They are clearly experts in their field and I highly recommend them!" - Co-Founder, Seremeres Games

Table-1: Specialisation and Capabilities of Industry's leading players

03

COMPANY

GAMES FRANCHISES AND INFOTAINMENT

ACCOLADES

GameView Studios Mindstorm Studios

Tap Series: TapFish, TapRanch, TapMall, TapJurassic Cricket Revolution and Cricket Power Whacksey Taxi

TapFish grossed 10 million+ downloads since launch 1 year ago Pakistans first PC Game sold internationally ICC World Cup 2011s official Cricket Game Number 1 iPhone game in 40 countries 2 million+ downloads since launch 2 years ago 750K+ downloads since launch 8 months ago Ranked 2nd in paid games in Australia and top10 inUK.
th Top paid App for Android in Q1 2010, Ranked 7 in Google Global Android Developer Challenge 2009

Table-3: TOP GENRES OF GAMES PLAYES ON SMART MOBILE DEVICES FOR 3 MONTHS ENDING FEB 2010 US MARKET

Total Audience: 13+ yrs old Arcade Puzzle Card Word or number Casino Retro Arcade Board Quiz Strategy Sports Racing

100.0 12.9 11.9 11.4 7.6 6.3 5.4 3.9 3.7 3.3 3.0 2.5 2.3 2.0 1.3
Source: Comsource Mobilens

Tintash

Fishing Frenzy Doodle Toss Stick Cricket Seven Wonders, Wordlists, Nitwit Test GangWars Family Builder, Brain Twister Secret Builders SoccerWorld and Ice Hockey Hunting Genre (4 games) WW2 Beachhead Fighterpedia Brief Room

GenITeam Folio3

Over 2 million active and premium users worldwide 1.5 million+ downloads, Top30 paid game on iStore. Top3 paid simulation game. Top-100 Reference App. Top20 in News Category on Apple App store Both products were best selling paid Blackberry Apps worldwide with Photo Editor grossing 2 million+ downloads

TkXeL

Pepper.PK

Photo Editor, LED Notifier Cricket World Championship 20, Skitrix, Battle Olympus iPicEd MotionSnaps, MediaSlates

Action/adventure Music/Rhythm

Moobila

Consistently among top 50 paid applications in photography category

Source: Technomics' Compilation

First person Shooter Other

Table-2: Signature Game Francishes and Infotainment titles of Industyr's trailblazers

While GameView Studios has been somewhat of a trend-setter for the industry, and has had considerable success in transforming the stickyness of its games into financial returns for the company, others are fast catching up as well. TinTash a developer of casual games for the iPhone, iPad, and BlackBerry devices has had a fair bit of success with Fishing Frenzy (2 million+ downloads) as have TkXeL with its franchise of hunting games (1.5 million+ downloads), and GenITeam with GangWars (top paid app for Android in Q1 2010). Not unlike GameView Studios, many of these companies began operations as software services and outsourcing companies, developing games on spec for some of the well-known game publishers and brands from around the world, such as GameZebo, Digital Chocolate, BBC, MTV, Barclays, NBC Universal, Verizon, and PlayFirst, etc. and have only gradually begun to make their transitions from services to products companies. TkXeL, for example, boasts more than 200 mobile game titles since its inception, and 20+ Top-100 credentials for a variety of clients. Increasingly

These companies are now developing their own titles across a range of popular genres, and successfully publishing them. The key, says Murad Akhtar of TinTash, is to get the right approach and balance for monetisation ultimately through experimenting with user behaviour and psychology and pricing strategies. This is something a lot of people around the world are thinking about and experimenting with right now and Pakistani companies are not far behind. A few Pakistani companies have figured out the puzzle of monetisation and we are all learning from these closer-to-home experiences. There seems to be a general feeling within the industry that 2011 will be the year of successful monetisation for a number of Pakistani mobile gaming companies. Pakistan presents an excellent value proposition for mobile game development. It costs about $15-25K to develop a decent game on a mobile device in Pakistan, which is broadly in line with India and somewhat cheaper than Central Europe.

The cost for doing the same in the United States is an order of magnitude higher. It is, therefore, possible for a small start-up of 10-12 people with a burn rate of $250K a year to develop 15-20 games per year a number good enough to turn up at least one (perhaps two) winner(s) in the course of a year. As more and more companies make their mark, critical skills such as product development, product life-cycle management, publishing, and monetisation will develop and mature within the industry. Creating your own product, says Umair Javed of TkXeL, is not an easy job. You have to re-write the DNA of the entire services company. Only now, after much hard work,do we believe that we are in a position to balance the two within our company.

04

As a clear sign of maturity, this transition is now taking place across the industry. A lot needs to happen, however, before they become household names in the global mobile marketplace, but the potential and promise is apparent and well-established. Games are not the only avenue on the mobile platform that Pakistani companies are focussing on. A number of players have seriously looked at the broader educational and infotainment markets. Folio3 judged as one of the Harvard Business Schools All-World Fast Growth 500 companies

Pepper.PK, another noteworthy company, has developed two top-selling applications including a photo editing suite across all categories and geographies on Blackberry AppWorld. Mahe Zehra, the Director of Marketing for Pepper.PK, noted that "Pepper's success on the world stage with two World #1 BlackBerry apps shows that the level of product quality and competitiveness in Pakistan is truly second to none." Other companies are taking more unconventional risks. Smonte Technologies, for instance, focuses on the niche market of embedded

First forays into PC games

In 2009, Lahore-based Mindstorm Studios created Pakistans first internationally-retailed PC game. Cricket Revolution is quite remarkable in its attention to detail, a rich team selection, multi-player mode, realistic action, and a variety of controls to make gameplay incredibly interesting. Equally remarkable, however, is the story of how its founder, Babar Ahmed and Mindstorm Studios team of developers, illustrators, designers, and artists, with no prior experience or expertise in game development, pulled out a rabbit from the proverbial hat. Not only did the Mindstorm team self-teach itself the challenges and intricacies of designing a PC game but also, unable to afford a modern $200K motion capture studio, built its own by extending capabilities of low-cost devices and software to achieve world-class motion-capture quality. Since then, Mindstorm has offered to make this device available for other game designers in the country to use. Building up on its success with Cricket Revolution, Mindstorm recently launched Cricket Power the official online game of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011. Cricket Power is the most advanced 3D browser cricket game developed to date. It features all 14 teams along with official players, stadiums and kits, and is played directly in the browser. The game is powered by a superior cricket engine at its core, coupled with a pick-upand-play interface to appeal to casual and core gamers alike 3. Babar Ahmed is very passionate about the potential of game development in Pakistan. He believes that local game developers face a significantly greater task than their peers in more developed markets because of deficiencies in the overall ecosystem, and that the companies must learn to tap into, and work with other elements of the gaming value chain that exist outside the country. The closer we go towards the consumer, the less expertise we have in new entrant countries like Pakistan, such as in the critical steps of publishing and monetisation. This, he believes, will come with experience.

Game Development Company Game Publisher

Outsourced Developer (may be used) Investor may partially fund Typical Costs: from $5 - 10mn to 50 mn

Figure-1: The PC console Game Development Process and Value Chain

Source: Technomics International (Adapted from Mindstorm Studio)

in 2010 has some interesting products in its portfolio. Folio3 has been instrumental in creating an online educational platform for SecretBuilders a company with its roots in the Pakistani diaspora in the Silicon Valley which boasts a virtual world for children 5 to 14 years old powered by a Web 2.0 community of children, parents, educators, writers, artists and game developers. On SecretBuilders, children can explore virtual lands, undertake quests, play games, maintain a home, nurture a pet, and interact with their friends.

systems integration with mobile devices. Smonte's clients ship their hardware to Pakistan for software integration with a variety of platforms. Smonte integrated an engine/throttle device for a Formula One race car with an iPhone /iPad that its engineers and technicians could use to monitor the progress of the car in real-time. Smonte recently worked on digital mapping systems for iPhone/Android for a client in the UK implementing complex algorithms to produce real-time maps used by a UK, Government entity.

Fresh from a gruelling launch of Cricket Power, Mindstorm is currently focusing on the iOS platform. Weve done a first in Pakistans history. Despite no prior experience, we took up the challenge and de-mystified PC game development for ourselves. We will put this expertise within an appropriate vehicle within Pakistan and now want to focus our energies towards the relatively low-tech but high-impact mobile platform, says Babar. Mindstorm Studios hopes to launch at least one iPhone title every quarter in 2011.

including Mexico and China, among others. Sharp Image is another leading player in the industry, providing a range of animation services, including advertising, character animation, 3D asset development, and visual effects services such as architectural and medical visualisation, etc. More recently, Sharp Image has moved to a greater focus towards its own intellectual property and character development and has launched branded content such as M i l k a t e e r (for TetraPak) and C O C O M O (for a TV short) both winning international awards and recognition. The company has also been the first to develop Arabic characters such as g u l g u l (a camel). Over the years, Sharp Image has established a reputation for producing quality creative content, and has developed its own Animation Academy to train new talent. A qualification from Sharp Images Academy is becoming a seal of approval for professional training sought by other players within the industry. Sharp Image hopes to considerably expand this facility to be able to train more widely for its own and the industrys needs. And, with several years of experience to its credit, Sharp Image is ready to take on bigger challenges. The key to ultimate success, however, says Tahir Moosa, the co-CEO of Sharp Image, is finance. Over the years, we have developed the capability to handle projects of any amount of complexity and technical sophistication, and we have delivered quality with consistency. Developing high-quality 3D content requires considerable investment in human capital and equipment. It takes about 100-150 people working over 18 months to develop 26 episodes of 22-minutes each for a season. This amounts to an investment of $5-8 million per series.

"GenITeam helped us develop a product that helped us attain market leadership in the mobile educational category. Our customers, senior management and investors are extremely happy with GenITeam's professionalism." - Watermelon Express
animation industry is also well-positioned to capitalise on the Arabic language Gulf, Middle Eastern, and North African market opportunities.

Mobile Nation The unfulfilled promise of the domestic market

While Pakistani companies have made significant inroads into the global mobile applications and gaming market, their exploits on the domestic front despite significant mobile penetration have been quite limited. This is explained by considerably less domestic market penetration of smart phones, lesser purchasing power of consumers, and low levels of literacy in the society. At just over US$ 2.5 (estimated in 2010), the Average Revenue Per [mobile] User (ARPU) in Pakistan is one of the lowest in the world and is declining4 although penetration continues to increase, hitting 79% in 2010. In 2009, Pakistan ranked fourth in the world, behind the Philippines, the United States, and the United Kingdom in terms of SMS traffic5. According to a report released recently by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), Pakistanis sent 151.6 billion messages in the calendar year 2009.6 These numbers represent both a set of challenges and an opportunity for mobile software and application designers focused on the domestic market. In the short to medium term (2-5 years), perhaps, the market will continue to focus on trying to get more value addition from the non-smart phone subscriber base. This will be a challenging undertaking, as the largest mobile telecommunications providers compete in an internecine price war, in which the happily-switching consumer has been the major beneficiary.

CGI movies and animation: Building upon a culture of story telling

Computer Generated Imagery (CGI) and animation is another emerging area of considerable promise in Pakistan. Post Amazers a venture-funded company created in 2002 was one of the pioneers in this relatively small yet upcoming genre in the country. In its heyday, it provided creative services from concept to execution, including art direction, broadcast design, 3D animation, post-production, sound design, etc. Its work has featured in titles such as 'Son of the Mask' and 'Exorcist: The Beginning' and was quite successful in creating several pieces of branded intellectual property, such as the now famous 'Commander Safeguard' for Unilever, which featured in the first Pakistani 3D animated educational series focused on health and hygiene4 and was later adapted in a number of countries,

Industry insiders suggest that a 22-minute episode of 3D animated content that costs $360K to develop in the US can be produced for $90K in India and around $75K in Pakistan. Increasingly and despite the labour arbitrage advantages in relatively low-cost countries even major international studios demand cost and revenue sharing models as conditions for working with animation facilities oversees. Sharp Image seeks to embark upon a major effort to bring in the financial investment necessary to enhance the profile of its work. In creating a CGI and animation industry, Pakistan can build upon its rich local tradition of story telling. There are also considerable opportunities for locally-developed content drawing from this tradition (mythical tales and characters such as Dastan-e-Ameer Hamza, Beer Bul, Alif Laila,

and Umro Ayyar, etc.) that can be designed for the local market. Due
to the its religious, cultural, and linguistic proximity, Pakistans CGI and

The v a l u e in Value-Added Service (VAS) offerings of these telcos has largely been in the form of ringtones, songs, mobile alerts, etc. Up until now, the telecommunications infrastructure has been unable to support mobile TV and other forms of live-streaming content. In the very short run, says Umar Saif, SMS is the key to riches in the domestic market. The potential of something as simple as an SMS has not been fully realised in the domestic market. Umar is a Professor of Computer Science at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) and the CEO of SMS-all (formerly known as ChOpal.pk) a group text messaging service that has sent more than 3 billion SMS so far. SMSall buys SMS in bulk from leading telcos and provides its 2 million plus subscribers the opportunity to communicate with self-defined groups through this medium. A mobile version of eGroups that offers a greater range of possibilities than Twitter, SMS-all has been fairly successful in developing traction. The key challenge, says COO Idrees Butt, is guiding and managing the networks and monetising the interactions that we have generated. The company has had a fair bit of initial success in the advertising and corporate realms. A small number of companies that have made inroads into this market, however, seem to have done fairly well. Perhaps the first company to provide value-added services to the domestic mobile subscriber base was AKN Messaging Technologies (AKN MTECH) a TMT Ventures company listed on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (KLSE) that launched the first SMS-based secure mobile payment system in Pakistan in 20047. AKN Messaging Technologies now known as M3 Tech has also acquired licensing rights to Asias largest mobile content library (comprised of Pakistani Urdu and regional languages Bollywood, Western, Arabic, Malay, Chinese and Thai content). Another industry player, Converge Technologies has done well in developing platforms mobile, IVR, RIA, and interactive digital kiosks and content across a range of Pakistani, Bollywood, lifestyle, and devotional themes, and has since served all major telcos in the country. Converge has also developed proprietary content serving platforms (C-Serve) with specialist modules to connect and serve different digital channels.

"The Folio3 team has consistently exceeded our expectations. It felt as if we were working with an onshore team. It was their ability to understand our needs and keep us engaged throughout the entire process that has resulted in an exceptional product and a valued partner." - Product Manager TRUETRAC
Increasingly, though, a more discerning consumer is emerging, and is demanding greater variety, capability, and quality in value-added services available to the domestic market. Adnan Lawai, the founder of Folio3, believes that this class of consumers although limited in numbers will have the purchasing power equivalent to any similar consumer segment in some of the more developed small-sized economies, such as the Eastern European countries of Poland or Hungary. We need to forget about the 60-70 million figure and focus our energies on creating content and applications for the 2-3 million target market. If we can somehow know the needs and preferences of this market better and sell to them, well probably do as well as any small-sized European or Middle Eastern country, he says. While these alluring possibilities are just around the horizon, in the short-to-medium run, the domestic market is somewhat restricted by a number of constraints. It will not remain like this forever. Some telcos are already playing with the idea of VAS, although their success in attracting talented programmers and applications designers has been limited by what they are willing to share. One of the leading telcos is planning the launch of its very own app store. Bigger changes will require a paradigm shift in their thinking to appreciate the markets potential. This, then, is an opportunity for a visionary investor with somewhat deeper pockets to advance into the fastest growing mobile markets in the world.

The party you dont want to miss

Pakistans mobile, gaming, and animation industry presents the picture of a new frontier for the immense creative energies and aspirations of this nations hundreds of thousands if not millions of talented youth. Like most frontier endeavours, it offers substantial returns in exchange for some risks. Increasingly, the mobile opportunity is being seen by Government planners and industry leaders as something that the country can ill-afford to miss out on. At a recent event at the countrys leading art school, Zia Imran the Managing Director of Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) and the Chief Marketing Officer for Pakistans IT industry talked about the need to take a plunge in this exciting new world of possibilities, of breaking old moulds and doing the extraordinary. He urged young art students to shun their dreams of cosy jobs in creative departments of multinational brand agencies and take the road less travelled. PSEB is planning an

Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB)

2nd Floor, Evacuee Trust Complex Aga Khan Road, F-5, Islamabad, Pakistan Telephone: +92-51-111333666 and +92-51-9204074 Email: MKT@pseb.org.pk PSEB is the apex body created by the Government of Pakistan (GOP) within the Ministry of IT and Telecom (MOITT) and charged with promoting Pakistan's exports from IT and IT-enabled Services (ITES) industry. PSEB does this by hosting and supporting foreign delegations to conferences and events, match-making and networking of Pakistani companies with foreign partners and clients, and supporting international marketing and image-building activities. To learn more about Pakistan's IT Industry, please visit the IT Industry Portal at http://www.IT.org.pk

Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA)

Suite 310, Business Centre Block 6, PECHS, Karachi, Pakistan Tel: +92 21 3541 8121 & +92 21 3430 4796 Contact: Jehan Ara, President Email: president@pasha.org.pk P@SHA is the representative association for Pakistans IT and IT-enabled services industry. It is a platform for promoting, protecting and developing the software industry in Pakistan. It provides a focal point of representation to a variety of outside agencies find ways to tackle issues confronting member companies, and provides advocacy for the advancement of Pakistans IT industry. To learn more about Pakistans IT Industry, please visit P@SHAs website at http://www.pasha.org.pk

incubation b o o t c a m p that will expect its attendees to develop and market a mobile application or game within a six-month time-frame. Other government agencies and industry bodies, such as the Game Developers Group of Pakistan (GDGP) and Pakistan Software Houses Association of the IT and ITES Companies (P@SHA) are similarly paying attention. Jehan Ara, the President of Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA) sees promise in the magical world of digital media and entertainment. When I look at the kind of work that startups in the mobile, gaming and animation space in Pakistan have been able to produce despite immense challenges, it excites me and re-affirms that we are indeed on the verge of a major surge into an exciting new world of opportunity. Fortunately, Pakistan has no shortage of young people. Some have already embarked on this journey. They are well on their way. All we have to do now is provide them with the ecosystem and the support network that they need to flourish, to scale and to grow into global companies, she says. Mobile applications, gaming, and animation provide exciting opportunities for the country, says Zia Imran of Pakistan Software Export Board. If you want to change the world, we are throwing a party. That party starts today.

References
1.PSEB, 2010, Pakistan IT Market Study 2010, Pakistan Software Export Board, Islamabad 2.GameView Studios Official Blog: http://gameviewstudios.blogspot.com/ 3.http://pasha.org.pk/mindstorm-studios-develops-official-game-for-iccscricket-world-cup-2011/ 4.Research and Markets forecast quoted at http://telecompk.net/2008/11/08/forecast-of-lower-arpu-higherpenetration-for-pakistan-mobile-industry/ 5. http://tribune.com.pk/story/103597/much-to-say-the-textrepublic-of-pakistan/ 6.http://tribune.com.pk/story/105395/text-messages-prime-source-ofrevenue-for-cellular-operators/ 7.http://telecompk.net/2009/08/12/sms-mobile-payment-pk/

Technomics International
93 Century Court Woking, GU21 6DR United Kingdom Telephone: +44 1483 901916 | Fax: +44 1483 901925 Email: fp@technomics-international.com Technomics International is a boutique strategy, policy, and media advisory company. Technomics Media's Brand Intellect Services provide a unique approach to creating differential brand identities for national, regional, and sectoral clients. Brand Intellect delivers bespoke brand marketing campaigns based on strategic thought leadership and specialist marketing collateral.

Disclaimer
This document is prepared by Technomics Internationals Brand Intellect Service for Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB). It provides factual assessment and b e s t j u d g e m e n t analysis of an emerging, dynamic, and fast changing industry. It is not intended as a sole means of advice for making investment decisions and neither PSEB nor its Consultant assumes any responsibility for the same.

The party has just gotten underway and it is OPEN TO ALL both inside and outside the country