With the rapid growth of technology, console gaming trends have also increased in the past few years. In recent years, only three consoles have emerged as market leaders i.e. PS3, XBOX and Wii. Well the true competitors here are just the XBOX and PS3 because Wii has totally a different market as its popularity is among a different class of gamers than that of PS3 and XBOX. Never the less in their launch year Wii was the market leader with sales of over 13 million units, while PS3 and XBOX were almost at par by a total sale of less than 6 million units, with XBOX having half a million more units sold than PS3 (wikipedia, intendo, Seattle Tech Report). The market of these consoles in Pakistan is somewhat different than the rest of the world, here most people prefer PS3 over any other console, however the games available for PS3 are very expensive (around Rs.3000 per game), so many users have abandoned PS3 for XBOX which is rather more affordable than PS3 at the moment.
In Pakistan, like the rest of the world, gaming is becoming ever more popular. Therefore many sites emerged to create a platform for various gamers to share their experiences; one of them was Pakgamers. The site has a lot to offer, starting from previews and reviews to on-line discussion forums, the host has managed to create and maintain a well developed site. Never the less the site does lack in a few areas, for instance, the search feature of the website is absolutely annoying with its user verifications every time one performs a search in the forums. But the site does offer a lot of great reviews and previews of games which are very detailed in most cases. The on-line minigames section (PG arcade) of the site is definitely a plus point and makes hanging around the site very enjoyable, also the website hosts a huge collection of images and wallpapers which surely adds a plus point to the site.
In connection with the MIT Business Acceleration Program for year 2008, G&W is doing a profiling of the finalists. After doing a couple of reviews, it’s time to look at the performance of Cybersoft North America. Cybersoft emerged as a leading IT company back in 1996 and has progressed ever since.
The company, with headquarters in the U.S and an offshore branch in Pakistan, is specialized in IT solutions and software development. Being a Microsoft partner, it provides software applications designed specifically for business environments such as accounts management applications, debt collection system and finance record applications. Also they have designed softwares to help law firms manage their lawsuits and legal proceeding records.
Cybersoft has also established its market in the software development industry for telecommunication softwares, manufacturing control and management wireless communication software solutions. Web site development and designing, using a number of contemporary tools, is another task they perform. However, the company’s own website is a drag and highly unattractive thus it is bound to give a negative impression of the company. The user is also not provided the necessary information on the portal and needs to contact the company personally for information that should have been available right on the website.
The company has seen its highs and lows but its continuing with a steady approach. To make things better, Business Acceleration Program will prove to be useful and would take the company to the next level, that is if it gets selected for the program.
Explore.pk is an online portal which provides an opportunity to advertise products. The users have a wide range of categories to choose from such as cell phones, cars, motorbikes, tourism and accommodation to scholarships, books, furniture, clothes and dresses, cosmetics, computers and electronic appliances.
The portal has gone one step ahead by offering a database of videos, ‘celebrity pics’ and SMS specimens – maybe to attract a ‘large’ number of traffic. The videos are embedded from YouTube and therefore comes under the copyrights infringement category.
The portal has got a reasonable activity. One can sign up for free and post adverts about any sellable item. As the contact information is given in the ads, I don’t see any tracks of buyers activity on the Web site. Coming to the appearance and outlook, it looks too cramped and run-of-the-mill to me. Small fonts with no proper links and GUI makes the browsing really a strain to your eyes.
Pakistan has seen a rapid growth in auction portals like Bolee, Nilaam and Lootmaar. Explore.pk, however, is different from them as it simply displays ads for the items. In Pakistani context, this looks better as even on auction sites we don’t see a lot of activity and users mostly prefer to contact directly (contact numbers are present in most of the cases). The RSS feed and blog of Lootmaar sets it apart a little, though.
Explore.pk runs on google ads and I don’t see any intentions of the owners to build it up for business like the above mentioned portals. If the owners can improve the outlook and add more features like proper categories and detailed profiles – and a business plan- then the portal can be a success.
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