Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Deploying a Windows Phone 7 (WP7) app on a phone without using windows phone marketplace

During the development of an application it is mostly required at a certain point to test the application in question, on the target platform. Since, this is most certainly desirable before the app is published to the marketplace, it needs to be deployed without using windows market place.

Here is how it can be done in 4 simple steps:

1. .XAP file which is produced as a result of the build and should be available in Bin/Debug or Bin/Release (we used Visual Studio 2010 to build our app) [1]

2. Install Windows Phone Developer Tools

3. Install Zune Client Software

4. Register the device using the Windows Phone Developer Registration Tool that is included in the Windows Phone Developer Tools. [2]

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Conference on Corporate Innovation & Entrepreneurship 2010

Dear All,


Please Join us at the CCIE ‘10 – Conference on Corporate Innovation & Entrepreneurship 2010 and Finals of BAP-2010 on 11th December 2010 at Pearl Continental Hotel, Karachi. We would also request that you forward this invitation to to your email list and post it on your blogs/websites.


Dr. Zahir Ali Syed
Co-Chair MITEFP




CCIE ‘10 – Conference on Corporate Innovation & Entrepreneurship 2010

Fostering Innovation in The Pakistan Entrepreneurial Ecosystem

December 11th, 2010 | Pearl Continental Hotel, Karachi | 09:00 am to 06:00 pm

Overview

For Pakistan to scale the ladder of development and be counted among the developed nations, it is vital that it has a thriving Entrepreneurial Eco-system. We at MIT Enterprise Forum of Pakistan (MITEFP: http://www.mitef-pakistan.org), over the past four years, have been working towards building this eco-system on a brick by brick basis. One of the activities towards this aim that we have been undertaking, for the past four years, is the Business Acceleration Plan (BAP) competition. Last year we expanded the scope of this activity by organizing a Conference on Corporate Innovation & Entrepreneurship (CCIE-2009) along with the competition. We are continuing this trend this year also and are organizing CCIE-2010 along with BAP -2010.



MITEFP is working with OPEN (Organization of Pakistani Entrepreneurs of North America) and Terrabiz for conducting the History Making MITEFP-OPEN Business Acceleration Program BAP-2010 & CCIE 2010. We are being provided guidance and leadership by Mr. Ken Morse, Founding MD, MIT Entrepreneurship Center & Mr. Bill Aulet, MD, MIT Entrepreneurship Center and Mr. Imran Sayeed, Chairman OPEN Global. We are also being supported by a number of other organizations.

MITEFP-OPEN BAP now in its fourth year has become one of the best programs of its kind in the world (as declared by Mr. Ken Morse, Founding MD, MIT Entrepreneurship Center). This history making initiative has the potential of having significant impact on the economic growth of Pakistan. The participating teams have reported that they benefited tremendously from participating in BAP-2007, BAP-2008 and BAP-2009. Similarly, CCIE-2009 Conference on Corporate Innovation & Entrepreneurship (CCIE 2009) was a huge success and now we are holding the second conference CCIE-2010 along with the fourth BAP.

Topics to be discussed:

· Culture of Creativity, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship

· Inevitable Journey: Trend-setting Enterprises journey from mid to large size

· Entrepreneurship & Incubation Centers and Entrepreneurship Education

· Fostering Innovation in The Pakistan Entrepreneurial Ecosystem

· Passing on the Baton: How Pakistani family businesses are Increasingly relying on professional managers to scale-up and modernize their businesses

C o n f e r e n c e S p o t l I g h t



Kenneth P. Morse, Founding Managing Director, MIT Entrepreneurship Center


Dr. Ishrat Husain, Dean & Director, Institute of Business

Administration


Hussain Dawood, Chairman, Karachi Education Initiative,

Engro Corp & The Dawood Group



Prof. Dr. S. Sohail H. Naqvi
, Executive Director, Higher Education Commission


Imran Sayeed, Vice President, Keane, USA


Carlos Cashman, CEO, Constellation Inc.


Other Confirmed Judges, Speakers and Panelists:

Aftab Tapal, Owner & CEO, Tapal Tea (Private) Limited

Ali Jameel, CEO, Trakker Group

Ali Jehangir Siddiqui, Managing Partner, JS Private Equity

Aziz Memon, Chairman, Kings Group

Rear Amiral (R) M. Mushtaq, Pro-Rector Innovation & Entrepreneurship, NUST

Mohammad Sajid, Partner, JS Private Equity

Monis Rahman, Chairman & CEO, Naseeb Networks

Osman Saifullah, CEO, Saif Textile

Samad Dawood, CEO, Dawood Group

Scott Briggs, COO, Constellation

Seema Aziz, CEO, CARE and Bareeze

Sohail Naqvi, Exective Director, HEC

Zafar Khan, CEO, Sofizar

Zafar Siddiqui, Director, IBA-CED


“Showcasing Research at Pakistani Universities that are ready for Commercialization”

Session Chair:

Dr. Sohail Naqvi – Executive Director, HEC


Registration Fee:
Rs. 6,000/- per participant


Discounts for 2 or more participants from

the same organization with increasing discount % as participants increase

Includes Lunch, Refreshments and Business Networking & MITEFP Certificate, signed by

Kenneth P. Morse

TO REGISTER CONTACT:

TERRABIZ

Mohammed Phaysal

E-mail: phaysal@terrabizgroup.com

register@terrabizgroup.com

Mobile: +92 300 213 38 49 & +92 345 303 7045

Fax: +92 21 3455 7264

Phones: +92 21 3455 8539 & 3455 0431

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Startup Sunday @ T2F

Startup Sunday @ T2F (Karachi)
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/event.php?eid=127561320638546
If one does not use facebook, you can find the event here:
http://www.t2f.biz/category/events/

Thursday, July 15, 2010

MIT Enterprise Forum, Pakistan - Business Acceleration Program 2010

MIT Enterprise Forum, Pakistan - Business Acceleration Program 2010

The program is in its 4th year. The introductory sessions are already over. Nonetheless, one can still apply if one qualifies.

The success story which they often refer to is that of Sofizar (a Lahore based software company), whose revenues before the program were USD 800 K in 2007 and were USD 30 M in 2009.

Monday, June 28, 2010

Launchpad by P@SHA in Karachi on 27 June 2010

I attended the launchpad event arranged by P@SHA, yesterday. PSEB and Microsoft were two of the main sponsors.

P@SHA and PSEB are displaying the sort of public private partnership that we need in many other strata of our society. It is heartening to see that events for the promotion of entrepreneurship are taking place in Pakistan. We at RIKSOF, believe that entrepreneurs are an essential asset to society, as they cause creative destruction of its status quo. Even more encouraging was the fact that most of the presentations were either from final year students or fresh out of college grads. And keeping in mind the limitations of startups, P@SHA had arranged one in Lahore on Saturday too.

Without keeping you too bogged down in the spiral of my thoughts, following is the list of presented:

1. Arzi Rehaish - In comparison to bastee.pk and other such real-estate websites, the niche here is arzi or temporary accommodation specifically for bachelors. According to the conceiver's market research there is a greater need for that in Islamabad and Pindi followed by Lahore and then Karachi.

2. H2O or HR2O, presented by Asim Naseem Siddiqui, was an idea to build an eco-system for HR Consultants. The most interesting part for one of the judges was that data from the jobs posted would be used to analyze/suggest salary ranges for that job in the industry. What I found interesting was also the fact that he wanted to build a network for HR consultants, so that referrals from former employers could be shared as well. Mr. Siddiqui himself has been a HR consultant himself for 3 years. This should help cover the trust deficit while hiring in our society.

3. Kitabain - is a sister of the successful business venture of thereadersclub , by Usman Siddiqui, who took the first prize for kitabain this year and thereadersclub in last year's launchpad.

4. Foot Mouse - presented by Muhammad Ahsan from NED University was having the mouse in your feet, so that you can have your hands free for the keyboard, should be good for disabled people and as one of the judges said, could be used to produce an exhilarating game with 2 in the feet and 2 in the hands. Interestingly this young lad had also done sort of a market research, even though this was his final year project. According to that, a Foot Mouse currently available is at the cost of 359 USD. He built one in 700 PKR. A question from the judge, how long would it take and how much would it cost/unit to manufacture 100,000 units, couldn't be answered. Shared the second prize with tagit.

May be it would be good for you to somehow get in touch with Mr. Sheryar Hydri of Trango Interactive. Last time I heard him, he seemed to be passionate about development in general, with his current focus on game development.

5. Pakpolling - by Syed Ali Naqi - presented the idea of using the already available databases of NADRA and PTA for voting either through fingerprints or SMS. As judges pointed out that this should greatly increase the voter turn-out. However, as soon as one claims that his main customer would be the government, the difficult question to answer is "How would you sell?" Another important question from the judges was how much should a voting unit based on finger-print recognition cost. A judge also asked them to refer to UNI voting system being implemented in India.

6. Rensoy - by Adnan Muzaffar - presented a search tool/assistant - As I commented yesterday, you probably haven't done much research on "semantic search engines". And I think Google's wonder wheel is already a step in that direction, with a much simpler interface than Rensoy's. I think you should restart your market survey from here:
i. Semantic Search Engines
ii. Power Search Tool

7. Reflex 360 IDRH - Internet Development and Research Center - presented by a couple of students who had graduated from NED University. The idea is to have a software development center which actually funds a research and development center. They needed a seed money of 2.5 million to raise awareness about "how important is the research/thinking culture in a society". Most of the time was spent explaining just what would be done with the money earned from the software house. What you need to explain to get money from an investor is that how do you plan to generate money from the software house.

8. GSM/GPRS based tracking tool - A software service for companies to track their assets/personnel. They are probably already collaborating with an ambulance service. The advantage that they have over uTrack and other such tracking services is of course that this tool is Telco independent.

9. SEO Analysis Tool - presented by Sadia Allauddin - An automated tool to analyze why a web page won't show up in Google's search results, built by 2 ladies as a final year project in NED University. They were already invited by one of the judges for a talk. Congratulations and Good luck, an investor's time is as important as his/her money.

10. Dhaba - A food ordering service. An already existing service was mentioned by the judges, which I cannot recall now.

11. Global Learning - presented by Subhan Gillani of Gillani Soft - The idea is to have an online learning tools/lectures resource.

12. FYDEST - Find Your Destination - An SMS based tool to find the shortest, easiest and fastest path from tagged points in a city. The most important question How do you get runtime traffic information? There are a lot of stake-holders/risk involved here

13. Shahzebsaeed.com - Selling high-quality shirts without a retail outlet. Is still a student at IBA. Setup the company with a 15,000 savings from his internship.

14. Pakipay - A mobile payment service similar to Telenor's Easy paisa but telco independent. Comment from the judges is to go back and get some feedback from a finance specialist. There is State Bank involved wherever there are financial transactions, and that is probably why Telenor's Easy paisa has Tameer Bank involved. I, personally think that you do need to get a bank involved in between.

15. Telecom Clicking GE - built and presented by two ladies in their final year at NED University, is a tool to assist RF planners inside Telcos. The idea is to have information about 3D buildings etc on mapinfo. Currently, the RF planners use Google Earth to get information about construction(s) in a location and terrain info from mapinfo. Switching between tools is a hassle which they are attempting to target.

16. Help Me - presented by Farzal Dojki
A review here

17. Kidsconvent.com - A school for all ages, lectures audio/animated prepared with experts on different subjects available on DVDs and on line so that anyone can teach children with a unified syllabus. According to them they already have a contract to deploy this material in 40 model schools that CDGK is building.

18. Tagit - An SMS based tagging service, where for example lipton can be tag and people can subscribe for updates to this tag. They shared the second prize with Foot Mouse, they did have a good presentation, but I personally could not differentiate them from chopaal and pringit combined. More on that combination here: http://www.codeweek.pk/2010/02/chopaal-pringit-social-networking-tide-in-pakistan/

In the end I would like to apologize if I have misspelled anyone's names. Congratulations and Good luck to all of you in being the cause of the change you want.