6
It has launched a social innovation
fund – in collaboration with
Pakistan Software Houses association, also their partner for the event
– to support young entrepreneurs struggling to get their ideas public.
Google increased interest in the country, Schmidt visit of Pakistan and now
this event sends very strong signals to
the country the giant may consider
opening an office in Pakistan.
Khusnood denied if Google was opening its first office in the country anytime soon but added it couldn’t be
ruled out. Google representatives attributed Pakistan’s growing importance to multiple factors. To enter a
market, the first thing we look at is its
demographics number of internet users in that country; Jana Levene said,
explaining why Google is interested in
Pakistan. Twenty-two million internet
users is a huge number. It more than
Australia whole population. That’s why
we are here, she said, The second
thing Google is interested in, Levene
said, is the size of the market.
Pakistan is a $400 to $500 million
market for Google, she said. Currently, four of the top 10 most popular
websites in Pakistan are Google sites.
Regulatory framework is another that Mark Warburton, from Google emergarea Google considers in the markets ing markets; sales division, highlighted
of its interest, according to Levene.
the power that Google search engine
placed at the fingertips of Pakistani
The laws regarding internet censor- companies Google Pakistan got eight
ship, the security of our employee et- million queries on Monday alone, he
cetera are the things we take into ac- said.
count. Levene, in her presentation,
went at length to describe the features He then broke down those queries by
of the Pakistani market that keeps sector: 386,000 were telecom queries
them interested aside from the 22 mil- which translates to 15,000 queries.
lion internet users that include two every hour.
million broadband users, seven million
Facebook users, one million Twitter Google makes information like this
users ond 1.2 million LinkedIn users of available through its Ad words tool,
the total mobile phones sold in Paki- which can help businesses gain instan 6% are smart-phones. Talking sights into their customers interests.
about what Pakistanis search on
Google, Levene said Pakistanis But the key takeaway from the event
search Google to solve social prob- was not the information, but the fact
lems discuss politics, start business, that it was addressed by six senior
entertain and build communities.
Google executives, a strong indication
that the technology giant wants to exFor example, a Pakistani business- pand further in the Pakistani market.
man partnered with an IT expert to
start a business for leather shoes. We are calling you to help us bring
Pakistanis used Google Earth and more Pakistanis online, Jana Levene
Google Map tools to track which areas said addressing country leadership as
were affected in 2010 floods. As a re- well as the technology sector. Tell the
sult, the government was able to world Pakistan is economically viable.
reach 800,000 people. On the lighter It a safe place to do business Levene
side, Ali Gul Pir became a YouTube said.
sensation after his video ;Wadere Ka
Beta;
went
viral
on
internet.