Homegrown Developers, Localization Breathe Life Into South Asian ...

Editor?s note:?Hassan Baig?is?an entrepreneur who runs?White Rabbit Studios, a South Asian gaming startup he founded four years ago in Pakistan. Follow him on Twitter?@baigi.

It?s an open secret that the social gaming industry is no longer the cornucopia of opportunities it used to be. Rising CPAs, falling k-factors, plateuing ARPUs and channel saturation all have made life difficult for the typical gaming studio devoid of a big network of users or a deep warchest of advertising money.?But there?s a new gaming opportunity on the horizon, and the savvy tech investor will do well to take notice of it now that it?s still nascent. This opportunity is the impending mobile gaming boom in South Asia, scheduled to arrive by 2015 for all practical purposes. Read on for a thorough look at the gaming history of the region, emerging fundamentals and future expectations.

Fighting Bollywood And TV

Spurred by 200,000 gaming cafes popping up across the country, China witnessed an online gaming revolution in the early aughts. Facing no serious competition from traditional entertainment media heavily tethered by government censorship, gaming companies like Shanda and Giant Interactive firmly entrenched themselves in the typical gamer?s consciousness, making gaming a life-changing pastime?in China.

By 2006, sensing the time had come for neighboring South Asia to take the plunge as well, India?s Reliance Entertainment released a gaming portal called Zapak. But unlike China, the response that Reliance received was lukewarm at best, and it turned out to be a stalled revolution. Zapak is still?alive today, as are?Shanda and Giant Interactive, but whereas the latter have grown to become industry leaders, Zapak never validated the business case upon which it was built.

Ultimately gaming failed to take root in India because of stiff competition from the prevalent form of entertainment in the region: Bollywood and TV. Zapak?s offerings were too underdeveloped, and subsequent interest in them was too thin to displace these highly mature regional media. Thus, other than a curious fringe, Zapak never made a dent in the South Asian universe like online gaming did across the border in China.

Analysts are mistaken to equate South Asia?s lackluster past performance with its potential as a mobile gaming hub.

Today when mobile gaming is en route to become a $48 billion industry by 2016, South Asia is excluded from the discussion almost entirely given its tepid history. But here?s the thing: Analysts are mistaken to equate South Asia?s lackluster past performance with its potential as a mobile gaming hub. Web and mobile games are two very different animals, and where the former failed to make inroads in South Asia, the latter will create some strong ripples.

Filler Entertainment

At their core, mobile games are excellent fillers for idle time when, say, waiting in a queue or for a bus. They harmoniously coexist with going to the movies or watching TV, while also retaining?opportunities of exclusive engagement for hardcore users. So whereas web gaming in the region has had to compete with television and Bollywood, mobile gaming will never be in direct competition?with these favorite pastimes in South Asia.

Moreover, given the region is one of the most densely populated in the world, it is reasonable to expect the average South Asian to have available more idle minutes due to greater wait times than their counterparts in the west (meaning potentially more minutes available for absorption by mobile games). And as game developers will tell you, every extra minute of engagement correlates to an uptick in ARPU.

3G And Smartphone Penetration

South Asia has been globally viewed as a slow adopter of the 3G standard. However, most people have missed the tipping point, which was reached in January: 3G penetration is now growing at a startling rate of 11 percent month over month in India, according to K. Srinivas, president of Airtel, India?s largest and the world?s third-largest?mobile network operator.

Such a growth rate ensures that the current pesky?6 percent?3G penetration in India will more than triple within 12 months. That?s an estimated 210 million 3G subscribers in India by mid 2014. And you know that something has surely entered the Indian public?s imagination when Bollywood ends up making a movie?about it.

Though lagging behind India, the rest of South Asia is also exhibiting healthy interest in 3G and smartphones. Taken as a whole, South Asia boasts an estimated middle class of 310 million?(same as?the population of the US). Owing to falling?entry?prices?of smartphones coupled with availability of inexpensive?data?plans, it can be safely assumed that this 310 million strong middle class will each own a smartphone phone with affordable mobile broadband by 2015. In effect, South Asia is poised to become one of the largest smartphone markets in the world, and the implications of that on the mobile gaming industry are immense.

Carrier Billing

Because of a lack of widespread credit card usage, ARPU from digital content monetization remains quite low in South Asia. Hence conventional wisdom views the aforementioned explosive growth in smartphones as not necessarily translating to big bucks for mobile game developers. But here?s what conventional wisdom is overlooking: much like Japan and Korea?(and China?recently), ARPU from mobile content consumption in South Asia will be driven by carrier billing, not credit cards.

Optimistic about the role carrier billing can play in unlocking South Asia?s digital economy, local mobile network operators (MNOs) have sprung into action. For instance announcements?of carrier billing rollout by MNOs in the region spotted all of 2012, and have continued well into 2013, as well. As long as MNOs deliver on these announcements and ensure judicious revenue shares for developers, expect the South Asian gaming market to become a big story around the world.

Industry Size

Total mobile phone penetration in the region currently stands at 1.1 billion subscribers, so there exists ample headroom for smartphone adoption.?Expect the mobile gaming industry to be volume driven as?carrier billing is rolled out and improves payer conversion rates.

Assuming the region?s 310 million-strong middle class is each armed with a smartphone by 2015 and carrier billing can help generate yearly ARPU between $1 and $3, we?re looking at an industry size between $300 million to $900 million?annually, and with ample room for further growth.

Role Of Localization

Be it any sphere of life, a localized interaction is much more engaging than a generic one. It?s the reason President Obama uttered the Arabic greeting ?Assalam-u-Alaikum? when addressing Arabs?in Cairo; it?s the reason popular puzzle game Bewjeweled wasn?t as successful as its exploding-animals clone Anipang?in South?Korea.

Likewise, the gaming industry in South Asia ? a region of rich, unifying culture ? will benefit tremendously from localized content. Themes of Bollywood and cricket are pervasive across the region and national boundaries, and present a great localization opportunity for game developers. Similarly, local festivals (e.g. Diwali or Eid) are culturally entrenched enough that no content creator focused on the region would want to ignore them.

Ultimately, great localization will play a key role in driving up gaming engagement and ARPU across South Asia. Thus western game developers aiming to break into the region will be best served by partnering with their South Asian counterparts who understand the local cultural mores.

Homegrown Developers

In an earlier post?on TechCrunch, I pointed out the exceptionally low share of social games made in South Asia among the top Facebook games in the world. The story is largely similar across mobile gaming platforms, as well. But change is in the air since?the local devscape has come a long way in the last few years.

Much of this progress has been driven by outsourcing shops looking to squeeze a marginal dollar from western game developers, but the ecosystem also ensconces a fair sprinkling of IP-driven local developers vying to usher South Asia into a new era.

More?success?stories?than ever are emerging from the region, startups have begun emulating work?environments?of their western counterparts to engender a culture of creative freedom, and investor?interest?has been picking up. In fact, the region has even seen some of its first?exits. Expect all of these trends to snowball in the coming year as industry growth gains momentum.

Overall, the fundamentals to support the coming mobile gaming boom in South Asia are firmly in place and the savvy investor should keep an eye out for opportunities in the region. Ultimately, first-mover advantage will play a key role in separating the big winners from the also-rans. As the industry grows and local developers multiply, there will be ample chance for those interested to get a slice of the?desi?pie on offer.

Source: http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/07/mobile-gaming-in-south-asia-the-next-big-market/

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Iraqi Ministries of Construction and Housing, Transportation & Municipalities confirmed to participate and present tender opportunities at the Iraq Infrastructure & Construction Summit in Dubai next month

IRN is proud to confirm the participation of Iraqi Ministries of Construction & Housing, Transportation & Municipalities at the Iraq Infrastructure & Construction Summit taking place 22-23 May in Dubai.

Dubai, UAE (PRWEB UK) 5 April 2013

IRN, the global summit organiser is proud to announce the Iraq Infrastructure & Construction Summit taking place May 22-23 in Dubai.

This exclusive senior level meeting is supported by the ?Ministry of Construction and Housing, Iraq?, Ministry of Municipalities?, ?Reconstruction & Development Bureau, Iraq?, ?Baghdad Provincial Council?, ?UK Trade & Investment?, ?British Water?, ?Deputy Prime Ministers Office?, and ?Ministry of Youth & Sport, Iraq?.

Featuring high level representations from ?Ministries, Construction and Housing, Planning, Transport, Education and Health?; the summit will bring together senior level Iraqi Government and business leaders to discuss the latest plans and projects in the infrastructure and construction sectors of Iraq, discussing specific projects, techniques to modernise, needs and opportunities available for companies looking to invest and partnership opportunities.

The Confirmed speakers at the summit are listed below:

Works of Iraq

• Amir Khaleel Ismail, Director General for Water, Ministry of Municipalities &????Public Works of Iraq
• Fouad Khudair Waheed, for Director General Sewerage Systems, Ministry of Municipalities &

Public Works of Iraq

• Ministry of Construction and Housing of Iraq, Senior Representatives
• Amir Albayati, Senior Deputy Minister for Technical Affairs, Ministry of Communication of Iraq
• Mr. Habib Al-Shammery, Director General of the Technical and Engineering Department,

Ministry of Youth and Sport of Iraq

• Dr. Ali Al-Attar, Chairman, Reconstruction????and Development Bureau & Construction and

Development Committee, Baghdad Council, Iraq

• Chris Maskell, Head of UK Trade and Investment, Iraq
• Dr Kamal Field Al-Basri, Founder and former Iraq Deputy Minister of Finance, Iraqi Institute for

Economic Reform

• Prof. Adel Sharif ? Professor of Water Engineering and Process Innovation University of Surrey

UK, Director of Centre for Osmosis Research and Applications, Founder of Modern Water PLC.

• Nasser Bender, Head of Iraq Civil Aviation Authority
• Sabah Ahmed, Iraq Airports Director, Civil????Aviation Authority
• Dr. Abdullah Al Bandar, Senior Advisor, National???? Investment Commission of Iraq
• Khalaf Lafta Al????Badran, Chairman, Basra Investment Commission????
• Ahmed Mahil????Al Maliki, Chairman, Kerbala Investment Commission
• Shaker Al Zamili, Chairman, Baghdad Investment Commission????
• Wafy Al Bahash, Chairman, Najaf Investment Commission
• State Commission for Housing Iraq ? Senior Representatives

If you are interested in projects up for tender in the Iraqi region and for more information and registration inquiries, please contact Jessica Jonah at JessicaJ(at)irn-international(dot)com.

Jessica Jonah
International Research Networks Ltd
+44 20 7111 1615
Email Information

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/iraqi-ministries-construction-housing-transportation-municipalities-confirmed-participate-143031622.html

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NRA study suggests trained, armed school staffers

National School Shield Task Force Director, former Arkansas Rep. Asa Hutchinson gestures during a news conference at National Press Club in Washington, Tuesday, April 2, 2013, to discuss his groups's school-guns study. The National Rifle Association's study recommends schools across the nation each train and arm at least one staff member. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

National School Shield Task Force Director, former Arkansas Rep. Asa Hutchinson gestures during a news conference at National Press Club in Washington, Tuesday, April 2, 2013, to discuss his groups's school-guns study. The National Rifle Association's study recommends schools across the nation each train and arm at least one staff member. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Mark Mattioli the father of a child killed during the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, gestures during a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington, Tuesday, April 2, 2013, where he talked about the National School Shield Task Force program. The National School Shield program is a frame work to arm security guards in any school system who want to be part of the program. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

National School Shield Task Force Director, former Arkansas Rep. Asa Hutchinson, holds a copy of group's study during a news conference at National Press Club in Washington, Tuesday, April 2, 2013. The National Rifle Association's study recommends schools across the nation each train and arm at least one staff member. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

National School Shield Task Force Director, former Arkansas Rep. Asa Hutchinson speaks with reporters after a news conference at National Press Club in Washington, on Tuesday, April 2, 2013. The National School Shield program is a frame work to arm security guards in any school system who want to be part of the program. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Senate gun control debate on the near horizon, a National Rifle Association-sponsored report on Tuesday proposed a program for schools to train selected staffers as armed security officers. The former Republican congressman who headed the study suggested at least one protector with firearms for every school, saying it would speed responses to attacks.

The report's release served as the gun-rights group's answer to improving school safety after the gruesome December slayings of 20 first-graders and six adults at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school. And it showed the organization giving little ground in its fight with President Barack Obama over curbing firearms.

Obama's chief proposals include broader background checks for gun buyers and bans on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines ? both of which the NRA opposes.

The study ? unveiled at a news conference watched over by several burly, NRA-provided guards ? made eight recommendations, including easing state laws that might bar a trained school staff member from carrying firearms and improving school coordination with law enforcement agencies. But drawing the most attention was its suggested 40- to 60-hour training for school employees who pass background checks to also provide armed protection while at work.

"The presence of an armed security personnel in a school adds a layer of security and diminishes the response time that is beneficial to the overall security," said Asa Hutchinson, a GOP former congressman from Arkansas who directed the study.

Asked whether every school would be better off with an armed security officer, Hutchinson replied, "Yes," but acknowledged the decision would be made locally.

It is unusual for guards to provide security at events that lack a major public figure at the National Press Club, which houses offices for many news organizations. NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam said he did not know whether the guards were armed, and several guards declined to say if they were.

Hutchinson said school security could be provided by trained staff members or school resource officers ? police officers assigned to schools that some districts already have.

Dan Domenech, executive director of the American Association of School Administrators, said while a trained law enforcement officer with a gun would be valuable, his group opposes arming "a teacher or an employee who simply has taken a course and now has the ability to carry a weapon."

The Brady Campaign, a leading gun-control group, accused the NRA of "missing the point" by ignoring the need for expanded background checks and other measures the Senate is considering. It said people want "a comprehensive solution that not only addresses tragic school shootings, but also helps prevent the thousands of senseless gun deaths each year."

Also denouncing the recommendations was Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, which represents 1.5 million teachers and other workers. She called it a "cruel hoax that will fail to keep our children and schools safe" while helping only gun manufacturers.

The NRA released its report as congressional momentum seems to have stalled for any sweeping steps to curb firearms violence.

Top Senate Democrats have little hope for a proposed ban on assault weapons, and the prospects for barring large-capacity magazines also seem difficult. Key senators remain short of a bipartisan compromise on requiring gun transactions between private individuals to undergo federal background checks, which currently apply only to sales handled by licensed gun dealers. The Senate plans to begin debating gun legislation next week.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said administration officials were seeking middle ground and emphasized background checks, widely seen by gun control advocates as the most effective step available.

"We are working with lawmakers of both parties, and trying to achieve a compromise that can make this happen. Especially when it comes to the background checks," Carney told reporters.

The spokesman commented as a White House official revealed that the president plans a trip next week to Connecticut, scene of the horrific elementary school shootings that spurred the new push for gun control legislation. Obama wants to use the trip to build pressure on Congress to pass legislation.

Obama also plans to focus on firearms curbs in a trip Wednesday to Denver, not far from last summer's mass shooting in a movie theater in Aurora, Colo.

The 225-page study cost the NRA more than $1 million, Hutchinson said. The task force included several former top officials of federal law enforcement and security agencies, including the Secret Service and Homeland Security Department.

Hutchinson acknowledged that the study omitted an earlier NRA recommendation that retired police officers and other volunteers be armed to provide school safety. He said the idea encountered "great reluctance" from school superintendents.

Hutchinson said the NRA did not interfere with his task force's work. In a written statement, the NRA said the report "will go a long way to making America's schools safer."

Hutchinson also called "totally inadequate" a gun control measure working through the Connecticut legislature that includes a tightening of the state's assault weapons ban. The measure wouldn't prevent an attacker with a handgun or other firearms from attacking a school, he said.

Debbie Leidlein, chairwoman of the Newtown Board of Education, said having trained staff members carry weapons "can become a dangerous situation to have any individuals outside of those who have police training to be carrying weapons around children."

But the proposal won support from Mark Mattioli, whose 6-year-old son James was killed at Newtown and who attended the NRA news conference.

"These are recommendations for solutions, real solutions that will make our kids safer," Mattioli said.

___

Associated Press writers John Christoffersen in New Haven, Conn., and Carolyn Thompson in Buffalo, N.Y., contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-04-02-US-Gun-Control/id-028622350f4b4622a09044f70dba21c4

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Mineral analysis of lunar crater deposit prompts a second look at the impact cratering process

Mineral analysis of lunar crater deposit prompts a second look at the impact cratering process

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Despite the unimaginable energy produced during large impacts on the Moon, those impacts may not wipe the mineralogical slate clean, according to new research led by Brown University geoscientists.

The researchers have discovered a rock body with a distinct mineralogy snaking for 18 miles across the floor of Copernicus crater, a 60-mile-wide hole on the Moon's near side. The sinuous feature appears to bear the mineralogical signature of rocks that were present before the impact that made the crater.

The deposit is interesting because it is part of a sheet of impact melt, the cooled remains of rocks melted during an impact. Geologists had long assumed that melt deposits would retain little pre-impact mineralogical diversity.

Large impacts produce giant cauldrons of impact melt that eventually cool and reform into solid rock. The assumption was that the impact energy would stir that cauldron thoroughly during the liquid phase, mixing all the rock types together into an indistinguishable mass. Identifying any pre-impact mineral variation would be a bit like dumping four-course meal into a blender and then trying to pick out the potatoes.

But this distinct feature found at Copernicus suggests that pre-existing mineralogy isn't always blended away by the impact process.

"The takeaway here is that impact melt deposits aren't bland," said Deepak Dhingra, a Brown graduate student who led the research. "The implication is that we don't understand the impact cratering process quite as well as we thought."

The findings are published in online early view in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

Copernicus is one of the best-studied craters on the Moon, yet this deposit went unnoticed for decades. It was imaging in 83 wavelengths of light in the visible and near-infrared region by the Moon Mineralogy Mapper ? M3 ? that made the deposit stand out like a sore thumb.

M3 orbited the Moon for 10 months during 2008-09 aboard India's Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft and mapped nearly the whole lunar surface. Different minerals reflect light in different wavelengths at variable intensities. So by looking at the variation at those wavelengths, it's possible to identify minerals.

In the M3 imaging of Copernicus, the new feature appeared as an area that reflects less light at wavelengths around 900 and 2,000 nanometers, an indicator of minerals rich in magnesium pyroxenes. In the rest of the crater floor, there was a dominant dip beyond 950 nm and 2400 nm, indicating minerals rich in iron and calcium pyroxenes. "That means there are atleast two different mineral compositions within the impact melt, something previously not known for impact melt on the Moon," Dhingra said.

It is not clear exactly how or why this feature formed the way it did, the researchers say. That's an area for future study. But the fact that impact melt isn't always homogenous changes the way geologists look at lunar impact craters.

"These features have preserved signatures of the original target material, providing 'pointers' that lead back to the source region inside the crater," said James W. Head III, the Scherck Distinguished Professor of Geological Sciences and one of the authors of the study. "Deepak's findings have provided new insight into the fundamentals of how the cratering process works. These results will now permit a more rigorous reconstruction of the cratering process to be undertaken."

Carle Pieters, a professor of geological sciences at Brown and the principle investigator of the M3 experiment, was one of the co-authors on the paper, with Peter Isaacson of the University of Hawaii.

###

Brown University: http://www.brown.edu/Administration/News_Bureau

Thanks to Brown University for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127563/Mineral_analysis_of_lunar_crater_deposit_prompts_a_second_look_at_the_impact_cratering_process

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