AT&T Innovators Contest: Pakistani application wins second prize

It has already been translated into four languages.

KARACHI: A Pakistani application has won 2nd prize in the Nokia & AT&T Innovators 2011 Contest’. The Animal 101 application was submitted by TenPearls, a global application development company owned and run by a Pakistani developer.

Animal 101 is a learning based application that aims to teach children [ages 3 to 8] to learn about animals by engaging them in interactive games. Animal 101’s most accomplished feature is its usability by children who cannot read. It engages children with an entertaining educational experience using pictorial representations and fun facts about the animal world and is aimed at children who have not even started school.

Animal 101 has just won the contest and is posted on the OVI store, It has sold about 50 copies of the app in Pakistan. And according to the Nokia, given the level of apps purchased in this region and the phones that are supported by this app, this is an impressive number. That’s not all, the application went on to be a big hit internationally as well, with over 2000 copies of the app sold around the word and being translated into four languages (English, Chinese, Indonesian and Spanish).

It took a team of 5 people to create the App in three months and with its success, the country’s people can believe that we can also produce world class apps, said Rabia Azfar, Business Development Manager EDX, NOKIA Near East. The founders of the company include, Salma Naseer, Imran Aftab and Zeeshan Aftab. Nokia sees TenPearls as its long term partners, said Azfar.

With international competition, it is vital for Pakistani companies to have support from companies like Nokia to promote app development in the country. This will help all companies to perform better and compete with international firms, she said.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 17^th,  2011.