The Disruption of Venture Capital : Harvard Business Review

Over the years, venture capitalists have been some of the most ardent students of disruptive innovation. Nevertheless, recent attention garnered by start-up accelerators, micro-VCs, and angel investors has led to a new debate: is there a wave of disruption in venture investing itself?

Click for link to full article

January 26, 2012
by Eugene Chung and Maxwell Wesse, HBR

"...most often the very skills that propel an organization to succeed in sustaining circumstances systematically bungle the best ideas for disruptive growth. An organization's capabilities become its disabilities when disruption is afoot." – Clayton Christensen, The Innovator's Solution

In November 2005, Paul Graham wrote an essay titled "The Venture Capital Squeeze." It had been over five years since the Nasdaq peaked in March 2000, and it was becoming apparent that VC firms were having trouble deploying the tens of billions of dollars they raised during the boom years. Graham argued that the proliferation of money combined with the decreasing costs to start a business were making the VC job more difficult, prophesying significant changes for the industry. He was right"


For the full article click the link above.


'via Blog this'

Quad-core smartphones: This is their year | Dialed In - CNET Blogs

Amazing innovation in mobile phone processing power. Its still sorely lacking in the battery domain


Click for link to full article

by Jessica Dolcourt 
January 25, 2012

What quad-core does for you

If you're familiar with dual-core phones, quad-core follows the same principle. Put simply, the handset's central processor (CPU) contains four cores for divvying up tasks, rather than one or two CPUs.
The benefits are many, but distill into two overarching results: dramatically faster performance and better battery life. In other words, each core can work less to accomplish a task; and because tasks are split, each core requires a smaller battery contribution (at a lower voltage) than if fewer cores strained with heavier workloads apiece (requires higher voltage per core).

In a practical setting, quad-core processors promise to support sharp screen resolutions; load apps and render photos and Web pages faster; quickly and smoothly process HD video; and improve the quality of gameplay to bring it much closer to a desktop standard.

Just how much faster are they supposed to be? Nvidia has claimed that its Tegra 3 processor completes tasks up to five times faster than its Tegra 2 dual-core predecessor, and its chip for processing graphics (GPU) grew from 8 cores on the Tegra 2 version to 12 cores in Tegra 3."


Click link above for full article.


'via Blog this'

India National eGovernance Plan

The Indian government has announced plans for all its departments to develop and deploy mobile applications and make make their websites mobile compliant so as to provide all of their public services through mobile devices to make its services more accessible to the public.

Signifies the growing importance of mobility in every walk of life in India

Ministry of Information & Technology

January 19, 2012

Over the years, a large number of initiatives have been undertaken by various State Governments and Central Ministries to usher in an era of e-Government. Sustained efforts have been made at multiple levels to improve the delivery of public services and simplify the process of accessing them.

e-Governance in India has steadily evolved from computerization of Government Departments to initiatives that encapsulate the finer points of Governance, such as citizen centricity, service orientation and transparency. Lessons from previous e-Governance initiatives have played an important role in shaping the progressive e-Governance strategy of the country. Due cognizance has been taken of the notion that to speed up e-Governance implementation across the various arms of Government at National, State, and Local levels, a programme approach needs to be adopted, guided by common vision and strategy. This approach has the potential of enabling huge savings in costs through sharing of core and support infrastructure, enabling interoperability through standards, and of presenting a seamless view of Government to citizens.

The National e-Governance Plan (NeGP), takes a holistic view of e-Governance initiatives across the country, integrating them into a collective vision, a shared cause. Around this idea, a massive countrywide infrastructure reaching down to the remotest of villages is evolving, and large-scale digitization of records is taking place to enable easy, reliable access over the internet. The ultimate objective is to bring public services closer home to citizens, as articulated in the Vision Statement of NeGP.

"Make all Government services accessible to the common man in his locality, through common service delivery outlets, and ensure efficiency, transparency, and reliability of such services at affordable costs to realise the basic needs of the common man"

The Government approved the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP), comprising of 27 Mission Mode Projects (MMPs) and 8 components, on May 18, 2006. The Government has accorded approval to the vision, approach, strategy, key components, implementation methodology, and management structure for NeGP. However, the approval of NeGP does not constitute financial approval(s) for all the Mission Mode Projects (MMPs) and components under it. The existing or ongoing projects in the MMP category, being implemented by various Central Ministries, States, and State Departments would be suitably augmented and enhanced to align with the objectives of NeGP.

For the e-Governance Plan & related documents : http://www.mit.gov.in/content/national-e-governance-plan

The App Store Guide: Take Two | Technology | guardian.co.uk

Great read - Discovery is the biggest bear bug of all app stores today and one of the ways for stores to differentiate going forward would be by aiding the same beter

Apple could take a leaf out of Michelin's book when it comes to providing a comprehensive guide for its App Store

Jean-Louis Gassée
guardian.co.uk, Monday 23 January 2012

What does a Michelin tyre have to do with Apple's App Store? Read on. Photograph: Paul Gilham/Getty Images Sport
What's the use of offering more than 500,000 wares if customers can't find their way through the gigantic bazaar? I know, I already harped on about the lack of curation in Apple's App Store, but that was 16 months ago ... when the store contained a "mere" 250,000 apps.

Since then, the iPhone has sold in ever larger numbers (we'll soon see if the December quarter number crossed the 30m units line, and by how much) and with more than 18bn downloads, the App Store is an unmitigated success. If this is what "broken" looks like, why fix it? And how?"

Click link above for full article.

'via Blog this'

Windows Phone Marketplace passes 60,000 published apps

Growing traction amongst the developer community!

Rafe Blandford, All About Windows Phone

January 22nd 2012

More than 60,000 items have now been published in the Windows Phone Marketplace. The rate of submissions continues to increase, with an average of 400 items added per day (measured over a four week period). That's up from the average of 265 items per day the marketplace was getting when it passed the 50,000 mark in late December.

It has taken 25 days to go from 50,000 to 60,000 items, compared to 40 days to go from 40,000 to 50,000. At the time of writing, 61,479 items have been published. Of these, 24,951 were added in the last 90 days and 11,935 were added in the last 30 days. These items come from 15,173 different publishers. 

Growth of Windows Phone Marketplace. Figures up to January 21st.

In the last complete week (January 8th to January 15th) 3,362 items were added to the Marketplace. This compares with 405 items for the same week last year. This would suggest Windows Phone prospects, in app terms at least, are looking much healthier for 2012, than they did for 2011.

It's worth stressing that the quantity of apps is best used only as a guideline metric. The quality of apps in an app store is also very important, but is more difficult to judge objectively.

Looking at how many times an app has been rated can provide some guidance here, as only applications and games seen as useful are likely to be downloaded and rated multiple times. In the Windows Phone Marketplace 4,052 apps have been rated 5 or more times. 

Additions to the Windows Phone Marketplace (note numbers for week 3 not complete)

About

These numbers are from our own tracking system, which is also used to power the All About Windows Phone Apps & Games section, where you can browse all of the applications and games, and install them via links to Zune Desktop, the web-based Marketplace, or install them directly by scanning the QR Code with Bing Vision on your smartphone.

If you're interested in getting additional insight or more detailed data, please get in touch and ask about the AAWP App Tracking service.

350,000 Textbooks Downloaded From Apple's iBooks in Three Days - John Paczkowski - News - AllThingsD

The supply chain markup on textbooks is estimated at 33-35%. So there are savings in cutting out the distributor, wholesaler and retailer. Add to this the lower cost of iBook production, estimated at 20% of the print publication, and a system under which textbooks are sold directly to students, who use them for a year, rather than to schools which keep the texts for an average of five years — and the math here starts to looks pretty good.

John Paczkowski, AllThingsD

January 23, 2012


Though nascent and unproven, Apple’s new textbook initiative appears to be gaining lots of momentum — and quickly, too. Within days of its debut, Apple’s iBooks textbook store had already racked up a significant number of downloads. Same thing with the company’s textbook authoring tool."

Click link above for full article.


'via Blog this'

YouTube shows Silicon Valley how it can beat Hollywood — Online Video News

Phenomenal traction! 4  billion video views daily globally, 1 hour of video uploads every second! I think one of the other growing aspects to YouTubes credit is it formal content aggregation initiatives in key markets like India

by Ryan Lawler, GigaOM

Jan. 23, 2012


YouTube announced new milestones in the amount of video uploaded and viewed by its users Monday. With 4 billion video views daily and more than an hour of video uploaded every second, YouTube not only continues to grow, but its growth is actually accelerating. Here’s how YouTube did it – and what Silicon Valley can learn from it:

• Be Open
• Be Global
• Be Multi-Platform
• Lets not kill Hollywood, but offer something better

For full article click link above.

YouTube Blog post on statistics below :

YouTube Blog

Jan. 23, 2012

Holy Nyans! 60 hours per minute and 4 billion views a day on YouTube

Since the dawn of YouTube, we’ve been sharing the hours of video you upload every minute. In 2007 we started atsix hours, then in 2010 we were at 24 hours, then 35, then 48, and now...60 hours of video every minute, an increase of more than 30 percent in the last eight months. In other words, you’re uploading one hour of video to YouTube every second. Tick, tock, tick, tock — that’s 4 hours right there!

In the past we’ve made charts and infographics to describe the kind of mind-boggling engagement you’re driving, and this time we let our dataheads run wild. They came back to us with onehourpersecond.com — an interactive collection of what happens in a YouTube second. Here’s a sample:



For all the hours of video you’re uploading—you’re watching more as well; we’ve now exceeded four billion video views globally every day. That’s up 25 percent in the last eight months and the equivalent of more than half the world’s population watching a video every day, the same number as there are US $1 bills in circulation, the same as number of years since there was water on Mars...it’s a big number, and you’re making it bigger every day.

With more original Channels rolling out this year, a new homepage to help you find and follow Channels you love, and new tools for creators always on the horizon, we’re excited to see how many times you’ll grow these numbers this year!

'via Blog this'

India Telecoms Update @ Nov11

Source : Telecom regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)

• Overall telephony base reaches 917 mn taking overall Teledensity to 76% (wireless @ 73%, wireline @ 3%)
• Share of Urban subs @ 66% of total
• 3.0 mn wireless additions during the month taking the overall wireless base to 884 mn
• 0.8 mn Urban and 2.1 mn Rural additions
• 581 mn Urban and 303 mn Rural wireless subs
• Wireless teledendity @ 73% (160% in Urban & 36% in Rural)
• Service provider-wise share of net wireless additions in Nov (top10): IDEA (73%), Uninor (62%), Reliance (34%), Bharti Airtel (32%), Vodafone (31%), Aircel (23%), Sistema (16%), Etisalat (2%), MTNL (1%), STel (1%), Loop (0.4%), HFCL (-0.2%), BSNL (-6%), Videocon (-20%), Tata (-150%)
• Of the wireless adds in Nov, in the Metros there was a loss of 0.9 mn subs, Category A circles an add of 0.9 mn, Category B circles 2.3 mn and Category C circles 0.7 mn 
• Service provider-wise cumulative wireless market share end-Nov : Bharti Airtel (19.8%), Reliance (16.9%), Vodafone (16.6%), IDEA (11.8%), BSNL (10.9%), Tata (9.4%), Aircel (6.9%), Uninor (3.9%), Sistema (1.6%), MTNL (0.6%)
• Dispersion of wireless sub base end-Nov : Metros (12%), Category A circles (35%), Category B circles (40%), Category C circles (14%)
• Peak active wireless subscribers on VLR in Oct @ 635 mn 
• 72% of total wireless base was active at peak time during Nov 
• Jammu & Kashmir has the highest proportion of VLR subs @ 82% followed by Assam and MP (7%); Mumbai has the lowest proportion with 60%
• Service provider wise, IDEA leads the tally with 92%  followed by Bharti Airtel with 89%; Etisalat is at the bottom with 25%
• Cumulative Mobile Number Portability requests till end Nov stood at 25.8 mn. Highest requests from Gujarat followed by Karnataka, AP, Maharashtra and Rajasthan
• Wireline base continued to steadily decline and was at 33.0 mn 
• Broadband (>256 kbps) subscriber base inched up to 13.1 mn

Cowen: Google’s Mobile Ad Revenues Could Surge To $5.8 Billion In 2012 | TechCrunch

Mobile clearly is gaining importance in Google's monetization plans. Unlike Apple, Google is looking to drive value from services vis-a-vis Apple which looks to derive the same from the Hardware.


Erick Schonfeld, TechCrunch
January 21, 2012

How much does Google make in advertising from mobile? Cowen analyst Jim Friedland estimates that Google is generating $7 per year from each smartphone (and tablet). This includes both search and display advertising in mobile apps on both Android and iOS (iPhones and iPads). Thanks to the rapid growth in active smart mobile devices worldwide from an estimated 509 million last year to an estimated 914 million in 2012, Google’s mobile ad revenues are expected to more than double from an estimated $2.5 billion last year to $5.8 billion in 2012 (see chart).


As a percentage of Google’s total revenues, Friedland estimates that mobile grew from 3 percent in 2010 to 7 percent last year and will almost double again to 13 percent in 2012. By 2016, he expects mobile to be a $20 billion business for Google, and represent 26 percent of its total revenues."


Click Link above for full article.


'via Blog this'

Exercise and longevity: Worth all the sweat | The Economist

Keep Running !


Just why exercise is so good for people is, at last, being understood


Economist, Jan 21st 2012


One sure giveaway of quack medicine is the claim that a product can treat any ailment. There are, sadly, no panaceas. But some things come close, and exercise is one of them. As doctors never tire of reminding people, exercise protects against a host of illnesses, from heart attacks and dementia to diabetes and infection.


How it does so, however, remains surprisingly mysterious. But a paper just published in Nature by Beth Levine of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Centre and her colleagues sheds some light on the matter.


Dr Levine and her team were testing a theory that exercise works its magic, at least in part, by promoting autophagy. This process, whose name is derived from the Greek for “self-eating”, is a mechanism by which surplus, worn-out or malformed proteins and other cellular components are broken up for scrap and recycled."


For ful article click link above.


'via Blog this'

Lumia 900 Introduction to Trigger Smartphone Renaissance for Nokia and Microsoft

IHS Press Release

January 18, 2012 

WAYNE LAM

With the introduction of its critically acclaimed Lumia 900, Nokia Corp. has set the stage to regain some of its lost smartphone market share—and to re-establish Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Phone as a leading contender in the cellphone operating system (OS) business.
Largely based on Nokia’s strong support, Windows Phone is set to regain the No. 2 rank in the smartphone operating system in 2015. Finnish-based Nokia in 2009 lost its second-place worldwide ranking because of rising competition from Google Inc.’s Android and Apple Inc.’s iOS.

In 2015, however, Windows Phone will account for 16.7 percent of the smartphones shipped, up from less than 2 percent in 2011, according to the IHS iSuppli Mobile & Wireless Communications Service at information and analysis provider IHS (NYSE: IHS). This will allow Windows Phone to slightly surpass Apple’s iOS to retake the market’s second rank behind Android, as presented in the table below.

 

Meanwhile, Nokia stands to stem its plunge in smartphone market share.

Once the perennial leader in global smartphone shipments, Nokia by the second quarter of 2011 had fallen to the third rank in the market behind Samsung and Apple.

“One of the hottest new products unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show was the Lumia 900, a Windows Phone-based smartphone sporting a flashy set of features that makes it competitive with the best alternatives offered by the Android camp,” said Wayne Lam, senior analyst for wireless communications at IHS. “This hot product represents Nokia’s first step to reclaim its market share. Combined with Nokia’s efforts to drive the development of the Windows Phone ecosystem, the Lumia 900 and its successors will help Microsoft to reclaim its No. 2 ranking in smartphone operating system market share in 2015.”



Coming to America

The Lumia 900’s flashy feature set, along with Nokia’s strategy for selling the product, shows that the company is targeting the North American region, a market that, even in the height of Nokia’s dominance, historically had been an Achilles’ heel for the company.

“The introduction of the Lumia 900 shows that Nokia believes the road back to smartphone dominance runs through North America,” said Francis Sideco, senior principal analyst for consumer and communications at IHS. “And the way to win North America is through its operator channels.”

The Lumia 900 was developed with North American market dynamics and smartphone users in mind, with the product having been designed in and launched first in the region—another departure from Nokia’s historical approach of repurposing devices designed in and for other parts of the world. The smartphone’s large 4.3-inch organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) touch screen display, 12-megapixel camera as well as partnerships with Rogers, Telus, AT&T and T-Mobile are concrete examples of Nokia executing on this strategy.



LTE to the Party
Another feature of the Lumia 900 also illustrates how serious Nokia is about addressing the North American market: its support of the high-speed Long Term Evolution (LTE) 4G standard.
“In the past, Nokia always introduced new technologies in its home European market first,” Sideco said. “However, for the Lumia 900—Nokia’s first LTE phone—the company initially is rolling it out in North America. This demonstrates Nokia’s commitment to re-enter the region.”
Furthermore, Nokia is targeting the mobile network operator (MNO) channel to sell its phones in North America. Nokia previously eschewed the MNO approach, limiting its penetration into the region.

The company likewise is leveraging Microsoft’s business/enterprise sales channels to appeal to corporate customers in the region, offering value-added services in a play for the enterprise sector. Such moves will position Nokia to compete with Research In Motion Ltd., whose Blackberry phones are popular among corporate users.



Opening Windows of Opportunity
Although Nokia is not the only seller of Windows Phone smartphones, the company is expected to dominate the market, accounting for 50 percent of all Microsoft OS-based handsets sold in 2012, IHS iSuppli predicts. The company’s share then is set to rise to 62 percent in 2013. Nokia’s portion of the market will begin to decline in 2014, as other companies increase their sales of Windows Phone products.

Nonetheless, Nokia will drive the development and expansion of the Windows Phone market, opening up opportunities for other players, Lam said. “Because of Nokia’s support, apps developers will eagerly shore up the Windows platform. This will cause other makers of Windows Phone devices, such as Samsung and HTC, to offer more products supporting the OS—further expanding the market.”

Top 40 brands on Facebook, Twitter and Google+

Amazon sells the Kindle Fire at a loss because it makes so much money on media | VentureBeat

Interesting but it would be good to look at the margins Amazon makes from media/sales, as Apple has at many times in the past has explicitly stated that iTunes is still virtually a break-even business for them

January 19, 2012 | Ben Popper, Venturebeat


During the holiday season Amazon used its massive sales channel to push the Kindle Fire hard. It moves millions of units, and according to studies from IHS iSupply, was losing about $2 per unit. That’s a big difference from Apple, which makes a healthy profit on sales of its iPad tablet.


But according to a new poll from RBC Capital, Amazon stands to earn about $136 in additional revenue from every customer who bought a Kindle Fire. So while the hardware might be a loss leader, overall the Kindle Fire is a win for Amazon’s bottom line."


For full article click link above


'via Blog this'

Nissan Announces world's first Self Healing iPhone Case

Definitely very innovative. I guess it comes next to the phone casing !

Press Release

Nissan brings automotive innovation to the world of technology

• Nissan announces unique self-healing iPhone case – the Nissan Scratch Shield iPhone case
• The case uses innovations from the automotive world to create a robust iPhone case, including Nissan’s pioneering self-healing paint finish
• Nissan’s Scratch Shield paint is a world first in paint technology that allows fine scratches to quickly mend themselves
• Addition benefits such as scratch-resistant and easier-to-grip than normal glossy phone surfaces
• The Nissan Scratch Shield iPhone case is made from ABS plastic – a high grade substance widely used in the automotive industry to create a more rigid, robust, and tighter-fitting case
• Trial underway with initial batch of prototypes

Rolle, Switzerland, 16 January 2012: Nissan today announced the latest piece of must-have kit for the iPhone* – a ground-breaking self-healing iPhone case. The Nissan Scratch Shield iPhone case features the brand’s pioneering self-healing paint finish, a world first in paint technology developed in 2005 and already used on a number of Nissan and Infiniti models. Now this ground-breaking technology has been applied to a product that’s prone to scratches through everyday use – the smartphone – with Nissan’s new Scratch Shield case meaning iPhone-lovers can keep their phone looking at its best for longer.

Developed by Nissan in collaboration with University of Tokyo and Advanced Softmaterials Inc., the unique Scratch Shield paint finish was initially designed for automotive use and is available on the Nissan Murano, 370Z and X-Trail along with the Infiniti range of products.  Now, thanks to Nissan’s pioneering approach, this technology is being trialled for the first time on a non-automotive product in Europe, with the Nissan Scratch Shield iPhone case.

The Nissan Scratch Shield iPhone case has been designed using several automotive engineering innovations to deliver a more durable and long-lasting paint coat, and closely fitting, tight case. The case has three key benefits: the highly flexible and elastic properties of Scratch Shield paint technology allows fine scratches to quickly mend themselves**; its tactile gel-like rather than glossy surface is more scratch-resistant than conventional paint and provides a better grip; and the case itself is made of ABS plastic – a high grade substance widely used in the automotive industry which is more rigid and robust than other plastics. The outer ‘paint’ is made from polyrotaxane, which means that when damage occurs to the coating in the form of a fine scratch, the chemical structure is able to react to change back to its original shape and fill the gap – ‘healing’ the blemish.

An initial batch of prototypes of the innovative Scratch Shield iPhone cases has been produced by Nissan for BETA testing with selected journalists and customers, but if demand proves strong, it will look to put the cases on general sale later this year.

Bob Laishley, Overseas Programme Director Business Development for Nissan in Europe, said: “We like to think laterally by taking the great innovations we’ve got from an automotive point of view, and looking at how they could be applied to improve everyday issues. The Scratch Shield iPhone case is a great example of us taking a Nissan automotive technology that has had a huge impact for our customers, and then shifting the boundaries to apply it to another everyday product.

“We’re really excited about the possibilities provided by this technology. In Japan, we’ve already linked up with world-leading mobile operator NTT DoCoMo to allow them to use the Scratch Shield technology on its Style Series N-03B mobile phones, and we think this technology has real scope beyond the automotive world. We’re passionate about innovations that get people excited, and that means not being restricted to one industry or genre.”

Nissan has been licensing its unique technologies for various non-automotive applications since 2004. Other technologies that have been licensed include its Miniature Thermal Imaging Sensor: initially designed to make driving at night safer by detecting the presence of people even in places not illuminated by the car’s headlights; the technology has been licensed to create a device which allows customers to monitor heat generation, or collect temperature readings via infrared sensor. Nissan will continue to research and develop breakthrough technologies that can benefit other industries, and promote these non-automotive applications globally.

Nissan has long been an innovator when it comes to advancements in the automotive world, heralding the start of a remarkable new era in motoring when it launched the first Crossover, the Nissan Murano, followed by the hugely-successful Qashqai and recently joined by the Juke – with its innovative fusion of compact SUV and sports car styling. Nissan’s range of crossovers has since gone from strength to strength, with the Nissan Qashqai selling more than a quarter of a million models last year in Europe and the newly launched Juke having now notched-up 120 thousand sales. Built in Nissan’s manufacturing plant in the UK, these two models helped the plant break its all-time production record to build 480 thousand units in 2011.

Currently the Nissan Juke-R, another Nissan Innovation combining the transmission, drive train and engine of a Nissan GT-R with a Juke, is being put to the test on the streets of Dubai.  To celebrate this event, Nissan has joined forces with Ministry of Sound, who will be hosting a pre-race party for Nissan with internationally renowned DJ Pete Tong, to release the first 100 of the Nissan Scratch Shield iPhone case prototypes

Samsung planning Bada/Tizen unity

Samsung's intentions here in my mind are two fold - (i) one more initiative to hedge its Android bet by keeping alternate platform options alive (with Bada/Tizen Samsung would not only be the anchor tenant but also enjoy a lot of control in the way the platform & related ecosystem shape out), & (ii) get broader developer support for bada, something it has been struggling with, by offering Tizen compatibility and common development tools bait, something it has been struggling with


The challenge as we have seen time and time again is not the technology or platform but developing/drawing a vibrant ecosystem supporting it and this is where Bada/Tizen are likely to struggle.

GSMA Business Briefing

16 Jan 2012

Samsung is reportedly planning to align its bada device platform with Tizen, the operating system being developed under the auspices of the Linux Foundation.

According to Forbes, an executive for the South Korean handset giant last week said that there is “an effort that will merge bada and Tizen,” but it was not revealed what its roadmap for this is. The intention is that apps written using the bada SDK will be supported by Tizen, with developers for both eventually using the same tools.

The report suggests that while aligned from a developer perspective, the two OS could remain separate, with bada optimised for low-cost devices and Tizen positioned as a smartphone platform. This would enable the platforms to reach higher volumes, while enabling developers to use the same tools to address both high-end and mass-market handsets.

Forbes said that Samsung will offer “at least one or two” Tizen-powered devices this year, but that it will not become a cornerstone platform in its portfolio “anytime soon.” An “alpha” version of Tizen was announced earlier this year.

Samsung is already a member of the Tizen Association, a group intended to “drive industry engagement  and in-market support” for the operating system. It was previously a member of LiMo Foundation, one of the two efforts which united to create Tizen alongside the Intel-backed MeeGo project.

The vendor does not break-out figures for its handset business, making it difficult to judge the success of bada. While Samsung’s smartphone portfolio is dominated by Android devices, it has been suggested that more bada handsets are sold than the combined volume for Windows Phone device makers.

According to reports late last year, more than 110 million bada apps have been downloaded from the Samsung Apps portal

Airtel outsources advertising inventory management to Mogae Media

Interesting deal and augurs very well for mobile advertising and local commerce

• Largest deal of its kind in India
• First cross platform/screen (mobile, DTH, PC/laptop) deal 
•  Also make available a lot of location based ad inventory in the market which can be leveraged for mobile commerce (notifications on presence/sales/discounts/etc. for example in areas around you). The interesting part is that this is not confined to any application and hence can be used for local commerce initiatives across platforms even feature phones without GPS or data and as a result could catalyze proliferation of local commerce services
•  Airtel will need a pretty sophisticated ad platform particularly to generate meaningful location ad inventory
• Makes a lot of sense as Airtel probably realizes it doesn’t have the resources (manpower), expertise or appetite to do this itself

Economic Times

January 16, 2011

Bharti Airtel has outsourced all its advertising inventory management initiatives to Mogae Media, a firm promoted by former Dentsu India chairman Sandeep Goyal, in a first such deal in the Indian telecom industry.

This means Mogae Media will sell all possible advertising space on mobile, DTH and broadband services of the country's top telecom service provider and run its end-to-end mobile commerce initiative including giving special offers, discounts, freebies to subscribers and negotiating deals with companies, a person familiar with the development said.

Goyal confirmed the deal, but refused to share financial details.

He said his Mogae Media has already begun selling the advertising inventory and that he saw great potential for his new venture. "My dream is to create an Amazon in the mobile space in India," he said.

Analysts said it's the first time a telecom service provider has collected and outsourced the complete advertising inventory in the country.

"No one has done that in India so far," said Prashant Singhal, telecom leader at Ernst & Young.

Other operators such as Vodafone and Idea offer value-added services created by independent application and content and have outsourced some services.

"The model has high potential since the mobile phone is the only medium to reach out to 800-900 million people," Singhal said.

He says the concept of giving discounts and loyalty points will work among deal-loving Indian consumers. "This kind of selling could generate revenues upwards of $1 billion in two to three years for the industry," he added.

An analyst who did not wish to be named said Airtel could rake in around 40-50% of the industry's revenue based on the sheer size of its postpaid customer base.

Bharti Airtel's advertising inventory includes space on text messages, multi-media messages, IVR and recharge coupons in mobile services.

The default channel, pre-loading screen and messages from Airtel DTH and broadband also form part of the inventory.

Airtel's deal with Mogae will work on a revenue-sharing model, the person quoted first said.

A Bharti Airtel spokesperson said the company would not comment on market speculations and partner relationships. 

Through this deal, Airtel will also offer location-based deals by using advance technology such as geofencing-or tracking users through GPS satellite navigation system-to give discount coupons of nearby retailers to its customers. 

Thus, an Airtel user may get a hefty discount on a particular brand or be the exclusive customers to be informed of a sale prior to it being opened for regular retail customers. 

Such exclusive and customized 'Airtel Deals' target small sample sizes. 

Goyal said Mogae Media will invest in creating mobile analytics from data available with Airtel on their subscriber base. For instance, high ARPU clients with substantial roaming and using smartphones would be targeted for high-end car brands and deals in airlines and hotels. 

Similarly, youth with high Facebook usage and 3G connection may be targeted for offering deals on apparel, career institutes, cafes, movie theatres and music. 

This micro-targeting of consumers gives brand the opportunity to fine tune both their advertising promise, as well as avoid wastage and spillage inherent in other media, Goyal said. 

Mogae Media sold 250 million impressions of Life OK, Star TV's new broadcasting channel that launched mid-December on post-call notification-a message which appears after a pre-paid caller ends a phone conversation showing the amount remaining in the caller's account. 

On the launch day, around 30 crore messages were sent out within four hours, asking subscribers to tune in to the channel. 

Airtel's WAP portal also streamed an eight-hour concert for Life OK and 7 million plus Airtel's DTH subscribers received mails inviting them to see Life OK on channel 104. 

Bharti Airtel is the world's fifth largest telecoms company that has more than 175 million mobile phone customers in India, the largest share in the industry. Its digital television service has more than 6.6 million customers and more than 1.4 million broadband users.

Brand Trust Report™ 2012 - The search for India's Most Trusted Brands... Launched!!!

Brand Trust Report™ 2012 - The search for India's Most Trusted Brands...Nokia Tops!

'via Blog this'

Interbrand - Best Global Brands 2011 - Top 100 brands

Interbrand - Best Global Brands 2011 - Top 100 brands:

'via Blog this'

Windows Phone Apps 2011 Retrospective

No comments on professional proprietary grounds

Source : Windows Phone Developer Blog

Microsoft and LG Sign Android Patent Agreement

No comments on professional proprietary grounds

Sarah Fitzpatrick, Cellular News | 12th Jan 2012

Microsoft and LG Electronics have signed a patent agreement that provides broad coverage under Microsoft's patent portfolio for LG's tablets, mobile phones and other consumer devices running the Android or Chrome OS Platform."

For full article click link above

'via Blog this'

Android Finally Gets Serious About Its Looks, Launches Official Design Portal | TechCrunch

Android’s visual shortcomings have been well documented. While things have become better third party apps are still an issue. This may help change things.

Jason Kincaid, TechCrunch

January 12, 2012

Tired of looking at Android apps that are decidedly more homely than their iOS counterparts? Google is too — and it’s finally doing something about it.


Today the Android team has launched an official ‘Android Design’ portal, featuring an extensive guide outlining UI best practices that developers should work to use as they’re building their apps. You can find the new site right here.


Android’s visual shortcomings have been well documented (you can find a video of me discussing this issue with Android’s Director of User Experience, Matias Duarte, right here). In the old days (say, when the original Droid launched) it really was often downright ugly — and the apps were even worse, with buttons that did unexpected things and UIs that looked generic and amateur."


For full article click link above

'via Blog this'

Google plans IPTV push in 2012 with new partnerships

The Web TV battle crancks up and one of my predictions for 2012 is significant growth of this ecosystem and ramp up of consumer adoption

Article Link


January 6, 2012 Written by Dawinderpal Sahota, Telecom.com

Google has announced that it has brought new hardware manufacturers on board as partners for its IPTV service Google TV.

LG is the biggest name to join the Google TV ecosystem this year and will unveil a new line of Google TV sets running on its own L9 chipset at CES in Las Vegas next week.

“Through Google TV, LG has merged Google’s established Android operating system with LG’s proven 3D and Smart TV technologies, offering consumers a new and enthralling TV experience,” said Havis Kwon, president and CEO of LG.

Chip makers Marvell, from the US, and MediaTek, from Taiwan, have also announced their partnerships with Google and their hardware will power Google TV devices over the coming year. They join Samsung, Sony and Vizio, which will bring Google-TV powered devices to market in 2012.

“Google TV is about bringing new entertainment and innovation from the web to TV and our team along with our partners are pleased to bring more Google TV powered products to more people, across more devices in more countries in 2012,” said Mickey Kim from Google TV’s partnership management team.

Last October, Google launched an update to its Google TV service, which includes a simpler interface and a more “TV-like YouTube experience”, as well as Android Market.

The company claims that since launching the update, it has seen activation rates more than double and it now has more than 150 apps which developers have specifically built for TV.

Online Shopping Takes Off in India: Retail Web Audience Grows 18 Percent in the Past Year as Nearly 3 of Every 5 Internet Users Now Shop Online

eCommerce is definitely at an inflection point in India with the next phase likely to see significant ramp-up and clear segregation of the men from the boys! The entry of Amazon in 2012 into India is likely to heat up the segment further and spur consolidation.


While online retail is generating an increasing amount of traffic it continues to be largely for discovery with a subset ordering with settlement continuing to be largely offline (cash on delivery).


Every retailer today worth its salt should have an online strategy - be it to aid discovery, consumer convenience or increase reach. The rapid growth of online coupon sites suggests that consumers in India as expected are looking for deals, highlighting the need for online retailers to adopt effective marketing and pricing strategies for their goods. Differentiated (online exclusive) or customized offerings are potentially other ways to play online.


Keep in mind the figures below do not include mobile based access.

Deal Sites Continue to Surge in Popularity Reaching 16.5 Percent of India’s Online Population

Mumbai, India, December 22, 2011 – comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released a report on visitation to the top Retail and Coupon sites in India based on data from its comScore Media Metrix service. The report found that nearly 60 percent of online users in India visited a Retail site in November 2011, with the number of online shoppers increasing 18 percent in the past year. The report also found that Coupon sites are rapidly gaining in popularity, with 16.5 percent of the Indian online population visiting the category in November, led by Snapdeal.com and Mydala.com.

“The online channel is playing an increasingly important role in connecting retailers with potential customers in India,” said Kedar Gavane, comScore director for India. “To take advantage of this growing opportunity, retailers must ensure they are addressing the needs of potential customers, which include attractive pricing and the convenience of ordering online. The rapid growth of online coupon sites suggests that consumers in India are looking for deals, highlighting the need for online retailers to adopt effective marketing and pricing strategies for their goods.”

Number of Online Shoppers Climbs 18 Percent in the Past Year

In November 2011, 27.2 million online users in India age 15 and older accessed the Retail category from a home or work computer, an increase of 18 percent from the previous year, as consumers continue to turn to the web to shop for and purchase items and retailers continue to increase their online visibility through active marketing campaigns. Analysis of some of the largest Retail subcategories revealed that Coupons was the largest with 7.6 million visitors, an increase of 629 percent from the previous year as consumers rapidly adopt daily deal sites. Consumer Electronics ranked next with 7.1 million visitors growing 12 percent from the previous year, while 5.8 million online users visited Comparison Shopping sites, an increase of 25 percent from the previous year.

Top Retail Subcategories by Total Unique Visitors (000) November 2011 vs. November 2010 Total India – Visitors Age 15+ Home/Work Locations Source: comScore Media Metrix
	Total Unique Visitors (000)
	Nov-2010	Nov-2011	% Change
Total Internet : Total Audience	41,169	46,390	13
Retail	23,021	27,171	18
Coupons	1,048	7,647	629
Consumer Electronics	6,334	7,122	12
Comparison Shopping	4,611	5,775	25
Computer Hardware	5,079	5,708	12
Apparel	1,735	4,609	166
Movies	2,587	3,076	19
Books	2,559	2,494	-3
Flowers/Gifts/Greetings	2,132	2,323	9
Jewelry/Luxury Goods/Accessories	1,575	2,134	36
Home	1,605	1,966	22

Amazon and Apple Top List of Retail Sites

Amazon Sites led as the top retail destination in India reaching 6.8 million visitors, representing 14.7 percent of the online population. Apple.com Worldwide Sites saw its audience reach 3.4 million visitors, followed by Samsung Group with nearly 2.8 million visitors. Other top retail destinations included Flipkart.com (2.7 million visitors), HomeShop18.com (2.3 million visitors) and Naaptol.com (2.1 million visitors).

Top 10 Retail Sites by Unique Visitors (000) November 2011 Total India – Visitors Age 15+ Home/Work Locations Source: comScore Media Metrix
	Total Unique Visitors (000)	% Reach
Total Internet : Total Audience	46,390	100.0%
Retail	27,171	58.6%
Amazon Sites	6,805	14.7%
Apple.com Worldwide Sites	3,426	7.4%
Samsung Group	2,759	5.9%
Flipkart.com	2,675	5.8%
Homeshop18.com	2,286	4.9%
Naaptol.com	2,145	4.6%
Bookmyshow.com	2,125	4.6%
Myntra.com	2,110	4.5%
Priceindia.in	2,047	4.4%
Alibaba.com Corporation	1,973	4.3%

*Excludes visits from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs

Snapdeal.com and Mydala.com Lead the Coupons Category

In November 2011, 7.6 million Indians visited Coupon sites, representing 16.5 percent of Internet users in the market. Snapdeal.com led the category with 5.2 million visitors, followed by Mydala.com with 1.4 million visitors and Crazeal.com with nearly 1 million visitors.

Top 10 Coupon Sites by Total Unique Visitors (000) November 2011 Total India – Visitors Age 15+ Home/Work Locations Source: comScore Media Metrix
	Total Unique Visitors (000)	% Reach
Total Internet : Total Audience	46,390	100.0%
Coupons	7,647	16.5%
Snapdeal.com	5,185	11.2%
Mydala.com	1,359	2.9%
Crazeal.com	989	2.1%
Dealsandyou.com	664	1.4%
Koovs.com	491	1.1%
Khojguru.com	239	0.5%
Coupondunia.in	117	0.3%
Sosasta.com	91	0.2%
Deals2buy.com	86	0.2%
Retailmenot.com	83	0.2%

*Excludes visits from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs

About comScore

comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world and preferred source of digital business analytics. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com/companyinfo.