TechCauldron

GSMA announces Mobile Awards Nominees in Partnership with Distimo

2012-02-13T23:06:00.003+05:30

January 25, 2012 by Vincent Hoogsteder, Distimo

The GSMA today announced nominees for the 17th annual Global Mobile Awards. The winners will be presented on Tuesday, 28th February at the GSMA Mobile World Congress. In total, 158 nominees have been shortlisted for this year’s Global Mobile Awards; the full list of nominees and awards categories can be found here.

Market data for the ‘Best Mobile App for Consumers’ and ‘Best Mobile App for Enterprise’ categories was provided by Distimo. These are the nominees:

Best Mobile App for Consumers
	Facebook for Facebook Messenger
	Outfit7 for Talking Tom Cat 2
	Rovio Mobile Ltd. for Angry Birds Rio
	Yobonja for Blast Monkeys
	Zynga for Hanging With Friends

Best Mobile App for Enterprise
	Cisco Systems, Inc. for Cisco AnyConnect
	Citrix Online for GoToMeeting
	Citrix Systems for Citrix Receiver
	SouthLabs for SharePoint Mobile Client
	Square, Inc. for Square

Vincent Hoogsteder

India Telecoms Update @ Dec11

2012-02-13T22:59:00.002+05:30

Source : Telecom regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)

Overall telephony base reaches 927 mn taking overall Teledensity to 77% (wireless @ 74%, wireline @ 3%)
Share of Urban subs @ 66% of total
9.5 mn wireless additions during the month taking the overall wireless base to 894 mn

4.9 mn Urban and 4.5 mn Rural additions
586 mn Urban and 308 mn Rural wireless subs
Wireless teledendity @ 74% (161% in Urban & 37% in Rural)
Service provider-wise share of net wireless additions in Dec (top10): IDEA (25%), Uninor (22%), Bharti Airtel (10%), Reliance (10%), Vodafone (10%), BSNL (8%), Aircel (7%), Sistema (5%), Tata (1%), Etisalat (1%)
Of the wireless adds in Dec, in the Metros there was a net add of 1.2 mn subs, Category A circles an add of 3.3 mn, Category B circles 3.3 mn and Category C circles 1.6 mn
Service provider-wise cumulative wireless market share end-Dec : Bharti Airtel (19.7%), Reliance (16.8%), Vodafone (16.5%), IDEA (11.9%), BSNL (10.8%), Tata (9.3%), Aircel (6.9%), Uninor (4.1%), Sistema (1.7%), MTNL (0.6%)
Dispersion of wireless sub base end-Dec : Metros (12%), Category A circles (35%), Category B circles (40%), Category C circles (14%)
Peak active wireless subscribers on VLR in Dec @ 647 mn

72% of total wireless base was active at peak time during Dec
Jammu & Kashmir has the highest proportion of VLR subs @ 83% followed by MP (79%) and Maharashtra (75%); Mumbai has the lowest proportion with 61%
Service provider wise, IDEA leads the tally with 93% followed by Bharti Airtel with 90% and Vodafone with 85%; Etisalat is at the bottom with 25%

Cumulative Mobile Number Portability requests till end Nov stood at 29.2 mn. Highest requests from Karnataka followed by Gujarat, AP, Rajasthan and Maharashtra

Wireline base continued to steadily decline and was at 32.7 mn

Broadband (>256 kbps) subscriber base inched up to 13.3 mn

Socialbakers Social Media Report of Facebook Pages in India - Nov11

2012-02-07T23:37:00.001+05:30

Web analytics firm StatCounter reports that mobile internet usage is doubling year on year

2012-02-07T00:10:00.000+05:30

Interesting but along expected lines though it would be interesting to note whether this includes app based usage or only browser based usage

StatCounter Press Release
Click for Full article

Nokia global leader
Apple king in US and UK

Boston, USA and Dublin, Ireland; Monday, 6th February, 2012: Global internet usage through mobile devices, not including tablets*, has almost doubled to 8.5% in January 2012 from 4.3% last year according to free web analytics company StatCounter. The firm's research arm StatCounter Global Stats highlights the increasing use of mobile devices to access the internet with market share doubling year on year since 2009 (Table A below).

"While global internet usage through mobiles is still under 10%, the pace of growth is remarkable," commented Aodhan Cullen, CEO, StatCounter.

StatCounter has also announced that new stats regarding mobile vendors are now available on its Global Stats website. The firm has been compiling and refining these stats for some time and has now made the beta project public. Based on initial research covering all traffic to the StatCounter network, Nokia leads worldwide, most probably driven by its dominance in India. Apple is second globally but leads the US and UK markets. In the UK RIM is second only to Apple.

"Following repeated requests, we've decided to make our new mobile vendor stats publicly available," commented Aodhan Cullen, StatCounter. "As the mobile space is constantly evolving, we keep our detection under constant review." Anyone wishing to contribute to the detection project can submit feedback using the detect tool: http://gs.statcounter.com/detect

Top 10 Mobile Vendors Globally from Jan 2011 to Jan 2012

Top 10 Mobile Vendors in India from Jan 2011 to Jan 2012

StatCounter (http://statcounter.com/) provides free website traffic analysis. This allows website owners, developers and bloggers to capture website intelligence in real time e.g. number of visitors, visitors by country/region, search terms, popular pages, download stats, exit links and other data.

--------------------------------------------------
Table A:
Global use of mobile devices to access internet
(excludes tablets*)

Jan 2009: 0.7%
Jan 2010: 1.6%
Jan 2011: 4.3%
Jan 2012: 8.5%
Source: StatCounter Global Stats
-----------------------------------------------------

* StatCounter defines mobile device as a pocket-sized computing device, typically having a display screen with touch input or a miniature keyboard.

Facebook’s Mobility Challenge - NYTimes.com

2012-02-06T23:55:00.000+05:30

Monetizing mobility is not a challenge unique to Facebook but plagues from the likes of EBay's and Amazon's of the world to Google for example.

By JENNA WORTHAM, NYT
February 5, 2012

Lots of people love their cellphones. Facebook, so far, is not a big fan.

Overall spending on mobile advertising in the United States is expected to reach $2.6 billion this year, up 80 percent from $1.45 billion in 2011, according to research by eMarketer
Amid the jaw-dropping financial figures the company revealed last week when it filed for a public offering was an interesting admission. Although more than half of its 845 million members log into Facebook on a mobile device, the company has not yet found a way to make real money from that use.

For full article click link above.

'via Blog this'

Here's Facebook's Next Big Business

2012-02-06T22:32:00.000+05:30

Advertising is no longer the sole source of revenue for Facebook, Payments also increasingly are and now account for ~ 17% of total revenue.

With FB now becoming a distribution platform for content (apps, games, music, etc.), FB last year started retaining a 30% share of all transaction. As FB deepens and broadens as a distribution platform this is likely to grow

Business Insider
Matt Lynley | Feb. 3, 2012

Full article

Click link above for full article

A global look at the dominant social networks by country

2012-02-06T00:35:00.002+05:30

Facebook (FB) monitors its user base through the number of Monthly Active Users (MAUs), among other metrics. An MAU is a registered FB user who logs in and visits FB, shares content or indulges in other activities in the last 30 days as of the date of measurement.

As of December 31, 2011, FB had 845 million MAUs, an increase of 39 per cent from December 31, 2010.

FB had identified India as a key source of growth and had 46 million MAUs in India at the end of December, an increase of 132 per cent from the prior year

Smart phones overtake client PCs (incl tablets, netbooks & notebooks) in 2011

2012-02-05T23:57:00.000+05:30

For the first time ever, shipped 88 million smart phones in 2011, compared to 415 million client PCs (incl pads, notebooks, netbooks) - a significant milestone!

In the space of a few years, smart phones have grown from being a niche product segment at the high-end of the mobile phone market to becoming a truly mass-market proposition. The greater availability of smart phones at lower price points has helped tremendously, but there has been a driving trend of increasing consumer appetite for Internet browsing, content consumption and engaging with apps and services on mobile devices

Beginning of the end of PCs in my view with the future of notebooks also under serious question.

The future lies with netbooks and pads with cloud based software (OS, services & apps).

Press Release

Palo Alto, Shanghai, Singapore and Reading – 3 February 2012

Canalys today released its full, detailed Q4 2011 country-level smart phone shipment estimates to clients, so completing the picture for the year. One notable result was that total annual global shipments of smart phones exceeded those of client PCs (including pads) for the first time.

Vendors shipped 158.5 million smart phones in Q4 2011, up 57% on the 101.2 million units shipped in Q4 2010. This bumper quarter took total global shipments for the whole of 2011 to 487.7 million units, up 63% on the 299.7 million smart phones shipped throughout 2010. By comparison, the global client PC market grew 15% in 2011 to 414.6 million units, with 274% growth in pad shipments. Pads accounted for 15% of all client PC shipments in 2011.

“In 2011 we saw a fall in demand for netbooks, and slowing demand for notebooks and desktops as a direct result of rising interest in pads,” said Chris Jones, Canalys VP and Principal Analyst. “But pads have had negligible impact on smart phone volumes and markets across the globe have seen persistent and substantial growth through 2011. Smart phone shipments overtaking those of client PCs should be seen as a significant milestone. In the space of a few years, smart phones have grown from being a niche product segment at the high-end of the mobile phone market to becoming a truly mass-market proposition. The greater availability of smart phones at lower price points has helped tremendously, but there has been a driving trend of increasing consumer appetite for Internet browsing, content consumption and engaging with apps and services on mobile devices.”

However, Canalys expects to see smart phone market growth slow in 2012 as vendors exercise greater cost control and discipline, and put more focus on profitability. Notably, even vendors who have focused on conquering the low-end of the market with aggressive pricing, such as Huawei, ZTE and LG, are now placing greater attention on the higher tiers. Flagship models aimed at raising selling prices and improving margins will feature more heavily this year.

Apple’s impressive end to the year resulted in it becoming the leading smart phone and client PC vendor in Q4 2011, with shipments of 37.0 million iPhones, 15.4 million iPads and 5.2 million Macs. It also smashed the record for the most smart phones shipped globally by any single vendor in one quarter, beating Nokia’s previous record of 28.3 million shipped in Q4 2010. Moreover, Apple’s performance meant that it displaced Nokia, for the first time, as the leading smart phone vendor by annual shipments. Apple shipped 93.1 million iPhones in 2011, representing growth of 96% over 2010. The iPhone 4S benefitted from pent-up demand resulting from the launch coming in October rather than June, but Apple’s overall volume was also buoyed by continued shipments of the now more aggressively priced iPhone 4 and 3GS models.

Samsung also finished 2011 with a flourish. It shipped 35.3 million smart phones in Q4 2011 under its own brand, bringing its total to 91.9 million for the year, compared to just 24.9 million in 2010. This excludes shipments of rebranded products, such as the Nexus S and Galaxy Nexus, which Canalys counts under the Google brand. Samsung continued to spend big on marketing activities, and its strong product portfolio – particularly the Android-based Galaxy S II – performed well.

Despite a disappointing set of financial results, Nokia’s smart phone performance in the fourth quarter gave cause for optimism. It shipped 19.6 million smart phones, down 31% from the record high of a year earlier, but up 17% on Q3 2011. The total was helped by 1.2 million and 0.6 million shipments of its Windows Phone and MeeGo-based products respectively, as well as improved Symbian Belle volumes from competitively priced devices such as the Nokia 500, 700 and 701. Its total smart phone shipments for the year came in at 77.3 million globally.

“Its first Windows Phone products, the Lumia 800 and 710, along with the recently announced Lumia 900 through AT&T in the US, have improved the outlook for Nokia,” said Canalys Senior Analyst, Tim Shepherd. “They are well-designed, competitive devices that demonstrate innovation is still alive within Nokia. But the battle is not over and it has huge challenges ahead. Nokia must continue to build out its Lumia portfolio with devices tailored to address all price points and all the markets in which it aims to compete. It must hasten its transition from Symbian to Windows Phone around the world and, with Microsoft, promote and generate excitement for the platform and new products. And it must succeed in attracting more developers to build high quality, locally relevant apps.”

RIM’s demise in 2011 has been over played by some, with the company ending the year as the fourth largest smart phone vendor and delivering annual unit growth of 5%. “There is no denying that RIM has had a tough year,” said Canalys Principal Analyst, Pete Cunningham. “But when you consider that it is transitioning to a new platform it has done well to increase volume while remaining profitable; the latter point being something that many other vendors struggle with. The appointment of Thorsten Heins as CEO will bring new energy to the company while ensuring that it does not radically deviate from its overall strategy in this transitional year. However, 2012 will become even more competitive and RIM needs BlackBerry 10 devices out there to ensure it retains its status as a major player.”

At a platform level, Android accounted for 52% of global smart phones shipments in Q4 2011, with iOS representing 23% and Symbian 12%. Android was also the leading smart phone platform by volume for the whole year, accounting for 49% of all devices shipped in 2011 and ahead of iOS with 19% share and Symbian with 16%. Collectively, Android smart phone shipments grew 149% year on year in Q4 2011 to 81.9 million units, resulting in a total of 237.8 million for the full year, up 244% on 2010. Samsung’s success and focus on Android have contributed substantially to the growth of the platform, but other vendors, such as Sony Ericsson, Huawei, Motorola, LG and particularly HTC, have also seen significant growth in their Android volumes over the course of 2011.

Canalys analysts in Asia Pacific, the Americas and EMEA are available for press interviews on topics related to all mobile devices and the client PC market, as well as the growing ecosystem for mobile applications and services. There will also be a significant Canalys analyst presence at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona from 26 to 29 February 2012. To arrange an interview or meeting, please send a request to press@canalys.com. Photos and bios of analysts are available from the Canalys web site.

An Average Day on Facebook

2012-02-05T23:25:00.001+05:30

Amazing daily engagement....tribute to the stickiness FB has managed to create and retain !

Keep in mind FB now also increasing becoming the repository of all your pics and pretty successfully experimenting with becoming your destination for content (music, movies, apps, etc.)

T-Mobile UK launches “truly unlimited calls, texts and internet” » telecoms.com – telecoms industry news, analysis and opinion

2012-01-30T22:52:00.000+05:30

Interesting move given the US operators are moving back to capped plans

Dawinderpal Sahota. Total Tele.com

January 30, 2012

T-Mobile UK launches new unlimited data plan with no fair use restrictions

Mobile operator T-Mobile UK has announced what it claims is the country’s first “truly unlimited” mobile phone plan. The operator’s “Full Monty” deal allows unlimited internet browsing, unlimited SMS messages and unlimited phone calls with no fair usage restrictions.

Prices for the plan start at £41 per month, with a free BlackBerry 9900 handset, or customers can pay a £29 up-front fee to have an iPhone 4S 16GB handset with the deal.

For full article click link above.

'via Blog this'

The Disruption of Venture Capital : Harvard Business Review

2012-01-27T01:43:00.000+05:30

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

2012-01-27T01:25:00.000+05:30

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

2012-01-25T02:37:00.003+05:30

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

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

Ministryof Information & Technology

January19, 2012

Overthe years, alarge number of initiatives have been undertaken by various State Governmentsand Central Ministries to usher in an era of e-Government. Sustained effortshave been made at multiple levels to improve the delivery of public servicesand simplify the process of accessing them.

e-Governancein India hassteadily evolved from computerization of Government Departments to initiativesthat encapsulate the finer points of Governance, such as citizen centricity,service orientation and transparency. Lessons from previous e-Governanceinitiatives have played an important role in shaping the progressivee-Governance strategy of the country. Due cognizance has been taken of thenotion that to speed up e-Governance implementation across the various arms ofGovernment at National, State, and Local levels, a programme approach needs tobe adopted, guided by common vision and strategy. This approach has thepotential of enabling huge savings in costs through sharing of core and supportinfrastructure, enabling interoperability through standards, and of presentinga seamless view of Government to citizens.

TheNational e-Governance Plan (NeGP), takesa holistic view of e-Governance initiatives across the country, integratingthem into a collective vision, a shared cause. Around this idea, a massivecountrywide infrastructure reaching down to the remotest of villages isevolving, and large-scale digitization of records is taking place to enable easy,reliable access over the internet. The ultimate objective is to bring publicservices closer home to citizens, as articulated in the Vision Statement ofNeGP.

"Make all Governmentservices accessible to the common man in his locality, through common servicedelivery outlets, and ensure efficiency, transparency, and reliability of suchservices at affordable costs to realise the basic needs of the common man"

TheGovernment approved the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP), comprising of 27 Mission Mode Projects (MMPs) and8 components, on May18, 2006. The Government has accordedapproval to the vision, approach, strategy, key components, implementationmethodology, and management structure for NeGP. However, the approval of NeGPdoes not constitute financial approval(s) for all the Mission Mode Projects(MMPs) and components under it. The existing or ongoing projects in the MMPcategory, being implemented by various Central Ministries, States, and StateDepartments would be suitably augmented and enhanced to align with theobjectives 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

2012-01-25T01:33:00.000+05:30

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

2012-01-25T01:11:00.002+05:30

Growing traction amongst the developer community!

Rafe Blandford, All About Windows Phone

January 22nd 2012

More than 60,000 items havenow been published in the Windows Phone Marketplace. The rate ofsubmissions 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 perday the marketplace was getting when it passed the 50,000 mark in lateDecember.

It has taken 25 days to gofrom 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 itemshave been published. Of these, 24,951 were added in the last 90 days and 11,935were added in the last 30 days. These items come from 15,173 differentpublishers.

Growthof 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. Thiscompares with 405 items for the same week last year. This would suggest WindowsPhone prospects, in app terms at least, are looking much healthier for 2012,than they did for 2011.

It's worth stressing that thequantity of apps is best used only as a guideline metric. The quality of appsin an app store is also very important, but is more difficult to judgeobjectively.

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

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

About

These numbers are from ourown tracking system, which is also used to power the All About WindowsPhone Apps & Games section, where you can browseall 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 Codewith Bing Vision on your smartphone.

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

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

2012-01-24T01:36:00.000+05:30

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

2012-01-24T01:15:00.000+05:30

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

2012-01-24T00:51:00.003+05:30

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

2012-01-22T23:40:00.000+05:30

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

2012-01-22T23:33:00.000+05:30

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

2012-01-22T22:55:00.000+05:30

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+

2012-01-20T02:10:00.001+05:30

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

2012-01-20T01:57:00.000+05:30

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

2012-01-20T01:43:00.000+05:30

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

2012-01-19T00:17:00.001+05:30

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

2012-01-18T00:30:00.000+05:30

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 themarket which can be leveraged for mobile commerce (notifications onpresence/sales/discounts/etc. for example in areas around you). The interestingpart is that this is not confined to any application and hence can be used forlocal commerce initiatives across platforms even feature phones without GPS ordata and as a result could catalyze proliferation of local commerce services
Airtel will need a pretty sophisticated ad platform particularlyto generate meaningful location ad inventory
Makes a lot of sense as Airtel probably realizes it doesn’t have theresources (manpower), expertise or appetite to do this itself

Economic Times

January 16, 2011

Bharti Airtelhas outsourced all its advertising inventory management initiatives to MogaeMedia, a firm promoted by former Dentsu India chairman Sandeep Goyal, in afirst such deal in the Indian telecom industry.

This means Mogae Media will sell all possible advertising space on mobile, DTHand broadband services of the country's top telecom service provider and runits end-to-end mobile commerce initiative including giving special offers,discounts, freebies to subscribers and negotiating deals with companies, aperson 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 andthat he saw great potential for his new venture. "My dream is to create anAmazon in the mobile space in India," he said.

Analysts said it's the first time a telecom service provider has collected andoutsourced 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 byindependent application and content and have outsourced some services.

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

He says the concept of giving discounts and loyalty points will work amongdeal-loving Indian consumers. "This kind of selling could generaterevenues upwards of $1 billion in two to three years for the industry," headded.

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 customerbase.

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 andbroadband also form part of the inventory.

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

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

Through this deal, Airtel willalso offer location-based deals by using advance technology such asgeofencing-or tracking users through GPS satellite navigation system-to givediscount coupons of nearby retailers to its customers.

Thus, an Airtel user may get ahefty discount on a particular brand or be the exclusive customers to beinformed 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 willinvest in creating mobile analytics from data available with Airtel on theirsubscriber base. For instance, high ARPU clients with substantial roaming andusing smartphones would be targeted for high-end car brands and deals inairlines and hotels.

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

This micro-targeting ofconsumers gives brand the opportunity to fine tune both their advertisingpromise, as well as avoid wastage and spillage inherent in other media, Goyalsaid.

Mogae Media sold 250 millionimpressions of Life OK, Star TV's new broadcasting channel that launchedmid-December on post-call notification-a message which appears after a pre-paidcaller ends a phone conversation showing the amount remaining in the caller'saccount.

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

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

Bharti Airtel is the world'sfifth largest telecoms company that has more than 175 million mobile phonecustomers in India, the largest share in the industry. Its digital television servicehas 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!!!

2012-01-17T22:51:00.000+05:30

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

2012-01-17T18:37:00.000+05:30

Interbrand - Best Global Brands 2011 - Top 100 brands:

'via Blog this'

Windows Phone Apps 2011 Retrospective

2012-01-15T04:08:00.001+05:30

No comments on professional proprietary grounds

Source : Windows Phone Developer Blog

Microsoft and LG Sign Android Patent Agreement

2012-01-15T03:55:00.000+05:30

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

2012-01-15T02:27:00.000+05:30

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

2012-01-10T03:18:00.001+05:30

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

2012-01-10T02:51:00.002+05:30

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.

HP details Open Source future of webOS

2012-01-10T01:43:00.002+05:30

This might give a fillip to webOS though unlikely to bring it back to prime time given its become more or less a three horse ecosystem race now

Mobile Business Briefing
December 12, 2011

HP said it is to contribute its webOS platform to the open source community, following months of speculation as to the future of the platform.

The company said that it intends to be “active in the development and support of webOS,” and that by moving to open source “there is the opportunity to significantly improve applications and web services for the next generation of devices.”

In a blog post, the HP Developer Relations team said that the announcement has “committed HP to a course of continued improvement to webOS, which means we’re in it for the long haul.” This includes “good, transparent and inclusive governance to avoid fragmentation of the platform.”

The company also expressed its “deepest appreciation” for its app developers, stating that “you have helped to bring this announcement about through your passion and commitment, through periods of both promise and uncertainty.”

According to a recent developer survey by Appcelerator and IDC, interest in webOS for both smartphones and tablets has dropped in recent months, against a backdrop of uncertainty about the future of the platform.

HP said it will make the underlying code of webOS available under an open source licence, with developers, partners, HP engineers and other hardware manufacturers able to deliver ongoing enhancements and new versions into the marketplace. It will also contribute its ENYO application framework for webOS to the community, along with a plan for “the remaining components of the user space.”

According to Bloomberg, Meg Whitman, president and CEO of HP, said the company may release new hardware running webOS in 2013 – it said in August that it would not offer any more devices using the platform. What is not clear is what form these devices will take: Whitman said that the company is “out of the smartphone business,” and while a tablet would be an obvious choice, HP has also previously iterated plans to use the platform to power smart printers.

It had previously been reported that the company was in talks with potential buyers of the platform, withnames in the frame including Intel and Qualcomm.

Ericsson ConsumerLab : The 10 hottest consumer trends for 2012

2012-01-06T16:38:00.001+05:30

Interesting though nothing unexpected. Is it becoming roti, kapda, makaan aur aab mobile internet (transalation from Hindi of basic needs = bread, cloth, house & now mobile internet) ??

Press Release
Jan 5, 2012

As 2011 drew to a close, Ericsson ConsumerLab identified the hottest consumertrends for 2012 and beyond. Some of the highlights included that connectivityhas become as essential as roads and electricity, that social media areredefining news reporting, and that anyone can now be a service provider.

Once they have been connected,the internet is one of the last things that consumers would be willing to giveup if they had to reduce their expenses, according to ConsumerLab’s findings.

For more than 15 years,ConsumerLab has been conducting research into people’s values, behaviors andways of thinking about ICT products and services. Ericsson’s global researchprogram is based on annual interviews with 100,000 individuals in more than 40countries and more than 10 megacities.

Michael Björn, Head of Researchat ConsumerLab, says: "Consumers have taken to smartphone apps like fishto water. Touch and direct access via icons hide the complexity of internetservices, and people are now willing to explore many new areas of everyday life– anything from recipes to receipts – that benefit from connectivity. We justconcluded a study in emerging markets, and found that even first-timemobile-phone users very quickly become internet users. Connectivity is becomingan increasing part of their daily activities."

Here are the 10 hottestconsumer trends:

Connectivity is king. Connectivity has becomeas essential as the air we breathe. Once they have been connected, consumerssay the internet is one of the last things they would be willing to give up ifthey had to reduce their expenses

Everyone can be a service provider. Thereis a huge demand for new services. The internet makes it possible for bothcompanies and consumers to invent new solutions, such as apps

Social media redefine news reporting. Social media driveconsumption of pictures, video clips and music, and now they also helpconsumers judge the relevance of news by providing necessary social commentary

Mobile phones play a significant role in everyday life. Consumersshow most interest in mobile services that are directly related to nearbyplaces or local services. While 90 percent of all smartphone owners alwayscarry their phones with them, only 80 percent of them mention carrying money

Transparency greater than privacy. Peopleare getting used to living transparent lives and they also expect companies andother organizations to act transparently

The cloud makes things easy to use. Sharinginformation and having several devices connected at all times is becoming thenorm for consumers, resulting in the introduction of more cloud-based services.The main driver is ease of use

Women drive adoption of smartphones. Our2011 study of smartphone users showed that men still dominate usage of nicheservices on smartphones while significantly more women use regular servicessuch as voice calling, SMS and Facebook. By actively integrating the use of allcommunications channels into one device, women are driving mass-market adoptionof smartphones

Making shopping easier. Oursurvey showed that 67 percent of smartphone users are interested in mobilepayments. Payments should not be seen in isolation but must be put into acontext of everyday shopping – for example, product information, bonus points,receipts and even indoor-shopping-mall navigation

Everything connects. Mobile data surpassedvoice in the fourth quarter of 2009 and doubled voice in the first quarter of2011. Consumers are increasingly connecting to the internet and to thingsaround them, such as cars, vending machines, ticket gates and more

Uncertain times. Consumers strive forcontrol. In times of economic instability or when disasters such asearthquakes occur, we see renewed interest among consumers in services relatedto utilities such as water and electricity. Likewise, a change in disposableincome is driving demand for consumers to be in control of service consumption

India Telecoms Update @Oct11

2011-12-29T06:01:00.002+05:30

Source : Telecom regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)

Overall telephony base reaches 915 mn taking overall Teledensity to 76% (wireless @ 73%, wireline @ 3%)
Share of Urban subs @ 66% of total
7.8 mn wireless additions during the month taking the overall wireless base to 881 mn

4.4 mn Urban and 3.4 mn Rural additions
606 mn Urban and 309 mn Rural wireless subs
Wireless teledendity @ 73% (160% in Urban & 36% in Rural)
Service provider-wise share of incremental wireless additions in Oct (top10): Uninor (34.2%), IDEA (21.1%), Reliance (13.3%), Bharti Airtel (12.2%), Vodafone (11.9%), Sistema (9.6%), Aircel (6.3%), BSNL (5.2%), Etisalat (0.7%), Stel (0.6%)
Of the wireless adds in Oct, in the Metros there was a net add of 0.6 mn subs, Category A circles 2.0 mn, Category B circles 3.5 mn and Category C circles 1.6 mn
Service provider-wise cumulative wireless market share end-Oct : Bharti Airtel (19.7%), Reliance (16.8%), Vodafone (16.6%), IDEA (11.6%), BSNL (10.9%), Tata (10%), Aircel (6.8%), Uninor (3.7%), Sistema (1.6%), Videocon (0.7%)
Dispersion of wireless sub base end-Oct : Metros (12%), Category A circles (35%), Category B circles (39%), Category C circles (14%)
Peak active wireless subscribers on VLR in Oct @ 626 mn

71% of total wireless base was active at peak time during Oct
Jammu & Kashmir has the highest proportion of VLR subs @ 81% followed by Assam and MP (77%); 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 28%

Cumulative Mobile Number Portability requests till end Oct stood at 23.2 mn. Highest requests from Gujarat followed by AP, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Rajasthan

Wireline base continued to steadily decline and was at 33.2 mn

Broadband (>256 kbps) subscriber base inched up to 13 mn

Windows Phone Marketplace passes 50,000 apps

2011-12-28T17:41:00.001+05:30

Published by Rafe Blandford, All About Windows Phone

December 27th 2011

The Windows Phone Marketplace has now passed the 50,000 app and games submission mark. Content is being added at the rate of 265 items per day. At the time of writing, 50,126 items have been published. Of these, 17,276 were added in the last 90 days and 8,010 were added in the last 30 days. These items come from 13,002 different publishers.

The 50,000 mark, which has been reached sooner than we estimated, is a key milestone, but more important is the accelerating growth of the Marketplace. It took just over a year to get to 40,000 apps, but just 40 days to add the next 10,000 apps. That bodes well for Windows Phone in 2012.

Number of Content Items (Apps) Published

The graph below shows the growth in the total number of applications published to the Windows Phone Marketplace over the last year.

Growth of Windows Phone Marketplace. Note: December 2011 is not complete. Figures up to December 27th.

In common with other application stores, the total number of published items is not the same as the number of items available to consumers. Of the 50,126 items published to the Marketplace, just under 6,000 are no longer available (removed by Microsoft or withdrawn by the publisher). In addition, some apps are only available in select markets. This means the number of available items to a consumer, in a given market, is lower than the number of published items.
The current approximate figures are: US (42,655), UK (40,305), France (39,235), Spain (37,027), Italy (36,944), Germany (36,958), Australia (37,024), India (36,752) and Singapore (36,922).

During the last four weeks, an average of around 265 new content items has been added each day. When the Marketplace reached 40,000 items (November 16th 2011) this rate was 165 items per day, which means the rate of addition is accelerating.

Apps and Games added each week to Windows Phone Marketplace.

The last few weeks have seen an acceleration in the rate of submissions. There are two likely causes here: firstly the expanded availability of the Windows Phone Marketplace geographically (extended from 16 to 35 countries) and secondly the release of Nokia's first Windows Phone devices.

Content by category and license

The chart below shows the proportion of content in each of the Windows Phone Marketplace's top level categories. Entertainment is the single biggest category (7,543 items). The next three biggest categories are books + reference (7,014 items), games (6,991) and tools + productivity (6797 items). The four biggest categories (out of seventeen) make up 57% of the content.

Table showing number of items by category and license (free, paid, paid with trial) type:

Note: Some items are not included in this table due to missing category data. All percentages are approximate.

Category	Free		Paid		Paid with Trial		Total
	*Items*	% of toal	*Items*	% of total	*Items*	% of total	*Items*
Totals	*26234*	58%	13010	29%	6381	14%	49305
books + reference	1293	18%	4931	70%	501	7%	7014
business	760	72%	170	16%	102	10%	1058
education	933	77%	209	17%	68	6%	1213
entertainment	5235	69%	1556	21%	588	8%	7543
personal finance	526	53%	222	22%	161	16%	988
games	3591	51%	1411	20%	1746	25%	6991
government + politics	77	84%	11	12%	4	4%	92
health + fitness	705	50%	431	31%	250	18%	1412
kids + family	193	57%	72	21%	73	22%	339
lifestyle	1479	44%	378	11%	258	8%	3366
music + video	636	63%	188	19%	157	16%	1003
news + weather	2817	70%	304	8%	165	4%	4050
photo	352	47%	168	22%	216	29%	750
social	985	70%	231	16%	159	11%	1408
sports	1140	62%	445	24%	216	12%	1826
tools + productivity	4157	61%	1317	19%	1182	17%	6797
travel + navigation	1355	39%	966	28%	535	15%	3455

58% of items in the Windows Phone Marketplace are free, 14% are paid with a free trial and 29% are paid. By comparison, the free / paid ratio for Android is approximately 69% / 31% and for iOS is approximately 43% / 57%.

Comparison with Android and iOS

Both Android and iOS (both 500,000+) have at least ten times more apps available than Windows Phone. However, this metric is, for obvious reasons, strongly correlated to how long an app store has been in operation. A more interesting comparison is to look at their relative performance.

Windows Phone has taken just under 14 months to reach the 50,000 milestone. Android took 19 months (October 2008 - April 2010) to reach 50,000 apps, reflecting Android's relatively slow start in terms of device licensees. iOS took 12 months (July 2008 - June 2009) to reach the same figure, but arguably had an advantage, given it had an installed based of around 4 million first generation iPhones before the App Store launched.

This relative comparison would suggest Windows Phone Marketplace is a credible challenger to both Apple's App Store and Google's Marketplace in terms of app metrics.

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.

The Future of the Camera

2011-12-27T08:04:00.000+05:30

I guess the panacea lies in integrating smartphone features into the camera - Social, apps, tips, etc.

By Richard MacManus, ReadWriteWeb

December 24, 201

As smartphones integrate ever more powerful cameras, what can the traditional camera companies do to compete? While there will always be a market for high-end cameras - specialist devices used by professional photographers - it's that middle and lower end market which is slipping away from the likes of Kodak, Canon, Olympus, Sony and Nikon.

Click link above for full article.

'via Blog this'

Android Phones Pass 700,000 Activations Per Day, Approaching 250 Million Total | TechCrunch

2011-12-27T07:46:00.000+05:30

No comments on professional proprietary grounds

Erick Schonfeld, TechCrunch
December 22nd, 2011

Android just keeps ramping up higher and higher. Andy Rubin tweeted yesterday that there are now more than 700,000 Android phones activated every single day, which is up from 500,000 activations per day last June. You can see how steep the ramp has been over the past three years by looking at the chart up top, which comes from Horace Dediu at Asymco.

Dediu estimates that the total cumulative number of Android devices activated so far is between 224 million and 253 million. To put this in perspective, last October, Apple announced a cumulative total of 250 million iOS devices sold. But that number includes iPods and iPads.

For full article click link above

'via Blog this'

Samsung Galaxy S Phones Wont Get Ice Cream Sandwich Update

2011-12-27T06:39:00.000+05:30

No comment on professional proprietary grounds but I guess Google still has a learning curve as far as software licensing goes

Steve Kovach, Business Insider | Dec. 23, 2011

Today Samsung announced that its line of Galaxy S phones, one of the most popular Android phone models of 2010, will not get Google's latest version of Android, Ice Cream Sandwich.

That means ~10 million people who bought the phone are going to be stuck on the outdated version 2.3 Gingerbread (or 2.2 Froyo in many cases) until they decide to drop more cash on a new phone.

It also means Samsung is basically throwing its pledge to the Android "Alliance" that it will keep devices released within 18 months updated with the latest version of the OS out the window."

Link to full article above.

'via Blog this'

Canvas M launches 'Saral Rozgar' job portal service in collaboration with TATA DOCOMO

2011-12-27T06:28:00.001+05:30

Great initiative. Data aggregation (including awareness creation and changing habit to catalyze usage) is likely to be by far the single largest obstacle.

The architecture of the service again highlights the importance of audio as a bearer to scale mobile services in India

Press release

Unique initiative to provide flexible and end-to-end solution for ‘skilled/semi-skilled/Blue Collar’ workforce

New Delhi, December 21, 2011: Canvas M Technologies, Tech Mahindra’s VAS subsidiary and part of the US$ 14.4 Billion Mahindra Group, today announced the launch of its unique service “Saral Rozgar” with Tata DOCOMO, the unified brand of Tata Teleservices Limited, a leading telecommunications carrier to launch a unique job portal service called Saral ROZGAR.

Taking the first movers advantage Tata DOCOMO will be the first operator to offer this service pan India.

“Saral Rozgar”, is a first of its kind mobile VAS solution from CanvasM targeted at providing utility based services to bottom of the pyramid , the blue-collar job segment. Using this service, a blue collar job hunter (like driver, maid, supervisor, plumber, electrician, salesman etc.) will be able to create resumes and apply for jobs through their mobile handsets over a simple human assisted voice call by dailing a short code 541410 using their TATA DOCOMO number. On the other hand the service lets a Job Provider access this huge pool of registered Job seekers over WEB (www.saralrozgar.com) or voice & employ a blue collar job worker matching their requirement & criteria. The service also enables both the parties to seamlessly connect with each other by simple click of button on mobile. The service will also enable the vast rural population willing to work in cities to register themselves from their phones & applying for the jobs at their convenience also helping the prospective employers to get better depth and width of talent.

The charges to access this service is priced very economically, Tata DOCOMO subscribers will only pay Rs 10 for 10 days with 25 free minutes of free browsing. A top up option of Rs 5 for 12 minutes can also be availed.

There are more than one hundred categories of job seekers available under this service, which can enjoy the benefits of low cost service; location based opportunity matching; direct interface with job providers through the media that they understand.

Saral Rozgar won a National Award for "Excellence in Innovation with Rural Telecom Focus” at the 5th National Telecom Awards 2011 held on the occasion of World Telecom Day on May 17, 2011.

On the occasion of the launch, Mr Jagdish Mitra, Chief Executive Officer, CanvasM, said “As part of CanvasM’s focus on minimizing the digital divide, we have developed India’s first such platform which combines the features of internet like service on a voice platform, therefore enabling the customer to use search , discovery and market place. As part of that platform, we are launching the first ever job market place service for blue collar workers. With mobile VAS providing huge opportunities across sectors and projected to pace up further, we are confident that with this service, both job-seekers and job-providers will be able to explore the opportunities and benefit out of this unique service solution.”

Mr. GurinderSingh Sandhu, Head Marketing, Tata Teleservices Limited said “We have partnered with CanvasM to offer job related services to blue collared job seekers. ‘Saral Rozgar” will provide a huge opportunity for the blue collared workforce in the country to access thousands of job postings with a click from their mobile.”

Silicon Valley VCs predict the top trends for 2012

2011-12-27T06:08:00.003+05:30

Absolutely agree. Would still continue to also highlight Mobile, Social, Gamification and Cloud though much spoken about already. For India, I would add Enterprise, Mobile Financial Services, Commerce and Governance

Link to Full Article

DECEMBER 25, 2011BY CHRISTINA FARR, Digital TREnds

We asked Silicon Valley’s best and brightest venture capitalists to help illuminate which trends will shape the coming year. Their answers may surprise you.

If the venture capital community has anything to do with it, this time next year, you’ll be monitoring your blood pressure with your iPhone, recruiting helpers from the Web to help around the house, and automatically receiving coupons for free coffee at your destination the next time you board a train.

In Silicon Valley, entrepreneurship is the engine that is driving jobs creation and stimulating economic growth. We are in the midst of a “second bubble,” that is showing no signs of bursting anytime soon.

Terry Opdendyk, a venture capitalist with more than 30 years of investing in tech companies, said the global recession had produced a climate that is ripe for innovation. “This is the best time in history to be an entrepreneur,” he explained. With a wealth of investment opportunities in every space, it’s an even better time to be a VC.

Tech tycoons are remarkably aligned on the trends for 2012. There are the buzzwords you hear again and again, “mobile,” “gamification”, “cloud” and “social”, which are being incorporated into every pitch. We asked partners from some of Silicon Valley’s most prominent firms (includingONSET Ventures, SV Angel, GC Seed, Morganthaler Ventures and Bessemer Ventures) which categories are set to explode in 2012. Here’s what they said.

Healthcare

While our political leaders have been duking it over out-of-control healthcare costs out in Washington D.C., Silicon Valley has been busy investing in its own remedies to the problem. Founders are in the process of beta-testing technologies that will disrupt every aspect of the status quo, including patient management, medical devices and health insurance.

At this year’s Health 2.0 conference, a meeting of the minds gathered to discuss the future of healthcare. In an article for Huffington Post, Dave Chase noted a dramatic spike in attendance, but said he felt dismayed by the misguided radicalism of some of the ideas. Chase’s observations are nothing new; entrepreneurs are just beginning to understand how to take on momentous challenges in the healthcare space. However, Silicon Valley’s VC community is confident that a suite of technologies will emerge to address patients’ most imminent needs. Opdendyk said he would continue to invest in medical devices that provide lower-cost and lower-risk alternatives to the most common procedures.

“I believe all the pieces are in place for the healthcare sector to undergo the kind of transformation that financial services went through 15 years ago,” said Rebecca Lynn, a partner at Morganthaler specializing in Health 2.0. “With cloud computing, smart phones, Web technologies that enable sharing on a massive scale, and creative government programs like ‘Open Data,’ the healthcare sector will be revamped over the next few years,” she added.

Why? While there are plenty of startups in this space with more smoke than substance, there are bound to be some huge successes that will yield billions of dollars. Health IT will definitely be a space to watch in 2012.

Ones to Watch: Healthtap, Vertos Medical, Avado, Skimble, Patientslikeme, 23andme

EdTech

In Silicon Valley, education technology is the “hot” space, thanks to major boosts in funding for initiatives in the previous year. In a twist, administrators and teachers have become outspoken advocates of technology’s role in augmenting the classroom experience. Typically tech averse, they have been won over by the sweeping promises of the gregarious founders in the space.

Why the shift in attitudes to embrace technology? “We took our social lives online, and now are beginning to entrust the Internet with our professional and academic lives,” said Ethan Kurzweil, vice president of Bessemer Ventures.

For this reason, education presents the most exciting opportunity for many investors in 2012; those interviewed provided an exhaustive list of nonprofits and for-profit companies that aim to transform the way we learn.

Why? We are still in the early innings; the big players will focus their energies on reaching students in college and high school. In 2012, the vast majority of startups will not take on the crises in the public school system. Instead, they will improve education outside of the classroom by offering access to test prep, mentorship, tutors, easy-to-use multimedia tools and webinars.

Ones to Watch: Khan Academy,Grockit, Piazza, Course Hero, Codecademy, Skillshare, Tutorspree

Data science and “Big Data”

In Silicon Valley, investors are keenly aware that every time you open your browser, you leave megabytes of data in your wake.In 2012, the explosion of real-time and social data will create an enormous opportunity for entrepreneurs.

“A very big chunk of it is unstructured,” said NikolaosBonatsos, an early stage investor at GC Seed. “The ways we store it (databases), make sense of it (analytics) and see it (visualization) need to be revised.”

Why? We create a vast quantity of data every minute that can be manipulated in useful ways. The winners in this somewhat crowded space will provide actionable insights into consumer behavior that can be leveraged by big brands.

Ones to Watch: Socrata, Palantir, Addepar, Hortonworks, CitusData, Relevvant

Consumerization of the enterprise

Employees are accustomed to clean, user-friendly applications in their personal lives, and have begun to expect the same from enterprise tools. As a result, they will use consumer-focused applications for their business needs in 2012.

Evernote, a multi-platform note taking application, is the perfect illustration of this trend. Sixteen million people better organize their personal lives with this mobile application. It’s no surprise that these users are dragging Evernote to their workplace. The tech startup will adapt their offering to the enterprise, while maintaining the features that drove its early success.

Why? The line between our professional and personal lives is blurrier than ever. Cloud computing has enabled tech companies to deliver their services for less with feature-sets that are increasingly commoditized.

Ones to Watch: Evernote, Box, Socialcast, Survey Monkey, Yammer, Dropbox

Collaborative consumption

There has been a rapid explosion in swapping and renting that shows no signs of slowing down. A personal favorite is Kickstarter, which uses the power of crowdsourcing to fund creative and entrepreneurial projects.

Whether it’s our cars, homes, clothes, or even our spare time, the Internet has stepped in to facilitate the sharing process. Is this a “we”, rather than a “me” generation?

The recent backlash to Airbnb when a user’s home was trashed illustrates that we don’t completely trust these services to safeguard our treasured possessions, let alone ourselves. In 2012, the most successful services will communicate a “safety first” message to win over new sectors of the market.

Ones to Watch: Airbnb, GetAround, Rentcycle, Zipcar, Kickstarter, Task Rabbit

Apple Moves Forward With TV Plans - WSJ.com

2011-12-21T06:44:00.000+05:30

By JESSICA E. VASCELLARO And SAM SCHECHNER, WSJ
December 19, 2011

Apple is one of a number of companies rushing to re-imagine TV by making it resemble watching video on devices like computers and tablets. Like Apple, these companies are taking the approach of trying to tie together the multitude of devices consumers use daily but that don't currently talk to each other.

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204791104577106531093742246.html#ixzz1h7xjp4Hi

Apple tweaks iAd deals; Facebook preparing mobile ad debut

2011-12-21T06:18:00.000+05:30

Due to the amount of information Facebook can gather about users, advertisers could potentially target advertising more directly than with other mobile advertising channels

Mobile Business briefing

14 Dec 2011

Apple has tweaked its iAd mobile advertising network in an effort to attract more advertisers while Facebook is reportedly planning its first move into mobile advertising for early 2012.

Apple has made changes to the prices it charges for iAd campaigns, reports the Wall Street Journal, and is showing a greater willingness to bargain on minimum spend. Apple is now discussing deals with a spending commitment of US$400,000, according to a Wall Street Journal source. The company originally asked for minimum spends of US$1 million before lowering it to US$500,000.

Launched in July 2010 iAd is Apple’s service for selling ads within mobile apps for iPhones, iPads and iPod Touch devices. Take up has been limited with marketing professionals saying that iAd’s high prices, Apple’s sales tactics and strict control over ad creation have put people off.

The source said there will also be greater flexibility in iAd’s pricing structure. Rather than charging marketers the same every time a user taps on an ad, Apple will put a cap on what it charges. Advertisers are currently charged US$10 for every thousand ad views and US$2 each time an ad is tapped on. In contrast, Google’s AdMob charges between US$4 and US$12 per thousand views, according to ad executives.

Apple has also established a training programme about mobile marketing in conjunction with media buying agency OMD to attract more advertisers. Executives from several big advertisers have already taken part in this training, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Facebook meanwhile is reported by Bloomberg to be preparing to make its first move into mobile advertising next spring. According to sources, the company is looking to tap into the market by the end of March 2012, in order to secure a new source of revenue ahead of a potential IPO.

One potential approach is to put Facebook’s Sponsored Stories ads, which show how users’ friends have interacted with brands, into mobile News Feeds alongside status updates, photos and shared content. Due to the amount of information Facebook can gather about users, advertisers could potentially target advertising more directly than with other mobile advertising channels

Belgian beer: Brewed force | The Economist

2011-12-21T06:02:00.000+05:30

How a small, unremarkable country came to dominate the world of beermaking

Dec 17th 2011 | LEUVEN AND WESTVLETEREN

THE Trappist Abbey of St Sixtus of Westvleteren has little to offer those wishing to gawp at ecclesiastical architecture. The 19th-century buildings—squat, brick and functional—sit on a quiet country lane amid flat farmland, close to Belgium’s border with France. Yet the vast visitors’ car park is a clue that some people nevertheless consider the abbey worth a trip. For beer lovers, St Sixtus is a place of pilgrimage.

Facebook intros Timeline for mobile apps

2011-12-21T05:46:00.002+05:30

Really quick work from FB

Mobile Business briefing
19 Dec 2011

Facebook launched its new Timeline feature for its mobile app users, in addition to launching the feature on its website. While initially Timeline was available for Android and mobile internet users, the company subsequently announced its addition to its iOS app for the iPhone. Mobile timeline starts with a user’s cover photo, before presenting “posts, photos and life events as they happened.”

Google Zeitgeist : What India Searched for in 2011

2011-12-21T05:18:00.000+05:30

Source : Google Zeitgeist 2011

Top 10 List –Fastest Rising Searches

1. Facebook
2. Ibps
3. Google+
4. World Cup 2011
5. Bodyguard
6. Ra.One
7. Anna Hazare
8. Ipl 2011
9. Poonam Pandey
10. Ready

Top 10 List –Searches

1. Facebook
2. Youtube
3. Gmail
4. Yahoomail
5. Google
6. Yahoo
7. Irctc
8. Rediffmail
9. Indian Railways
10. Way2sms

Top 10 List –People

1. Katrina Kaif
2. Anna Hazare
3. Salman Khan
4. Poonam Pandey
5. Justin Bieber
6. Aishwarya Rai
7. Sachin Tendulkar
8. Kareena Kapoor
9. Steve Jobs
10. Priyanka Chopra

Top 10 List –Movies

1. Bodyguard
2. Ra One
3. Harry Potter
4. Delhi Belly
5. Singham
6. Ready
7. Mankatha
8. Transformers 3
9. Dookudu
10. Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara

Top 10 List –News

1. Ipl
2. World Cup 2011
3. Cbse Result 2011
4. Diwali
5. Lokpal Bill
6. Japan Earthquake
7. Aadhar Card
8. Osama Bin Laden
9. Pakistan
10. F1

India Mobile Phone market rebounds in a seasonally strong Q3; grows 12% propelled by dual-SIM handsets

2011-12-20T06:07:00.000+05:30

No comments on professional proprietary grounds

IDC Press Release
16 Dec 2011

Nokia makes significant gains in mobile phones shipment share; Samsung makes strides in the smartphone category

Bengaluru - December 15, 2011: According to the International Data Corporation's (IDC) Q3 2011 Mobile Phone Tracker release, the Indian Mobile phone market grew 12% in units shipped, over the previous quarter, to clock 47.07 million units. Year-on-year too, there was a shipment growth of 13.8%. Additional details can be gathered from the “Q3 CY2011 IDC’s India Mobile Phone Tracker Report.”

"Notwithstanding a sharp decline in the mobile service subscription adds during July-Sept 2011, the mobile phone shipments witnessed a spurt, as vendors built channel inventories ahead of a long festival season. Dual-SIM handset shipments were notable with a sequential growth of 25.2% over the previous quarter". Deepak Kumar, Research Director at IDC, India said.

Interestingly, the quarter gave both the Top 2 players something to cheer about. While Nokia grew its share of overall mobile phone shipments during July-Sept by 6.8% over the previous quarter, Samsung succeeded in increasing its smartphone shipment share by 5% over the same period.

For the quarter of July-Sept 2011, Nokia had 31.8% of the mobile phones shipment share, followed by Samsung at 17.5%. In the smartphone segment, Nokia still led with a shipment share of 35.3%, but Samsung came closer at 26%.

"The slowdown of Nokia's smartphones shipment is in line with the expectations, that it would be prepping to transition some of its market share from Symbian to Windows," Deepak added.

"Overall, smartphones shipment for the India market showed an impressive growth of 21.4% over the previous quarter and 51.5% year-on-year. This helped the segment grow its contribution to the mobile phone shipment to 6.5% in Q3 from 5.6% in Q2," G. Rajeev, Lead Analyst, Mobile Phones, noted.

"From an operating system (OS) perspective, Android overtook Symbian to emerge as the top platform in India for the first time, with a share of 42.4% of the smartphone market," Rajeev added.

The platform (Android) saw a growth of 90% over the previous quarter. The Apple iOS consolidated further, with a 3.09% share of the smartphone market, compared to a share of 2.6% in Q2 2011.

Several of the Indian and Chinese brands registered varying declines in shipments. Spice and MAXX were notable exceptions and saw shipment growths of 34.1% and 10.5%, respectively, over the previous quarter of April-June 2011.

Outlook:

CY 2011 is expected to close with mobile phone shipments of around 184.4 million units. Also, IDC forecasts the market to clock 301 million by CY 2015, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.03 during the period of 2011-2015. The smartphone segment is forecast to see a much higher CAGR of 63.4% during the same period and to achieve a shipment of 77.5 million by CY 2015.

TechCauldron

GSMA announces Mobile Awards Nominees in Partnership with Distimo

India Telecoms Update @ Dec11

Socialbakers Social Media Report of Facebook Pages in India - Nov11

Web analytics firm StatCounter reports that mobile internet usage is doubling year on year

Facebook’s Mobility Challenge - NYTimes.com

Here's Facebook's Next Big Business

A global look at the dominant social networks by country

Smart phones overtake client PCs (incl tablets, netbooks & notebooks) in 2011

Palo Alto, Shanghai, Singapore and Reading – 3 February 2012

An Average Day on Facebook

T-Mobile UK launches “truly unlimited calls, texts and internet” » telecoms.com – telecoms industry news, analysis and opinion

The Disruption of Venture Capital : Harvard Business Review

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

India National eGovernance Plan

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

Windows Phone Marketplace passes 60,000 published apps

About

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

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

For full article click link above.

YouTube BlogJan. 23, 2012

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

India Telecoms Update @ Nov11

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

Exercise and longevity: Worth all the sweat | The Economist

Lumia 900 Introduction to Trigger Smartphone Renaissance for Nokia and Microsoft

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

Nissan Announces world's first Self Healing iPhone Case

Samsung planning Bada/Tizen unity

Airtel outsources advertising inventory management to Mogae Media

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

Interbrand - Best Global Brands 2011 - Top 100 brands

Windows Phone Apps 2011 Retrospective

Microsoft and LG Sign Android Patent Agreement

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

Google plans IPTV push in 2012 with new partnerships

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

HP details Open Source future of webOS

Ericsson ConsumerLab : The 10 hottest consumer trends for 2012

India Telecoms Update @Oct11

Windows Phone Marketplace passes 50,000 apps

Number of Content Items (Apps) Published

Content by category and license

About

The Future of the Camera

Android Phones Pass 700,000 Activations Per Day, Approaching 250 Million Total | TechCrunch

Samsung Galaxy S Phones Wont Get Ice Cream Sandwich Update

Canvas M launches 'Saral Rozgar' job portal service in collaboration with TATA DOCOMO

Press release

Silicon Valley VCs predict the top trends for 2012

Healthcare

EdTech

Data science and “Big Data”

Consumerization of the enterprise

Collaborative consumption

Apple Moves Forward With TV Plans - WSJ.com

Apple tweaks iAd deals; Facebook preparing mobile ad debut

Belgian beer: Brewed force | The Economist

Facebook intros Timeline for mobile apps

Google Zeitgeist : What India Searched for in 2011

Top 10 List –Fastest Rising Searches

Top 10 List –Searches

Top 10 List –People

Top 10 List –Movies

Top 10 List –News

India Mobile Phone market rebounds in a seasonally strong Q3; grows 12% propelled by dual-SIM handsets

YouTube Blog
Jan. 23, 2012