Advertisement Time Capping Impacting Broadcasting Companies – Many May Disappear

Advertisement time Capping: The Broadcasting regulators directives to cap advertisement time to 12 min per hour is going to reduce much needed cash for Broadcaster to cover their cost. Post big Broadcasting companies withdrawing their petition from TDSAT against regulatory move, it is evident that small players may find it difficulties to have sustainable business model. The regional broadcasters are important ecosystem players are they focus deep in rural sectors and offer huge repository of cash rich content across multiple delivery network. Analysts are predicting that big players will be successful in increase prime time ad tariff whereas regional players due to their geographical positioning may find it difficult to increase ad tariff. With more than 500 broadcasting companies, the intended regulation is going to initiate consolidation process and big player would be the beneficial to get even bigger. In the current economical environment, the move is not going to impact the industry but also millions of attached resources. Regulators must think twice to enforce the proposed regulation to trigger consolidation process as handling large sharks are always tough and examples are in front of us, such as Time Warner, News Corporation.

Cisco Launches Dynamically Configurable nPowerX1

Cisco unveiled powerful and dynamically programmable nPowerX1 processor. The four billion transistors make it powerful enough to act as single processor to execute multiple functionalities. The network processor is unique as it has inbuilt circuit which allows administrator to do programmable changes while in use and enable them to execute their monitoring management. The low power consumption oriented network processor can effectively manage and execute packet processing, traffic management and input-output related functions. It can be a game changer for Industry to get solution in one box and at the same time may offer huge cost advantage to end customer. In an environment of quad play centric Internet traffic, the dynamic configuration management system may act as differentiating value proposition to enhance QoS and define priority based services to both internal and external stakeholder.

IBM Commit $1Bn For Linux Based Power System Servers

In major push, IBM announced $1bn investment to develop Power system server using enhanced Linux and open source technologies. It would offer potential clients to leverage on big data and cloud computing using differentiated application arrays attached with data center. IBM also announced new Client center which would based out of Europe and rapidly growing Linux based power ecosystem oriented Power development cloud.

IBM Cloud Based Real Time Digital Marketing Network

IBM is making big push in offering centralized digital marketing network to enable its customer to capture pie of lost $83 Bn in lost sales. The integrated analytics can aggregate or segregate information for any marketing service to help marketers offer dynamic and effective customer experience based on the contextual pattern of end consumers. The solution would immediately enable marketer and end consumer to connect through request response mechanism.

Network offer real time activity monitoring by client using customized dashboard across hosting and delivery media. It in-turn offer marketer insight around leakage and adoption pattern and subsequently take appropriate measures to improve the performance on the fly. Given double digit growth in online and mobile ad sales, the proposed network is win win for ecosystem players

Long Term Investment Opportunity in Nokia – Post Device Deal

On June 3rd 2013, posted on article on “Is Nokia Worth for Future Investment” and offered insight about potentials around Nokia. The purpose of the article was to offer investment opportunity and subsequently reap in huge upside potential. At the time of last article, Nokia was trading around $3.50 range with market cap lower than $13 Bn. The fast changing market dynamic and competitor environment, Nokia decided to sell its device business with favorable term sheet with Microsoft ignited Nokia share to $6.21 and market cap reached to $23 bn. It represents more than 70% increase in share price. Many early equity investors are in dilemma to hold or sell their equity to book profit. With patent and CTO office, HERE and Network solution business with Nokia, it offer great long term return bet. At the same time, post device unit sellout, Nokia will have net cash position of around $10Bn along with reduced work force of little more than 56000. It is interesting to note that Nokia may fetch more than $1.2 Bn from patent and royalties whereas network solution business unit is profitable and may grow faster than Industry growth given its extended competitive positioning in next generation networking. The HERE business is gaining moment post some big ticket client acquisition. On consolidated basis, Nokia may reach close to $2Bn in profitability without any drag from financing cost. The uptick in steady growth is going to propel Nokia equity price to shore in next one year. In my point of view, post Alcatel Lucent restructuring and continuous struggle with restructuring, Chinese vendor hurdle to get government contract in developed countries is going to offer Nokia Solutions excellent opportunity to extend their market reach and profitability

Nokia Delayed Phablet Launch

The much anticipated Nokia Phablet launch pushed to late Oct 2013. As per the reports, Nokia alerted journalist community that Oct 22, 2013 announcement would be reinventing innovation era. The potential Phablet is supposed to work on Window Mobile 8.1. This is the first pinch of Nokia acquisition by Microsoft. I wonder if the potential product is reinvented innovation then what pushed Nokia to sell its device business. In my point of view, reinventing innovation means “game changer” the way Apple did with iTune and then iPod. It would be eagerly waiting for press release of the same.

Is India out of Economic Downturn – Hard Reality

India is experiencing fluctuating equity and bond market and totally driven by economic data. In the last 4 weeks, Indian equity market experience deep cut and subsequently great comeback. Indian currency fall was dramatic and in the same manner the rebound. In the last 4 weeks, analyst on daily basis offered different views similar to currency fall and rebound. In the mean time reserve bank came out with few measures to control steep Indian currency fall but failed to control that. Finance ministry came out strongly with multiple measures to control gold import to curb CAD. Oil marketing companies where allowed to increase gasoline price by 10% to negate currency impact. Cabinet Committee on Investment cleared stalled mega project in the infrastructure segment to kick start economy. Coal ministry forced Coal India to sign FSA with power generation companies struggling to procure coal and subsequently forced to import coal at higher price. The aim was to make sure the local coal delivery and at the same time improve on CAD. Power ministry allowed PSU to import Gas without duties and deliver it to gas based power plant. The financial market regulators came out with an option for NRI to buy stock through FII route and similar approach was announced for the bond market.

All initiative looks very good and change of RBI government fuelled Indian equity market and market recovered all the losses which happened in last 3 weeks. The bumper news came out with higher export growth and low gold import which impacted CAD to be around $10 Bn instead of analyst expectation of $14 Bn plus. Street cheered low import of Gold and all of us felt that India is able to control the import of gold. If we feel so then its grossly misjudgments.

The positive IIP and inflation number released early this week turned many bears into bulls and started talking economy is bottoming up and in next two quarter, there would be upwards growth surprise. Even Prime Minister economic advisor also predicted to achieve 5.3% GDP growth.

The reality is simple. None of the business houses announced any investment plan instead all are struggling to control their financing cost which they have taken to complete mega project but unfortunately most of the project got delayed due to environment and land acquisition delay. Major steel project was pulled out due to continual delay in the said areas.

High taxes, duties and interest rates are keeping investment climate in negative mode. The employment opportunity is near to zero as all companies are trying to control cost to keep afloat.

There is no control to put the curb on imports which is hurting steel, power sector and thus even India best PSU’s as well as private companies are struggling.

Any policy decision is not going to be reflective by the end of this year and then it would be general election fever which is going to stall the decision making process.

I am surprised that how on my TV channels, the views on economic climate changes within hours.

Microsoft Fresh Attempt to Capture Tablet Market Share in US

Microsoft recently took $900 Mn write down hit during Q4 for Surface Tablet inventory adjustment. It indicated that Microsoft may take a pause and going to rethink twice on Surface Tablet offering and GTM before making fresh attempt.

On a contrary Microsoft came out strongly during US Back-to-School advertisement blitz targeting Apple iPad user. Microsoft is offer $200 discount coupon for iPad 2, 3, 4 trade in which customer can redeem against Microsoft product. Surface Tablet run on lighter Window 8 operating system and supporting Internet Explorer and Office suit. The price tag offered is $349 is nothing to attract customer looking for basic solution based Tablet.

When it comes to Surface Tablet adoption, I feel that Microsoft struggle is going to increase as Apple iOS and Google Android mobile OS based Tablets are also supported with more than 200k application which add value. In my point of view, Microsoft should create developer ecosystem around connected device and offer differentiated application, services and product. In today’s world devices are commodities, the value comes from VAS service which enable device more productive and effective for any Tablet Customer.

Blackberry Offer Acquisition Hurdle and Opportunities

The acquisition of Nokia device business by Microsoft increased speculation around Blackberry acquisition by Microsoft or its competitor. The patent rich Blackberry still offer command deep penetration among prosumer’s due to its integrated security whereas BYOD device running on multiple OS still struggling to garner Enterprise segment confidence. With current market capitalization of less than $5.4 Bn and register 75 plus Million user for its services makes Blackberry very attractive acquisition candidate. The launch of new operating system and premium device from BB received mixed reception from customers and at the same time lost crucial mobile OS market share YoY.

Even Blackberry management came out openly and admitted that they are exploring all options to make sure that iconic solution offer donot die away. Many fund players who invested in Blackberry in its glory time are contemplating to join hand with private equity firm to take the company private and subsequently realign the business as per the industry direction. Based on the messaging register user base, patent valuation, cash in hand indicate that the fair value of Blackberry is somewhere $12-13 Bn. With current share price, value investors are buying with expectation of acquisition by either funds or competitor to reap in high returns. The major roadblock indicate Canadian government as they are not comfortable giving Blackberry to third party due to the security reason.

The reservation of Canadian government is keeping many potential bidders at bay. Based on the last financial quarter, it is evident that Blackberry is few quarter away to make its business profitable and start recapturing market share with slew of device launch and adoption of its BES and BIS by Enterprise Customers. Even during worst phase faced by Blackberry during transition to new operating system, it was observed that the registered user base de-growth was not in double digit. It would be interesting to see how Canadian government and regulators tackles Blackberry acquisition issue in case of acquisition bid comes down the line

Stringent Indian Security Regulation May Hurt OTT Players

The elevated adoption of data network centric text, voice and data oriented applications gained quick adoption. It prompted many International and Domestic OTT players to position their offerings to consumer using network delivery media in order to mint maximum leverage from ongoing blind adoption. Many of the OTT players are not even registered with local government authorities and positioning their product. It is really difficult for Indian regulator to create vigilance team to keep close tab on ongoing happening. Most the mobility user in India focuses on price vs. security and in-turn also responsible for the potential vulnerability across ecosystem attached directly or indirectly with Telecom ecosystem.

I must admit that there are many OTT player’s who is really offering differentiated product positioning by adhering the regulation of land whereas many OTT players are bypassing regulatory implementation as it would cost them dearly on the systems. Interestingly, Indian regulatory body TRAI and DoT till now came out with network, platforms, product, services and consumer level regulation but still need to come out with Applications related regulations. Everyone perception regarding Applications, it is one of the major source of security threats in case of any design flows and generally consumer neglect those part of the applications. Many of the OTT players are taking consent from consumer regarding their permission to capture user information on its server to serve them better but unfortunately consumer gets trapped over there as higher percentage of consumer never read application attached Terms & Conditions.

The problem start from that point when OTT player extract consumer information for the better service but unfortunately in case of any problem with devices triggered by those applications, consumer connects with Mobile Operator customer care or device manufacturer inflicting heavy support cost without being compensated from OTT players. It’s a open query, How many of OTT application providers runs their Customer Care service in India, Also, if they push updates to consumer to upgrade Applications and unfortunately it crashes device or degrade performance then who is responsible for the payout. Currently the Device Manufacturer brand is getting hit and Mobile Operators are losing money. The Regulatory may come out with stringent guideline to stop the revenue leakage as well as higher threat to telecom and associated networks by forcing OTT players to invest in infrastructure, resources, support in India and it would make OTT player model completely unattractive.

Is Apple Losing Investor Confidence – Expectations Vs. Delivery

In the last 5 years, Apple innovative products ignited its share prices. The emergence of Apple as mobility product leader with differentiated value proposition enabled them to command premium price for their product compared to competitor. Even their loyal customer base also supported them by buying their product with a presumption that product would be innovative and different in design. Share price skyrocketed from $80 in 2009 and touched $700. The huge success of iPhone and recurring high margin ecosystem revenue pushed Apple EPS multiple fold. The QoQ and YoY supersonic growth rate brought in speculators and pushed share prices to new high. Many analysts started predicting that share price is going to touch $1000 soon. The shock wave came with one misstep around Map and investors got trapped in negative direction. Apple also lost its iconic thought leader and motivation face Steve Job which prompted many analysts to doubt about Apple continuous focus on research and innovation during their half yearly product launch kept many investor on the sideline. Even during economic downturn in US, Europe and Japan; Apple continued their explosive growth. For the last two to three quarters, Apple is showing little vulnerability while Samsung got very aggressive in pushing their Galaxy range of Smartphone and Tablet. Investor’s started expecting that Apple is going to react with low cost device to increase iOS market share to keep continuing attracting application developer and maintain strong ecosystem in order to sustain minimum earning growth expectation from investor. On a contrary, Apple new device launch indicates that Apple is still weighting on maintaining profit margin compared to regaining lost mobile OS market share. Post device launch, Apple share price lost more than 8% clearly showing low confidence factor. Once, the darling of Street is slipping its grip to be maximum value generator whereas Google is gaining confidence from investor.

Indian Telecom Ecosystem is Killing MVAS Players and Associated Innovations

The competitive environment is driving Indian Telecom ecosystem modules such as Mobile VAS into downwards tailspin. In 2010, Industry pundits used to project MVAS as future revenue driver for Mobile Operator. The Indian regulator identified uneven proposition within MVAS segment offering through Mobile Operator and tried to offer more breathing space to MVAS solution providers to Indian Mobile Operators. Many round of consultation paper and heavy lobbying by Mobile Operators for not to disturbing the ongoing revenue to deployment mechanism. Ecosystem players including content owner, content aggregators, and MVAS developers all stood united with Mobile operator to protect then revenue sharing agreements. Ecosystem players managed to pass through so called hurdle on the revenue sharing to operational part but got trapped on the consumer billing segment.

The so called confirmation mechanism for enabling services, rollback for non active services, mechanism to deactivate service within set stipulated timeline as per the TRAI guideline acted negatively for Industry. The MVAS solution provider argument for maintaining the same revenue share model now started hurting MVAS with the depressed economic environment. MVAS service providers are paying large part of overall revenue to Mobile Operator for using their billing system and left with 30 to 40% of overall revenue. These left over revenue are shared with more than three other ecosystem player and ending MVAS player to have very low to negative RoI.

MVAS service providers in India experienced negative growth in high double digit for the last 2 years and most of them are looking towards other geographies to generate much needed revenue. The current revenue sharing mechanism is impacting MVAS service providers capabilities to invest in research and new innovation. That is the reason, Indian MVAS players are still offering auto running legacy product or replicated product line which is also impacting their competitiveness over International peers.

It’s high time that Indian Mobile Operators must recognize known but un-talked discussion point and offer higher revenue share to their MVAS service provider partner. The higher revenue share percentage allocation to MVAS players are going to help only Mobile Operator as their MVAS service providers would be able to invest and come out with innovative product line which may lead to growth in MVAS revenue. It is expected that MVAS market would continue to fall and collaborative approach from ecosystem player’s end is important to safeguard falling king.

Apple Unique Differentiation – Offer Connected Device and Service Play

The recent launch of Apple 5C and 5S generated buzz around price points and their focus on maintaining niche market share rather than focusing on mass market segment. Print media came out strongly in criticizing Apple for their move and analyst gave negative comment by lowering Apple share price targets. On a contrary, Apple playing very interesting move by creating connected device play and offering one point solution to its consumer and prosumer’s which is also supported with certifications including security. Apple new device support of 13 LTE band with 8 & 40 hours of video and audio playback is far better than competitor environments and may offer unique experience to user while on move. Apple move to support multiple LTE band is to keep on targeting data hungry consumer who is willing to shell out more money to have higher quality experience. The integrated Control and Notification center with supported Multitasking capabilities calibrates effective utilization of device resource. The other supported applications such as iTune, iMovie, pages, Numbers, Keynote and free iRadio offer consumer and prosumer’s one stop solution. The porting and interoperability of all Apple devices w.r.t content, context, commerce, communications is enabling Apple to maintain consumer or prosumer’s commitment towards them which competitors failed to maintain. As against analyst and consumer expectation of very innovative iPhone launch, Apple went for iOS7 integration to offer differentiated value proposition to keep on minting high revenue from attached music, video, application segment. It is expected with the launch of “KitKat” version of Android by Google and rampup of new OS version based device may force Apple to refine their device form factors to offer innovative experience to their consumer but as of now they are following the footstep Motorola with Razor phone range.

Apple New Device Launch – Focusing on Classes Compared to Masses

Market, Analyst speculation around type of potential device design received mixed reactions post launch of two devices 5C and 5S by Apple. As per the announcement that 5C would be supported with multiple color reminds me of Nokia initiative and the price points indicate that Apple is not willing to compromise on the price premium they command over competitor in order to maintain their healthy margin. The price point of 5C in US under contract for two years is $99 whereas non contract based is going to cost around $549. Interestingly, Apple would be charging $750 for the same device in China which is one of the fastest growing premium class device markets also. On a contrary the launched 5S is going to be $869 for 16GB memory. In case user opts for higher memory device then it is going to be dearer to customers. The reality is that Apple new device is more costly than iPhone 5 which is having list price of $799. It clearly indicate that Apple is focusing more on niche market of high net worth consumer segment by offering them Classes feel compared to Masses feel. It would be interesting how these devices are received by Apple loyalist.

Microsoft May Attempt to Enhance its Search Market Share and Ad Network Growth

In the last 5 years, Microsoft is trying hard to position itself as strong competitor of Google in the search and advertisement segment for both Web and WAP level. The failed attempt of acquiring Yahoo, write down of $6.2 aQuantive advertising service are some of the example of Microsoft attempt and reattempt to position itself. Post Yahoo failure, they collaborated with Yahoo on search segment in order to develop alternative to Google. Unfortunately for Microsoft, the explosive growth of Android apps market place and OS adoption positioned Google undisputed king of device based default search engine as well as created very robust ad services offering huge reward to application developer to earn extra money.

The Nokia collaboration turned out to be market research for Microsoft in order to position itself as alternative search and ad network in the Mobile segment. The continuous struggle by Microsoft and huge revenue opportunity from Search engine and Ad network segment propelled Microsoft to buy out Nokia user base as potential Bing Userbase. There is strong probability that Microsoft would lure Technology Titans like HP, Dell to use its WM and create connected device environment and also offer porting and interoperability of Mobile and Web based application. Any successful outcome will create quick and effective return of Microsoft with higher probability of sustained competitive environment this time around.

Indian Healthcare Segment Offer’s Unmatched Opportunities

It’s a delight to get the trust of Technology Veterans like Mr.Vinod Khosla, the Co-Founder of Sun Microsystem and now Venture Capitalist with interest in green energy. In the last few years India lost bit of ground against peers as investment destination due to systematic problems attached with different segment of decision making hierarchy. India already demonstrated its core capabilities in multiple technological segments and Indian are one of the most successful innovative minds. Indian government in last few years focused on connected e-governance and Aadhaar initiative attracted and achieved vision of offering identity to every citizen of India. In similar lines, India need heavy investment in the healthcare system attached with social security. Any investment for long term in Indian Healthcare segment may give very high return compared to other sectors. With higher adoption of Smartphone and extensive undergoing development of data network would act as add on for both healthcare service providers and clients. The wireless applications or product or service should be tuned up in the form of healthcare mobility solution to increase higher awareness around health. The current healthcare system access through wireless network and available technological solution is in nascent stage. Any early mover willing to invest in healthcare infrastructure and attaching its infrastructure with wireless network to implement MACD is going to be well accepted by end users. It is observed that current paper defined contents can easily be ported to wireless device and stored on multiple location and in-turn develop virtual access management without any fear of losing information. It is true that, it is going to increase cost of healthcare for end user but at the same time, it would bring immense simplicity in handling and accessing details of all health related background on the fly. In my point of view, Aadhaar id should be used as leg one to attach it with healthcare customer management system instead of current healthcare service providers offering of unique id to each end user. In that scenario, if end user visits multiple healthcare units, the end user end ups accumulating multiple paper’s and fails to update healthcare specialist around problem statement and subsequent action. The attachment of healthcare network with e-Governance platform using wireless network would ease the access mechanism and would bring in more value proposition for ecosystem players

Microsoft Paid Higher than $7.2 Bn to Acquire Nokia Device Business

The recent acquisition of Nokia device business by Microsoft in $7.2 Bn including patent license fee attracted lots of analysis. Few analysts came out and called it expensive buy whereas other’s view was different.

In my point of view, if one consider all the payouts Microsoft did to keep Nokia initiative running then it crosses more than $10 Bn. Firstly, Microsoft supported Nokia when they decided to choose WM OS as default OS for Smartphone segment. In addition, Microsoft paid for marketing to Nokia, which was supposed to be returned back post 2 years. In concluded deals, there is no mention of said financial support from Microsoft. As per Nokia financial report, it runs in few Billion $. On adding all, the deal is going to be more than $10 Bn for loss making device unit.

In my point of view, Microsoft paid generously to buy out Nokia base. It would be interesting to see how successful Microsoft would be to increase its hidden agenda of growing other business to compete with Google.

Nokia Clever Move to Buy-in Time for Two Years

Post Microsoft and Nokia announcement of pending acquisition of Nokia Handset business by Microsoft, many Finnish as well as Nokia Loyalist have gone into sinking mode. Most of the Nokia loyalist thinks that they may not see another iconic and innovative device again from Finland based Nokia.

My take on this is different and consider Nokia move as an excellent business decision. Nokia’s decision to adopt Window Mobile OS and phasing out of Symbian OS has triggered mass exodus of Symbian OS based Application developer to Android Mobile OS. The decision acted as gift for Android ecosystem and in turn faced taunting task to convince developer to adopt Windows Mobile OS ecosystem due to developer perception around closed environment Windows environment. For the last 11 quarter, both Nokia and Microsoft tried and invested heavily to create WM OS based application ecosystem and managed to have around 200k whereas competing OS such as iOS and Android ecosystem based applications reached around or more than Million. Post continuous failure to generate tier 2 revenue stream, most of the analyst started pointing out the show stopper of Windows Mobile OS based device low uptake.

Observing low Q-o-Q and Y-o-Y adoption growth of Lumia range of device even after drastic fall ASP, Nokia played really smart to stuck deal with Microsoft. The falling ASP, device volume, higher cash burn, higher restructuring cost, growing competition in emerging countries made Nokia realize that it is the right time to un-lock value from Handset business unit and to focus on growth centric Network and Mapping solution. Nokia managed excellent deal with Microsoft by keeping patents, network division, mapping solution and most importantly the timeframe limitation to be out of device manufacturing and distribution business. Nokia yearly revenue realization, of more than $500, from device centric patent payout from leading chip and other device manufacturers would bring higher free cash flow which can be reinvested into research to enhance patent portfolio in the next generation networks and devices segment. At the same time, the clause of 2 years of non-compete agreement indicate that Nokia might has trigged discussion to drop WM OS in favor of competing OS. Two years non- compete clause is one of the most generous offering I have ever heard in any M&A.

Another generous billions of $ loan to Nokia in order to help them payout loan taken to acquire Siemens 50% stake would enable Nokia to reduce their debt and inturn saves millions of $ in financing cost.

The 32000 employees, who will be transferred to Microsoft post deal closure, would help Nokia to mitigate any potential restructuring cost that was inevitable the way their device business was performing.

Post deal closure, Nokia would turn its Net cash position with all profitable business under its umbrella to cash in on good momentum generated by its network division. With the explosion of data centric growth in emerging countries and reservation of many countries around malware attached network equipment is going to offer Nokia immense opportunity to recapture business from its nearest competitors. It is also a possibility that Nokia may choose to re-enter into device market post 2015, once non-compete clause expires. It is also pretty clear that European Union is around 2 to 2.5 years away from achieving the old glory of differentiated growth and Nokia brand is very strong in that area. Its very high probability that Nokia may buyout Jolla brand which is developing Smartphone around MeeGo platform and run by ex Nokia employees. Many analysts predicted that it would be very difficult for Nokia to re-establish huge distribution and backend channel but one must remember that “Ones DNA never changes”. In my point of view, Nokia would be back by 2016 Holiday season

Indian Economy and Virtual Policy Need Economy Security Bill

India recently launched Food Security Bill to make sure every citizen of India must get the right for food at affordable price point. The way the bill was pushed through both the houses post few amendments reflects respectable Member of Parliament showed an urgency to help common people. It prompted simple query and that is “Isn’t it true that economic growth would also help common people a means to increase their life standard”. In the last one and half years, there are policy discussion and then discussion and subsequently going for reviews. It impacted sentiment of different section of Industry and at the same time turned bullish Industrialist into bearish Industrialist. The different Industry Forum on multiple occasions sent very clear message to law maker regarding depleting confidence of domestic and global investor on Indian economic growth and concern was one and only ONE and that is Policy implementation hurdle.

 

The continuous delay on multiple process level triggered self imposed recession mentality within Indian Industrialist which sent wrong signal to Global player. The non responsive attitude of law makers acted but acted when the sentiment got deep into the mindsets of common people.

 

The growing Current Account Deficit and fiscal deficit ballooned due to depreciating currency, increasing gold and oil imports contributed to Inflation, WPI, and CPI. The catch 69 situation of rule of land struggled to manage currency fall, import increase and lowering inflation landed Indians to feel the pain while managing their household’s expenses.

 

The slew of policy framework, CCI clearance on multiple project came as the breather but unfortunately would take minimum 9-12 months to start reflecting impact on weakening economy.

It is time of all to realize the gravity of situation and to act in sincere manner with a zeal to resolve all pending issues on any front to offer our goal to re-emerge from downward spiral.

 

When our government is so serious in offering equality, education, medical and food for all then why can’t our government initiate to create a bill which offers security for our domestic business. I do remember Financial Crisis of US in 2008 and was truly impressed with US government for their co-ordinated approach to even safeguard falling kings of Automobile, BDFI and other sector to make sure that impact on US citizen must be minimal. In a similar manner, Indian government can initiate full blown measure to remodel multiple sectors of Industry to pump in confidence. If we fail to do so then its not long that we would fall to $500 Bn from current $800 Bn in next 3 month post tapering of QE from US Fed. We must note that the current industrial downwards cliff may pose higher threat on mass unemployment and without any social security in place, many taxpayers would disappear from system.

 

In my point of view, government must bring in Economy Security Bill which must take current and potential concerns of economy and offer all assistance in order to kick start economy. The growing economy would bring employment and inturn many seekers under food Security Bill may come out of that net and subsequently reduce huge financial burden on government to fund the same

Microsoft Need Higher Device Shipment to Attract Developers

The Microsoft CEO gift to its company before retirement attracted many by storm given the recent past. The Microsoft attempt to enter into Tablet market with its Surface received little to no taker from consumers and prosumer’s. It forced Microsoft to go for fire sale of around Billion $ inventory of unsold inventory of Surface Tablet. The vision of Microsoft was to offer connected device environment to its Enterprise and Mobile Customer base. On a contrary, Microsoft failed to send that message across to different customer base very clearly. In my opinion, the lower off take of Surface post review prompted many developers to be on the sideline. The core success mantra of Apple and Samsung in the Tablet market is to attract developers to create and support around millions of applications to fulfill customer’s requirements. The low adoption of WM OS adoption by device OEM’s prompted Microsoft to buy Nokia handset business to increase its foothold as well as send across strong message to partners and developers that Microsoft is committed towards its Mobile OS segment. The slow growth of WM OS devices and supported applications poses difficult task for Microsoft moving forward. It would be make or break it strategic decision when Microsoft unveil its plans for developers for WM OS. Any success would make Microsoft strong contender for 2^nd spot in Mobile OS segment in next few years but failure would nullify Microsoft plan for tactical comeback in Mobile OS segment to compete with iOS and Android. In my point of view, Microsoft should attract Chinese ODM's to adopt Window Mobile Platform and leverage China Mobile collaboration of Nokia to increase presence in China. Once that achieved, the developer community may come back from other mobile OS platform. It’s a tricky game.

Microsoft Nokia Acquisition Gamble Hinges on Asha Platform

In recent few days, print media and analyst focused on Microsoft acquisition of Nokia. Everyone talked about the possibility of third platform through Microsoft muscle power to shell out Billion of research and marketing $ to enhance WM OS adoption by using wider customer base of Nokia. The deal comes with hidden challenges which many analysts skipped. In the just concluded second quarter, Nokia Asha platform showed promise whereas Lumia range of devices got traction through steep price cuts which were visible as Q-o-Q ASP falls by more than double digit. It would be interesting to observe that how Microsoft plays around with Asha Platform attached devices as it directly connects with masses of emerging countries whereas Lumia connects with classes. The acquisition closure time frame would act as critical trigger factor for the success of Microsoft tactical decision to position itself as device power house. Given the closed OS strategy of Microsoft, it impacted OS adoption as well as volume growth did not pick up. Even the big device OEM’s barring HTC and few others shied away from WM adoptions. The competitors especially Chinese and India home grown device OEM’s are aggressive and refreshes their product in shorter period of time which would be a challenge for processed company like Microsoft. It would also be interesting to observe Microsoft tactical decision to position growing adoption Asha Platform. Any disruption in new product launch around ASHA platform would give huge opportunity to competitor to grab market share from Microsoft branded Nokia.

MHA and Telecom Ministry Trying to Finalize National Telecom Security Draft – A Move in Right Direction

A draft of National Telecom Security Policy has grabbed the attention of MHA (Ministry of Home Affairs). MHA has raised concerns regarding the proposed draft on the context of security. Shiv Shankar Menon, National Security Advisor, to discuss the same before the clearance of bill, has called a crucial meeting. Once National Security Committee clears the bill then only the Cabinet Committee will take it up for Security. The concerns of MHA will be taken up by the Board whose members are the policy makers of cyber security in Sep 03^rd 2013 meeting.

Home Ministry has raised 4-5 issues, not catered during the making of policy. MHA has raised these issues well in advance during the making of bill to the Telecom Department. The approval of National Information Board is sought by Telecom Department before bringing it to table of Cabinet Committee. However, the concerns of Home Ministry may prolong the same, as the proposed draft by telecom department might need to be re-worked.

There is a joint concern of “privacy” by Home Ministry, Dept. of Personnel and Training and DoT. The draft has pointed out that India is heavily dependent on imported core telecom equipment and this has made domestic network open to more unseen threats as it can be managed remotely. The Home Ministry’s concern about Chinese Market has resulted in framing Telecom Security standards. As per the proposed policy, the procurement has to be done from trusted Indian or foreign sources and operators have to audit their networks yearly for bugs and security breaches.

The attempt made by both the ministry demonstrate more coordinated effort to bring couscous policy out at the earliest to increase security through stringent policy framework implementation

Skilled Resources Time Management – Key KPI of Professional Success

One important aspect of increasing productivity of skilled workers is to make the best utilization of their time. Managing ones time is very important part of professional life. It is observed that knowledge workers most of the time engage themselves in the tasks that are not so required to do by themselves but can be delegated to others. However, skilled or knowledge workers keep on doing such tasks to make themselves busy. It also gives them a feeling of importance, but their best utilization and growth lies in the fact that they spend their time consciously. Skilled or knowledge workers should identify their tasks as important and not so important tasks to themselves or their firm. Identify the tasks that can be allocated into queue or can be delegated to team members. Research has revealed that low value tasks can be categorized into (a) quick kills – tasks that can immediately stopped with no ill effect, (b) offload opportunities – tasks that can be delegated to others with minimal effort, (c) long term redesign – tasks that can be restructured. At the end, priorities must refine and define to do list

Indian Telecom Value Added Service – Need Innovation instead of Replications

The Indian VAS industry were termed as driver of growth in 2010-11 with a projection by major analyst firm put the figure above $ 10 Bn. On a contrary VAS industry is reeling under immense pressure to survive with the evolution of OTT players and tough regulatory norms. In recent few quarters result from leading Mobile Operators, it is evident that VAS revenue is on constant declining mode and Mobile operators are also trying to shift their focus from legacy VAS services to data centric services. On evaluating multiple VAS service companies, it is very clear that Innovation is missing barring few startups’s to offer compelling value proposition to Mobile Operators and in turn to Indian mobile consumer. Many small VAS companies with one or two product and back by angle funding jumped into VAS bandwagon to make it big but unfortunately bitten dust due to very tough ecosystem leg time to gain business from big player. The companies also faced huge revenue share surrender in favor of Mobile Operators to gain access of their million of subscriber’s. It all raises one single and simple query – Why VAS failed to take off in India?

 

The lack of subscriber pulse reading took most of VAS provider off track and trapped them into downward spiral. If one successful competitor launched product follows with similar product by other VAS provider. It justifies the philosophy of developing product post market acceptance. The trending is continued in the IVR, SMS and Contents.

The sudden regulatory move with MVAS regulation followed by double consent gateway took VAS providers by surprise and forced them to initiate implementation to mitigate slippage in the market place. With invent of 3G network deployment and subsequently VAS provider focus points to streaming and especially media content. The move also flooded market with many choices and led to price point deflation to gain business traction. A new industry popped up as subsidiary of VAS segment where exclusive distribution of cross boarder product promotion is gaining ground. The exclusive right management based portfolio enhancement by VAS provider to save on research $ to maintain their profitability as bulk of the revenue is kept by operator by allowing them to do operator billing. In my point of view, VAS provider must gear up their innovations in order to survive otherwise the bad economy going towards worst economy may impact their viability.