0		Micromax, gamolution, Micromax G4 gamolution, Akshay Kumar Micromax ad, Akshay Kumar, Karbonn, New Mobiles India, Latest mobiles India

There is a new commercial which is airing during the IPL games. Advertising on IPL is becoming more like the NFL Superbowl ads. Last year it was the Vodafone ZooZoo’s which debuted during the IPL. This year there were two ads which debuted during IPL. Both feature Bollywood superstar Akshay Kumar. And both the ads are for future technology with a coming soon label on them.

Here is one of the ads:

Link to Video

The device which Akshay Kumar holds is a mobile phone with wireless motion-sensing gaming controller from Micromax. It is called Micromax G4 Gamolution.

Micromax is a Gurgaon based mobile manufacturing company and the latest entrant to the Indian mobile phone market, challenging Nokia. It already has a six percent market share and is creating its own niches like the gamulation or the dual-SIM mobiles.

Gamolution from Micromax turns any computer or a laptop into a gaming machine sans the WII. The price of the phone is speculated to be less than 10000 rupees. With such a cost if one can have a gaming device in hand what else can you ask for? I can see many people buying the phone just for the heck of it. Nobody would mind if it was their third or fourth phone. I don’t think it has a dual SIM like many of Micromax’s other phones. 

This Gamolution doesn’t end at being gaming emulator. It has a two megapixel camera, has Bluetooth, works as a webcam when connected to PC through a USB cable, and looks super slick.

I like Micromax and Gamolution for two reasons. It is trying to solve very practical problems. First, dual SIM phones is a problem it solved very well. Micromax has created a niche for itself in the dual-SIM market. Twenty-two out of 26 models Micromax sells in India are dual SIM. Second, it is bringing the right products at the right price and at the right time. What better product than a mobile phone which turns a PC into a WII? And what better time than to launch the phone during IPL?

Micromax is not launching a cheaper alternative of popular versions in the west. Google wanted to launch a cheaper version of its Nexus One. INQ wants to launch cheaper versions of its 3G mobiles. This might sound like a good idea but India is not a market for cheaper alternatives. It is a tried and tested ground. If you don’t succeed in India then you better get a better product – not a cheaper one.

In a way I like Apple for what they do. They think their products are the best and price it pretty high. No releasing of cheaper versions for India. Yes, I did advocate for getting the price right for Apple. I never supported a cheaper alternative.

Indians like value for money. Micromax is providing that. It is nothing like anything.

1	0		INQ, INQ Mini 3G, INQ Chat 3G, Aircel, Dhoni, IPL

INQ, famous for their Facebook phone is coming to India. It will launch INQ Mini 3G and INQ Chat 3G phones in India. INQ is collaborating with Indian mobile provider Aircel. Cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni who works for IPL is the brand ambassador for INQ. Dhoni is also the ambassador for Aircel.

INQ is a company which is trying to revolutionize how you connect with your friends. Head over to carefully designed INQ’s homepage.

INQ’s timing couldn’t be better. Facebook is topping the social networking charts with 8 million users. India’s love of social networks and especially Facebook will only grow. A recent survey has put social networking ahead of email as the future of communication.

INQ Chat 3G, with Facebook, Twitter and Skype, is the ultimate social tool. The pricing details are not out yet but my guess is these two phones will be priced between 5000 – 10000 rupees. If not, it can fail miserably. INQ will also give some tough fight to Samsung and LG which are riding on a high with their newly launched smartphones.

INQ should launch it fast during the IPL time. I am sick of the Karbonn ads.

Aircel has been part of something new all the time. It has recently partnered with Peek to launch a qwerty email only device. Though the usability of an email only phone is debatable, Aircel is not afraid to try. With INQ choosing Aircel as a partner, both can see a win-win only if Aircel gets the 3G spectrum. 

(Via GigaOM) (Image from INQ)

	0	1	IPL, Indian Premier League, Lalit Modi, VNL, Bharti Airtel, Infosys, Godrej, Wipro, Reliance, Little World, Narayana Hrudayala, Mahindra & Mahindra, Fast Company

As per Fast Company magazine IPL is the most innovative company in India. If you thought IPL is some kind of petroleum limited company then you are mistaken. IPL is India’s not-so-Indian Premier League. IPL is named as the most innovative company in India ahead of Reliance Industries and Airtel. Can you believe that?

I don’t have any questions about the rest of the companies in the list. But IPL? The reason they gave is simple. It is generating money and creating wealth without any product. I forgot. It has a product. It is three hours of entertainment where two of India’s favorite pastime were married – Bollywood and Cricket.

And in the league's first season, they created what amounts to a new economy of cricket: The IPL is expected to generate revenue of nearly $2 billion over its first decade, including proceeds from TV rights ($918 million), promotion ($108 million), and franchises ($724 million). Last year, the league's second season, the IPL proved it's here to stay, selling the 2010-2019 rights to screen IPL games in cinema halls across India for about $70 million and inspiring an international version of the league. In baseball, they'd call that a home run.

And this is certainly a Citi moment of success for Lalit Modi and IPL.  IPL is ranked the most innovative company ahead of BMW, Frito-Lay and Alibaba in the overall list. Now that’s a bummer and who would have thought that. If you are still not sure then watch the twitter stream or the news articles about IPL in the last 10 days. There are all kinds of deals signed up.

Top 10 Innovative companies in India :

1. Indian Premier League: If Cricket took its baby steps towards globalization with twenty-twenty cricket, IPL have induced steroids and propelled cricket to the global scenario. Everything about it was the most talked about story. It started with the auctions, then the broadcast rights, then came the cheerleaders and it never ceases to amaze. Now the world doesn’t have an excuse of ‘but nobody wins’ to not follow cricket.
2. VNL: A Swedish Indian company which has a novel solution for India’s perennial power problems. VNL runs solar powers mobile towers. It also uses wind energy wherever possible. Power or diesel is the biggest cost of running a mobile tower and VNL makes it easy to run a tower in areas with scanty or no electricity. A novel solution for last mile connectivity (suggested reading : Indian telecom going green).
3. Reliance Industries: They sell almost anything and everything. It is hard to pass by and not look at a Reliance product. With Mumbai Indians they are directly linked to IPL.
4. Godrej Group: A rare crowdsourcing initiative which isn’t online.
5. Narayana Hrudayalaya: Low-cost high-quality heart surgeries. A rare combination in India.
6. Bharti Airtel: Bharti has many firsts to its credit. With the new players it has fallen behind a little on the innovations but in the news for its acquisitions.
7. Wipro: Transforming healthcare industry with technology.
8. A little world: Transforming financial inclusion through mobiles by connecting rural India with banks with innovative mobile banking solutions.
9. Mahindra & Mahindra: A compact diesel pickup truck for American market.
10. Infosys: Outsourcing with a difference.

No real surprises in the list other than IPL. I am happy to see Fast Company recognizing VNL, Narayana Hrudayalaya and Little world. I am also happy to see Reliance and Bharti on the list. Being innovative and staying innovative is a tough job. Bharti and Reliance are doing it in spite of their size.

I want to watch some Karbonn kamal catches, DLF maximums and Citi moments of success in Bangalore vs Punjab match. But what do you think of IPL being the most innovative company in India?

	0		Barclays, India BPO

Barclays Bank is trying out something new for its customers. If you are a good customer your call will be answered by a British call center agent. If you are a not-so-good customer then your call will be routed to India and will be answered by an Indian call center representative.

A new banking phone system will identify those with low credit approvals and put them through India. (DNA Paper)

Put them through. Really? I know where the phrase ‘Put them through’ is used. I quickly googled it and here are the top two phrases which I found :

• Save the banks. Put them through bankruptcy.
• Can you put them through a washing machine.

And now, put them through India.

There are two groups which are hurt. The general sentiment of Barclays Bank customers who now think that they are getting preferential treatment and the Indian BPO’s.

The not-so-good customers of Barclays are unhappy about it. They feel that this is financial apartheid and banks only care about wealthy customers – which is true. And who has written that software to filter out customers on their credit worthiness and route the calls to a different country?

Indian BPO’s, though they like the new business coming their way, they will be hurt. Indian BPO’s have long buried the hatchet of the ‘can Indians speak and understand English’ misnomer of the west. It is already proven and many organizations are minting money out of this new found land rich with English speaking people called India.

Now that’s - as the British say – bollocks. On both accounts.

On the brighter side of it, maybe Barclays was right to route the calls to India. Indians are very good at bargaining. Looks like that’s what Barclays wants to do with their not-so-good customers.

Two questions still left unanswered :

1. Why did Barclays make this information public?
2. And for Barclays wealthy Indian customers, would the calls be routed to Britain?

 

	0		India Aviation, Praful Patel

India needs 400 airports and 3000 aircrafts in the next 10 years. And I need a Lamborghini Gallardo and $500 million in cash in the next five years. Make that three. I really can’t wait that long. Need is one thing and fulfilling it is another. The statement is made by the aviation minister Praful Patel. Not sure if it is a need or a hope. Either way fulfilling it is a tall order because, India is not China.

There were similar claims made by the respective ministries:

1. India needs 100 million broadband subscribers in the next three years. It has eight million users now
2. India needs 500 million telephone subscribers by 2010. This was met. An exception
3. Four percent growth rate since 1997 to feed the billion plus population. Never met
4. Roads: 20 kms of road to be laid per day. Never met or no way to know
5. Twenty GW of solar energy by 2020:  We just have to wait for 2020 on this one. If you would like to know what is its installed capacity in solar energy it is 2.12 MW. And there are no typos in the figures mentioned
6. Half a million Twitter followers for an Indian politician in one year. This was met. Shashi Tharoor did it in less than six months. He now has 671153 followers. But this was never a goal. What a shame
   

I don’t have a problem with the numbers. I like them. In fact I am sucker for numbers and goals. But when we attach them to aviation and make big hairy audacious goals where only two percent of the population travels by air and where the country ranks between Ethiopia and Nigeria in air travel, I have a problem. A big one.

So here is a request to the ministries. Please don’t pull out numbers from hats. Do some math. You know the intelligent kind, where highly paid people use spreadsheets to come up with numbers called projections. I mean the real ones. Or give us a number and tell us how you are going to achieve it. How many by the end of 2012, how many in three years from now and so on.

Ten year horizons have two problems. I might not be blogging 10 years from now and you might not be the aviation minister anymore.

PS: There is an argument of aiming for the moon and reaching a star. That doesn't work all the time. The only argument left is “I am quoting this out of context”.

PPS : About the Lamborghini, I decided against it. I will take a Prius and the rest in cash. Come to think of it, Gallardo doesn’t have much of ground clearance and in India all we want is ground clearance – A minimum of 180 mm.

	0		Gamechangers, Fake IPL Player, IPL, India blogger books

The Fake IPL Player is back and this time with a book called The Gamechangers. Surprisingly or for the first time, the author of the book is Anonymous. Not sure if that is the first name or the last name. The author is Fake IPL Player or Anonymous – whatever your choice is.

The Fake IPL player created a lot of buzz when the IPL-2 moved to South Africa. Nobody knew who the Fake was. Could it be a player or a journalist or a celebrity? Irony is no one knew who the Fake was a year later so how could we think of finding the 26/11 terrorists? The publisher of the book is Harper Collins. Maybe they know. Maybe that’s a start.

Mint has published an ‘email’ interview with the author without revealing the identity. He, assuming he is a he, reveals some stuff and hints at the juicy tidbits coming from the journalist community.

I just want to know one thing. Was he with any of the IPL teams? If yes, he has some gumption. If no, he's got a talent at writing fiction. If it is neither we are so screwed.

It could just as well be a marketing gimmick. For crying out loud, it could be Lalit “IPL” Modi. Who is the Fake IPL Player? And will we ever know his true identity? Aah! What the heck and who cares, I am going to pre-order the book now.

Let me leave you with a quote from the Mint interview. This is what Yuvraj said to Sreesanth :

“Attitude toh poora masala dosa ka deta hai, aur bowling appam jaisa karta hai,”

PS:: The Fake IPL Player revels in anonymity. So do we.