Yesterday evening was great. My fellow colleague from IIT (running a software company called Tekriti) invited me to a blogger dinner. Thanks to Gaurav for the same. I enjoyed the presence of Marc Canter, its always good to be in the company of great people and you tend learn a lot even being a part of their surroundings.
Discussions were great, varying from Micro-content to blogging, fight of the Big Three (Google, Yahoo, Microsoft), E-bay Skype deal etc. Moreover, the ambience and the food at Pind Baluchi, Gurgaon was simply superb.
Marc discussed a lot about the importance of micro-content - for instance reviews, ratings, events, venues - the importance of structured blogging. I personally believe that this is going to be the next big thing that's gonna happen to the WWW. But sometimes seeing RSS, I do also ponder, is it just about getting updates (even this is a big social change in behaviour) or we gonna see a lot more in future (Web 3.0 :-))?
There was also a discussion about various social networks - the big korean cyworld, myspace etc. Social networks are meant to be closely related to the way humans define their life network but how much of this can occur in an online world! Alok (from jobsahead) mentioned perhaps the biggest two social events one does online is either jobs or dating, so how big as an influence are the other online social networks?
Overall the meet went on pretty well. Kudos to the Tekriti team for organising it. Looking forward to more such events.
More Links here and here.
Wednesday 21 September 2005
Wednesday 14 September 2005
RSS Space as it exists
Via Richard MacManus
Categorization of RSS Vendors:
A public wiki tries to categorize RSS vendors here.
The Big 3, Microsoft, Yahoo and Google do have products in almost every category? So what does it hold for startups related to RSS? I think RSS in one way or the other is going to penetrate every part of computing infrastructure. Microsoft has taken a strong lead by making it an explicit part of Longhorn. Time will tell what's the next google that comes out from RSS. I believe its still in infancy.
Categorization of RSS Vendors:
Publisher Services
Sub-categories: Content; Analytics; Feed Mgmt; Advertising
Examples: Feedburner; Nooked; Pheedo; SimpleFeed; Syndicate IQ
Reader Services (including RSS Aggregators and Consumer services/tools)
Sub-categories: Web-based; Desktop; Mobile; Enterprise; White Label
Examples: Bloglines; Del.icio.us; Moreover; Newsgator; PubSub
CMS/Blogging
Sub-categories: Hosted; Standalone; Enterprise
Examples: Blogger; MSN Spaces; Six Apart; Wordpress; Yahoo 360
Content (including Podcasting, blog networks, news directories)
Sub-categories: Proprietary; User-Generated
Examples: Gawker; iPodder; Odeo; Topix.net; Weblogsinc
Search
Sub-categories: Index; White Label / Microsites (e.g. Technorati Live8 promotion); Embedded (e.g. Google network and Technorati partnership with Newsweek); Market Research
Examples: Bloglines; Feedster; Google; Ice Rocket; Technorati
..
Microsoft and Google have both developed prototype RSS Aggregator products - start.com and Google Personalized Homepage respectively...
The Big 3 also have CMS/Blogging, Content and Search ...
... Which leads me to believe that the great opportunity of The RSS Space is in the 'Publisher Services' category
A public wiki tries to categorize RSS vendors here.
The Big 3, Microsoft, Yahoo and Google do have products in almost every category? So what does it hold for startups related to RSS? I think RSS in one way or the other is going to penetrate every part of computing infrastructure. Microsoft has taken a strong lead by making it an explicit part of Longhorn. Time will tell what's the next google that comes out from RSS. I believe its still in infancy.
Friday 9 September 2005
India's Craigslist?
India's Craigslist?
Shouldn't have that happened long before, but even today there is no good site for accessing local listings except the newspaper Or you are left to the mercy of agents charging huge money atleast for property rents!
From last one year I have been tired going to property dealers looking for both office spaces, residential places in and around Delhi. I have changed places five times (3 times office and 2 times residence) and a year has not yet completed!
And next week, I need to make a move again and I am in no mood to go to a property dealer. Charging one month rent as a fees is I guess too high for rent. And then the agent's services are of no use. They just try to lure you and get you to sign up a deal. If not online listings, I would rather prefer corporatization of Property Dealing and would like to see a company that sets up propery dealing offices all over India and provides a direct service to the consumer just like banks do. You walk in, the company takes a fixed fees, they have their margins, provide a service and keeps everyone happy.
Any takers!!
Shouldn't have that happened long before, but even today there is no good site for accessing local listings except the newspaper Or you are left to the mercy of agents charging huge money atleast for property rents!
From last one year I have been tired going to property dealers looking for both office spaces, residential places in and around Delhi. I have changed places five times (3 times office and 2 times residence) and a year has not yet completed!
And next week, I need to make a move again and I am in no mood to go to a property dealer. Charging one month rent as a fees is I guess too high for rent. And then the agent's services are of no use. They just try to lure you and get you to sign up a deal. If not online listings, I would rather prefer corporatization of Property Dealing and would like to see a company that sets up propery dealing offices all over India and provides a direct service to the consumer just like banks do. You walk in, the company takes a fixed fees, they have their margins, provide a service and keeps everyone happy.
Any takers!!
Mobile Usability
From MocoNews
If an app is good, no matter whatever the mechanisms, it will spread. Walled gardens generally don't solve any problem.
Problems are two fold:
- GPRS Cost
- Terminology/Problems in getting GPRS enabled.
Network costs on mobile phones are still high for common users. GSM providers in India, charge around Rs 500/month for unlimited GPRS access (Airtel, Idea). The WAP access is much cheaper(Rs 100/month) but at most times its of no use, for instance Airtel WAP access doesn't allow access to any WAP site except their own portal although Hutch and Idea do allow general WAP access. Most network applications on mobile phones require an Internet APN and WAP APN just doesn't work.
Its hard for a normal user to understand the difference between WAP and Internet for mobiles. And add to the woes, the way customer care informs people. And then getting your service GPRS enabled at times can take 4-5 days.
If configuring SMS on mobiles had been that tough, SMS alone wouldn't be a billion dollar industry. Data access has to get cheaper, its the services that will be the revenue earner. Just Wait and Watch!
"More than one third of mobile owners are not using data services due to a combination of product complexity and perceived high cost…The good news is that if these problems are addressed, 70 per cent of users said they would use apps such as news, weather and sports scores at least two-to-five times a week, with subscription the preferred method of payment.”
The survey found that off-portal delivery mechanisms were the most popular (despite carrier assurance the walled gardens are there to ‘protect’ their customers) and that “that 85 per cent of respondents wanted more personalisation from the apps they used and that 76 per cent would tolerate no more than two trips to the network while using an app
If an app is good, no matter whatever the mechanisms, it will spread. Walled gardens generally don't solve any problem.
Problems are two fold:
- GPRS Cost
- Terminology/Problems in getting GPRS enabled.
Network costs on mobile phones are still high for common users. GSM providers in India, charge around Rs 500/month for unlimited GPRS access (Airtel, Idea). The WAP access is much cheaper(Rs 100/month) but at most times its of no use, for instance Airtel WAP access doesn't allow access to any WAP site except their own portal although Hutch and Idea do allow general WAP access. Most network applications on mobile phones require an Internet APN and WAP APN just doesn't work.
Its hard for a normal user to understand the difference between WAP and Internet for mobiles. And add to the woes, the way customer care informs people. And then getting your service GPRS enabled at times can take 4-5 days.
If configuring SMS on mobiles had been that tough, SMS alone wouldn't be a billion dollar industry. Data access has to get cheaper, its the services that will be the revenue earner. Just Wait and Watch!
Sunday 4 September 2005
Next Google, Yahoo, Microsoft from India?
Next Google, Yahoo, Microsoft from India?
This is a question that lot of Indian entrepreneurs ask themselves. Everyone wants to see a global product company coming from India, but the dream hasn't yet materialized.
I have myself stumbled across this question many times. I saw again these things at the Emergic post.
Just summarizing from the above post, looking into the reasons for not many technology startups from India:
- Salaries of MNC's make joining startup unattractive
- Newer startups focused on services than products
- OEMing product creation to market leader
- Lack of Vision to think big and global
- Lack of angel and early-stage funding
The first three reasons are in one way or the other related with taking risks. Indians (especially young people) are culturally less bolder to take drastic steps. But nevertheless its mainly due to the fact that there aren't many successful tech stories from within India. People like Sabeer Bhatia (Hotmail fame) continue to inspire young lads. My belief is once the journey of continued success starts right here in India, there will be no looking back.
In IIT, we used to call a certain group of people "Fighters". And there's no dearth of fighters in India. But to build an environment that could lead to explosive growth of startups as in Silicon valley, I believe lot of initiative needs to be taken both by the government and the existing entrepreneurs.
Taking the quote from Emergic, "Indian companies lack vision to think big and global." Yahoo, Google, Microsoft - all were started by very young and bright people. On the contrary, young and bright people studing in indian universities (including IIT's) do lack the vision to build on the next innovative idea. Not many people at undergraduate level can think about the next big problem that's gonna hit the world and India doesn't produce enough PHD's. It's not about being not enthusiastic enough or hard working, I have encountered the most brilliant people here in IIT. It's mainly because students don't have a proper direction. We still work on projects, BTP's MTP's which don't hold any relevance. The next innovative research is just missing.
Focussing on tomorrow, the creations that will change both today's and tomorrow's world for the better is very important. And that I think would be the key for building not just one but a multitude of successful companies from within India. In order to leap ahead, we need to build the next Stanford's and MIT's right here in India.
Angel investments, Early stage funding all are needed but to have a real success story, India needs to move ahead in terms of its university education. Even a five pointer in IIT on moving to US does pioneering work! We need to look back and see what all we have missed and fix up things.
This is a question that lot of Indian entrepreneurs ask themselves. Everyone wants to see a global product company coming from India, but the dream hasn't yet materialized.
I have myself stumbled across this question many times. I saw again these things at the Emergic post.
Just summarizing from the above post, looking into the reasons for not many technology startups from India:
- Salaries of MNC's make joining startup unattractive
- Newer startups focused on services than products
- OEMing product creation to market leader
- Lack of Vision to think big and global
- Lack of angel and early-stage funding
The first three reasons are in one way or the other related with taking risks. Indians (especially young people) are culturally less bolder to take drastic steps. But nevertheless its mainly due to the fact that there aren't many successful tech stories from within India. People like Sabeer Bhatia (Hotmail fame) continue to inspire young lads. My belief is once the journey of continued success starts right here in India, there will be no looking back.
In IIT, we used to call a certain group of people "Fighters". And there's no dearth of fighters in India. But to build an environment that could lead to explosive growth of startups as in Silicon valley, I believe lot of initiative needs to be taken both by the government and the existing entrepreneurs.
Taking the quote from Emergic, "Indian companies lack vision to think big and global." Yahoo, Google, Microsoft - all were started by very young and bright people. On the contrary, young and bright people studing in indian universities (including IIT's) do lack the vision to build on the next innovative idea. Not many people at undergraduate level can think about the next big problem that's gonna hit the world and India doesn't produce enough PHD's. It's not about being not enthusiastic enough or hard working, I have encountered the most brilliant people here in IIT. It's mainly because students don't have a proper direction. We still work on projects, BTP's MTP's which don't hold any relevance. The next innovative research is just missing.
Focussing on tomorrow, the creations that will change both today's and tomorrow's world for the better is very important. And that I think would be the key for building not just one but a multitude of successful companies from within India. In order to leap ahead, we need to build the next Stanford's and MIT's right here in India.
Angel investments, Early stage funding all are needed but to have a real success story, India needs to move ahead in terms of its university education. Even a five pointer in IIT on moving to US does pioneering work! We need to look back and see what all we have missed and fix up things.
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