Buzz of the week - 30-Jun-08

1. Warner joins Nokia's Comes With Music:

Nokia announced that Warner Music Group has officially joined the handset giant's Comes With Music initiative. Warner joins fellow major labels Universal Music Group and Sony BMG Music Entertainment in Comes with Music, which enables consumers to purchase a year of unlimited music downloads via mobile handsets bundled with Nokia's Ovi web services platform--while EMI Music remains a holdout, Nokia has said it is confident deals will be in place with all four majors prior to Comes With Music's late 2008 launch. In addition, WMG content will now be available via the Nokia Music Store download and streaming service, which Nokia said will expand to new international markets in the near future. More here.

2. No security threat from Blackberry - Says India

India's Telecom Ministry does not see any security threat from BlackBerry email services and has no plans to shut the services in the country.A Reuters report also quoted Telecoms Secretary Siddhartha Behura as saying that "there is no threat from BlackBerry services." The official further said operators did not need the ministry's approval to offer such services.

Security agencies had concerns Research In Motion's popular BlackBerry service could be used by militants to send e-mails that cannot be tracked, and the government wanted RIM to install servers in India to help monitor traffic.

3. Microsoft to have another go at Yahoo!?

Microsoft reportedly is hoping to snap up Yahoo's online search operations with the help of News Corp. and Time Warner. An Associated Pres report also said the latest twist in Microsoft's convoluted courtship caused Yahoo's shares to rise more than 3%, even though the chances of a deal getting done still seemed remote. More here.

4. Users cite texting as the most important handset feature!!

Almost three quarters of mobile phone users cite text messaging capabilities as the most important feature when purchasing a new handset, according to a consumer survey conducted by mobile solutions provider Access Systems Americas and independent research firm Amplitude Research. Given a list of 19 different mobile features and services, 73 percent of consumers cited texting as the most critical data component--cameras were second with 67 percent, followed by mobile email (63 percent) and web access (61 percent). Music (34 percent) and video (33 percent) also featured prominently in the poll. Conversely, only 0.5 percent of consumers said battery life plays a role in their phone purchase, with voice activation earning just 0.33 percent.

The Access survey also reports that 39 percent of respondents have added new applications to their handsets, with just over 21 percent adding six or more new apps. Forty-two percent of respondents cited stock tracking applications as the most necessary, followed by sports teams/game trackers (36.6 percent), business applications (10.3 percent), productivity apps (7.5 percent) and utilities (4.8 percent). Almost 40 percent of respondents said they use their cell phone for "alerts," e.g. traffic, weather and stock market updates. Nearly 30 percent of respondents said they use their phone for banking transactions or to check account balances. More here.

Thank you very much,

RamP!

RamCharan's thoughts on Innovation

RamCharan, author of some of the popular management books like Execution, Know-how, What the CEO wants you to know, etc., is one of the most influential corporate consultants. Along with A.G. Lafley, chairman and CEO of Procter & Gamble, lay out a process for systematic innovation -- the very thing that has turned P&G into an innovation powerhouse, in their new book titled The Game-Changer: How you Can Drive Revenue and Profit Growth.

In an interview to the fastcompany, RamCharan talks about his thoughts on innovation. Here are the three key points :

1. Innovation is a social process: The conversion of an idea (invention) into a product (innovation) often involves more than one person/department and therefore it is a social process and has to be treated that way.
2. Work simultaneously, not linearly: Since many departments are involved, it is important that they sit together right from the beginning to see the complete picture, identify hurdles and solve the problems together. RamCharan believes breakthroughs can happen only by working simultaneously.
3. Kill the ideas: Companies will have bucketfull of ideas and no company would have infinite resources to fund them all. RamCharan emphasizes the need to kill a few ideas, so that the ones that are prioritized would get all the resources and attention to succeed. He emphasizes the need to review a portfolio of ideas and not a single idea in isolation.

While you are here, you may want to watch a video clipping of RamCharan's lecture on Execution.

Thank you very much,

RamP!

Effect of slowdown?

Take a look at these things:

1. Palm swings to loss as Q4 revenue slides. More here.
2. Sony Ericsson issues profit warning for Q2. More here.
3. RIM's earnings improved, but fell short of market expectations. More here.
4. Siemens to cut another 172oo jobs (4% of workforce). More here.

Downturn is real and here to stay.

Have a great day,

RamP!

Bad experience with both HDFC and ICICI

Both HDFC and ICICI groups are the new faces of new India in the financial and banking sector. They have played their role in making the life of lot of us in India and have forced nationalized banks also to change with the changing times.

I have my accounts in both of these banks and also subscribe to MutualFunds from the AMCs of both these conglomorates. However, I'm in the middle of a painful experience dealing with ICICI AMC and HDFC Bank.

It all started when I noticed that there was no auto debit for a SIP with ICICI AMC, from my designated ICICI Bank account, but it was interesting to see that the units were allocated. However, I figured out that the money instead was debited from my HDFC account instead. Thanks to this unwanted debit from my HDFC account, I had to request my father not to present a cheque that I had given him, as it would have bounced. I complained to both ICICI and HDFC. So far I've made and received about 20 calls and have sent and received about 30 emails. HDFC blames ICICI and vice-versa. ICICI has washed-off its hands by telling from next month the SIP would be debited from my ICICI bank itself. HDFC is still clueless as to how did it allow ICICI to take money from my account when there was no mandate for them to do so. They are not giving me details of higher level officials to escalate despite my repeated requests. It scares me to note that anyone can take money from your account and you don't even get a proper response. Atleast I'm happy that money went into my own Mutual Fund account and not to someone else's. Never thought these two corporates would be so casual.

Buzz of the week - 23-Jun-08

1. Nokia buys remaining stake of Symbian

This week in the mobile world has been dominated by Nokia's decision to buy out the remaining shares of Symbian. Analysts and experts are of the view that Nokia took this step to counter the threat from Google's Android. It would be interesting to see how other players in the mobile world would be affected by this.

Interestingly, the valuation of Symbian hasn't changed too much over a period of years. In 2003, Samsung bought 5% stake for 17M Pounds (valuing the company at 340M pounds). Later in 2003, when Motorola sold its 19% stake of Psion to Nokia, Symbian's valuation was at 300M Pounds. The current buy by Nokia, values Symbian at 400M Pounds.

The deal has also come quite cheap to Nokia. In 2007, Symbian had a royalty earnings of 179M Pounds, 75% of which was from Nokia. So, Nokia anyways would have paid the 210M Pounds it spent on Symbian acquisition, by end 2009 anyways. More analysis by ARCChart here.

2. Virgin Mobile to acquire SK controlled Helio

Virgin Mobile has said it would acquire SK controlled Helio.

According to the Financial Times, Virgin Mobile USA last month reported net income of $4.8 million for the first quarter of the year, down 75% on the same period last year. It also said it expects to lose between 130,000 and 160,000 subscribers in the second quarter.

Unusually in the US, all of Virgin Mobile's 5.1 million customers are all pay-as-you-go whereas the norm is to tie customers into long contracts which are more profitable and predictable for operators. Helio brings almost 200,000 customers to the party, all of whom are on monthly contracts. The obvious thing for Virgin to do is build on this base and increase the number of contract customers. More here.

3. RIM Q profit doubles

(Associated Press via NewsEdge) Research In Motion reported a first-quarter profit of $482.5 million, up from the same period a year ago as revenue more than doubled.

RIM said that its profit amounted to $0.84 per diluted share for the three months ended May 31 compared with a profit of $223.2 million or $0.39 per diluted share a year ago.

Revenue in the quarter was $2.24 billion, up from $1.08 billion.

However, shares in the BlackBerry maker fell during after-hours trading because the earnings fell short of market expectations.

The company said it added 2.3 million net new BlackBerry subscribers in the quarter for a total of over 16 million subscribers.

Nokia's Symbian announcement and its effects

Nokia announced that they will buy-out the remaining shares in Symbian that they don't own for $410M. More interestingly Symbian, Series 60, UIQ and MOAP platforms are to be merged into an open-sourced platform over the next two years under the Eclipse Public License (EPL) version 1.0. The move seem to be aimed at countering threats from Google's Android and Apple's iPhone platform.

The question is so what? If we look at the various players, developers like me would be the most happiest one as we need not have to churn out multiple versions of the same application on several platforms (like having an app on both Series60 and UIQ). We can now focus more on "changing the world" rather than waste time making the same thing work on various phones as we have a few less platforms to worry about. Nokia may not gain much as they were anyways driving Symbian. Other Symbian partners like Sony Ericsson and Motorola may save some money as they too have to worry only about a few platforms (but wouldn't it make every OEM's look-and-feel kind of similar?). This would sure give some head aches to Google Android. On the other hand Apple perhaps would't care. Interesting to see how would RIM respond.

Meanwhile, Google has denied that Android is delayed.

1983 Cricket world cup

25-Jun-1983, a special day for lovers of cricket in India. 25years back, on this day India pulled off an amazing victory over the mighty West Indies and as they say, rest is history. I very vividly remember this special day. I was about 14 then, living a small town Chamarajanagar about 150kms south-east of Bangalore. There were only a handful of houses that had a TV set then. Such houses used to sport an antenna above their roof and was by and large a status symbol. We didn't had TV in our house. I had to use my dad's influence to get a seat in the jam-packed house of a neighbor that had a TV. Gavaskar went quickly, but Srikkanth continued and what appeared then an whirlwind innings. However we all lost hope when India were bundled out for 183. We left the house dejected only to allow the people of that house to eat something and enjoy some privacy for 30mins or so.

We came back and were ecstatic to see Gordon Greenidge shouldering arms to Balwinder Sandhu and getting bowled (I don't think anyone that had tuned in will ever forget this dismissal). There was a small problem, someone who couldn't get inside the house had cut the cable that used link the antenna and the TV. By the time we got it fixed, we were heart broken to see Viv Richards in the rampaging mood. He got out and few more wickets went cheaply and we started to think, "may be....may be...". Dujon started a rear guard defence and it was all over with a great spell by Mohinder Amarnath that read 7-0-12-3. There were crackers all around and celebrations went past midnight even in remote towns like Chamarajanagar. Little did we know then that this event would be a major turning point in the history of Indian Cricket.

Since then Indian Cricket has progressed quite a lot. But nothing comes closer to this victory. My son, 10yrs old now and who is extremely passionate about cricket, however doesn't understand why I'm so excited about a victory that was achieved 25yrs back. Couldn't explain him anyways.

Here is a link to cricinfo's coverage and here is a youtube clip of the finals.