The Indian perspective is completely missed out. In a highly price sensitive market, how did Apple think that it can sell iPhone at a price of Rs 31,000 and with many basic features missing? No video calling,no AD2P on the Bluetooth,CAN'T share ANY (mp3, images,videos....) files via bluetooth, can't use as a wireless modem, (you pay ridiculous data charges to activate internet on your phone, but cannot connect it to your PC and browse when you are at home) no copy and paste,(cannot copy a part of a.... say.... email & send it....have to type it out yourself)no 3.2 or 5 megapixel camera,(the 2MP camera it carries is worst camera i've ever seen..... photos look like they have come out of a VGA camera) no video recording with camera,no front camera,no flash.no JAVA supportNo physical keyboard (BELIEVE me! this alone is a dealbreaker...touch keyboard as good as it looks...once you use it then only you come to know about the importance of having a hard keypad)No 3G network yet in India..so why pay for expensive 3G phone if you cant use its 3G services ... so, for India, iPhone 2.0 is no better than its first versionNo removable battery. (You cannot change battery. Have to send it to apple outlet.. Come on now!!!!...This is not an iPod. Its a bloody phone. You cannot live without phone for 2-3 days) No haptic feedback andcannot send MMS,can't use as external storage device (16 GB of utter waste..next time you go to your friend's house & find some interesting songs, movies, etc...sorry you cannot connect your '16 GB' phone and share it!!!! no FM radio,can't use your mp3 files as ringtones,(This is heights man!!!) cannot insert any other SIM card….completely tied to iTunes... Connect to your friend's iTunes & you risk erasing everything on your phone.list goes on & on & on….
The total iPhones sold so far across India is just 500 pieces. It was launched by Airtel and Vodafone. Did Airtel and Vodafone go wrong? Or was it a simple Brand Positioning strategy? Airtel and Vodafone(formerly Hutch) are the biggest Telecom players in the Indian market. With several years of experience they would have a thorough understanding of Customer Buying Behavior. Both these players knew that they couldnt sell more than 1000 phones at that price !!! The strategy they are following is a Brand Positioning Strategy. Apple was making its debut in the Indian handset market. Being late to the market, brand positioning becomes highly significant. Brand positioning is defined as the way the customers perceive this brand in their minds. Is it something ordinary or is it a status symbol or is it a "must have" product. The image that iPhone creates is "Status Symbol". iPhone brand has already achieved this position. Very soon iPhone will be available at almost half of its price tied to a tariff plan from the network operator. This will push the sales to a great extent as people will perceive this a "Status Symbol" at cheaper price !!! Suppose iPhone was priced lower at the beginning itself, customers would perceive this phone as stale apple rather than a status symbol. iPhone has pulled off a wonderful entry strategy. Watch out for the strategy unwind in the coming months.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Thursday, July 24, 2008
The Nuke Deal
Undoubtedly, UPA has won the trust vote. The irony is that one of India's best Prime Minister Dr ManMohan Singh had to face a trust vote for the nuke deal. The deal which solves India's Energy problems has been misinterpreted and tainted to look like a threat to India's sovergnity. The sources of energy for India are thermal, wind, solar and hydro power plants. With the growing need for energy, alternative sources are an immediate necessity. Currently, the nuclear reactors are mainly used for defence and lacks the technology for using nuclear power for civil services.
The American laws prevent USA to make any nuke deal with India. But Hyde Act provides an alternative method that breaks the barrier to enable USA make a deal with India. The Indo-US nuke deal provides India with 14 nuclear reactors out of which 8 of them will be used for power generation and 6 will be used for military operations. The deal assures India of fuel (uranium) for power plants and also does not restrict India from purchasing the fuel from other uranium rich countries. The deal also does not refrain India from carrying out any nuclear tests as a part of covert operations. Clearly, India is not dependent on US for fuel nor does it have to loose its sovergnity by signing the nuke deal.
The Left parties withdrew their support to the UPA government stating that India would loose its sovergnity. The Left front which encompasses majority of communist parties has always been against the US. They are too conservative and against any radical development. Left front is a culmination of many parties with different visions hence they lack a common vision and are unable to visualize the benefits of the nuke deal.
On the other hand, BJP is opposing the deal because it would bring credit to the Congress. With this year being an election year, BJP cannot afford another feather in Congress's success cap. From the beginning of the nuke deal, BJP demanded for revising the deal and when the deal was out on internet, it retracted its arguments and started opposing the speed in which the deal was sent to IAEA for the second round of discussions. Leaving all the politics apart, nuke deal is clearly beneficial for India and is also endorsed by India's top scientist and ex President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam.
The American laws prevent USA to make any nuke deal with India. But Hyde Act provides an alternative method that breaks the barrier to enable USA make a deal with India. The Indo-US nuke deal provides India with 14 nuclear reactors out of which 8 of them will be used for power generation and 6 will be used for military operations. The deal assures India of fuel (uranium) for power plants and also does not restrict India from purchasing the fuel from other uranium rich countries. The deal also does not refrain India from carrying out any nuclear tests as a part of covert operations. Clearly, India is not dependent on US for fuel nor does it have to loose its sovergnity by signing the nuke deal.
The Left parties withdrew their support to the UPA government stating that India would loose its sovergnity. The Left front which encompasses majority of communist parties has always been against the US. They are too conservative and against any radical development. Left front is a culmination of many parties with different visions hence they lack a common vision and are unable to visualize the benefits of the nuke deal.
On the other hand, BJP is opposing the deal because it would bring credit to the Congress. With this year being an election year, BJP cannot afford another feather in Congress's success cap. From the beginning of the nuke deal, BJP demanded for revising the deal and when the deal was out on internet, it retracted its arguments and started opposing the speed in which the deal was sent to IAEA for the second round of discussions. Leaving all the politics apart, nuke deal is clearly beneficial for India and is also endorsed by India's top scientist and ex President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam.
Friday, June 20, 2008
Conscious vs Subconscious Mind
Every moment of life offers a number of choices for us to choose. It’s the ability to make a choice that determines the outcome. Some choices produce success and some failure. The irony is that at the time of decision making not all information is available to make a choice. The uncertainty that is linked with the choice is the beauty of the nature - the inevitability.
When making a choice every human is equipped with two decision making elements – the Conscious mind and the Subconscious mind. The conscious mind controls the organs in our body like the movement of hands, legs, mouth etc and is responsible for active presence of mind. The subconscious mind is a store house of memories. Good ones, bad ones, important ones or not so important ones, every thing gets stored in the subconscious mind.
The conscious mind receives its input from the five sense organs. This input is subjected to logical reasoning in the conscious mind and a decision is made. This decision is then sent to the subconscious mind. This decision along with its reasoning is stored in the subconscious mind. Unconsciously the subconscious mind is being trained by the conscious mind. When the conscious mind is faced with choices, the subconscious mind takes over. The past experiences that are stored will be applied to arrive at a decision. The conscious mind which trains the subconscious is dependent on the subconscious mind to make a decision. Hence, the subconscious mind holds the key to decision making.
This leaves us with a question as how do we train the subconscious mind to arrive at right decisions which in turn affect our actions. The only way to train is to induce right thoughts consciously. Once the subconscious mind is filled with right thoughts there is a high probability that subconscious mind arrives at the right decision.
When making a choice every human is equipped with two decision making elements – the Conscious mind and the Subconscious mind. The conscious mind controls the organs in our body like the movement of hands, legs, mouth etc and is responsible for active presence of mind. The subconscious mind is a store house of memories. Good ones, bad ones, important ones or not so important ones, every thing gets stored in the subconscious mind.
The conscious mind receives its input from the five sense organs. This input is subjected to logical reasoning in the conscious mind and a decision is made. This decision is then sent to the subconscious mind. This decision along with its reasoning is stored in the subconscious mind. Unconsciously the subconscious mind is being trained by the conscious mind. When the conscious mind is faced with choices, the subconscious mind takes over. The past experiences that are stored will be applied to arrive at a decision. The conscious mind which trains the subconscious is dependent on the subconscious mind to make a decision. Hence, the subconscious mind holds the key to decision making.
This leaves us with a question as how do we train the subconscious mind to arrive at right decisions which in turn affect our actions. The only way to train is to induce right thoughts consciously. Once the subconscious mind is filled with right thoughts there is a high probability that subconscious mind arrives at the right decision.
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Rendezvous with Sir Richard Branson
It was the first day of CTIA - International Telecom Conference at Las Vegas convention center and i was exhilarated. My anxiety woke me up early in the morning and i was ready in an hour with a dashing black shirt, black trousers and cream blazer. The keynote session was to be given by none other than the God of Branding- Sir Richard Branson. Being a marketing guy, there cannot be anything else that would excite me.
Me and my collegue arrived at the convention center on time in a bus that was arranged for CTIA exclusively. It was a big convention center with more than 100 conference rooms. We were asked to follow the red carpet to enter the Keynote session. A marvellous red carpet ran miles until we finally reached the keynote conference room. Whilst we were hunting the room, it was already half an hour past the keynote start time. There was another speaker and i thought i had missed him. I had begun to lament. Soon the speaker ended his speech and the anchor called the CEO of Virgin group. The CEO dint speak anything else other than introducing Branson. A small video clipping ran for about a minute showcasing the GOD's past stunts of launching the brands which he is well known for. The video ended, the audience were in silence, after a pause for 15 seconds the CEO finally said what we all had been craving for.... Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Sir Richard Branson....... The uproar was sky high, awesome music played at the background, the focus lights pointed at the entrance of the stage.. 3, 2, 1... the Master Showman Chairperson of Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Mobile USA, Virgin Records, Vigin Mobile India, Virgin Galactic, Virgin Health Bank, Virgin Comics, Virgin Communications, Virgin Broadcasting, Virgin Hotels, Virgin Publishing, Virgin Radio, Virgin Trains, Virgin Brides, Virgin Cosmetics, Virgin Active entered the stage.
As cool as he is ever, he came with a plastic glass with water and the action began. He spoke about the way he started the airline business and other ventures. He explained the global warming and responsibilities that one should take to fight it. He told about the Virgin Galactic that gives people a chance to goto space. Ofcourse, there is no stopping for the Branding Guru, his new venture, his company had teamed up with Google to form VIRGLE which would put people on Mars !!! The catch is people would not return back ;-)
He approached the end of his speech and the showman threw a question to the audience asking them to raise hands those who were interested in going to Mars. I was ready to be a part of anything that he did and i raised my hand too. Then to my surprise, he called all of us on stage. I was in a dream world. Without even giving a thought, I rushed to the stage and climbed up. I turned back to see a huge bunch of paparazis flashing lights all over. The live video coverage captured this amazing moment. I went close to Branson and put my hand in front of him. The golden hand came down and the tryst was made. I still cant believe this happened to me. After pinching myself now, i am continuing my blog - Then we posed for the photographers for about a minute and raised our hands showing the victory sign. The magic was coming to an end as he left the stage. Though the magic ended there, these were one of my memorable moments which i would cherish through out my life.
Me and my collegue arrived at the convention center on time in a bus that was arranged for CTIA exclusively. It was a big convention center with more than 100 conference rooms. We were asked to follow the red carpet to enter the Keynote session. A marvellous red carpet ran miles until we finally reached the keynote conference room. Whilst we were hunting the room, it was already half an hour past the keynote start time. There was another speaker and i thought i had missed him. I had begun to lament. Soon the speaker ended his speech and the anchor called the CEO of Virgin group. The CEO dint speak anything else other than introducing Branson. A small video clipping ran for about a minute showcasing the GOD's past stunts of launching the brands which he is well known for. The video ended, the audience were in silence, after a pause for 15 seconds the CEO finally said what we all had been craving for.... Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Sir Richard Branson....... The uproar was sky high, awesome music played at the background, the focus lights pointed at the entrance of the stage.. 3, 2, 1... the Master Showman Chairperson of Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Mobile USA, Virgin Records, Vigin Mobile India, Virgin Galactic, Virgin Health Bank, Virgin Comics, Virgin Communications, Virgin Broadcasting, Virgin Hotels, Virgin Publishing, Virgin Radio, Virgin Trains, Virgin Brides, Virgin Cosmetics, Virgin Active entered the stage.
As cool as he is ever, he came with a plastic glass with water and the action began. He spoke about the way he started the airline business and other ventures. He explained the global warming and responsibilities that one should take to fight it. He told about the Virgin Galactic that gives people a chance to goto space. Ofcourse, there is no stopping for the Branding Guru, his new venture, his company had teamed up with Google to form VIRGLE which would put people on Mars !!! The catch is people would not return back ;-)
He approached the end of his speech and the showman threw a question to the audience asking them to raise hands those who were interested in going to Mars. I was ready to be a part of anything that he did and i raised my hand too. Then to my surprise, he called all of us on stage. I was in a dream world. Without even giving a thought, I rushed to the stage and climbed up. I turned back to see a huge bunch of paparazis flashing lights all over. The live video coverage captured this amazing moment. I went close to Branson and put my hand in front of him. The golden hand came down and the tryst was made. I still cant believe this happened to me. After pinching myself now, i am continuing my blog - Then we posed for the photographers for about a minute and raised our hands showing the victory sign. The magic was coming to an end as he left the stage. Though the magic ended there, these were one of my memorable moments which i would cherish through out my life.
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