The Infosys Story
Interesting read - tracks the evolution of Infosys from a startup to where it stands today.
via MoneyControl
TiE Chennai Fund Launched
The TiE Chennai chapter has raised Rs 25 lakhs each, from ten investors including R. Ramaraj (president TiE chennai chapter). From every contribution, Rs.20 lakh would go toward funding entrepreneurship ideas cleared by a screening committee. The remaining money would be used for holding entrepreneur development programmes and meetings. The fund is not restricted to IT / Internet ventures only.
As part of the launch, there was also a roundtable discussion on the topic “Patterns and Parameters in Angel and VC investing“. Participants included Pravin Gandhi of SeedFund, GV Ravishankar of Sequoia India and KB Chandrasekhar - CEO of Jamcracker.
Highlights of the discussion:
- Pravin advised entrepreneurs to work out solutions for problems rather than create solutions that will go around looking for problems to solve
A few observations about Sify’s latest quarter
Sify announced their latest quarterly report for the quarter ending March 31st.
A few interesting observations:
- % increase Year over Year (Y/Y - 2006-2007) for corporate / enterprise services was 26%
- % increase Y/Y for retail Internet access was 3%
- % increase Y/Y for Interactive services was 54%
Quarter-to-Quarter comparison (Quarter ending 31 March 2006-Quarter ending 31 March 2007 - Q/Q):
- % increase Q/Q for corporate / enterprise services was 20%
- % decrease Q/Q for Retail Internet access was 5%
- % increase Q/Q for Interactive services was 23%
Corporate - enterprise services include VPN, hosting etc.
Retail Internet access includes cyber cafes, broadband, Gamedromes (I guess)
Interactive services include portals.
Also, another interesting point - 57% of their 2007 revenue came from corporate-enterprise services.34% revenues came from Retail Internet access.
If you notice any unintentional errors in the figures above, please let me know.
See their entire press release here.
Mobio Networks Ramneek Bhasin on Mobile VAS
Mobio is in the process of expanding their India presence. As part of an interview with FE, he talks about mobile VAS and how the digital landscape varies between India and the US:
On being asked about how Mobio intends to differentiate its VAS offerings from the regular cricket, bank etc. related apps already there,
There is a popular misconception that simply shrinking web content to the “small screen†is enough. On average, a person uses only 7% of the features on most websites. Thus just shrinking desktop browser to the small screen is a poor solution for mobilizing the Web.
Read moreAvnish Bajaj says no to Web2.0 for India
Avnish Bajaj, previously co-founder Baazee.com and current co-founder and MD of Matrix Partners India, thinks that Web2.0 is a distant reality for India.
I think people are wasting their time on Web 2.0 in India. People talk about the Internet being convenient, but it is not so in India. You need to go to a cyber café or you have to dial up a telephone line or use a slow broadband connection. Whereas in the US, 150 million households have broadband access all around the clock, sitting at home. When you have such a situation you can do social networking, but where is that happening in India? Do you think a person will go to a cyber café or any public environment to discuss everything about their life?
He talks of how Indian market isnt mature enough and needs more focus on the consumer services. When asked about what sector he thinks is hot:
I think consumer services opportunities across sectors are hot. They are also exciting in that each one of us is a consumer, so we can relate to the businesses far easier than deep tech-driven ones. I believe that Internet and mobile opportunities suffer from a quality deficit; I expect higher quality opportunities in these sectors to start showing up on the radar in the next couple of years.
Rest here.
Mobile numbers may get halved in March
April 22, 2007 · Posted in Mobile India · CommentYes..you read the correctly. Now that I have your attention, read on:
Even as over 7 million new mobile subscribers were added during March, the actual growth recorded during the month could be as low as 3.1 million, since over 4 million users were reportedly struck off the list due to non-verification. Wireless growth of 3.1 million a month is like turning the clock back by a year or so. The 3-4 million range was last seen around April, 2006.
Apparently, the verification requirement mandated by TRAI (verify if the subscriber is valid for security concerns) will see a possible drop in subscriber numbers for the month of March.
Continue reading rest of the story.
Chintee.com - soliciting feedback for logos
April 22, 2007 · Posted in Tech tidbit · 3 CommentsI wrote about Reliance’s secretive venture - Chintee. Now, it seems they’re accepting feedback from users to vote on the logos they like the best. The same ploy they used on BigAdda.
Stay tuned - looks like they would make an announcement soon. Reliance Entertainment has been on a roll recently.
Personally, I like logo no 3.
Update: Here’s an idea. Leave a comment below with your guess of what Chintee may be. The one whose comment most closely reflects what Chintee actually turns out to be, will get a honorary mention and link-love from me
.
Online Gaming industry in India - is it really a goldmine ?
April 22, 2007 · Posted in Gaming India · 3 CommentsIn a latest podcast for PodTech, Kamla Bhatt interviews Alok Kejriwal, Founder Games2Win. Alok talks about the online gaming industry in India, the strategy for Games2Win going forward (including competition from Zapak) and their foray in Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG) segment.
In and earlier interview, Rajesh Sawhney, Head Reliance Entertainment, describes how online gaming industry in India is still in its nascent stage and the monetization is sub-par as compared to international standards. He also talks about the strategy for Zapak going forward - localization of games for the Indian market. For example, he mentions about a yet to be launched game revolving around Bipasha Basu.
So is online gaming the next big thing in India ? As per a recent IAMAI report, the online gaming industry industry is pegged at 21 crores. As per this report, it is expected to reach an estimated 200$ million by 2010. Heck, even big timers like EA are mulling over a local acquisition.
Hmm..Ok. So the online gaming industry in India is in for some exciting times ahead. Point taken - I’m sold.
But that leads me to wonder - is the Indian online gaming industry really worth 21 crores today ?
Note that the 21 crores figure includes only online gaming - defined as follows by IAMAI:
“Gaming that requires the use of a PC and internet connectivity, either played online or downloaded and played online later, capable of supporting either single or multiple players, where the player(s) is in India”
GoaFest2007 - Advertisers yet to embrace the Internet
At the recently concluded GoaFest2007, Frederic Joseph, regional CEO - EMEA and APAC for Zed Digital highlighted the significance of Internet as a critical advertising medium. Key summaries that I found of interest:
“With the expansion in digital media, the number of touch points is also increasing. Companies have to keep their eyes and ears open to be at the forefront of what’s happening and to know where their audience is shifting.”
Talking about Web2.0, and how UGC empowers the Internet user:
“They can be anything they want; they can be broadcasters, critics, news reporters, celebrities, cameramen, media owners, etc”
Talking about online advertising in India, he says:
“In India specifically, ad spends on the Internet formed only 1 per cent and were expected to go up to 3 per cent by the end of 2008.”
If the above piques your interest, you can read the rest of the story.
And now Times of India gets a makeover
First, it was NDTV that got a makeover, then it was time for Hindustan Times to get a facelift. Now, Times of India has gone for cosmetic surgery.
If you were to ask me, it was IBNLive that has prompted all these news portals to radically transform their look and make their sites more interactive. IBNLive seemed to be scoring huge in terms of audience participation by allowing user comments, editorial blogs and video clips. Some of their famous stories - the Air Deccan expose`, the undercover sting operations and most recently - their Minal Panchal story got a lot of user comments and participation.
And I guess the other news portals soon realized how much they sucked in terms of usability. They were taking the long neglected users for granted and users started alienating them.
The focus now shifts to India’s largest portal - Rediff. Renovate or Die ! When so many people complain, you should take notice.
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