IBM India has been recognized as the ‘Overall Best’ US Company in India by the Indo American Chambers of Commerce (IACC), the only bilateral trade facilitating body. The award will be presented to Shanker Annaswamy, Managing Director, IBM India/ South Asia by Mr. Michael S. Owen, US Consul General during the Indo American Corporate Excellence Awards organized by the association at the National Council of Performing Arts, Mumbai on 30th June 2007. The Indo-American Corporate Excellence (I-ACE) Awards 2007 recognizes and felicitates the Best U.S. Companies in India in the various categories which includes Overall Best Company, Best US Company in Manufacturing and Other Services, Financial Services, Technology, Communications & Entertainment. Read more

Bharti Airtel today announced the launch of ‘Airtel Messenger’, an exciting and innovative service that offers the power of text chatting within a personalised set of communities.

This feature-rich service gives all Airtel mobile customers the advantage of having the same experience as a desktop chat service. Airtel Messenger users can send and receive messages in real-time via their mobile without the need to be attached to a computer. The service offers various personalised options of usage including status tag options like “Online/Offline”, “I am busy” or “In a meeting”. It also gives the users the advantage to convey multiple emoticons while in conversation. Its Presence-Enabled address book allows the sender to know when their contacts are online. Read more

Bharti Airtel today announced the launch of ‘Airtel Messenger’, an exciting and innovative service that offers the power of text chatting within a personalised set of communities.

This feature-rich service gives all Airtel mobile customers the advantage of having the same experience as a desktop chat service. Airtel Messenger users can send and receive messages in real-time via their mobile without the need to be attached to a computer. The service offers various personalised options of usage including status tag options like “Online/Offline”, “I am busy” or “In a meeting”. It also gives the users the advantage to convey multiple emoticons while in conversation. Its Presence-Enabled address book allows the sender to know when their contacts are online. Read more

With multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) in the core and all services moving to Internet protocol (IP), Ethernet in the metro network is a Swiss knife for business connectivity, broadband service aggregation and cell site backhaul. Service providers can only ignore the capital expenditure (CAPEX) and operational expenditure (OPEX) advantages of carrier Ethernet at their own risk, as a converged Ethernet network will allow service providers to economically address many of the needs of their business residential, and wholesale customers. Read more

Demographic changes, a boom in cardiac care and the increasing prominence of minimally invasive surgeries have triggered the need for unique, multi-purpose, cost-efficient product offerings in the European market for catheters and guidewires for angioplasty and angiography. Innovative and cost-effective products will be critical to injecting new momentum into this relatively mature market. Read more

Although several controversies surround the subject of stem cells, the miraculous properties they hold in terms of their differentiation potential to give rise to a wide range of cell types offer the possibilities of capitalizing on stem cell research to generate novel therapies and treatment alternatives for several disease conditions. Read more

I am frequently startled to find how often, when doing an analysis of a company’s sales figures, that they hold to the Pareto Principle (named after Vilfredo Pareto, a 19th. Century Italian sociologist, economist, and philosopher) which states that 80% of sales come from 20% of the customer base. I am also amazed at how many businesses acknowledge the fact that their sales reflect the Principle but they just accept that fact; few businesses use that information to advantage. Read more

BrandXtend – Extending your brand into the cell phone

The speed of innovation in the new economy is simply overwhelming. New products, add ons and new innovations are simply coming at the speed of thought. The latest to hit the markets is an interesting product from the house of Qualcomm that could cause ripples in the mobile entertainment market. Before I go on to the product we need to understand the mobile market and a little background.

The Mobile Entertainment Market

The US is perhaps a good example if we look at the mobile entertainment market. In the US 75% of the revenue comes from mobile content comes from sales directly made on cell phones. This is also called “on deck”. In other words your choice of downloads is more or less limited to what your service provider provides. Let’s get the India picture into this. How much choice does the Indian cell phone user have in terms of downloads? If you think you have a choice please try and download a PVR ticket booking mobile application if you don’t have an Airtel connection. In other words the average cell phone user’s content choice is decided by the carrier.

On the other hand this “on deck” option ceases innovation as independent developers don’t find the market lucrative enough as the carriers are calling the shots. Well all this could be in for a change if BREW BrandXtend has its way.

Two days ago telecom giant Qualcomm launched BrandXtend. So what exactly is BrandXtend and how is it linked to the mobile entertainment market.

BREW BrandXtend Signature Solution is a solution from Qualcomm which opens new channels for branded media, entertainment, music and game companies to deliver their content to consumers, while also leveraging the current BREW on-portal platform to drive advanced data services. BREW BrandXtend is aimed at driving the uptake of mobile content both on and off deck, collaborating with major brands to bring exciting, new content to operators and end-users.

In other words BrandXtend not only extends the reach of leading media and entertainment brands by aiding in the mobilization and distribution of content but also provides innovation at the developer level besides giving the ability for “on-deck” and “off-deck” delivery.

Revenue for content

Consider a current mobile content provider. How does he currently monetize content? In other words how will his consumers pay him? When you download content on your cell phone thru your carrier, your carrier debits your account. But if your carrier doesn’t have the content provider on its list then how does content monetize. A key differentiator for BREW BrandXtend is that it provides operators with a platform that enables them to monetize off-portal branded content in a reliable and scaleable way.

Growing Off-deck revenues

According to Nick Lane principal analyst, Informa Telecoms and Media. "Multiple customer channels for the discovery and delivery of content have become essential, as the wireless industry continues to expand to include both on-deck and off-deck content. In the UK, more than 70 percent of content revenues come from off-deck sources. While not as high in other key markets, the percentage of off-deck revenues is growing rapidly. Not only are operators now embracing the emergence of the off-deck market, but so are brands. Major brands are developing a dual on- and off-deck strategy designed to maximize revenues. This shift will enable brands to be more active in the creation and promotion of their rich mobile content."

According to Mitch Oliver, vice president of solutions and marketing, Qualcomm, "Qualcomm's BREW BrandXtend provides the wireless content industry with a new solution designed to drive the discovery and delivery of advanced data services. The BREW BrandXtend Signature Solution will be able to assist the entire wireless value chain in extending the reach and breadth of compelling mobile content to target audiences through new discovery avenues.”

For Qualcomm BrandXtend means a new revenue stream based on the BREW stream in which Qualcomm takes a part of the sales.

Value Added Services in India

India is one of the world leaders in the cell phone market. In the mobile entertainment and value added services too India is growing at a phenomenal pace Consider the following statistic one in every 11 people logging on to the Web across the world through mobile phones is turning out to be an Indian. According to data compiled by UK-based Bango Plc., a total of 27% of users logging on to the Internet through mobile phones come from the UK, followed by 21% in the US and about 11% in South Africa. While Indians account for just 9% of the total number of mobile Web users, the number has grown considerably from 4% a year ago.

BrandXtend has been launched in interesting times when the market for value added services is growing and delivery mechanisms being developed. BrandXtend could turn out to be a good development in the mobilization and distribution of content.

Puneet Mehrotra is a columnist on business and technology for Hindustan Times. Email him on puneet@tbe.in

We are living in a digital civilization that belongs to the web and internet. Our entire user experience as a consumer, as a citizen and perhaps as a being is transforming into an online one. The Microsofts and Googles of the world are corporations that govern our very existence today. Just think about your dependence on them for your small day to day activities and you get will an answer how much they have become a part of your life. As commerce grows and business prospects of this digital economy become brighter so does the need for corporate domination. This digital age is currently witnessing a phase when corporate giants to gather a foothold in the mega market of tomorrow are fighting it out. The current user experience is between desktop and web. While Microsoft perhaps leads in “desktop dominance” Google on the other hand at “Total Web Experience dominance”. As the desktop and web divide becomes narrower conflicting interests are taking shape between the two tech giants. Google Gears is perhaps another attempt by Google to get into the offline “desktop dominance” space which Microsoft rules. Read more

In a significant new development for faculty engaged in teaching entrepreneurship in India, the IIMB and NEN have come together in a strategic relationship to work together as partners in the NEN initiated Entrepreneurship Educators Course (EEC). Read more