Tag: News

To IPL or to IPO?!?

Prasad Ajinkya5 Comments

This is a follow-up to Sudhir’s post on IPL. Yesterday I was reading the Economic times whilst the bai was cleaning my room (that’s the only time when I took a break from Sacred), and there it was … in the big headlines pattern.

IPL teams can raise capital through going public … or via private equity as well!! Imagine the Mumbai Indians being listed on the BSE, and everytime they have a match against some other team, the share prices would buckle, a cricket crazy nation … now putting their money where their mouth is. I am just waiting for those Sports Team Mutual Funds … wanna bet that Ravi Shastri launches one??

Convergence

Prasad AjinkyaLeave a comment

Read this in today’s morning news.

So MTNL has finally decided to go the developed country way. Opening up their offerings for not only other bulk buyers, but also for individuals like you and me. This means a stronger focus not on voice revenues, but on data revenues. 

A natural extension of this is Value Added Services (VAS) for fixed line networks. This trend makes more sense since MTNL was loosing market share of the customer’s talking time. The average Indian has stopped applying for land line since the mobile is readily available with cheaper and varied tariff rates. Heck, even I do not have landline number in Hyderabad! 

So, with India copying the trends of more developed nations like UK and US, it is only a few years when we see a mobile revolution taking place in our markets. The future is here, are you ready for it?

Ringo goes down the drain

Prasad AjinkyaLeave a comment

Got this mail today. Another one bites the dust!! I think its good for social networking as a phenomenon that the redundant networks are consolidating.

May 31, 2008

Dear Ringo member,
After much consideration we have decided to end the Ringo service.
As of June 30, 2008 the Ringo service is ending and you will no longer have access to your Ringo account.

How do I get my photos?
We created a new feature that will allow you to download your photos to your computer. Click here to download your photos.

You may also order a CD of your photos. Just sign in to your Ringo account, click on the “You” tab, click” Order prints” and then “Photo Disks”.

How do I get my videos?
Videos uploaded to Ringo were hosted for us by a partner. This partner has decided to end this service and after June 30 videos uploaded to Ringo will no longer be available.

Thank you for being part of the Ringo community.
The Ringo Team

Pimp my Laptop!!

Prasad Ajinkya4 Comments

First it was Dell, and now Asus!!

Its great to see the era of designer hardware in India. Where users get to sport their identity by the very laptop decoration they use. Gone are the days where executives would sit tinkering on their ugly, grey/black boxes looking so busy and mighty. Nowadays, you see young bachhas in faded jeans and t-shirts carrying lappies of all shapes and sizes, but very few of them would be actually working while waiting at the flight terminal.

Soon, we will see more customer centric models where the customer can completely customize the look of his/her laptop. I can hardly wait for that day!!

Facebook a matrimony site?

Prasad Ajinkya2 Comments

How many of you lot have hit on/flirted with the opposite sex on some social networking site or the other? Oh … c’mon be honest, I know a lot of us have done it. In fact, there is a Facebook app site dedicated solely for that purpose. So do not tell me that you haven’t, I know that you did (smug smile).

Trust us desis to find a unique usage for the likes of orkut, facebook, myspace, et al!! As they say – Majboori ka naam hain Mahatma Gandhi!!

After 10 years of posting this (exactly 10 in fact), Facebook has announced Facebook Dating. Since, they we have had multiple apps most notably Tinder who are addressing this need.

Google meets Salesforce

Prasad AjinkyaLeave a comment

Just came across this.

Now Google Apps premier users can avail of the famous Salesforce CRM, at a nominal price of course. Its an alliance of sorts to stave of the big bad monster from taking on the individual firms. To be honest, it is a one place solution for a lot of SMEs for a simple and yet effectively managed enterprise system.

Effectively, Salesforce and Google Apps are combining their users for a joint Go-To-Market, adding more value each other’s product offerings. De factor internal messenger for this would be the Google Talk gadget, which works like a charm.

For Google Apps basic users, who know that paying $60/user/year is slightly over their IT budget, they can use SugarCRM which comes absolutely free of cost!! Knowledge of XAMP is solicited before going ahead with SugarCRM.

Solving the wrong problem

Prasad Ajinkya7 Comments

Well its all over the news … just read it in today’s news. There is now going to be an OBC quota for IIMs, question one should be asking really is – Why do you need reservation in a premier post-graduation institute?

So now, they (Arjun Singh and his myopic HRD cronies) have increased the total number of seats, and increased the OBC quota for students. Looks like the decision to hike the fees by A and B was a wise one … lets just say that the higher fees are a premium for excellence and leave it at that!!

At the risk of sounding arrogant, heres a question –
If the holes in a sieve are increased, do you still hope to get the same quality of refinement?

Sometimes I think these news are there in the just for the IIM group discussions and nothing else! In the end, its all foo.