Monday, July 26, 2010

What the Consumer Wants

What the Consumer Wants

Over a last few months I have been interacting and reading about the mobile handset market in India and its been one of the most tricky business for some time now.

Since many years Nokia was a monopoly and was percolating deep into the Indian rural and urban market. With market share of more than 70% it wasn’t surprising when Nokia started their assembling plant near Chennai with sizeable investment and a staggering rollout of more than 2 million phones per month!!

But the scene started changing slowly and the technology market started to become highly un-predictable with the entry of dozens of new players everyday. Apart from the Korean and Taiwan dumps the country saw many registered mobile handset makers invade into the market share of the biggies like Nokia, Samsung and Motorola.

The mobile market became as tricky as the film industry. It became very hard to research what the customer/consumer wants. And the time to market needed to be very very fast. Just take the technology pace in the data transfer technologies. Imagine the time gap between infrared to Bluetooth to wifi to 3G and so on. By the time a technology is adapted to on a mobile phone a new technology arrives and customers are always on the look out.

Just few months back and during the IPL this year a new handset maker called micromax entered into the populated market and within 3-4 months he is already the third largest seller with market share of more than 20%. If you look closely at what they did best? It was aggressive marketing, branding and put all in one strategy. They looked at what all a customer needed and put it all in one at a very competitive rate.

A week back I read in business India magazine that a PCO (public telephone booth) vendor in one of the remote villages in India used to travel 2 kms everyday in the evening to charge up his battery. The battery was the source for power to his telephones and the place where he operated had no electricity. But today he has a phone made by micromax that keeps running for 7 days continuously without a charge and he used it happily even without wires (BSNL lost yet another customer :)). Things like these are simple to read but interestingly for many users these days, what’s important it how long the mobile can run without a charge, than the features a phone has. There is no time for many to charge their phones since they use it non-stop.

If you thinking how many myriad things drive this handset market… Let me try to list.. Cost, features, games, connectivity, e-mail, 3G, data transfer, wifi, camera, battery life, resolution, look and feel, video recording and so on and so on…

To make it a perfect strategy to manufacture one phone is almost impossible. Do you really agree? Read on..

And driving down to bring a philosophical angle as I usually do, there is one company that makes costly phones with low features and with very ordinary marketing but still maintains to be a monopoly in the market. And the company is the great Apple Inc. Every product they launch including their iPhone is highly criticized and reviewed. Yet it stands out to be awe’d at and irrespective of its cost is always sought after.

Now on to my closing down thoughts. What the consumer wants is the most tricky maze/puzzle to crack always. Very few companies can crack it and those are the ones which stay while others go up the spike and then slowly fall to get buried.

Whatever is the case I always bet that quality, durability/longevity and class will always be alive. It will have its pickers and will survive to emerge stronger.

Friday, April 23, 2010

En-vision

En-vision

Recently I have been reading some of the quotes by leaders and some of the ambitious projects that they plan, which made took me by awe and I tried to think on what distinguishes a achiever against a true visionary.

At different stages in life and according to upbringing each one of us definitely count on our own achievements and feel happy, but being a visionary is something very different. Visionaries go a mile further and dream of things that can impact societies and change the world. And to envision such a complex thought truly demands deep understanding and experience.


Today I had a chance to read something kalam said recently when he addressed students in Washington. He said,


Quote:

“In a globalized world, our problems are shared, our efforts are shared, and the prosperity and the happiness will hence be shared across the nations and societies as well”

- Unquote.


How true. But this thought doesn’t come to everyone. Everyone is competing these days

$as a student

$as a employee

$ as a country

$ as a society , as a community, as a religion, as a leader etc.. etc..


But have we really thought about how we can co-live and co-create a better world to live in? , We have only thought about a better house, have we thought about a better surrounding? A best house in a worst surrounding will not even catch attention of on-lookers !!


On to the next thing that impacted me to write about visionaries.


Bill gates, always referred to as the worlds richest man or the second (does it matter to him ?) recently is following a crop produce by Indian farmers that has ability to withstand floods! Gates is closely following farming in India and other agricultural countries and proposing scientific methods to enhance yield in cultivation.

Incidentally Gates is also setting up a 800 million dollar reserve/fund to fight global hunger and poverty. He is camping at places like Ghana and Rwanda which have always being reeling in famine.


While there are so many remedial measures he could have thought about, he has been following agricultural innovations so that these famine hit countries could come out of this forever and not always depend upon outside world for funding.


These kind of visionary ideas are the need of the hour as the world is so divided. As I draw close on this write-up I wish a wider consortium is formed and all such visionaries spread across the world can sit together and discuss what can spread the happiness, that is spiking in certain parts of the world alone.


Yes the spike needs to flatten and the our grand children need to live in a much better and tranquil world.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Whirlpool-ish

India as a country has been picking up and drawing the attention of global community for all the good and bad reasons. As one sector looks at us with awe and admiration for the sheer capacity we exhibit another looks at us with pity. But amidst all the chaos this multi-billion people country has been burgeoning and swiftly moving like a gazelle. In this blog I want to delve into some of the exaggerated sectors and dig a little on what could be truth behind them. I am sure I would have to keep writing pages if I have to make justice to this premise. My I would just draw a line and leave the reader to ponder over the rest.

Stock Market:

As any economy expands disproportionately it will require a lot of intervention to solve the dis-ease that is bound to appear at the lower levels. But what will be more remarkable is the growth of the industrial sector and the corporate sector around the boom. During such booming times the hype that is created in the stock market is very very tepid and whirlpool-ish. Remember always that production is true while paper money (created through stocks and shares) is always false.

Media:

One of the important pillars of any democracy is the media. A democracy will be considered matured only if the media is allowed to play a free and fair role is showcasing a very transparent and true picture of the democracy to the world. But freedom is not free :D and truly so the media has to also understand its freedom and act responsibly. I was recently disturbed to listen to a debate where it was disclosed that more of 70% of the news telecasted by media in India is paid news. And I will surely suspect the credibility of the media and not trust them, to re-verify them before broadcast. The hype that the media creates is very dangerous and again whirlpool-ish.

Cricket (Sport):

And why should I look for another hyped sector while the IPL is running just in front of me as I am penning my thoughts down :D. The hype that this sport that drawn is quite ridiculous and has kept the central body ICC lip locked. While all other sports in this country are starved and under performing, the cricket team is always in limelight again for good and bad reasons. The winter Olympics that happened in Canada recently saw 3 Indians walk with the flag in opening ceremony and much to our shame all the three were not financed by the government to participate in Olympics! :(

As I close down due to my principle of showing restraint (of not writing more than one page) :D , I want to remind you that this country has more reasons to be worried than to celebrate. And just like the country every family including yours and mine have more reasons to retrospect than celebrate. Its time to get responsible and its time to play things down than hype things which are passing. Otherwise one day each one of us will getting encircled into a whirlpool of remorse.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Blessed...

Blessed

Many a times in life we dream about something happening in the future. But when we reach the moment, when, the then future is now the present, we tend to pinch our self to ascertain if we are living in reality or still in dream. This might sound whimsical but I am sure this would have happened to each one of us in our life. Such moments are truly to be cherished and such people are truly blessed!

I experienced one such moment on 12th of January this year when the pediatrician brought my daughter and asked me to hold her in my arms, seconds after the baby came into this world. I couldn’t trust that it was real. I was so ecstatic that I was pinching myself to convince that what I was experiencing was real and not a dream :D. And yet again last week another dream turned a reality, when the little one, now 2 months old smiled and tried to lick my face when I cuddled her and rubbed her cheeks with mine, I could only express my delight in one single word, and that is ‘BLESSED’ !

Another incident followed on the 18th of this month. And that taught me a good lesson and in turn motivated me to write this blog. This was another incident which made me feel I am blessed yet again. I or rather we (3) became proud owners of a residential flat in a nice residential area in the city. This particular day has been in my dream for years now and I when the dream did turn into a reality, I could not completely believe everything I was experiencing was real and not a dream :D

But as I sat down thinking, I realized that almost everyone is as blessed as me and what I was going through was just satisfaction of some kind. To slightly change the phrase

‘Blessed are those who are satisfied’

Every human being is given a equal opportunity to be satisfied. The environment might be different, but there can be no denial on the fact that there is definitely an opportunity. An opportunity to prove, an opportunity to improve and an opportunity to feel satisfied :D

And digging a little more I stuck upon another profound thought. To feel satisfied one must focus on life and give little importance to material things. If you understand the quality of life you wish to live you will feel satisfied on achieving that. But if you set targets on material things, by the time you achieve them they lose their value substantially, and all your life, you live aspiring for more, and miss to enjoy life, waiting to be lived !!

And there I stop but before I end,

I recently read this beneath the signature of someone who sent me a mail. And needless to say I liked it. I hope my reader can draw a line of relevance here.

God grant me -
Serenity to accept things I cannot change;
Courage to change things I can;
And wisdom to know the difference

Friday, March 12, 2010

Influence

Influence

We are living in a very analytical world and at the same time a very equivocal world. Everyday there are many things we read, listen to and perceive and that keeps influencing our thought process. The biggest challenge according to me is to be not influenced these influences ;) . I will call this state as neutrality.

Influences are different at different maturity levels to human beings. A kid for instance gets influenced by seeing a cartoon of superman. But the same kid as it grows realizes and moves towards human influence. And once he helplessly transforms to a man is influenced by close circle around him (parents/corporate icons etc..). And as he turns aged influenced by religious philosophers. Even a most analytical person often tends to get influenced. The only difference being, that he can create a pretense of being neutral by showing contrasting opinions which will keep the observer puzzled !

As I think deep I can almost certainly say that it’s impossible to be/remain un-influenced and present a very neutral thought process. It’s probably only possible for saints and only very few of them. Now the reason I started the topic is to explore how can we pick and choose the best influences in our life. It’s similar to deciding upon an investment in life. Every other one of them seems attractive but attractive is always un-safe/dangerous.

We must very subjectively decide on what we should get influenced with. The brain often tends to attach an emotional angle here. But it’s very important that we analyze well on which is best for us. Wrong influences are like multipliers. They grow fast while good influences are like additions. They get added up slowly and withdrawal is also easy.

Well closing down here. On a moral note, the best possible way to age is to slowly separate ourselves from influences. When you don’t get influenced you don’t expect people to hear and act by what you say. And when you start practicing this you can detach and slow achieve neutrality. Everything around you will seem to be so pure and unique. No relativity ;)

Wednesday, March 03, 2010

Genuin'ity

Genuin'ity

Almost 2 years since I last wrote a blog. If I claim that , its because I didn’t have time or because I didn’t have a good topic or because I am too busy to think about anything or because I lost interest for writing…


“All I can say is I am not being to genuine to myself. ”


Hang on, before assuming what genuin’ity is about. I know it’s a word that you cant find in the dictionary and I already know that from the red underline that the smart MSword is showing me!


I am writing about the genuin’ity that missing in humans and how fake a life many of us are living. If this one word makes me write a blog after 2 years you must catch the essence of how it could have affected me.

There have been 2-3 incidences recently which have affected me very much to loose my self-control and be highly critical. And not surprisingly all of them were due to money. Sometimes many of us including me attach too much of importance to this commodity that it seems more important that anything else on this world. I wish that a device called calculator was never invented. This device has provoked humans to multiply and divide in every moment of life. Yes, please look and delve into these words ‘multiply and divide’ and think about them beyond just money. And to whatever propositions you can think away from money, money would still always be a tangent* for all these situations in life.


People are so self-centered and rigid that they are sometimes so in-genuine to what their conscience says. They try to win over their conscience and try to dominate it internally. Its interesting, because you dominate yourself . And that’s what I call a false (in-genuine) living.


I don’t want to write more and want to restrict myself to the usual one page I write. Because I don’t want to get more emotional and spoil my day at office which has so beautifully begun.


Just to close on a moral note. Life is very meaningful and pleasantly designed by a cunning architect called God. This architect always wants his designs to learn by their# mistakes. And as I said mistakes are ours (#their). If we can live a much genuine life then life would be as pleasant and meaningful as the architect originally designed it for. But if we wanted to falsely wrap us with a million worries and live a life always calculating (with not just money, I stress again) we would only go up and down the roller coaster and keep blaming and praying to the cunning designer .


*A straight line or plane that touches a curve or curved surface at a point but does not intersect it at that point