New transport policyin China to reduce pollution

China has recently introduced new transport policy to reduce pollution and be better prepared for Olympics 2008 in Beijing.
As per the new policy, most Beijing vehicles will only be allowed to operate on alternating days from July 20 to Sept. 20 to reduce air pollution during the Olympic Games.Cars with odd-numbered license plates will operate on one day while those with even-numbered license plates will operate on others. This system was succesfully implemented during the 2004 Games in Athens.
But this idea has some loopholes. One clear idea is to buy one more car with other number, odd or even. Though only rich can afford this idea.
I think more work for home should be encourage for profile which doesnt require always to be in office. This can be good way to keep some cars off from road.

China is set for Olympics 2008

New Beijing expressway after odd/even transport policy

Current Indian Political Saga and K- Serials of Saas Bahu

Indian political scene has turned up similar to famous K- serials which dominates Indian Television TRPs.

- First, both has offlate been able to attract highest TRPs seeing the highly dramatic situation

- Second, both was like long going story where every thing was moving fine in festive mood, that got disrupted by a strom of nuclear deal( read extra marital affair for K- Serial)

- One party or one side of family is against excepting an idea, just then enters another political party with lots of shaking cameras

- And boom!! all excitement begins!! Lot of twist and turns in the story almost evry single day

- Situation that keep everybody guessing wat will happen in next day serial which comes with a new dramatic twist

- As it happens in K- Serial, there is a vamp/villian waiting to take revenge, they join with opposing or cursed party to take revenge from primary family.

- Yeh one more similarty, these moments are also telecasted in 8-10pm slot ;)

- K-serial families are shown to be rich families with so much of wealth etc, but noone in their family actually work during day time for their business, instead all men will be at home clad in nice well embrodary kurta pyjamas ;).... same is happening in political front, every one is busy with vote numbers and work has taken back front( not to forget, all politicians also wear Kurta pyjamas)

- Both K-serial and political saga is being dominated by women power

Now the only catch is gender based. Each of them has got one of the gender as the most loyal viewers.... You know the answer very well here....dont you !!!

Windows XP still available :)

I was going through this interesting article today at www.cio.com
What Does It Take to Get a PC With Windows XP?
Chris has surely done an extensive research on various options available for getting XP with laptops.
I have Windows Ultimate installed on my personal laptop and inspite of 2 GB RAM, I am not happy with Vista's performance. Moreover, inspite of buying original Ultimate pack for a high cost, I still had to download almost 100MB of updates from internet( I dont know what did they then charged for) :)
I am sure XP was far far better than Vista.
Vista doesnt even support my wireless mouse from Logitech

SITM campus pictures

Recently visited SITM campus at Lavale and took few pictures:

Library:

What we stand for :)

View from campus of lush surroundings:

Academic Block:

Road to campus on hill top

Brand Endorsement- an extension

I recently posted my thoughts on brand endorsement and got some interesting feedback from my friend Neehar.
There is one more segment in Indian market where brand endorsement does enhance revenues. And that segment is 'Rural India'
Rural India is next big market which most of the companies from Telecom operators to FMCG and Automobiles are targeting aggressively.
Consumer behaviour observed as Neehar told me from his summer internship observations titls high on brand endorsing. People in rural villages or town recollects things based on the person who endorsed the product in ads. Ex, Woh Abitabh Bacchan wala Pen, Sachin wali choclate etc.
I think he hasa point for sure :)

Apple i-Phone 3G launched

Came across interesting picture of AT&T and Verizon stores.
AT&T surely reflect as happy partner of Apple. iPhone 3G saw record sale of more than million handset on the very day of launch.

Pic 1: Outside a AT&T Store

Pic2: VRZN's empty HRZN

Brand endorsement- Yes or No!!!

Brand endorsements are tactical, not strategic - This is what I read somewhere!!!
TO some extent - Yes!! they are like quick fix solution. It will work as long as the fad, and once celebrity demand goes down, brand gets a kill and its tough to maintain it by the quality it offers to end-consumers.
Ex- How many times have you thought to opt for a chocalate just because it is endorsed by a celebrity. I would say many wud still like to buy taste which they like.
You go out shopping for Fan- Would you think about Dhoni flying in air just because you sawhin in XYZ ad, knowing well how many times would he bought a fan himself ;)
I see customer segmentation as an important criteria for optiing brand endorsement for product. Kids is one such segment where a relevant celebrity will surely make a dent. Kids tend to really get impressed by celebs and they have high selection critieria based on their favourite hero/heroines
Youth- This is an interesting segment where you need to target your product rather than celebs to impress them. Does their thought and aggression matches key features of product. If answer is Yes, you wurely will end up high target bonus this time.
Mature and Old peopls- Cost and Value is all which will drive them , be it a needle, milk or a car.

So big question- Why do companies do celeb marketing.
Answer- World is full of herd mentality wherein one always feels that by Not Doing XYZ, marketing is incomplete.
Whereas true meaning of marketing is not ad and pomp and show but taking different approach to fulfill your customer problems, revenue follows for sure.

Best external storage drives

As per my analysis, there are 2 good options for external USB drives
- Toshiba USB2.0 320GB- Might cost you around 100-150USD- Slim and handy and good performance
- Western Digital USB 2.0 320GB My Passport series- 100-130USD
Sleek drives and durable, WD is known for good performance drives-
Happy Shopping

Bangalore airport covered by Arabian media

Seems like Dubai and Bangalore do have some linkage. Leading news portal Arabianbusiness.com covered an article about growing traffic at Dubai airport and traffic snarls in bangalore to reach airport :)

PS- I did mention about my thought published as a comment

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&Itemid=1&id=523317#comment-19498

Dubai Vs Singapore- Even media talking same line

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/524686-taxi-shortage-latest-threat-to-dubai-boom?ln=en
Good to see that Arabian media do acknowledge about taxi problem and its linkage to business growth in a city like Dubai.

Telecom as backbone of growth

What is so different about telecom Vs other sectors like Banking, auto, manufacturing etc. All these are B2C but still where one hand there is talks about slowdown in other sectors, telecom is accelerating its pace.

Telecom from past 50 years have been yet anohter sector which depended on govt for investment. For single wireline connection, there use to years of waiting. Even in other global markets, telecom although was seen as advanced sector in terms of technology but not much was seen on commercial front.

And then came mobile boom!!!

With outcome of mobile and people connectivity, what countries also realised that telecom is very crucial for growth of economy. Telecom can bring about revolution ideas of optmising costs,it can drive and increase growth and demand and more important reduce the biggest factor- Distance between the people.

India is surely reaping the benefits of policiies of govt of opening up telecom sector to private players. With telecom came new ideas right from corporate and urban customers to remote farmer. Now even a farmer can negociate for best price for his product.

I am really keeen to watch further advancement and its links to economic growth once 3G come in.

Symbian goes open source

Symbian is world's leading mobile OS. It was formed as a constorium with members like AT&T LG Electronics Motorola Nokia NTT DoCoMo Samsung Electronics Sony Ericsson STMicroelectronics Texas Instruments Vodafone.

Nokia actively adopted Symbian as their preferred OS and by the time Microsoft came into picture, Symbian had gained major market share of close to 70 % in smartphones.

Now, Nokia has acquired most of Symbian stake for around $264mn and it has plans to take it as open source platform.

I see this as learning of Nokia to increase its market share and also preferred platform in competitive scenario. Mobile OS market is clearly getting new OS and with Microsoft al set to make a dent in high end smartphone segment, Nokia moves strong strategic.

It is getting all leading development vendors and operators under one roof under the shadow of open source message. Although I feel only a part of Symbian will be open source, but not all module will be open for developers.

Symbian -Nokia ia growing fast with 3, Mexico-based America Movil and Brazil's TIM Participacoes, Marvell, Aplix, EB, EMCC Software, Sasken and TietoEnator have also endorsing the foundation.

India diversity reflects on its currency also

India is truly a diverse country and same reflects on its currency also.

I came across a fact that picture on backside of 20 Rupee note is actually has been taken at southern most tip of Andaman and Nicobar island.

Now can you believe that..!! Well I am glad to see how innovatively govt thought and got that pic.

Btw!! I have been to this place in Andamans and for your info this island is called 20Rupee Island ;)

Indian market at Bottom!!!

13000 and going further down... well this is very dialogue which you can hear on any business TV channel in India.

I see this a good buying opportunity and create portfolio.

As Warren Buffet says- you should get greedy when others are fearful and fearful when others are greedy

IPOs - All gone bust

I had a major argument with my peers when sensex was reigning 18-20K.
My view has been not to bet on IPO as gamble. IPO were selling hot cakes just because they were shorcut to double money. Well unfortunately, those who are sharp make money and exit but layman in general gets greedy to keep stock making more money.
Result- Sensex came down and IPO dreams got busted. Today most of IPO are trading at 40-50% discounted price.
Stocks are not gamble, they are be played with calculated risks for making all profits.

Good equity mutual funds in India

Did some research on mutual fund to list out few good bets:

- DWS Investment Opportunity Fund

- Sundaram BNP Paribas Select Focus

- SBI Magnum COntra

- Kotak Opportunities

- HDFC Top 200

- DSP TIGER

- Sundaram BNP Paribas Select Midcap

Balanced:

- HDFC Prudence

- SBI Magnum Balanced

Mutual fund is subjected to market risk, please read offer document carefullt before investing. The above are my own personal view and are not meant to influence anyone. Please invest at your own risk.

iPhone in India....$299!!!

Answer is not $299 I guess.. There are views that iPhone might not be prices at Rs.8999 as it was speculated some time back when new iPhone 3G was launched.
AT&T in US is offering huge subsidy since they match up revenues from minutes, whereas in India minutes are already at al time low 2-3 cents/minute. With this, expected price for iPhone is said to be around 20K.
Lets wait and see!!!

Dubai - New Singapore in Making??

Dubai and Singapore, one is upcoming business hub while latter is established business hub of Asia Pacific belt. Been there to both Singapore and Dubai, I feel these two cities do have some common synergies. Singapore has its unique and very positive story behind its success. It grew up to become business hub when Asia was just opening up and growing to industrial change. Dubai too has moved up from just Middle East transition to becoming regional hub when Middle East is opening up ffrom traditional "Oil" image. Today you can see MNCs setting up their offices, tourists attractions etc etc. But how about the way forward - Singapore has developed its model...Dubai still trying to figure out. With exponential growth, Dubai is now struggling with what is called City Planning and Infrastructure. Wide roads were good to manage tourists, but business requires more than that. Kilometres long traffic is common thing in Dubai nowadays and people end up travelling for 2 hours on an average in long traffice jams. With cheap oil, car is not a luxury in Dubai. Cost of living has been growing very fast, with just renting an apartment has gone 8-10 times higher. Weather is one another factor along with infrastructure. Dubai is still cashing on development which was done a decade ago. Wide roads of that time is not able to take load now and Airport traffic too is seeing fast growth. Added to it is strike by cab drivers. Cab drivers are very crucial since many people depends on taxis for their daily work.
Dubai really has shortage of taxis. On an average you might end up waiting for an hour during peak hours to find a taxi. I very well remember that day when I walked around 2-3kms for close to 90minutes looking for a single taxi in Bur Dubai at 9am. Result- I ended up late for a meeting. Singapore on other hand has real efficient taxi services, with all GPS systems. I rarely faced any problems with Taxi services during my stay in Sgpr.

Pic- Me stuck up in Dubai traffic jam :(

Singapore on other hand has high execution expertise. Changi airport is one world-class airport and caters to connecting flights to western regions, experience ofcourse is unmatched with that of Dubai counterpart. Sgpr has strict car laws with high excise duties and one car/family law. Added to that they have metro running across singapore along with efficient public transport and cab services. This eases traffic woes to an extent. Traffic jams are there but during rush hours/ 2 hours bracket only and thats a common scenario even in US. Weather too is good throughout the year. Singapor in true sense is cosmopolitan city.