Nokia opens the Microsoft Window, Intel bluffed?

The game has changed; Nokia is going the Microsoft way it has decided. Meego has been almost abandoned by Nokia. 

The Meego, an operating platform for Nokia Symbian was at one time considered a big development for Nokia, and huge expectations were laid on the software being made by Intel and Nokia in a joint venture.

Rumors were afloat since long that Nokia would take this step, but the surprising part is Intel who is Nokia’s partner on Meego was unaware that the world’s largest phone maker by volume could take such an extreme step without taking them into confidence. 

Nokia’s market share was falling continuously because of the increasing severity of the battle for the smartphones segment, to counter these falling numbers it had planned a smartphone in collaboration with Intel last year. At that time this venture was considered a mighty deal.

But Meego did not sprinkle the magic it was supposed to, it failed terribly in front of rivals like Apple’s Macintosh, Google’s Android and HP’s WebOS. All these tablets raced ahead of Nokia, and carved a niche for themselves, Nokia’s symbian all the time just observed from the sidelines.

Nokia in such a case had to take a detour even if it meant bluffing Intel it seems. The future of Nokia seemed to be dark if it resided with Meego and did not soon opt for a change. Investors were losing faith and Nokia’s shares were falling drastically. In fact when rumors of Nokia taking Microsoft Windows 7 abyss came to surface, its shares saw a slight revival.

Intel in turn was pinning hope to this deal to get a head start of inserting their chip into smartphones, tablets and other types of converged devices and create a market for them, beating rival Nvidia who leads this particular segment by specially designed chips for these portable and smart devices. But Intel’s smartphone dreams got shattered with Nokia’s marginalization of the Meego.

Nokia in a way cheated on Intel but looking at the firms deteriorating condition, probably it did not have much choice. The only relief they could have provided Intel was to let them know about their intentions.

After all it is said Honesty is the best policy, but then cynics would say “Who’s honest in this era of cut throat competition.”

Will Microsoft succumb to Google inflicted injuries?

Apple became the world’s most valuable tech company only last year, Microsoft was pushed aside to become the second. 

This was bound then, and why not Apple had all the ingredients to reach the top, its iPad, iPhone and iPod created a revolution. The hype was so much that this year an array of tablets and smartphones were launched; it even emerged as the fate deciding factor for all major mobile vendors.

But, the more important issue to discuss is, will Microsoft sustain its second position? Yes, it is a dilly dally situation. The gap between it and Apple has increased to $100 billion. It’s almost the value of another company say HP, which values the same amount. Apple stands at a mighty $330 billion value while Microsoft is at $228 billion.

When Apple had surpassed Microsoft they both stood at $227 billion which indicates Microsoft has only achieved a dollar billion increase in its value, and Apple multiplied to another 100 billion dollars. Amazing isn’t it?

Now to talk about the catch, Google. The search engine giant is slowly and steadily inching in close to Microsoft, it is just $28 billion away from the software expert.

With Google’s Android becoming a rage amongst mobile vendors and its search engine becoming ever so popular, they might just pompously sneak into Microsoft’s pedestal.

IBM is another contender to the second slot where it values at $202 billion, and IBM too has shown tremendous rise in terms of profits and innovation which gives it a fair chance of reaching the top of the leader board.

Microsoft was once the kingpin, now it is at the edge of falling apart, why is it not waking up to the smartphones segment at immediate effect? Why is it not launching a new smartphone? Why is it only providing operating systems?  Is Microsoft choosing to ignore or does it really not care?

Well if Microsoft doesn’t find an answer to these questions soon enough it shall be in deep murky waters with no escape whatsoever!!

BlackBerry Playbook: All set to leave Apple iPad behind

2010 was the year of tablet PCs; hands down.  It was the pioneer Apple who brought out the glorious iPad, the first ever tablet which took the world by a storm. It was one of a kind product which couldn’t fit into any existing categories of computers. Neither was it a desktop, nor a laptop. It gave rise to an era of the all new “Tablet PCs”. It sure was one of the best selling products of the year 2010. People preferring a portable PC happily bought an iPad for themselves. But how can we forget? This is the world of technology; one starts, the rest follow the suit. Many companies started planning a tablet for their own brand.

A new tablet PC which is being greatly touted by the IT industry as the next best tablet is the BlackBerry Playbook.  This tablet PC introduced by RIM may even overtake market sales of Apple iPad it is said! With some awesome features and some even better than the iPad, it sure has a great future. Let’s have a look.

The Operating System:

What makes Apple iPad popular and user-friendly is the Apple iOS which is used in iPhones also. On the other hand BlackBerry Playbook runs on an exclusively made QNX based Operating System. This OS was especially designed for the RIM Tablet.

Processor and RAM:

Apple iPad has a 1GHz Processor and a 256 MB RAM; while the BlackBerry Playbook boasts of the same 1 GHz Processor but with a 1GB RAM. The winner is clear!

Camera:

Where Apple iPad does not come with an inbuilt camera, BlackBerry comes with a 5 megapixel rear camera and a 3 Megapixel front facing camera! Now that sure is the silver lining on RIM’s cloud.

Display:

This is an area where the iPad takes away the glory. Apple gives us a 9.7 inch screen with a 1024 x 768 resolution; whereas we get a 7 inch screen and a resolution of 1024 x 600 from BlackBerry. Playbook certainly has a very small screen which sometimes leaves the critics wondering whether it would really be able to express all that it has.

The tablet browser:

Now this is something which would earn Playbook its brownie points. It comes with a browser which is built on Open Web Browsers hence supporting the Flash which the apple iPad does not. So that definitely means that you can access your favourite videos on YouTube when you have a Playbook but not when you have an iPad. Similarly iPad wouldn’t allow you to play your favourite games (which are usually Flash based) and send instant messages.

Apart from this, both the tablets come with a connectivity option through Bluetooth.

Needless to say, from all the things discussed above Playbook certainly has a better future. It certainly is better than iPad in several aspects. Until and unless you are really enthralled by Apple iPad’s user-friendly interface, BlackBerry Playbook seems to be much better a choice. 

The 5 IT moghuls who hit the bull's eye!!

The last decade has been a roller coaster ride for the IT industry, it has seen unprecedented growth, especially post globalization and liberalization. But who were the key drivers of this speedy vehicle which is everyday exploring new avenues? There are many, from various industry verticals, enumerating a handful is difficult.  But taking in perspective the revolutionary changes some leaders got about, their mention becomes a must.

Listing some industry heads who swept the IT sphere by storm-

Manoj Chugh : The man with the Magic Potion

He is the one who successfully pulled India’s 2 most IT firms to the top, Cisco and EMC. When Cisco had stepped into India it was compared to the likes of 3Com, Extreme and Bay Networks which are hardly anywhere in the scene now. Whereas Cisco has voraciously climbed up the ladder to boast of 3 times the market share it possessed then, whereas EMC which Chugh joined after leaving Cisco is now one of the biggest tech vendors in India.

Nandan Nilekani : The Infosys Inspiration

The man who stepped into Narayan Murthy’s shoes has much to his credit of Infosys’s success in the last 10 years. He not only supervised Infosys’s largest acquisition Expert, he also helped the firm reach the billion dollar top line mark in 2004 and the revenue only increased thereafter. Not only that he contributed to Infosys’s growth he also value added to associations like Nasscom and TiE, he founded the Bangalore vertical for the latter. He also according to Tom Friedman was the inspiration for his much appreciated book “The world is flat”. But arguably the biggest step for which Nandan Nilekani should receive accolades for is his entry into the Unique ID card committee for Indian citizens, which he joined on PM Manmohun Singh’s behest.

Subramaniam Ramadorai: The Acquisition Champ

He has spent half his life at TCS, where he built in the first 2 decades followed by growth in the third. The CMC acquisition adds to his grandeur along with the Tata infotech achievement. And as part of his grandiose, he formulated the acquisitions of Comicron, Pearl BPO, AFS and FNS amongst others. He is also the person who facilitated Tata to become an IPO from a privately held firm. If this wasn’t enough under his vision TCS became the first company to touch the billion dollar mark. This was only possible because Ramadorai had a vision to expand beyond Indian confines identifying the right areas with the best opportunities. It shows in the exemplary numbers where TCS has a presence in more than 47 countries with employees of more than 67 nationalities.

Neelam Dhawan: The Lady Warrior

She can also be called as the first lady of the Indian IT industry. She has some excellent achievements to boast of in a male dominated industry. She has headed some of the biggest IT companies like Microsoft and HP. She currently is the India head for HP. At the time she joined HP, the economic downturn was glaringly present which led to economic stagnation during her first year of stay at HP, but gradually she found her way where HP saw a 33% growth in the next fiscal. One of her biggest contribution has been her integration of the EDS operations and using it to HP’s advantage.  She has not got much newspaper coverage but her laurels are no less than any prominent business person in today’s time. For Microsoft too she meant business where the software firm only progressed under her supervision. In the smallest words of appreciation she is a benchmark for all Indian women entrepreneurs.

R Chandrasekhar : The Emperor of E-Governance

The father of E-governance says that the technology is 20% 'e' and 80% 'governance'. It is R Chandrashekhar who holds the opinion, and nothing could be more accurate because he s the force behind E-governance in India. His journey with e-governance started in Andhra Pradesh; when Chandrababu Naidu was setting up the e-gov structure for India and christening Hyderabad into 'Cyberabad', He also formulated some of the most unique and innovative efforts including the public-private partnership(PPP) concept in e-governance projects. E governance was only a concept, before Chandrashekhar delved in to convert it into a reality, in fact he defined for other states to how the structure had to be built and executed. He holds all credit for the planning and conceptualization along with driving growth for the last decade. He truly belongs to a genre of trusted bureaucrats in the time of shallow corruption and instability. It shows in his longevity of work both under the NDA and UPA governments.

What Indian IT companies are expecting from Budget 2011?

The Indian IT industry is rife with expectations from the union budget, which is about to be announced shortly.  The IT sector is one of the most important tax pillars for the government. and hence high hopes from budgetary policies, so what is it that IT's are demanding this budget.

The IT's are growing and they are going to contribute immensely to India’s overall development, but it is always a give and take relationship. If the government earns tax from the IT industry, the industry too expects benefits in return. And what time could be better to give them a return gift than the budget.

Like all years the IT fraternity is expecting a lot from the finance ministry this year too. They don’t have a comprehensive wish list but a compact and effective one.

The wish list has some prominent features, but there are things which are on top priority enlisting some of those:

Extending the STPI

STPI was a society set up by the Ministry of Information Technology in 1991 to increase software exports. The STPI scheme provided a USP of a 10-year income tax exemption for firms situated in software technology parks. The Indian IT sector is demanding an extension for this scheme pointing to the huge revenue it generates for the economy along with their contribution to the overall infrastructure in areas where they setup their units. This is applicable for SEZ’s which are away from the main cities and require additional investment by IT’s in form of infrastructure and transport.  But experts see extension of the STPI as a bleak possibility. But they also think that SME’s and SMB’s need this tax benefit to empower them. The industry is also looking towards a minimum alternate tax rate being rolled back to 15%, but analysts feel that the government shall remain neutral on the issue. Increasing the STPI time would attract IT’s to setup units in India which currently due to non extension of STPI are shifting to other countries of the world.

Refund of Service Tax

Many IT’s are facing a grave problem of getting service tax back from the government on very lame excuses, like taking away the exporters tag from some company suddenly when it has been exporting for years. Therefore the tax assessment structure has to amended, and the legal procedure against such injustice should be coherently put together.

SOP’s for employment generation and increased expenditure on education, e-governance and defense sectors

Experts are of the opinion that the Indian IT has lost out to countries like Philippine and China, which necessitates skill development commission and the Government of India to give training grants to many small companies.Also looking at the number of employment opportunities IT’s pose, the government should give them whatever they want, IT professionals believe. The government just looks at the profits and the resulting tax from IT’s but they don’t look at what they are contributing. If they change their purview probably they will see reason to why the IT segment needs more tax benefits. 

On the education front the IT industry needs more and more niche skill set which the government to a certain level is barring from happening by setting a limited number of seats in good institutions. They should raise the numbers bar, i.e. undertake Brownfield expansion in technical terms to facilitate larger number of students studying in institutions which excel. Other sectors like defense and e-governance would lead to overall development of India and shall also add to IT sectors profits, as these areas would need technical help to expand and grow.

Some other specific IT expectations of the budget are extension of tax holiday provisions for STPI units, choice of transition from STPI to SEZ units, exemption from MAT and DDT for SEZ setups and litigations for IT Industry for 10A/Transfer pricing provisions.

With the budget due very soon, it will be interesting to see how the government meets the IT sector’s expectations.

MNP to flag off today

From print to electronic, the Indian media fraternity and Indian telecos are buzzing mobile number portability.

As MNP is in column today, Indian telcos are leaving no stone unturned to beckon more subscribers and have been campaigning through huge advertisements in newspapers.

After years of delay, mobile number portability will finally be available from today.

As per media reports, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will inaugurate mobile number portability services across the country this evening. The facility allows mobile users to change their operator without having to change their number.

MNP was first introduced in Haryana in November 2010, where at least one lakh subscribers have availed the service.

The reports mentioned that the MNP service would be available on postpaid and prepaid services. The MNP service in India would be available to over 600 million mobile phone users across the country.

It also mentioned that network providers are eager to lure customers from rival companies but are also fearful of losing their own.

Telecom experts say this service is likely to appeal customers who were previously willing to spend more, rather than give up their old numbers.

Now, the real question is whether you should take the plunge and switch loyalties or not.

'National broadband plan framework by fiscal end'

Communications Minister Kapil Sibal Wednesday said the framework for the National Broadband Plan (NBP) will be ready by the end of this fiscal.

"The framework for the National Broadband Plan will be finalised by the end of this fiscal," Sibal said on the sidelines of a roundtable meeting on the issue with stakeholders.

The NBP will connect 160 million Indian households with high-speed internet connections by 2014. During the meeting Sibal emphasized on the urgent need for finalization of the broadband plan, including the strategy for roll out of optical fibre.

The National Broadband Plan including the Optical Fibre Network, as a national resource would be equitably available to all the concerned stakeholders for providing broadband services in non-discriminatory manner, he added.

The minister stated that the objective is to ensure inclusive growth through broadband for using various applications related to education, medical treatment, and entertainment and also an attempt to take it to every household.

Sapient racing towards 1 billion mark

Sapient Corporation, an integrated marketing firm, is chasing billion dollar mark. The company recorded a revenue of around $666.678 million for the year ending Dec 31 2009, and around $822 million looking at the trailing twelve month results till date.

Though Alan Welxer, Sr. VP declined to comment on when the company aims to touch billion dollar mark, he indicated that given the buoyant demand and market growth, this would perhaps be not a far fetched goal.

Karandeep Singh, vice president & managing director, Sapient India, said that the company has indicated a guidance of touching $800 million this fiscal, but the results (Q3 2010-11) will indicate the market position.

In the result announcement of Q2 2010, Sapient president and chief executive officer Alan J. Herrick said, “Sapient Global Markets posted another outstanding quarter with 33 per cent year-over-year revenue growth, while SapientNitro continues to set the benchmark for organic revenue growth in the marketing services industry at 30 per cent.”

The Boston-based company, claims to be positioned uniquely because of the multi-channel consumer world that they look at, against one channel like Amazon for web services. Alan said, “Technology is helping consumers to choose various channels  such as watching an ad on TV, researching online, comparison-shopping on their cell phones, buying in-store, returning by mail, etc. It’s a new world of multi-channel marketing and commerce. We are a blend between an Ad agency and a technology company.”

He added, “In the marketing, it is important to measure the time consumers spend with a brand, our technology-enabled interactive solutions ensure that quality time with consumers.”

Sapient operates in three distinct areas- Government Services (US Governmental agencies), Global Markets (services financial and commodities market) andSapientNitro (provides marketing services).

Citing a report by GroupM on global ad spending, Singh informed that the ad spending is expected to surpass $500 billion in 2011, with digital advertising contributing for 37 per cent of global ad growth in 2011 and is likely to reach $82 billion.

Sapient recently inaugurated its expanded facility in Bangalore. Around two-thirds of its global workforce of 8000 people are based here and have been contributing for its global projects. Though the company works with global clients (only) it believes that Indian market holds a lot of promise going ahead.

HCL Info to sell stake of HCL Infinet to Tikona

 HCL Infosystems on Wednesday said it will sell the entire stake of its subsidiary HCL Infinet to Tikona Digital Networks.

"The move comes as part of the HCL Infosystems transformation strategy under which the company will be further  strengthening its core business and expanding into identified growth areas," the company said in a statement.

The sale of shares is subject to and shall be given effect after necessary regulatory approvals.

"HCL Infinet is poised to take on a different growth trajectory and is best suited to further strenghthening an enterprise like Tikona focussed on delivering ISP and NLD (internet service provider and national long distance) services in the fast emerging telecom industry," said Harsh Chitale, chief executive officer, HCL Infosystems.

HCL Infosystems, on the other hand, has been rapidly emerging as a leading systems integration and product engineering company, enabling projects across the country in the areas from eGovernance, power, telecom, education and learning to security, he said.

In the past few months, HCL Infosystems has also made two acquisitions to expand its geographical presence.

At the Bombay Stock Exchange, the shares of the company were 0.18 per cent low to trade at Rs.108.75.

Cognizant to recruit 25,000 employees in 2011

IT firm Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTS) is set to engage at least 25,000 new employees in 2011, while focusing more within the country in tune with its strategy to expand operations in developing economies, a top company official said Tuesday.

"The company, which had a mandate of growing at 38.8 percent last year, performed well in the last two quarters," CTS president and managing director (global delivery) R. Chandrashekaran told reporters after the inauguration of its second campus in Bantala SEZ complex in the eastern part of the city.

"Most of our campus recruitment process is over. So we are definitely looking towards a very healthy number of people. It will be at least as good as last year when 25,000 new people were recruited," said Chandrashekaran.

He said the performance of the company's Indian operations during the last couple of quarters has been good and there is a healthy demand.

"We are making a lot of investments in newer markets. Europe is growing. We are focusing on emerging markets like India, Middle East, Japan, Australia and ASEAN countries."

While not commenting on India's share in the company's global turnover, he said: "We are seeing healthy pick up in the global market. Given the potential the countries have, we are hopeful of growing faster in emerging geographies."

The company will, meanwhile, continue to make new investments in newer geographies including India.

"It had earmarked an investment of $180 million for Indian operations which has almost been utilised. We have not finalised about investments for 2011," Chandrashekaran said.

The second campus of the CTS spread over 20 acres land, will be developed in three phases. The first phase of the facility, a LEED-certified green building, has a capacity to accommodate over 4,000 professionals.

The company has invested around Rs.200 crore for the construction of the first phase. After the completion of the project, the Bantala campus will accommodate around 16,000 professionals.

IT firms prefer Punjab as investment destination

Punjab has emerged as a preferred destination for investments in the field of Information Technology (IT) due to its infrastructure and high quality of life, an investor perception study showed Thursday.

The survey was conducted by consultancy firm Ma Foi Randstad on behalf of PunjabInfotech, a nodal agency for facilitating IT industry in the state.

A total of 200 IT companies were part of the study.

"Seven out of every ten organisations surveyed have expressed interest in looking at Punjab for expansion of their business. 71 per cent of investor organisations felt that Punjab has good visibility amongst IT organisations," Punjab's Industry Minister Manoranjan Kalia said here after releasing the survey report.

"A whopping 78 per  cent of respondents felt that positive labour history is conducive for business in Punjab," he added.

The study revealed that potential investor organisations were appreciative of power policy that exempts IT organisations from power-cuts and electricity duty for five years.

As many as 82 per cent organisations said telecommunication infrastructure for IT sector and other factors like transportation were very helpful in setting up a venture in the state. Quality of life in the state scored a high 77 per cent, making it a major contributory factor for attracting investors.

Ram Kumar, representative of Ma Foi, said: "The survey was conducted using one-on-one discussions technique with either the head of the organisation or one of the top officials. We have covered 50 existing investor organisations and 150 potential investor organisations between Sep and Nov 2010."

Wipro projects higher IT revenue for Q4

Wipro Ltd projected $1.4 billion revenue from its global IT business for the fourth quarter (January-March) of this fiscal (2010-11), an increase of four percent sequentially from the third quarter (October-December) of this fiscal.

In a regulatory filing Friday, the IT bellwether said the higher revenue was based on meeting the guidance of $1.3 billion given for third quarter, reflecting a sequential growth of 5.2 percent and 15 percent year-on-year

We underperformed in Q3: Premji

Wipro Technologies, accepted that they have not witnessed any major growth in the last two quarters and that with the new management and leaner organizational structure, the company is looking forward to the better quarter ahead.

In reply to the media during the quarterly announcement for Q3 2010-11, Wipro’s chairman, Azim Premji, said, “I agree that almost two quarters in a row, the company’s performance has been not at par. There is no excuse to the fact that we have underperformed than our potential in this quarter. But we will improve in the Q4 and we are already working towards it.”

According to him, Wipro’s portfolio in specific verticals (esp.healthcare and financial sector) was not ready for the growth, while competition could gain from them. “We expect growth from Eco Energy and Wipro Infrastructure Engineering (WIN). We also expect the testing business to pick up and show positive results,” he added.

Suresh Senapathy, CFO of the company said, we are looking to two markets closely; one is the high velocity emerging market (including India) and high return market (including Western Europe, Germany and France).

He hinted that the company would continue routing their investment toward the financial and health care sector in future as a long-term growth plan.

Wipro EcoEnergy scouts for leader after Kurien

With the Jt.CEO of Wipro Limited parting ways form the company, the company did find a replacement for the IT Services business with T K Kurien, but it is yet to find an alternative for the role of Kurien.

T K Kurien, who now heads the IT Services business, was the chief executive for Eco Energy division, a cleantech business of Wipro Ltd, which was established, last year, said, ‘With me moving out of the EcoEnergy division, it does not mean that our focus for the EcoEnergy moves out with me. We are very much focused building that business. But, yes we are yet to decide upon the leadership for the division.”

As reported earlier, under Kurien’s leadership, Wipro had announced to launch renewable energy products. The EcoEnergy division of Wipro will be broadly divided into three segments namely, managed energy services, renewable products, MW solar.

Starting 2008, Wipro had launched a new division called EcoEnergy, which was aimed at building green buildings, setting LEED certified facilities, but, going down the line, the company decided to focus on generation, distribution and transformation of energy.

Commenting on the new management announcement, Wipro’s Chairman said, “I am 150 per cent convinced that our new strategy and new team will take Wipro to new heights. There would be further changes in the organization, as part of the fine tuning, but no earthshaking changes as such.”

SC raps telecoms min over licence row

 India's Supreme Court on Friday criticised the telecoms minister for his comments over what is seen as the country's biggest corruption case, the latest in a series of censures by the top court that has embarrassed the government.

The Supreme Court said it was "unfortunate" that Kapil Sibal had dismissed a state auditor's report that India may have lost $39 billion in revenue as a result of irregularities in awarding telecoms licences in 2008.

"Sibal should bear some responsibility ... The investigation should not be influenced by his comments," judges said, referring to a criminal probe underway.

The scandal has deadlocked politics in Asia's third-largest economy, with the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) vowing to block the February session of parliament, in which the budget is due to be debated, if a joint parliamentary committee does not investigate the case.

The court's adverse remarks put Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government further on the defensive. His coalition government is also under pressure to address high food prices, another distraction from a programme of economic reforms.

On Wednesday, while dealing with another case, the top court asked why the government could not name people who had hidden illegal wealth in offshore accounts, calling it a plunder of the nation's wealth.

Earlier, it tried to force the government to release foodgrain stocks to feed the poor. It also asked Singh what he did to prevent the telecoms scandal.