| Praval's Musings |

I am a gadget lover but by no means a freak. There is a hell lot of difference between the two. I read TechCrunch regularly and Engadget often. There lies the difference, if I am in my senses.

While Steve Jobs is adding to the orgasm of Apple fanboys across the world, I have been trying to figure out, how does anything Apple affect the online ecosystem. It’s beyond the power of any agency to build such an ecosystem, community or fan following around any thing. Apple is again a brand.

The sheer ability to build great products is the only reason that I see people getting crazy for such an event. Of course, Steve Job’s’ presentation might just be another reason for people to swarm networks and websites and cause them to go down!

This is a great social effect which could lead to #apple and #ipad trending in minutes on Twitter, timeliness getting flooded with similar updates after every miniscule detail revealed by Apple. Which other brand can think of doing it, at this scale?

Amazon has always ruled the industry for the tablet/reader segment with its Kindle. It would be interesting to see how do things take shape now. Do we see a price war? Apple for sure would not get into it. Apple products have always been priced slightly higher, but it’s a matter of fact that it still excels.

For 499$ for a 16GB WiFi enabled tablet, Apple’s iPad might just attract gadget lovers across the world to opt in. A 3G version is slightly costlier but I guess that’s more value for money when it comes to developing countries where WiFi hotspots aren’t yet very popular. But then, people still get things done over a netbook, which according to Steve, doesn’t do anything great!

I wonder how many people in this part of the world aren’t ready to compromise on the ‘great’ factor, when they get a fully functional netbook for as low as 300$ This is still debatable.

Coming down to the key features of an iPad, it is/has;

• Half inch thin,
• 1.5 pound in weight (approx 600 gm)
• Slimmest Tablet
• 9.7 inch diagonal screen IPS type
• Capacitive multi-touch
• 16 to 64 GB Flash storage
• 1 Ghz A4 Processor
• WiFi 802.11n Wifi
• Built In Speaker
• Built In Microphone
• Accelerometer
• Compass
• 10 Hours Battery with One Month Standby
• iPad 3G models are unlocked
• Will be available in 60 days worldwide
• Comes with Wifi and / or  3G
• USB Sync with iTunes
• Uses new GSM micro SIMs

Price Watch

That’s the matrix. Which one are you opting for?

Thanks to Rohit for collating the technical specs!

Last week, we did an experiment to put alternate Saturdays off, giving all of us a extended weekend once every fortnight. The trial was a hit!

The day is undoubtedly much more calm and peaceful than several other Sundays Thanks to the day off yesterday that allowed me to sink in to the bottom,  sleep like a log, gorge on food and have a serene lonely walk in the evening. All this followed by wrapping up the routine tasks like paying bills, making calls to friends and family and other stuff.

Sunday it is and I am all the more composed, uncluttered and with a fresher mindset. Last night was fun writing blog posts, editing a couple of them and making grilled cheese sandwiches at 4 am! I was high on productivity.

Time to get ready and push off for lunch at a friend’s place. I love invitations for lunch! If my laziness allows, shopping is on my charts, next! End of season sale is on across stores. I guess it’s time to pick up some stuff today.

Wish you a happy Sunday and alternate weekends!

Photo credit: Jurvetson

Yesterday, I was glad to be invited to Mobile Advertising and VAS Conference – Mobile Conclave 2010 at Amity University, NOIDA.

The conference was an outliner to where we as consumers stand for the VAS players and telecos. India has always had high usage trends when it comes to infotainment on a media. Be it television, the internet or mobile. Inherently, VAS services like games, jokes, astrology, flowers on demand, etc. have been there since the inception of VAS in India.

But that by no means Indicate that we as Indians are satisfied by the operators or the VAS services, for that matter. There is a huge different between a commodity being an accessory and that being a necessity.  How many services actually target the later?

Checking PNR status is one good service I would say. There might be a handful of others. But do we ever see a – doctor on call, lawyer on call or a mentor on call service? I would want a provider to incorporate these. Is there a VAS player who would possible build a service which can lead me to the closest physician while I am travelling in an area that’s 1000 miles from my residence, without having an access to the internet? This is a need, not an accessory.

At the conferences, there were talks on social networks being accessed over mobiles and then facebook adding 45million people to their mobile users within first 8 months of the launch. How many Indians are willing to afford a Rs 500 worth of an EDGE data plan on their carrier beyond the usual monthly rental and that of the resident internet connection, say broadband. How many Indians do have a phone that has a WiFi? Leave all that, India still has just over 8% of broadband penetration. Still the users of Orkut, Facebook and Twitter are very high in India as compared to rest of the world. That doesn’t mean we, the Indians are heavy users of social networks on mobile.

If this small a market is good enough to advertise and get a good ROI, I would love to be directed to a few case studies on mobile internet based marketing case studies in India.

I liked the thoughts of Mr. Milind Pathak, Vice President, Comviva. Crystal gazing through the year 2010, he said, “Netting the un-netted is a big area which shall need to be looked upon. Also, there exists a payments asymmetry in mobile commerce in India.” According to him, there is still a wait for 12-18 months to see 3G as a service which we as a consumer can benefit with. I agree to his opinion. For the twitter updates of the event, you may check out the timeline of MediaRedefined and look for the hashtag #mobilecon.

While all of us are eager for the spectrum to roll out and 3G to arrive, using mobiles for many is still limited to voice and sms. SMSgupshup comes in handy as an API to use and build products around social networks. SMSTweet is one good example.

Looking forward to the year 2010, as in what we get to see and how accurate is the crystal gazing we did yesterday at the conclave.

Way to go!

Image Credits: WATBlog

It started with these lines;

Ships that pass you in the night
Are like dreams that don’t quite
Feel real in the morning, but
When you happen to see them
During the daytime, they seem
Strangely familiar: deja vu.

Or I guess, a little before!

No clues how did these lines originate but I was in love with them the moment I read them. I have always loved ships, as much as I love peace and serenity. One reason for me loving them is probably my love for the sea.

When I talk about keywords, there are times when I mean them beyond social media or the web. Not too sure if I was mistaken but there was just one keyword I wanted to put a dent on. ‘Life’. That sums it up pretty much.

No matter how rich and pleasing your periphery is but at night, when you come back, lie down and ponder, there is much more to it. If at all it matters. The core has to be dealt with. The periphery keeps changing.

One other context that made me disappointed is that Delhi doesn’t have a sea shore, leave behind a harbor! So the ships that pass by me are illusions for sure.  The multinational consumer electronics or the international apparel gig were not small but then, it was ship that took my mind.

I wish you stayed longer and the time stopped, only for good. I know it will. Once again, while we would sit, talk, walk and stop, smile and say something, say and say nothing. Then there would be the lighthouse which we would gaze all night over a bottle of wine. Trust me, it’s far more pleasing than looking into the moon, at times.

Tum Mile (slow version) continues to play endlessly, while I hit the publish button.

And yes, I am not a sailor, nor a writer. I am the same guy whom you would have almost missed like a train. Not sure if you already did!

Image credits: OneEighteen

Anything that has a blend of technology and sociology always seemed to fascinate me. Not for now, but ever since I modeled myself around the idea of “group studying” while in high school! The truth however was to to play, tweak and watch movies on computers, all in a very social fashion

This post originates with a backdrop of today’s entertaining meet for bloggers by Samsung at Choko La, Khan Market, featuring confirmed geek, Kishore Bhargava and India’s leading interior designer Rekha Nambiar.

It was my first acquaintance with Kishore after having heard about him, countless number of times from my colleagues Honey and Gaurav. Undoubtedly, he is a humble person and a good speaker. It was an entertaining session with one of the best presentation aesthetics. I admired the way he put forth his bio on the slideshow, followed by a number of humorous and sensible stories. I am sure, him being a geek is just one side of what a person he is.

Kishore elaborated on how we consume media for entertainment. Typically the storage media over the access medium. WiFi is the word and seamless connectivity is the need of the hour. With most digital devices used for entertainment@home having ports like HDMI and USB along with WiFi in many cases, the idea is to build, organize and manage a single repository of media – be it music, movies or pictures and stream it across devices within the periphery of your home. In case you can understand what a static IP is, and can manage a fast enough Internet connection, you can have the privilege of running a media server too! Now that’s entertainment 2.0.

I seriously enjoyed the session!

What followed next at Samsung bloggers’ meet was a session by Rekha Nambiar who traversed us through the slides talking about how shall an ideal home be set up using technology, products and likewise. From the importance of proper lighting  to ergonomics, she kept a tab on all things that make a good home entertainment experience.

Joining me were around 20+ bloggers, Mr. Madhavan Narayanan and a handful of other guests. In an exciting contest, Hardik, the Xbox evangelist at Microsoft, who recently moved in to Delhi from Mumbai, and was trying to beat the cold, won a Samsung LCD TV! Congrats dude. I might drop in someday for a gig and I do not drink water post 6 pm.

What all of us carried back was a T-shirt with our twitter handles and some good memories to share .:)

I admire the new concept for the bloggers’ meet where we had a blend of tech and otherwise. Not to mention Choko La served us a good assortment of food and drinks. Oh yes, with that I mean coffee

Kudos to Blogworks team including Rajesh, Amita, Manpreet, Rajika and other pretty girls whom I might have missed

I look forward to more such events in Delhi, not just by Samsung but by anyone who forms a part of Delhi and a larger set, India.

Image credit: Abhishek’s iPhone