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Tag: Mobile

  • FaceBook’s Purchase Of Whatsapp – Its About Mobile Leadership !

    FaceBook’s Purchase Of Whatsapp – Its About Mobile Leadership !

    Facebook Buys WhatsApp for USD 19 Billion ! This has been one of ‘the’ topics to discuss in the last week. Even at the Mobile World Congress, it is a big topic. Two customers called me saying that let us work on billion dollar ideas. Social media, startup communities, VC board rooms, office conversations are all talking about this big deal.

    Facebook-Buys-Whatsapp_2

    It is an important event. I had the following thoughts on the deal:

    1. Mobile is the gateway to human interaction and life – we already know that. The deal re-affirms that.
    2. WhatsApp had overtaken Facebook as the most addictive mobile app. Whether I am in London, Barcelona, Bombay or any village in India, WhatsApp is the app people are hooked to – the first morning ritual, the last evening habit, the multiple updates throughout the day. The first people check after a flight lands is WhatsApp! The CEO’s executive assistant shares important files through WhatsApp. Domestic help reviews the stationery/vegetable choices. Taxi Driver at an airport pickup can identify his customer. In short, WhatsApp was the app that mattered a lot to people in their daily lives. Hence it mattered a lot to FaceBook to claim its mobile leadership. “No one in the history of the world has ever done something like this,” Facebook Chief Executive rightly Mark Zuckerberg said that.
    3. WhatsApp is a hit with youth. And youth are at the centre of mobile revolution.
    4. WhatsApp is big in many emerging markets and it helps to grow and consolidate Facebook in these markets. WhatsApp is adding 1 million users a day.
    5. The acquisition is a costly one. USD 19 Billion. Facebook is paying through ample amount of stock and that hurts less as anyone who knows the stock maths. Also, compare price versus importance of WhatsApp as seen in Point 2. Also, the per user price is reasonable as compared to Facebook’s purchase of Instagram or Google’s purchase of Youtube.
    6. Facebook may have also feared that WhatsApp could have been sold to another giant – Google, Yahoo, Microsoft. Competitor fears are real !
    7. People may also feel that Facebook is running out of ideas and is desperate. I think Facebook is being bold and courageous. I am sure they may have lot of ideas being cooked but they have not shied away from open market purchases to defend the mobile leadership.
    8. The challenge for Facebook is to ensure returns on the deal within next 12-18 months. Consumer taste is fickle. WhatsApp may give way to something more exciting. Hence Facebook will have to use the users and the time to continue to excite the consumers with new offerings.
    9. WhatsApp, Instagram show the power of simple ideas executed well. It shows the power of focus. It shows that small teams can win big! The valuation of WhatsApp is bigger than outsourcing giants like InfoSys, Wipro etc.
    10. Funnily, Blackberry had WhatsApp in it with BBM ! Had it been agile and moved it to cross platform and added features – it would have been different story. Today Blackberry’s worth is less than WhatsApp sales price.
    11. The deal is great news for entrepreneurs and idea bulbs. It shows that sky is the limit for the right idea. It will encourages thousands of people to create the next big WhatsApp. That is wonderful !

    Facebook Purchase of WhatsApp is definitely an important milestone !

    Ideas Win! Simplicity Wins! Entrepreneurship Wins!

  • Entrepreneurial Opportunities – Mobile Apps

    Entrepreneurial Opportunities – Mobile Apps

  • Mobile Retail Summit 2013 – London – Highlights

    The 2nd Mobile Retail Summit, which took place on 24 April 2013 at London’s Grange Hotel, was a great experience. Here is the quick snapshot of the event:

    Mobile Retail Summit 2013 – Highlights from MobileMarketingMag on Vimeo.

  • Tesco Shopping App – Example Of Future Of Retail

    We have been working on a long list of innovative ideas for Retail Industry and helping global retailers maintain their brand leadership.

    The Tesco App is an good example of embracing mobility in retail industry. VB shared a link about the Tesco Shopping App – The Future of Retail.

  • Mobile Ticketing Experience Needs Improvement !

    Mobile Ticketing Experience Needs Improvement !

    Working on weekends and holidays has implications for marital bliss. I tried to compensate via movie tickets for the latest flick.

    Since I was away from the office and at client location, I decided to use mobile ticket booking apps. My first choice was BookMyShow App. The start was very quick – dates selected, movie selected, theatre selected, tickets chosen…but oh oh…Try again ! It happened for 3-4 times. Patience is a virtue, but not always.

    Let me try the PVR App. It was trying to auto-detect my location. It tried and it tried and it tried. I was wondering why did it not have an option for me to input my location manually.

    Mobile Maven Kinjan was with me. He tried to download a multi-booking app on Blackberry App World. He got weird results when he typed Book My Show. I tried Cinemax App. All were same !

    Finally, I gave up ! We had spent more than 45 minutes on this exercise. It had also partly to do with our own bias and secret hope that some Mobile App would work. You always believe in the medicine you preach – mobile nirvana !

    I went to the theatre on the way back to home. Got my tickets booked in 90 seconds via the good old box office counter!

    There were many culprits – badly designed apps, faulty logic, failure in back-end theatre connectivity, unreliable 3G Networks, discovery of new apps, failure of thinking customer experience etc. Think like the end user when designing the app – remove our internal bias – and the magical Instagram and Flipboard like app would there! And would create more smiles !

  • Grocery Shopping @ Subway Stops – Great Concept

    A Great Example of Digital Meets Real. People waiting at the Subway Stop can use the time to shop grocery items using the Mobile App on digital billboards.

    Great Concept

  • Think Mobile – Think InfoStretch

    InfoStretch’s Mobility Service Offering – Think Mobile, Think Infostretch

  • InfoStretch Named Among Top 75 Workplaces in the Silicon Valley

    InfoStretch, a leading provider of enterprise QA and mobile solutions is named among the top 75 workplaces in the Silicon Valley by the Bay Area News Group. It ranks #27 in the mid-sized company category. Previously, InfoStretch has been recognized among the hottest companies in Silicon Valley by 411, was among top 20 fastest growing companies by Silicon Valley Fast Private, and was named as top 1000 in the Inc. 500|5000 list of America’s Fastest Growing Private Companies.

    InfoStretch has seen some phenomenal growth in the last couple of years, both in terms of new client acquisition and organic growth within the current customer base. Very recently, InfoStretch signed up its 100th customer, a milestone which came out of dedicated efforts from various teams and company’s vision and leadership. “We are on the path to take InfoStretch to the next level, and getting this award is good recognition for our strategy,” says Rutesh Shah, President and CEO at InfoStretch Corporation. “I firmly believe that happy employees bring growth and success for the company and our goal at InfoStretch is to ensure that all our employees are happy,” he added.

    InfoStretch’s HR and recruitment team has been instrumental in achieving this goal. “Our job here is to recruit top talent and to give the best to our employees, so that they thrive,” says Rhonda Wallace, HR Manager at InfoStretch. “Whether it is better benefits and attractive retirement plans, or community services and family picnics, we make sure to cover all bases to create a positive company culture,” she added.

    Visit InfoStretch awards page to learn about our success, our careers page to see the current job openings, and our clients page to see what they’re saying about us.

    About InfoStretch Corporation

    InfoStretch is a leading provider of mobile and enterprise QA services and solutions. Our offerings range from enterprise QA, mobile application development, testing, and automation to certification and sustenance. We’ve been providing expert solutions and services to various large and strategic players in the mobile ecosystem including enterprises, carriers, app stores, VAS, and ISV’s to actualize their mobile and QA strategy very successfully.

    We offer the most cost effective, secure, and scalable models to service our clients across various verticals such as banking, healthcare, education, and entertainment to name a few. Our innovations have allowed us to provide an SLA of 24hours and the ability to scale and test over 2,000 apps a day.

  • Evolution And Adoption Of Enterprise Mobility

    NASSCOM Enterprise Mobility initiative conducts first webinar on “Evolution & Adoption of Enterprise Mobility”

    With advent of high speed communication protocols and enabled devices, the paradigm has changed in 21st century. The enterprises are now becoming more ‘customer focused’ and are driven to be on Field, on Foot and MOBILE. Tracking this adoption trend, National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) today announced the NASSCOM Enterprise Mobility initiative (N-EMi), aimed at creating awareness and broad base understanding of emerging technologies, facilitate knowledge sharing, create a community of technocrats and highlight local products.

    NASSCOM also conducted its first webinar under N-Emi on “Evolution & Adoption of Enterprise Mobility” focusing on the journey of Enterprise Mobility trends and future adoption forecasts and will cover the Enterprise class Mobile Applications on platforms like iOS, Android, Windows Mobile, and Blackberry. This Webinar was aimed at aggregating the best practices, capture data trends, share knowledge and acknowledge innovation in Mobile market space.

    Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Rajiv Vaishnav, VP, NASSCOM, said, “Transitioning to a mobile environment asks for more agility and complexity digestion beyond imagination. However, nothing has been more evolutionary in recent times, than ‘MOBILE’, in terms of Customer reach, Customer convenience and Customer retention. Enterprises have tremendously adopted and adapted to this new channel and are continuously evolving marketing campaigns specific to this new genre. This initiative from NASSCOM will lead this emerging wave and will hatch it into platform to project Indian Industry’s cutting edge competitiveness and innovation driven differentiation.”

    The rate of introduction of new technology is much faster now and will continue to grow at an even more rapid pace. The year – past and present – is the year of mobile adoption, and this mobile revolution has come about through consumer apps and enterprise apps. Indian IT organizations are investing in building platforms to drive future growth opportunities. Clearly, the future of technology services industry is beyond services – it will be a combination of services, solutions and platforms.

    “We are excited to be an integral part of NASSCOM’s Special Interest Group. InfoStretch Team will contribute in all possible manner to achieve objectives set out by NASSCOM. Our panel expert Ashok Karania, Head – Enterprise Mobility Sales & Strategy, will share market insights and emerging mobility trends. He is a thought leader in Enterprise Mobility domain and has worked with leading enterprises to develop and implement a long term comprehensive mobility roadmap for business transformation and competitive advantage.” said Palvinder Singh, InfoStretch.

  • NASSCOM Enterprise Mobility Initiative (NEMi)

    NASSCOM, the leading Global Trade Organization, announces the launch of Nasscom Enterprise Mobility Initiative.

    With advent of high speed communication protocols and enabled devices, the paradigm has changed in 21st century. Today, enterprises are highly networked and like to be more ‘Customer Focussed’. This tireless lunacy for Customer Connect is driving Enterprise to be on Field, on Foot and MOBILE.

    Transitioning to a mobile environment asks for more agility and complexity digestion than can be imagined. Security is yet another aspect which is getting higher on C-suite agenda with adoption of cloud. But nothing has been more evolutionary in recent times, than ‘MOBILE’, in terms of Customer reach, Customer convenience and Customer retention. Enterprises have tremendously adopted and adapted to this new channel and are continuously evolving marketing campaigns specific to this new genre.

    Tracking this adoption trend, NASSCOM is leading the wave front to aggregate the best practices, capture data trends, share knowledge and acknowledge innovation in Mobile market space. This high visibility initiative will be hatched into platform to project Indian Industry’s cutting edge competitiveness and innovation driven differentiation. A diverse and acumen group has been empanelled to drive the initiative forward.

    Objective of Enterprise Mobility initiative (EMi)
    • Create awareness and adoption of new breed Enterprise Mobility technologies.
    • Recognize service/product readiness of Indian intellect at global scale
    • Deliberate the industry and confluence solution providers
    • Promote innovation as roadmap for Mobility as focus area

    The Initiative will be transition into Industry Forum and will be driving research, debate and innovative practices.