Daily Archives: 17th Jan 2006

Indian Bloggies Award

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Finally my take on the Indian Bloggies Award. I wasn’t even aware of their exisitence when out of sheer boredom I chanced on the same.

They even have a “jury”- basically a set of self absorbed individuals who decide on the “content” (possibly).

I have nothing personal against the folks though, it would be a bit harsh on the rest of the blogging community not to be “featured”. I don’t give a damn whether it features on search engines or earn revenue from ad clicks. Nor the venerable “jury” thinks about my blog.

Blogging is all about writing from the heart. It’s about providing an alternative view point. I remain firmly rooted in the belief that personal blogging is a dead phenomenon. Though most of the hits are registered by personal bloggers. Strange paradox- but then my purpose is to attract the right audience. Not a bunch of clicking morons ( and those who use Internet Explorer!)

My favourite have been Emergic.org which remains a lesson on how to blog. Written by Mumbai based Rajesh Jain, it holds relevance to how emerging technologies can be harnessed for a developing nation like India. Cerebral stuff. Though it failed to make a mention anywhere. I owe a lot otherwise to Mr Jain whose example I have been trying to follow.

Other nominations, apart from Atanu Dey and Great Bong there were no worthy mentions. Seriously. One dealt with a person getting “high on India”; other was a juvenile commentary on Indian politics. Sorry, no links to them.
What is the relevance of blogging then? Frankly, none. This channel allows me to let off my steam against the established system. Or the kind of assinine claims that are being made all across. I decided to voice against these claims and my own attempt to find out solutions to India’s own infrastructure hassles. It hasn’t made any impact but the increasing feedback is important to know as to what y0u feel. We as Indians, don’t get together to influence policy decisions. Hence I have always been inviting comments to bring out the “evolution of ideas”- so to say.

Indian blogs are yet to go mainstream; there is hardly interested audience willing to make efforts for a change. Interestingly, this,thisand this has been the most searched keywords on Google. Ahem!

It’s a matter of conjecture really as to whether or not blogging would go mainstream. Highly improbable. As the media takes the centre stage, we would see more of demented morons cropping up.

Some more would bring on the next edition of “bloggies award”.

THIS IS MY PERSONAL OPINION. THERE IS NO INTENTION TO MALIGN ANY GENTLE SOUL. WHATEVER YOU GUYS ARE DOING, IF IT SUITS YOUR ECOSYSTEM, YOUR BRAINS AND YOUR EGO, I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO HASSLES WITH THAT. HOWEVER, BEFORE JUMPING ON THE BANDWAGON, MAKE SURE THAT YOU DO LOOK AROUND FOR CREDIBLE ALTERNATIVES. ALTERNATIVES TO WHAT MADE ON THE “NOMINATIONS”. OF COURSE, BARRING THE ONES I JUST MENTIONED.

Reliance Infocomm- The next entertainment bigwig?

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Business Standard has an eulogising report on Anil Ambani:

Looking at straddling the entire value chain of the entertainment content carriageway, the Anil Ambani group is ensuring its footprints across every possible facet of entertainment. Ranging from television to radio to films to exhibition to home video, the ADAE group seems to have a blueprint for every division in place, and the kick-off into the media and entertainment segment does not seem too far off.

Further, much talked about Reliance’s optic fibre cable that would “provide magic”:

Reliance Infocomm has chalked out a collaboration with Microsoft to look at IPTV. The company is all set to enter consumer homes with broadband Internet through its fibre optic backbone. The group is looking at the same connectivity to be used to deliver entertainment content like channels, video-on-demand, among other things.

For ADAE, the bluprint seems determined for the group to emerge as the media behemoth of India.

Is it true?

The article in the newspaper fails to highlight one crucial aspect. Reliance is aiming for a CONTENT DELIVERY PLATFORM rather than “media czar” as the article seems to imply. The biggest advantage with the aim is lack of legacy systems and ability to invest after raising capital.

Further, Anil Ambani is keen on leveraging the network.(Google has a whole lot of links for Anil Ambani.) Airtel or BSNL or perhaps anyone isn’t ready yet for the foray in the entertainment space. Anil needs content; and he is determined to reach out to every possible source.

Similarly, Reliance’s DTH licence or it’s foray in FM radio, means that he would be able to leverage to scale of cross media holdings. For excample, a cheap source of advertisments for his group companies. And of course, leverage the media power for promoting himself. Or his group. Reliance loves this.

Whenever he launches his broadband network, he would be able to leverage the value added proposition. Airtel is stuck in it’s plain vanilla internet access. BSNL made a lot of noise about getting one for themselves; they are still stuck in the time warp. No hope for these critters at all.

So it’s a matter of conjecture really as to how and when they would start streaming content.

From the archives:

1)Entertainment

2)New trends in Indian Telecom

3)Bharti- DTH foray?

4)Entertainment Redefined.

Indian Telecom- Mobile developments

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I have been looking at the evolution of mobile phones from a close angle. First and foremost is the fact that it has become a part and parcel of our lives. Further, the technology is shrinking the electronics to an extent that information is “within the reach of finger tips”.

Previous posts on mobiles (1,2.)

BBC reports on the recent Consumer Electronics Show (CES):

There are two versions of video by phone: downloadable clips and live streaming TV. Live TV often gets lost on a 1.5 inch screen, but programme makers are taking notice says Dave Whetstone of Mobi TV, which is already on 60 devices and now intends to launch on wi-fi enabled gadgets.

The device that has grabbed all the headlines in the past few months is, of course, Apple’s iPod video, which has pushed portable video players into the forefront of consumer electronics.Slingbox is a non-subscription service, giving it a distinct advantage. Content providers are in a quandary, unsure whether to continue to sell small screen clips per play, or give them away to boost TV ratings and create a new stream of advertising revenue.

Well, in Indian context, it means that the company having robust content development, would be benefit from a “novel value added” product; may even act as a differentiator. This however, sounds like a remote possibility. Getting the people hooked on to “mobisopodes”, so to say, would need massive investments, undercutting costs and all scarce spectrum. Further, the cellular operators haven’t been able to scale up to the prescribed Quality of Service norms. (Imagine, TRAI would move court if the QoS is not implemented!) Reliance was already offering the same way back when it was introduced. Indeed it was a novelty that helped it to notch up subscribers. Including charge a heavy premium for the same.

A new report in BBC is upbeat for Mobile TV. Let’s see how this would work for Indian operators.