Cisco's New Venture Opportunities

Cisco has been taking some serious decisions now a days. They are into lot of new fields and are aggressive on taking decisions to venture in the untapped 2G/3G/4G markets of telecommunication.

Recently Cisco are in the buying spree. They bought Tandberg and Starent. After all this fiasco, last week they started to enter mobile communication market by launching ASR 5000 a product with combined expertise of Starent and Cisco.

Now they are into all these, we have to think about their future market.

The answer is very clear, cisco is far ahead of avaya and Qualcomm. These companies are trying hard to compete with Cisco but they are not getting success. They are beating the bush and getting nothing in return. Cisco already holds the good position in the communication market with its wide range of products.

Today, I am going to discuss about the possibility of Cisco's venture in making the education system more proficient, transparent and efficient.

Cisco's Education System:

Key Players:

Cisco's Telepresence

Avaya's VoiP service

Prometric / Pearson CBT

Now on hearing this, we can conclude to few things and can start imagine how the situation of education industry will be once these companies start their combined enterprise application for the education field.

Current scenario:

People register online Computer Based Test (CBT) and gives exam. Now there is lot of market for making exams online and computer based. The opportunities are vast and its easier for the students to get through the exam.

But what if there is more added flavor to this exam. What if Cisco and Avaya pitches into this solution.

Future:

Imagine you are going for an interview. You can apply and confirm your job from any location. You can give online test for interview and can also attend the interview by the help of cisco's telepresence.

Globalization?

Yes, it will make sure that world is moving towards globalization. Here we are seeing the wider aspect of the market. The companies and their HR policies are putting their lot of effort in improving a sustainable future model for hiring new employees. So if this system works well, they will be more than happy to get the product.

IT companies like TCS and Infosys will be grateful to implement this solution when they are planning to hire around 50,000 people in one year.

This is a Win-Win situation for all the stakeholders in the current scenario.

Hopefully this will turn out to be fruitful and will get implemented very soon.

iPad Revolutionary Device of 2010

Finally,

iPad is launched by Steve Jobs. As soon as the iPad launched, Apple shares had a spike in their price. Its all due to the amazing device named iPad.

It will surely change life of lot of people working in the Tech industry. Not because this device will help them to make their lives easier but it will make their life tougher. Confused? These people are the employees of Microsoft, Amazon and Barnes and Noble. They are the people who will be sitting now in their board rooms discussing about the new pricing strategy to tackle this Apple iPad storm.

Before going into more details let me give you few specs for iPad:

• 9.7" Multitouch device.
• Wifi , 3G, Bluetooth, acclerometer, Compass.
• Fully functional with iTunes and new ebook application iBook.
• iWork with new user interface. So user can make presentations and can connect to the projector directly
• 1Ghz Apple A4 processor with 16 Gb flash memory.
• And the best part - Comes for only $499. With 3G it will come for $630.

Now you may be wondering that this is not a revolutionary device after all. Everyone expected such kind of device a year ago and nothing new is there in this device as well.

Why Should I go for it?

Let me show you the sales of kindle during holiday season. It has sold around 500000 kindle in 2009.

Now this data shows that the sales of kindle is increasing around 30% every month. So there is a need of a good ebook reader in the market.

Barnes and Noble came out with Nook but unfortunately it went out of supply in the peak holiday season and missed the opportunity to make some good profit.

Problems with these Ebook Readers:

• Kindle Dx is 9.7" and Kindle is 6.5". The price of 9.7" Black and White kindle with no internet access, no touch support, no songs to play, no game to play, no apps available, no contacts, no presentations to create and project it comes very cheap at $484.

Now if you  think that this device is cool enough to purchase, then..... Then I guess you are a real fool.

Apple is giving much advanced device at the same price. Now if you want 3G, you need to pay only $130 extra which I guess is affordable.

Apple has analyzed the market and have launched the product. It is all in one device. A mini computer which looks trendy and satisfies almost all my basic needs.

iPad is a device which satisfies all the things which come to my mind like:

• Internet on WiFi - WiFi hot spots are the key factor
  
• Internet on 3G - Internet on the move
• Email checking at ease
• Video watching. Movies and You tube on the same device
• Gaming on iPad. I love gaming and it gives me a new gaming device
• iWork. Using which I can create presentations and can create excel on the go.
• iBooks which keeps my ebooks properly and I can purchase it directly from the store. The store supports many publishers.

Now these are lot of benefits for a simple device.

Do have a thought on this and I am sure that Apple has an aggressive pricing strategy for this revolutionary device. Lets hope that they make much profit out of it.

For more information, do follow me on twitter - http://twitter.com/hardikupadhyay

================
Hardik Upadhyay

Hype and Aura before Apple Event Jan 2010

Wow,

You wont believe how I feel writing just few hours before the launch of Apple Event 2010. The theme of this event is "Come See our creation".

But this creation is not just a simple creation. Apple "Might" be launching their much awaited and much hyped tablet at this event.

Apple are the masters of disguise and they have the most secret way of promoting their product. They have a very good history of launching products right from Mac, iPod, iTouch and to iPhone.

Now when Steve Jobs is back in the gang of Apple, this event wont be a simple event. It will revolutionize the market and it will create ripples in the market creating new trends.

Apple is already on the upper side by having almost 99.4% of market share in App market.

After the launch of Apple iTablet, this sector of apps will be highly competitive.

Currently the market is very cautious about the move of Apple in the Silicon Valley. Amazon has already started to take defensive steps against the launch of apple.

Also there are lot of sources which confirmed the launch of apple much awaited iTablet.

Few things which should be seen for in this event are:

• New iPhone version which will have much more added functionality
• LAUNCH of iTablet by apple. Let Steve Jobs rock the stage.
• App store revamp by Apple
• iTunes moved to cloud or its future roadmap.

But all this things might create a kind of illusion for the future trends. We have already seen the outcome of Nexus One by Google. But the same thing cannot be expected from Apple. They are the masters.

Lets hope what Apple has in its kitty for us. All this things will be disclosed to us in next few hours.

I will be updating all the things in my blog. Also you can follow me on twitter @hardikupadhyay for real time updates.

===================
Hardik Upadhyay

Real Time Web?? Now its Real Time - Ads

Hi All,

There is a lot of buzz around for lot of products and services which are creating a cloud of hype in the technology field. Search engines are trying hard to get the real time information on your webpage as soon as possible.

Google and Bing made the deal with real time information source Twitter and on the basis of it, Twitter posted a good amount of profit in 2009. Now this search engines are not satisfied. They want to make revenue also. But ads are the old things.

Now they are trying to get money for the "Real Time advertisements"

This is done by several algorithms and sources. They are taking the trending topics from the internet and showing it to the clients.

Basis of this, they will display advertisements.

Eg: Trending topics - Michael Jackson, Brittany Murphy, Santa Claus, Christmas, etc.

Now the advertisements will be generated based on the trending topics like get the Santa gift for Christmas. Go for shopping at amazon.com

One Riot has already started to implement this thing. You can check it out from the image below.

Also Google is trying to implement this idea in much better format. They are trying to implement better model of this advertisement by using local trends and location based service.

My ideas regarding implementation - If Google implements real time advertisements. 

• Twitter real time results
• Google Trends
• Social Circle Results
• Location Based Results
• News Agency based results
• Personalized web history results
  

Now if the user logs in google account, all the above things will be analyzed by google and will be used to create proper results which are oriented to user to get more clicks.

For more information regarding this topic, you are free to mail me.

===================

Hardik Upadhyay

===================

New Blog URL - TechBiz Research

Hi All,

At last, I took a serious decision to promote my blog and my knowledge of technology and business behind it.

There was lot of confusion and thought which went in this process. At last, I considered the seriousness to promote my knowledge for technology and using it, I will try to create some research papers and articles which will be useful to the users to gain insight about the new trends and innovation.

Hopefully my articles will keep you updated with telecom trends, mobility solutions and technological advancements.

Share Knowledge, You will gain much more....

TechBiz Research

Hardik Upadhyay

3G Spectrum Auction in India - Current Status

India is supposed to be the booming telecom market all over the world.

Facts about telecom industry in India:

• India has around 490 million mobile subscribers by the end of November 2009.
• India has mobile penetration of around 40%
• Rural penetration is around 32%
• 12 mobile service providers are existing and around 4 more in line to launch their service.
• Competitive pricing strategy is compelling TSP to generate more innovative ways to create revenue
• ARPU for the companies is reducing drastically.

All these figures are just a glimpse. But the main fun will be when one of the most awaited technology will be launched in India.

3G (Third Generation of Mobile Communication)

When the world was welcoming 3G, India was struggling to implement fully functional 2.5G in India.

Now it has been a situation that the American and European market is almost saturated for 3G implementation but still, India is trying hard to launch its 3G service.

Government Stance:

Government decided to do auction of 3G much before but the process is "still" under review.

Facts:

• Initially Govt decided to auction 3G spectrum on May 2009.
• Later it got postponed to Sep 2009. Many of the service providers gathered money and were geared up for the auction.
• But government later changed its decision and decided to do the bidding program on 7th Dec 2009. And as expected, government changed its mood and postponed to Jan 14, 2010.
• Now the current news is that the auction is still delayed to mid of Feb or Mar 2010.

So what this is all about?

Government is giving reason that defense is not releasing spectrum on time. Also they are saying that now there will be only 3 private players who will get 3G after auction. This will heavily impact the business strategy of the companies who are betting big time on 3G.

People have kept lot of hopes on the competitive pricing of 3G too. Now if the government delays the auction, it will generate a vicious chain of events which will create lot of problem for many players.

Group getting affected by delay in 3G auction:

· Telecom Service Providers who have invested a lot on 3G infrastructure.

· Equipment Vendors like Alcatel Lucent, Nokia Siemens Networks and Juniper networks.

· Indian Telecom Department who are waiting for proper revenue from 3G auction.

But all this will take place only when Government takes proper steps to auction 3G.

Hopefully the auction will be ending by March end and the companies will be launching services by the end of October 2010.

Keep reading my blog for latest news of 3G telecom auction in Indian market.

----------------------------

Hardik

SquareUP -- Days of PayPal Numbered?

It was a great news today when I opened my google reader. I found that the co-founder of Twitter has started a new company known as "Square UP"

Square UP:

This is a startup which is dealing with a mobile payment system. You can connect a payment device through your iPhone Audio jack and can swipe any credit card.

This will fetch all the details of the payee and the payee can pay the amount he wish to pay to he person.

You can see more details about this in the website.

Why this will become a SUCCESS?

This product is going to become a successful model due to the following reasons.

• Tie Up with Mastercard, Visa and other banks.
• Easy to use
• Faster transaction with instant alerts
• Very compact feature

Other Interesting Information

There are few interesting facts about this too like

• The project is funded by Khosla Ventures - Vinod Khosla headed company who was founder of SUN microsystems.
• Khosla ventures has funded around $10 million which is not a small amount for a startup.
• It is headed by Co-Founder of twitter.
• The overall funding for this project is around $15 Million.
  

Now the industry is expecting a very positive results out of this.

This company will pose a direct threat to PayPal which has dominated the payment market from a long time.

The only way to see the outcome is just wait and see the movement of the startup.

I will keep you posted regarding this.


To get more information you can follow me on twitter at http://twitter.com/hardikupadhyay

------------------
Hardik Upadhyay

Chrom'OS'omes - Total Insight

There is a lot of buzz now a days especially last week when Google launched its so much awaited operating system "Google Chrome OS".

I read a lot of stuff about it and found out lot of information. I will not share the features of OS but I will tell you the real expert reviews and my analysis based on it.

First of all I would like to ask you one question.

Are you ready for Cloud Computing?

This is a very simple question to a segment of people who are technology freak and knows much about in and out of techno scenario. They will answer that they will see to it. But if you ask the general public which consists of lot of group of people who use computer for fun will readily agree to it. Some people who quantify the data as privacy thing will surely disagree to the whole concept of google OS.

How I will justify success?

If you ask me to justify success of the OS I will give you the simple example of Gen Y segment market.

Take this group and if we focus on their internet habits, we will find out following things.

• People want a cheap computer for their "Internet Usage".
• They want a super fast computer system. (Chrome OS get booted up in 7 Seconds).
• They want to share docs online, listen music online, watch movies online, play games online.
• Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn are their integral parts and their daily routine.
• They want to call friends with the help of Cheap VoIP calling like Skype and Google Voice.

So if you consider just 5 points which I mentioned and then compare the features of Google Chrome OS why would I not go for a cheap rugged and user friendly Google Chrome OS rather than bulky and sluggish Windows or Mac.

Google - Focusing in the Future:

If you see the future we can find out following things:

• Super Fast Internet - Around 10 Mbps around the world.
  
• With the advent of 3G and 4G in mobile, the speed of mobile broadband is also likely to increase.
• Location should not be a constraint
• Data availability - Anytime - Anywhere.

All this things boil down to only one thing. It is targeting the segment of market which is totally fresh and untapped.

For more updates keep reading my blog.