Happy New Year!!!

Dear Friends,

A Very Happy New Year to all. 2010 is over and now we all are looking forward for loads of things in "MMXI". Past year I was not much active on my blogs and technology things. I was not taking things more seriously which I should have taken. May be the new year will bring lot of new things in me and I will make sure that I carry out all the new year resolutions upto the mark.

So now, lets start the new year with my favorite word which is on everyone's mind..... "APPLE"  - Yeah.. how can I start the first blog of my new year without this word. This has changed he whole new aspect of how a product should be and how to sustain a business. How to capture the mind of mass public without compromising on the quality. This is indeed a great achievement of apple.

At the same time my second favorite company "GOOGLE" is not far behind. It was a great year for them too. With the success of android, they are far more satisfied with their work and still will be trying harder to compete Apple's iPhone and RIM's Blackberrys.

The next year will bring lot of changes in the perspective of the enterprise and their decisions and investment in the IT market to sustain their business. Large corporates are trying harder to make their system better by investing chunk of their revenue in the technology without expecting short term returns. Handling large data and making use of the data, analyze it and monetize it is the target of these new companies in 2011.

So friends, lets share the good knowledge - Analyzed concepts among us and make sure that we all have a great business ahead this year.

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Hardik Upadhyay
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3 Golden Rules of Innovation - My Experience

Hello Friends,


The market is changing frantically, making it more aligned to the changing needs of the customers.

But the true thing is there is a bigger picture which is created due to percolating mentality of the higher management which conceives the innovation. The term "innovation" is changing in recent days and its mainly due to the remorse mentality and pale focus towards the new trends.

Now the million dollar question rises that is innovation is heading towards the right direction or its just a term which is still in the process of understanding?

The answer lies in the attitude of the people. It applies to all the people in the pyramid right from the bottom to the top. Every member should be actively involved in the creation of the new innovative business process or service implementation.

Journey from Deception to Real Innovation:

I might sound weird but this is what I have faced in my 2.5+ years of experience in Telecom Innovation Lab of Tata Consultancy Service. When there is any kind of incubation of idea, there is always some kind of inconsistency arises between the business alignment and the success of the innovation. People often makes fun of you by saying that innovation is too big thing for the freshers like you.

It made me wonder that why people cultivate such kind of mentality. People usually thinks that innovation is the duty of scientists or PhD people. If you do not have that knowledge, you are not fit to innovate the idea or create new things. 

By this thoughts, you are blocking the process of innovation and creating a mindset among the fresh minds to follow linear thinking rather than trying for unconventional approach towards the problem. The aspect of lateral thinking comes to a complete standstill and your mind gets rusted with the routine work.

Everyone says that to stay fit, you need to do exercise. But the same thing applies to your brain. We never try to question things, and by any means, try to question the process, are made fun by our friends. They often says that you are not Newton or Einstein that you will discover things.

I just want to say them one thing. NO, I am not a scientist but I have every right to use my knowledge which I have gained over these years and question the existing process. Sometimes, a stupid thought can create new innovative business model. You just need to think out of the box.

Measuring Innovation:

The second problem which I have faced is to quantify innovation. Guys, wake up. You need to understand that there in never a timeline for innovation. You just cannot put a gun of some one's head and make sure that there is innovative idea in return. You just cannot get things back in a specific time frame. You need patience to get the desired results. This lead to one complicated theory. The characters include higher management who funds the innovation and the people  who has the duty to find new things and to innovate.

Fostering innovation is a difficult process and it becomes complicated when external factors like business model creation comes into picture. You just cannot find a business model on every innovation. Its the first step to improve the process. Once the process significantly improves, there will be visible amount of profit for the company.

Avoid Vicious Circle in Ideation:

This is also one of the bigger aspect of ideation procedure. People who are amateur or highly experts tend to involve so much into the process that they tend to repeat the mistakes again and again. They try to evolve the idea on the same lines without thinking anything new. 

The only way to avoid this, is to just get a break and try to read about other's innovative ideas and try to mould your thoughts on their aspects. You can ask question to yourself for the success of various ideas and their evolution. This will give you a way to think beyond your scope and you will improve significantly.

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I would like to say one more thing. 

No One Is Born Brilliant. Its The Knowledge Which Gives You Power To Think "Out Of The Box". Use It Wisely.

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Hardik Upadhyay

© Techbiz Research

Twitter - @HardikUpadhyay

Facebook - Hardik Upadhyay

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3 Mistakes of Google's Life - Part 2

Hello Friends,

Hope that you liked the previous part of the Google's Mistake. Now let me take you to the last product which was a disappointment for Google.

3. Google Buzz:

Google Buzz was launched in Feb 2010. It was not a great launch but still it created a lot of buzz around when it was launched (Obviously, it was a google's product. So it has to be) But still, I feel that there is some amount of error which Google committed while launching the product in the market. Few reasons which I feel are as follows:

• Wrong Product Launch At Wrong Time:

I had faith in Google as it is known to launch the product range at correct time. If they want to do some more research, then they will put the product in "Beta" and just let the users test it through Google Labs. But this was not in the case of Google Buzz. They were in hurry to launch the new product and they were under immense pressure from the higher management to launch an assault against Facebook and Twitter. 

This made it clear that they will be facing lot of issues when they launch the product initially. This was a biggest drawback for Buzz.

• Privacy.....:

Google totally forgot one term while launching Google Buzz. PRIVACY....

You wont believe, it just picked up people from your mailing list and automatically followed them or made them follow you. So your privacy is totally F***ed up. They did not even gave a thought about it. Only thing was there in their mind is to make it compete with Facebook just within weeks of launch of product.

Due to this hasty decision, Google faced lawsuit. This was also a kind of setback for Google.

Sorry... Facebook was not created in one day!!!!!

• Gmail?? Wrong Place Boss!!!!:

Buzz was still into making. Google was wondering that the product is ready (Just a thought even though it was not. This usually happens when you develop a software) so what shall we do now? Which is the best way to launch? 

They were thinking of a best platform for this highly innovative product. So the second best product of Google was selected and used to launch their product (GMAIL). 

So one fine day, when everyone woke up, they found a new application next to their inbox and showing people whom they mailed and were in their group... WTF!!!  You should have asked me at least. Anyway, the public reviews were taken into consideration and few changes were done. But I guess the damage was done. No turning back for them.

• Google Profile - Prime Requirement: 

Lot of people will disagree with me if I say that creation of google profile was not a bad option. But believe me friends, there were a significant amount of people who hated to create google profile.

In fact, its very true, why should I create a profile to use some product which is linked to my mail. It already has my details. 

Google is known to connect different application by single id but still it was not able to fetch details from orkut, google chat, you tube or any other sites. May be they would have some other thought in mind. But sorry, I was not able to digest their requirement. So I guess, it was one of the mistake of Google Buzz business model.

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I hope you all like the review. Sorry, if I have been some what harsh on Google, but do not forget that Google has given this world lot of things which will not be easy for any other companies to recreate. And every business needs risks. Some give returns and some does not. But we should move on!!!!!

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 Hardik Upadhyay

© Techbiz Research

Twitter - @HardikUpadhyay

Facebook - Hardik Upadhyay

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3 Mistakes of Google's Life - Part 1

Hi Friends,

Google is one of the most innovative company I have ever seen. They start new services and generate new products which are unique and best in the market. 

The best part of Google is - They are never afraid to venture in new areas and they always redefine the word "Innovation". Google implement new business model in the unique way which is totally aligned to the customer requirements.

Best part of Google:

• They think from end user perspective.
• Google thinks about 5 years in advance. ( I am saying this because google recently got patent for location based advertisement. The application for the patent was filed in 2005. This shows that they think every service from future perspective.)

But one thing I should admit that they have come across a lot of failed business models and they are trying hard to come over it. The only thing that stops Google in achieving this is their failed business models in few of their products.

Two Products which I would like to discuss today in this blog.

       1. Google Phone - Nexus One

Google hyped about the phone in spring 2007. It took around one and a half year for Google to create a phone. Google launched nexus one on Jan 04 2010. It was a great time to launch smart phone. Smartphone market was booming and at the same time, android was also on the peak. But there was some problem in the business model which google approached to market their phone.

• Online Selling Only : Google took this approach to sell their phone online without using any kind of store. This was the major setback from the customer's perspective. There was a lukewarm response in the booking process. The reason is customer are much comfortable with computers and ipods, but when it comes to mobile, they want to touch and feel it before purchasing it.
• Lack of Marketing : This was another shot in the arm of Google. Google missed to advertise their phone. This was accepted but along with that, they missed the various channels of marketing. There was no viral marketing of the product before the launch which was a major setback.
• Initial Reviews: Google kept mum on the initial bad reviews of the phone. Instead of taking actions on improvements, they were just waiting for the user to accept without their assurance. This created more rave reviews and they slumped more in gathering market share.
• Technical Support and Customer Service: Google missed this thing by a great margin. They followed the website and online support in case of phone. F.A.Q support will not help in case of phone selling, Google should have understood it. But they did not know that phone selling needs good customer care support and other technical services. I guess Google should rethink their service and support approach if they want to improve.

There are lot of other reasons also, but if Google would have focused on these things, they would not have faced the shame.

I can only wish one thing. Google should learn from its past mistakes and should not repeat the thing when they launch Google Tablet or Google Chrome OS.

        2. Google Wave:

One more classic product from Google. It was one of the most hyped product from Google and it was creating lot of waves in the year 2009. It was the most awaited product from Google in 2009. People kept their fingers crossed for the launch of the product. But when the product launched, it was the disappointment.

People started wondering what is the product all about. It was no way related to their use and it was not able to meet their expectations.

Reasons for the failure of Google Wave:

• More Futuristic Thinking: When you are targeting a product to the whole world, you should think of billion people who lacks advanced computer knowledge like the people from Google Labs. :) Google thought of things which are far from normal Internet user's understanding. 
• Privacy Policy Analysis: The worst part of Google Wave was privacy policy. The wave created is always public and anyone can join anybody in the personal wave. Google should have learnt from the issues which were burning around facebook and twitter.
• Lack of Applications: Wave had very very limited amount of applications which restricted the user to try and analyze the wave as a product.
• Creating a requirement for the customer: Any product, it you want to market, there should be a way to market. To achieve this, there should be a need from the customer for that kind of product. Google did not analyzed the market and assumed things and launched the product. This was the setback for them.

Google is known to learn from its past mistakes but I guess they repeated the same thing in another product which was in pipeline.

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Thats all for this part friends, few of the other products which added feather to Google will be included in the next part.

Till then, Keep reading my blog.

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Hardik Upadhyay

© Techbiz Research

Twitter - @HardikUpadhyay

Facebook - Hardik Upadhyay

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Back And Rejuvenated

Hi Friends,

I have been out of regular blogging from a long time. But now onwards, I will be blogging regularly.

Lot of things changed in last few days. New products were launched, new business ventures were established, new telecom trends and new controversies were emerged.

I found one thing which did not change is the greed of mine to know new business trends and innovations throughout various technological dimensions.

I will be putting the trends and acute analysis on the on new and emerging business models. I will keep you posted with new happenings and buzz in the technological industry across the globe.

I would be promoting my blog and expect the readers to comment on the same if you like my article. Please do follow me and all your suggestions to improve the blog are welcome.

You can add me on facebook @ http://www.facebook.com/hardik.upadhyay

Also you can follow me on twitter - http://twitter.com/hardikupadhyay

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Hardik Upadhyay
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Twisted Tale of Adobe, Google and Apple

This is the most thought provoking article which I am writing in my blog. Thing is I am very much confused by the move of these companies and the blame game they are playing with each other.

Before going into the description, let me point out few things which were making lot of noise in the tech industry

• Launch of iPad - No support for Flash.
• Apple calling Adobe "Lazy" for not developing good flash version.
• Adobe blaming apple for not supporting them.
• Google Reaching out support for HTML 5 in chrome and Chrome OS.
• Google announcing the integration and support of flash in Android phones.
• Problems and loopholes in the current flash version.
• Emergence of "HTML5" as the future of web browsing
• Adobe Tech Expert saying that HTML5 will take web browsing to "dark ages of web"
• Adobe announcing the launch of Adobe AIR for mobile version and its sleek UI which is captivation in MWC.
• Emergence of Silverlight as a sole competitor to flash.
• Microsoft announcing support of Flash in their new Windows Mobile 7.

Now all this things will make you wonder, what the heck is happening??

Thing is very clear. The tech giants Google, Microsoft and Apple are doing what ever they can do to target the smartphone market. Now this market consists of a flash which owns around 90% of share. Most of the web sites and web videos run on flash files which make the OS to make sure that it supports Flash.

Confused Apple??

Apple is confused now after the initial launch of iPad as it got lot of criticism from public as it did not supported Flash. Now after the current moves, they are very much eager to find some alternative which will make sure that the customers do not get a wrong notion about their future product line. Also they are wondering whether they can enhance the support of HTML5 before something goes wrong.

Apple, whatever you do, you have to do it very fast.

Smart Google??

Google is playing smart in this issue of Flash support. By announcing the support of Flash in their android phone, they have directly targeted iPad and Apple market. Also they are indirectly telling Apple to stop developing new features for html5.

Side by side, they are starting to develop the robust html5 support for their upcoming web based Chrome OS. They will enhance support for html5 rather than getting into line of fire by rejecting Flash support.

Scrape Goat Adobe???

Adobe is from my perspective the loser in all the happenings going on in this scenario. Why because I have a list of reasons to tell

• Firstly, adobe has already captured the market and has occupied the market share with flash based websites and videos. They just have to make sure that they retains that market rather than losing it. So there is not much scope of improvement
  
• Flash is the most important threat and its the prime target by the hackers in web site.
  
• The growth of competitors like Silverlight and Html 5 has created lot of problems for flash.

Now its adobe which has to take some smart decisions to make sure that this will be resolved and they will make sure that the dependency of flash continues in the future or else they will be in trouble. 

Dumb Microsoft??  

Sorry to say this Mr Ballmer, but you are going to make a mistake. I might not be the right person. But imagine you are trying to save a sinking ship by assaulting your own product. Now you have to choose which is the soft target you are choosing to make sure that other will be a winner. You have made your decision. Your target is Silverlight and your hero is Windows Mobile 7. Now to save windows mobile and to gain control over your (Sinking) smartphone market,  you had to take this decision. I can understand but why to kill poor Silverlight. Hopefully, someday, you will understand that you might have made a mistake by promoting Flash rather than Silverlight.  

 

So lets see what is going to happen more in the future. Its only time which will say what will happen.

Keep reading my blog and do follow me on twitter.

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Hardik Upadhyay

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

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Hardik Upadhyay