Abhineet.in

Category: Uncategorized

  • Need of a Government run App Store

    After ONDC (Open Network for Digital Commerce), it’s high time that the Indian Government also launch their own app store.

    It will help making things better for companies & developers as currently they are on the mercy of the rules decided by Google which are not very developer-friendly.

    They charge 25% commision on the payment done through the app which does not make any sense. Process to use third party options is not easy.

    A competitive product will help in making things better for everyone.

    Though we have some private app stores like Indus from PhonePe which are trying to do the same, a government backed app store has more chances of getting adopted by phone companies.

    An app store can only become successful if it comes pre-installed on new mobile phones.

    It’s much like how Windows is a monopoly in laptops and desktops. They all come pre-installed with Windows. Same with Google Play which comes pre-installed on all new smartphones.

    But it is difficult to pursue mobile companies to pre-install a new and smaller app store on their smartphones. However, it is not that difficult for the Government.

    First, every company operating in India will want to get their app listed on a national app store run by the Government. Much like companies are listing their products and services on ONDC.

    Second, the Government may give some benefits to the phone companies if they pre-install the Government’s app store on their phones.

    It will make the app store market competitive ultimately benefiting everyone.

    What do you think?

  • Someone found a human finger in their ice-cream

    Someone found a human finger in their ice-cream.

    The ice-cream company, which outsources its manufacturing, have stopped the outsourcing and decided to manufacture their ice-cream themselves.

    This shows how outsourcing is not a solid way to build a business. It may work in the short term, but in the long term, it has so many uncontrolled variables which makes it difficult to ensure proper quality control and timeliness.

    Though big companies like Apple outsource their manufacturing, but due to their sheer scale, they have huge control over their vendors.

    On the contrary, A small business does not have much say when it comes to such matters with their vendors.

    Most of the time a company requires outsourcing almost everything in the initial phases of its operations. But the long term goal should be to build their own supply chain.

    No matter how cost effective it seems at first, as the user base grows, it becomes counter intuitive.

    Ola and Uber are struggling as they cannot control their cars as they do not own them. They are merely connecting cabs with passengers.

    But if they own their own fleet, hire their own drivers, the day to day issues could be minimised as it would have been easier to control everything. This should have been their end goal.

    What are your views on this?

  • The case of the aspiring Ola-Uber killer

    The case of the aspiring Ola-Uber killer

    BluSmart cab service started as an aspiring Ola-Uber killer promising to solve all the issues which customers faced with Ola and Uber.

    When they began their operations, an important feature of their marketing campaign was that they will not indulge in differential peak hour pricing.

    In fact, this was a key point which differentiated them from the likes of Ola and Uber. Another key feature was no cancellation policy.

    But they have recently changed their pricing structure and now they charge differential peak hour prices.

    I am not saying it is bad, but in the long run, the need for profitability requires every company to go the same route. Blusmart is no different.

    Ola and Uber also started to be as customer friendly as possible but the requirement of profitability forced them to take tough decisions.

    But these startups themselves set unrealistic service expectations by burning investor’s money, and then once the money is over and the pressure of profitability kicks in, they go back on everything they promised.

    The worse thing is that they always know that this would happen. In fact they plan to do this after acquiring good user base.

    This strategy may be good for quickly acquiring new users, but I think even if a company has good amount of funds, they should not over-promise in terms of services.

    Being true from day one will result in better organic growth and user loyalty. Otherwise soon people may start criticizing BluSmart the same way they now do for Ola and Uber.

    And one day some new startup will emerge again promising to solve the issues faced by the customers with BluSmart.

    And the cycle goes on.

  • I lost 40% in a day

    I lost 40% in a day

    On June 4, during the counting of votes of the Indian General Elections, the stock market crashed and I lost almost 40% of the unrealized gains of last one year in my stock portfolio.

    But I did nothing.

    9 days later, my unrealized stock gains have doubled and are more than what they were 10 days ago.

    If I had panicked and sold the falling stocks on that day, I would have lost a good amount of money.

    The lesson is that stock investing is driven mostly by human psychology.

    Most people lose money in the stock market when they lose their calm and start panicking.

    A market crash or a stock dip is a bad time to sell. Unless a company is getting bankrupt, the stock will eventually go up in time.

    If you have bought a stock for a long term perspective, do not get worried by any short term fluctuations. No need to even check its value daily. Just sit back and relax.

    This may seem counter productive, but “doing nothing” is the best strategy when your shares are going down due to a market crash.

    What are your views on this?

  • Startup Investors To Lose Their Special Rights

    Startup Investors To Lose Their Special Rights

    Startup Investors To Lose Their Special Rights

    When a startup gets money from an early investor, it is more about investor’s faith in some people with an idea. It is a huge financial risk for the investors.

    The startup founders have less financial risk compared to the investors. To compensate this, the investors get special rights as part of their investment agreement, along with the shares.

    The special rights include right to veto, right to information, right to prevent divestment or liquidation of the company etc.

    There is also a risk of founders leaving the company midway while keeping their shares.

    To prevent this, the founders get lesser rights and their shares are usually vested over a period of time. That means they get their shares only if they remain with the company for a predefined period of time.

    This is also done with the help of agreements during the investments.

    Now, when these startups want to get listed in the stock market, all the shareholders need to cancel their special rights. This is a mandatory step by market regulator, SEBI, which has to be done before applying for the IPO.

    SEBI says that this is to ensure that no shareholder gets superior rights than others in a public company.

    This is fine as stock market listing means the shares of the company will most likely increase in value giving the early investors a chance to get good returns by sale of their own shares.

    But, if company fails to get listed, the investors have lost their special rights and it is very complex to get their rights back.

    So, this is a big risk for the investors.

    But these same investors already took huge risk by investing in a few people with an idea, and that idea now being IPO bound clearly means they were right in doing so. So I am sure they can again take a wise decision.

    What are your views on this?

    Note: Image generated with the help of AI

  • Banks are running out of money

    Banks are running out of money due to mutual funds & stocks

    Well in simplified terms, they are getting less deposits and giving out more loans. This is because more and more people are now investing their money in mutual funds & stocks, and moving away from the traditional bank deposits.

    Is it bad sign? No. In a free & fair market, everything balances out itself. This gap in deposits & credit will be balanced by better interest rates. But now banks have to compete not just with other banks, but also with other investment options like mutual funds & stocks.

    Banks are also trying to make deposits more attractive by offering high interest rates on deposits. They are even asking government to reduce the lock-in period of tax-saver FDs from 5 years to 3 years.

    But at the end, it’s a win-win for the end customer, whether they get fixed deposits with higher returns or higher returns on their investments in mutual funds & stocks.

    What do you think?

    Note: Image generated by AI.

  • The war of trash balloons and loud speakers

    The war of trash balloons and loud speakers

    Recently North Korea launched hundreds of trash balloons which landed in South Korea. Meanwhile, South Korea is broadcasting messages criticizing the North Korean government through loudspeakers pointed towards North Korea at the border. Reports are that North Korea is also installing speakers on their side.

    It is an interesting psychological warfare. Looks like these methods are somewhat working as leaders & forces of both countries are warning each other to stop such activities.

    Note 1: There is no management lesson in this post. Just sharing this as I found this interesting.

    Note 2: Image generated by AI.

  • Is it a good time to invest in the market?

    Is it a good time to invest in the market?

    I am sitting on more than 40% unrealized profit on a good portion of my investments in just a few months, thanks to the recent rise in the market.

    A lot of people have been saying that if you have not invested in the current market, you are losing out. But does it make sense?

    Is it really a good time to invest in the market?

    Well, the answer is not so simple.

    If you are a seasoned investor and you know what you are doing, then you can go ahead with your investments.

    But, if you are someone who is beginning your investment journey or has little idea about the share market, this may not be the best time to invest your money.

    If you want to avoid risk, a rising market is not a good time to invest. It is a good time to reap the benefits of the investments you made when the market was not rising.

    The reason for that is you never know when it reaches its peak. Now if you invest your money during a peak and it goes down after that, it may take a long time for your investments to recover their value.

    Earning good profits in the market is not a short-term game. It needs patience, a little planning, and of course, some luck.

    So, this is a good bull run, but it might be better for you to wait for the right opportunity to invest.

    I will keep writing more about this. Hope it helps.

  • Rewrote Sahityapedia Android App in Flutter

    Though I love coding, I am not a professional app developer. As an entrepreneur, I write code as means to an end. It saves cost which is essential for our bootstrapped startup.

    After delaying for quite some time, I finally rewrote the entire Sahityapedia app in Flutter (the latest app framework by Google).

    I wrote the earliest version of this app in Java (on Android Studio). Then Google moved from Java to Kotlin and I migrated the newer versions of this app to Kotlin. And then Google came up with a remarkable technology, Flutter.

    Flutter made things easier, faster and most importantly, I could develop the app using the code editor of my choice, VS Code. Build times are shorter, hot reload is such a cool feature and development workflow feels much more logical.

    So, with great excitement, presenting the latest version of Sahityapedia app. Download now

    www.sahityapedia.com

    #entrepreneur #technology #startup #coding #flutter #sahityapedia #android #google

  • More Speed, More Happiness and Less Carbon Footprint: Its 4G, its Future

    More Speed, More Happiness and Less Carbon Footprint: Its 4G, its Future

    Image Source: Movie Poster of Jumper (2008 Movie)
    Image Source: Movie Poster of Jumper (2008 Movie)

    When I look back at year 2005, I remember Nokia N-Series 3G capable phones publicized all across the nation using all kind of media channels, be it hoardings, television, radio, newspapers, magazines etc. That was the telecom revolution which has come a long way in these ten years.

    I remember people buying 3G phones in a hope that telecom companies will provide 3G services some day. And the day came when even 3G services are about to get obsolete. The new kid is in town- 4G. And it claims to be way faster than 3G something which I am looking forward to experience myself.

    I remember my first broadband connection with 2 Mbps speed and it seemed like I was in a future world. But it had its limits and movies still took hours to get downloaded. Moreover, it was not mobile and I was stuck to my wifi range circle of my house to get the speed advantage. But 3G changed this by giving me mobility along with speed.

    However, my expectations had increased by now. I wanted more speed on the go; streaming low resolution videos on my mobile while moving seemed so antique. It still feels the same as 3G is still what I have.

    Airtel 4G makes huge claims about its speed, no doubt it is India’s first 4G network launched across the country. I am quite curious to use that. Moreover, my desire to move forward to the next technology is pulling me more towards it.

    If Airtel 4G works as expected, consumption of multimedia on smartphones will get a whole new definition. The high definition display of smartphones will actually feel utilized. The countless hours wasted while looking at the status bar representing the loading of a web page would be saved.

    Not just time, downloading a movie in minutes means no extra electricity consumption to keep the devices running during over-night movie downloads. The carbon footprint should actually reduce.

    And at psychological level, frustration and irritation due to slow internet or bad connectivity can be avoided thus making life happier and cheerful. I can imagine smiling people looking at their phones while using 4G in crowded Delhi Metro. Atleast one reason of stress will be gone.

    If it all works well, it can change the world around us as we see it today. May be internet of things will get the required boost and the imagined science-fiction future will be true, where every living and non-living thing will have an IP address. 4G may not be a reason for this, but it can atleast act as a catalyst.

    May be I am too much optimistic about it. But who knows. Even if it turns out to be 50% of what I am imagining it can do, we are looking forward to a better connected world, with lesser internet carbon footprint, less frustration, more happiness and higher technological growth.

    Airtel is India’s first network with such a huge 4G launch across the country. You can find more about it here: www.airtel.in/4g/.

    Just to add a little humor, here is the latest Airtel 4G ad campaign:

  • The Rap Game: Just About Anything

    I was going through my old blog posts when I found a novice, but interesting piece of write-up. Few years ago, one of my friends was playing a rap game of rhyming poems with me, which could be just about anything. Here is what I wrote:

    (Say it like a Rapper!!!)

    “life seems to be a brigade of exam papers,
    loaded with stuff made by dictators,
    these dictators are none other than money,
    we run behind it always honey,
    with the market crashed & profits so low,
    even friends are turning into foe,
    they fight , they win, they lose,
    be it for job or a little shrunk goose,
    the goose they say is the ray of hope,
    but dont u think its like the daily soap,
    where ‘EKTA KAPOOR’ defines life in new way,
    now about this there is no need to say,
    the only thing i would like to say that,
    there should be a new soap with a hero in grey hat,
    the name of the show must be ‘Kkkabhi to Job Dilao’,
    kahin job na mile to, isi show mein lag jao…”

    Dedicated to all the future professionals…

    Its so kiddish. Reminded me of my college days.

  • 10 reasons why Meego powered Nokia phone can outrun any Android powered phone

    10 reasons why Meego powered Nokia phone can outrun any Android phone

    Mobile phones are inseparable part of our lives now. People not just want a basic mobile phone, rather everyone needs or wants a smartphone these days. And why not, smartphone are now in reach of everyone due to a lot of smartphone making companies competing with each other to capture highest market share, thus making them available in lowest price range.

    Recently, Android emerged as one of the most preferred OS for smartphones & gained huge market share within a very short span. No doubt it is an awesome product giving new standards to mobile computing. So, its not an odd thing if you envy the latest Android phone out in the market.

    If you are unsure what Android is all about, it is a Linux based operating system developed by Google for mobile devices & was first product of Open Handset Alliance, a business alliance formed by some big companies to develop open standards for mobile devices. Android is free & open source, & is being adopted by a lot of mobile phone manufacturers for their smartphones. Being developed by Google, it obviously supports all the Google services & offers great integration with Google products.

    Nokia was developing its own Linux based OS called Maemo & launched a phone N900 powered by Maemo. Intel also started developing a Linux based mobile OS called Moblin. But with the advent of 2010, Nokia & Intel joined their hands & merged their respective Maemo & Moblin to create a new OS named MeeGo. It is also open source. Nokia has revealed that MeeGo will be the preferred OS for its future smartphones with MeeGo powered handsets expected to be launched in first half of 2011.

    Both Android & MeeGo are highly competitive products based on Linux platform & targeting the same kind of gadgets. The deciding factor will be the extras you get with them. However there are a plenty of reasons why MeeGo along with Nokia can provide a high performance, feature rich, value for money device which you can use without feeling outdated for a decent period of time.

    Following are the 10 reasons why MeeGo powered Nokia phone can outrun any Android powered phone:

    1. Ovi Services: Nokia started Ovi services in 2007 which have now become most used services due to the largest share of Nokia in the smartphone market. The beauty of Ovi services is that some of the most useful Ovi services are free. For example, Nokia provides navigation services for free in the name of Ovi Maps which are, though not very detailed but much more accurate than Google Maps. MeeGo will offer all the Ovi services when powering a Nokia device thus giving you best services for free. With Android, you cannot get Ovi servies as Nokia has clearly mentioned that there will be no Android powered Nokia phone.
    2. Ovi Suit: Another innovation by Nokia is Ovi Suite which is actually a single software aimed to provide a common PC software for all the Nokia mobiles. You just need to install Ovi Suit on your PC & you can sync & control any Nokia device connected to your PC. MeeGo on Nokia will too support Ovi Suit. Every household these days tend to have atleast one Nokia smartphone & thus it will save you from the hassles of installing different PC suits for different phones.
    3. Because its Nokia: It is no doubt that Nokia is the most reliable & largest mobile manufacturer in the world with the largest share in smartphones market. A Nokia lover who want a Linux powered Nokia smartphone but has to buy alternatives due to its unavailability, will soon find many Linux (MeeGo) powered Nokia smartphones in market. This will surely give Nokia big advantage over Android powered phones.
    4. Your phone will never get old: Anyone who owns a Nokia smartphone knows how easy is to get latest features including services on your phone by just running a simple software update yourself. Its true that it is the case with every mobile company but due the largest user base, the updates are much more frequent & effective than the other mobile phones. Also, Ovi suit makes the upgrade process so easy.
    5. Better feature compatibility: Being a Nokia product, MeeGo is bound to give the best performance with Nokia hardware just as the Mac OSX works best on a Mac or Blackberry OS works best on RIM’s Blackberry smartphones.
    6. Because its Intel: MeeGo may prove more efficient than Android for Intel processors as it is being developed by Intel to specifically overcome the Windows Mobile disability to support Atom processor. Intel is pioneer of so many technologies & we can expect a revolutionizing OS from them in the name of MeeGo.
    7. Hardware Acceleration to a new level: With Spice launching the world’s first 3D phone, we can expect new graphics accelerated phones from other manufacturers which can take mobile graphics to new levels with Intel providing best graphics integrated processors. These combined with Nokia devices can do big wonders.
    8. Because it has two App Stores: Being a combined product of Nokia & Intel , both the giants have setup separate App Stores for MeeGo. Intel has launched its own Intel App Store for Intel based MeeGo products & Nokia already has Ovi store which will feature Apps for MeeGo powered Nokia devices. This gives users double chance of getting their favourite app. What if Nokia launches a MeeGo powered phone with Intel processor? Obviously, a win-win scenario for developers & users.
    9. Because it is Qt application & UI framework compatible: Qt is a cross-platform GUI based application framework which is used by many big products including VLC Media player, Google Earth, Adobe Photoshop etc. This compatibility means even larger availability of apps for MeeGo. Developers have to write an application only once & they can port it to a variety of Qt compatible platforms including Symbion OS. The reverse can also be true resulting in more & more apps.
    10. Finally, its good to be late: Its not always the case that pioneer of a technology wins. If implemented properly & efficiently, an already existing idea can be made highly successful. Similarly in this case, Android’s appearance as first Linux based mobile OS has shown the various opportunities for such platforms. The biggest advantage Nokia has is its already largest share in smartphone market which makes it obvious choice for those who rely on Nokia & want an Android like platform. Nokia has the chance to develop a better interface than Android & optimizing MeeGo for better support with its phones than the other smartphone manufacturers using Android.

    Conclusion: Though without having a MeeGo powered phone in hands, its not easy to compare it with Android. But its easy to speculate the possibilities of MeeGo being developed by smartphone & chip giants. Android being a very good OS may find difficult to capture Nokia’s already occupied smartphone market after MeeGo enters the market. The users may have faith in Android as a good software platform, but when it comes to hardware, Nokia still wins the race.

    Update: If you want to buy an Android phone now & cant wait for MeeGo, there is a very good Android Phone Buying Guide by Kunal Dharamsi.