MobiPorter

Apache, Tomcat, SVN, virtual hosts integration

2011-11-12T00:12:00.000-08:00

Ever come across this kind of requirement involving Apache httpd, Tomcat, SVN and virtual hosts?

want static sites being served by Apache

want dyanmic content (jsps, etc) served by Tomcat

want to access your svn via port 80

must work in a multiple virtual hosts environment

want to do it an easy, extensible and with minimal reliance on 3rd party tools

Sure ... some would say. Easy problem. Just do it via http tunneling, or rewrite rules or some such.

And to an extent they would be valid. However, needs vary.

Here is one way to make all this happen.

Versions:

Apache 2.x

Tomcat 6.x

mod_jk 1.2.32

mod_proxy

Files required to be changed

Apache
httpd.conf

Tomcat
server.xml

Files added:

Apache
$APACHE_HOME/conf.d/workers.properties
$APACHE_HOME/conf.d/mod_jk.conf
$APACHE_HOME/conf.d/httpd-vhosts.conf

Apache level changes¶

httpd.conf¶

Our Apache home is: /etc/httpd and its conf file is at /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf

Make sure your Apache conf is setup to autoload all conf files at startup.

Modify ApacheHome/conf.d, as needed


#
# Load config files from the config directory "/etc/httpd/conf.d".
#
Include conf.d/*.conf

If you had any include directives pointing to files in the conf.d directory, they are now redundant and can be removed.

workers.properties¶

Create the workers properties file $APACHE_HOME/conf.d/workers.properties as below:


# Define 1 real worker using ajp13
worker.list=ajp13,childtracker_ajp13

# Set properties for ajp13
worker.ajp13.type=ajp13
worker.ajp13.host=localhost
worker.ajp13.port=8009

# Set properties for childtracker_ajp13
worker.childtracker_ajp13.type=ajp13
worker.childtracker_ajp13.host=localhost
worker.childtracker_ajp13.port=8009

mod_jk¶

For linux, mod_jk.so has to be compiled from source. Its a pretty straight-forward process.
Ref: Connections download page

Installation¶

mod_jk has been installed at -/usr/local/src/mod_jk_

Installation steps from "Build.txt":


$> cd native
$> ./configure --with-apxs=/usr/sbin/apxs (or where ever the apxs/apxs2 is)
$> make
$> su -c 'make install'

mod_jk.conf¶

Create file $APACHE_HOME/conf.d/mod_jk.conf as below:


#
# Added for Tomcat integration
# by Dheeraj
#

# Load mod_jk
LoadModule jk_module    modules/mod_jk.so

# where to find workers.properties
JkWorkersFile  /etc/httpd/conf.d/workers.properties

# where to put jk shared memory
JkShmFile   /var/run/httpd/mod_jk.shm

# where to put logs
JkLogFile   /etc/httpd/logs/mod_jk.log

# Set the jk log level
JkLogLevel      info

# Select the timestamp log format
JkLogStampFormat  "[%a %b %d %H:%M:%S: %Y]" 

# JkRequestLogFormat - set format
JkRequestLogFormat "%w %V %T" 

# Send everything for context /examples to worker ajp13
JkMount /examples               ajp13
JkMount /examples/*     ajp13

AddHandler jserv-servlet .do
JkOptions +ForwardURICompatUnparsed

The commented lines highlight Windows level changes

Virtual hosts - httpd-vhosts.conf¶

Create this file in $APACHE_HOME/conf.d/http_vhosts.conf:


#
# Virtual Hosts
#
# If you want to maintain multiple domains/hostnames on your
# machine you can setup VirtualHost containers for them. Most configurations
# use only name-based virtual hosts so the server doesn't need to worry about
# IP addresses. This is indicated by the asterisks in the directives below.
#
# Please see the documentation at
# <URL:http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/vhosts/>
# for further details before you try to setup virtual hosts.
#
# You may use the command line option '-S' to verify your virtual host
# configuration.

#
# Use name-based virtual hosting.
#
NameVirtualHost *:80


<VirtualHost *:80>

    ServerName abc.xyz.com
    ProxyPass /repos !
    ProxyPass / http://abc.xyz.com:8080/
    ErrorLog logs/abc-error.log
        CustomLog logs/abc-access.log common
</VirtualHost>

Tomcat level changes¶

Set the AJP connector


    <!-- Define an AJP 1.3 Connector on port 8009 -->
    <Connector port="8009" protocol="AJP/1.3" redirectPort="8443" enableLookups="false"/>

Verification¶

mod_jk.log¶

You should see output like this


[Mon Nov 07 02:38:26: 2011][26261:47626733695808] [info] init_jk::mod_jk.c (3252): mod_jk/1.2.32 () initialized

catalina.out¶

You should see output like this in catalina.out


Nov 7, 2011 2:43:12 AM org.apache.jk.common.ChannelSocket init
INFO: JK: ajp13 listening on /0.0.0.0:8009
Nov 7, 2011 2:43:12 AM org.apache.jk.server.JkMain start
INFO: Jk running ID=0 time=0/10  config=null

for more details regarding each tool, pls refer to their respective home pages.

Redmine Mylyn integration howto

2011-08-21T02:15:00.000-07:00

There is a dearth of a reasonably complete step by step howto on integrating the latest version of Redmine (1.2) with Eclipse 3.5.2 (onwards). In fact, when I looked, the relevant information was somewhat "splintered" (frustration > progress) across sites that ultimately led me exasperated. This is what I am trying to address by this entry. Hopefully, it helps others get off to a running start.

Pre-requisites:
Eclipse: 3.5.2
Redmine: 1.2
Mylyn: 3.6.1

Install Eclipse plugin
1. In Eclipse: Help - Install New Software - Add
2. Enter the following details:

The update site is: http://redmin-mylyncon.sourceforge.net/update-site/N/

Install Redmine plugin

This was the tricky part. Took most time to figure out. Git was not behaving. So, had to do things the old fashioned way ... sigh!

These steps need to be done on the server - where Redmine is hosted.

1. Use lynx or browser, open: http://redmin-mylyncon.git.sourceforge.net/git/gitweb-index.cgi
2. Click on "summary". You should see a list of commit log entries for the connector. For Redmine 1.2, one needs at least ver 2.7.4
3. Download the snapshot by clicking on the snapshot link. (I used ver 2.7.4 - use a more recent version, if available). You will get a tar.gz file
4. Unzip and untar it. You should get a "redmin-mylyn-connector" directory
5. Copy directory to <Redmine_HOME>/vendor/plugins (hint: Your cmd would be like: cp -R redmin-mylyn-connector <Redmine_HOME>/vendor/plugins"
6. Shutdown Redmine
7. Restart Redmine
8. Go to Administration - Plugins. Make sure you see "Mylyn Connector plugin" (min ver. 2.7.4)

Configure Redmine

1. Go to Administration - Settings - Authentication

2. Enable: Authentication Required
3. Enable: Enable REST web service

Configure Eclipse

1. Go to Eclipse menu: Window–>Show View–>Other–>Tasks–>Tasks List
2. Right click in the Tasks List area and select New–>Task.
3. Click 'Add Tasks Repository' button and select the Redmine task repository type.
4. In the popup form enter (http://<Redmine_URL>, label == "Redmine", user name, password)
5. Press "Validate Settings" button at the bottom of the form, and you should get a "Connection successful" status message. You should be able to submit issues from your eclipse IDE, now.

Setting up Task List

In Eclipse:

1. Open: Window - Open Perspective - Other
2. Select "Planning"

Create a List of "Open issues Assigned to me"

1. On the task list, right-click and choose New -> Query...
2. Select your newly created repository
3. Click "<<Create a new query>>" , click Next
4. Enter the following:
Title: All Open Issues assigned to Me
status_id: Open
assigned_to_id: <Your name>
click 'Finish'

You're done! Pat yourself on the back by closing this ticket from your Task list and send me a "Whoohoo" comment on this blog entry!

FAQ:

Q. I have followed the steps but I get a "404 message" when I validate settings
A. This typically happens when:
- you don't have the right version of the connector installed. Review the Install Redmine plugin steps.

iPhoney

2010-01-07T23:30:00.000-08:00

Things have been silent. Sometimes that is a bad thing and sometimes it can be a good thing.

Thankfully, this time it is a good thing!

To keep to the focus of this post, I will talk about some really pioneering work that we have done. iPhone for all its warts, has been great for the mobile. It has made people think of the mobile as more than just a device for talking. Blackberry was doing that too, but in a very "corporate" and snobbish kind of way.

Hence the "AppStore"-effect. (Everyone is jumping on this bandwagon. Nokia, MS, Blackberry, Google, Intel, etc. - for lack of an option)

A couple of issues that we see with the iPhone and the AppStore are:
1. iPhone publishing takes at least 2 weeks.
2. Dynamic content feed into App happens via WebServices - leading to app complexity and longer development times
3. Limited dynamic updating of application.
4. Higher cost

These kind of constraints reduce the effectiveness of "fresh" solutions. "Fresh" solutions are those whose value is driven primarily by getting you the "latest" info, e.g. News, stock quotes, content aggregators, etc.

But, there does exist an option that allows for instant publishing, is lightweight, and provides almost total flexibility to both the user and the provider. WAP.
That's right. Unfortunately, what it was lacking mostly, was a "snazzy" UI, that also supports touch-actions, cool effects between pages, works in tall and wide orientations and provide an icon on desktop - that all the regular iPhone apps have.

Until now.

Check out our demo app!

It:
-- looks like an iPhone app
-- behaves like one (supports: touch-actions (slide, touch, etc), cool page transitions, orientation modes)
-- can be an icon on the iphone "desktop"
-- is updated in internet-time
-- does not need to be published
-- has none of the WebService bloat
-- easy to manage
-- allows personalization while being accessible by everyone
-- integrates seamlessly with payment gateways and any third-party online solution
-- works not just on the iPhone/iPod touch, but Blackberry touch and other "touch"-smart phones.

Low-down:
-- Using our MobiTouch framework, one can go from scratch to application is just 3 days! Add 2 more days for every addl 5 pages of your application!
A full blown app - including subscriptions, integration with payment gateways and other third-party online solutions

Happy New Year!

Cost of a byte?

2009-10-31T08:28:00.000-07:00

Consumer broadband costs across the world, a comparative ...

The Far East is FAR ahead of ...

Airtel boasts a chest-thumping 8mbps (ceiling) for consumers with the average household speed being closer to 512 kbps in metros and 256 outside.

Sweet to lick ...

Collapse-able dollar?

2009-07-31T17:00:00.000-07:00

For last few months people have been getting on the soap box and pontificating about a new global currency (a gold backed one, at that which the dollar stopped @ 1972). All of a sudden. Out of seemingly nowhere, every economist was talking about a dollar-weakened future (well, not everyone).

This struck me as odd. What exactly was fueling their worries? How was this tied into the recession? And why a lot of learned business gurus were relating about how the US would take more than 10 years to get out of this recession/mess.

Mess? Yup. Mess.

So, I did some digging and here is what I found.

The (US) Mint has been busy. Real busy.
Its been minting. More than normal. Way more. To put things in perspective.
In the last 1 year, it has expanded the monetary base from the, then, 900-ish billion to approx. 1,700-billion-ish (and its still printing (hint: look at the far right) ...). That's right. In less than 1 year, Bernanke has tried to attack the recession by:
1. Printing his way out, and
2. Make firms and banks take money (remember TARP) and refuse to let them pay it back (a nice way to say, I own you!)

So, where is the money? When people are complaining about unemployment and housing slumps, etc..

Its with the banks. The banks are storing those reserves at 0% interest rates with the Fed in, what are known as excess reserves of Depository Institutions. Fancy ways of saying the money is being spread between the fed, banks, and the TARP-stained companies.

The Fed through the IOER rate (interest on excess reserves), will try to control monetary policy. Make sure that reserves deposited by the banks don't make it into the system. Buy time, until a solution can be found.

That is why Bernanke has gone on record to say that the interest rates are likely to be in the 0-0.25% range for "some time".

Just imagine the inflationary pressure, if a tenth of those funds make their way into the market. The question is how long before the dam breaks?

The CBO has projected

... that the federal debt as a share of the economy will double over the next decade, from about 41% last year to 82% by 2019.

(this debt is the by-product of the various stimulus packages)

This begs the question, why the analysts on CNBC go around talking about US coming out of the recession by the end of this year?

Do they not realize what is really happening or are they more PR and analysts less?
Is the dollar really safe or is it headed the way of the Zimbabwean dollar.

Web sense

2009-07-20T10:11:00.000-07:00

Ever wondered who exactly uses the web and what are they doing?
Here's the result from a few places - based on region and apps using latest(2009) data (where available).

S.No.	Country	NS	IWS	Remarks
1	China	253m	298m	(density: 19%) [2006 figures: 103m]
2	US	220m	227m	(density: 72.5%) [2006 figures: 209m]
3	Japan	94m	94m	(density: 74%) [2006 figures: 86m]
4	Brazil	67.5m	67.5m	(density: 26% / 22.4%) [2006 figures: 13m]
5	India	60m	81m	(density: 4% / 7.1%) [2006 figures: 40m]
6	Germany	52.5m	55.2m	(density: 64% / 67%) [2006 figures: 50.6m]
7	UK	43.2m	43.2m	(density: 69% / 70.9%) [2006 figures: 37.6m]

They estimate that in 3 years - China will outnumber US 3:1 and along with India - will become the big 3. Asian piece of the pie by 2012 - 490m

Top languages: Mandarin, English, Hindi, Portugese, Russian

Top apps:
Web - 45%
Email - 6% (78% spam)
P2P - 25%
Streaming - 8%
VOIP -3%

Top countries by penetration, according to Swivel are:
Iceland, Sweden, Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Canada, Luxemborg, & US

(Apparently, when I publish the table it puts in a huge white space header. Its not there 'cuz of my code! Silly blogger!)

Building a Firefox extension

2009-07-19T05:40:00.000-07:00

Knowledge info:
-- some programming knowledge -- check
-- javascript -- so-so
-- understand XML files -- check
-- curiousity -- check

Useful tutorials/sites to help get you started.
@MozillaDev, @mozblog
@roachfiend
@lifehacker

Env setup:
some dev extensions

Just noting stuff for now. Should have something like a beta out, hopefully, in a month's time.

Perks of being close to a VC

2009-07-18T06:54:00.001-07:00

Apparently, 50% of Founders/CEO get fired in startups within the first year!

Barnaby Federer of the WSJ, take on this is simple and clear.

“If you ask a VC what value they add, and you get them after a few drinks, they’ll say, ‘We replace the CEO’ “,
he said. And that, he indicated, does not vary with the economic climate.

Here's how it plays out (source):

Usually happens over a friendly lunch.
VC mentions about a new person who can benefit the company greatly through his connections or industry experience.
(VC) Explains this person is not available to serve on the management team, he could probably help out as a director.
Would mean enhancing the board but this "star" guy deserves to be on it.
Founder, who wants to please his VC - reluctantly agrees
The new guy ends up becoming the leverage the VC needs to restructure the board
Enter the New CEO

Recommendations:
1. Don't recommend someone for a board set until you are satisfied that they can make an actual contribution
2. Have the guy work as a consultant until he makes a tangible contribution

Why do VCs do this?
- They generally prefer "their" people at the helm. Nothing personal.
- Also, people who are generally "ruthless" (eg. lacking in moral fibre) generally end up being closest to VCs the longest.

Airtel site -- down

2009-07-17T12:00:00.001-07:00

Chetan just highlighted this: Airtel website is down.

Internal Server Error
The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.
Please contact the server administrator, you@your.address and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.
More information about this error may be available in the server error log.
IBM_HTTP_Server Server at www.airtel.in Port 80

Amusing.

failover(rackspace) == exception

2009-07-06T19:49:00.001-07:00

Apparently, Rackspace, the guys who are supposed to be fanatical about support, didn't have any redundancy in place after power outage in one of their generators at their primary hosting location outside Grapevine, Texas.

They have apologized and are issuing service credits to those affected.. however, as one guy succintly puts it:

"... your lack of redundancy for your own internal operations is highly concerning ..."

Update: Went down again for bit
(but according to twitter, the bit was more like 1 hr.

3G Health in the US

2009-07-05T15:02:00.000-07:00

First some basics:

Am not going to start from the telephone... (but here is its history, for those interested)
2G networks:
-- basically meant for voice traffic - usually TDMA or GSM type of networks
2.5G:
-- GSM: typically enhanced for data via GPRS - which allows -- generally true throughput ~ 54 kbps (irrespective of reports of 125+kpbs) - at 125 kpbs - 1 mb file would take 90 seconds to download
-- GSM: EDGE, the so-called "2.75G" does offer upto 384kbps, but thats asymmetric, with 100 kpbs on the uplink side.
-- CDMA: typically around 50kpbs - with a burstable option upto 144kbps.
3G:
-- built for 1's and 0's -- but not a full IP stack - something like at the ethernet level - to adopt a networking stack paradigm
-- GSM: avg speed 800kbps -- 14 sec download for 1 mb file -- provided it supports HSDPA/USUPA - otherwise, you're looking at 384k sysmmetric.
-- CDMA: typically 155kbps at 1xEV-DO -- going upto 1.8mbps with Rev A
4G (as per LTE):
3G + QoS services + full multimedia support + full-IP-Stack support (AIPN) built-in + support for other interesting things like femtos, etc.
-- GSM: expect twice the speed of 3G (~ 1.5 mbps -- should take 7 seconds to download a 1 mb file) - even though people claim upto 50 <b>m</b>bps.
-- CDMA: ~ 27mbps
(for the sake of simplicity - am not getting into 5G and 6G, just yet)

A 3G pulse test was conducted in the US across the major telcos. Report here

Summary:
Verizon ~ avg 951 kpbs d/l - with good reliability and consistent speed in 89.8 test cases
Sprint 3G ~ avg 808 kpbs d/l - with 90.5 % reliability in test cases
AT&T ~ 812kbps d/l - with 660 kbps upload and 68% reliability - although they claim to be the fastest 3G provider in the US

-- Overall - signal strength indicators did not positively correlate with quality of connection
-- Verizon is generally fast and consistent.
-- Tap Sprint on the West coast.

Dynamic images

2009-06-16T13:55:00.000-07:00

A couple of points that I picked up from here:

1. If you are using dynamic images in IE, be sure to add this in your css:
img{-ms-interpolation-mode:bicubic}. Apparently, IE does this to save some processing power and enhance its speed.

2. smush.it does a better job of image resizing for the web than Photoshop's "Save for Web" option (I have verified this for the default option).

To buy or rent

2009-06-08T23:16:00.000-07:00

Dug out this interesting article from NY Times, which is an interactive graph - to help one understand when "Buying is better than renting" and the actual savings involved.

Dan Reeves also clarifies on some myths about it, specifically-
- in US - mortgage interest is tax deductible (I guess here in India, there's a yearly cap on it), but is more-or-less equiv to property taxes, so there is not real savings/cost.
- look at the savings margin between maintenance fees on a house - vis-a-vis - savings from rent - a house will typically eat 1K per month
- housing in the US has yet to bottom, very few places will see appreciation
   -- if you look at owning as an investment vs renting - investments have to give you a rate of return.
- look at rent ratio (if available) to help you decide

Other issues include:
- deal costs - including real estate agent's commission (Freakanomics, anyone?)

Incidentally, here's, BoA's, own calc on this.

State of Tech funcing in India

2009-06-07T12:07:00.000-07:00

A good read -- by a CEO who got funded from a non-India VC.

Are Ads in Malls effective?

2009-06-07T10:55:00.000-07:00

Nearly 95% of teen mall shoppers notice at least some kind of mall advertising according to
the study (pdf).

- 91% of teen shoppers notice poster display ads at the mall

- 85% notice hanging advertising banners

- 77% notice sampling

- 58% notice promotional events

- 57% notice TV/video screens

- 48% notice interactive displays/kiosks

- 31% notice moving images projected on the floor or walls

What will you pay for?

2009-05-19T18:07:00.000-07:00

Notes on things that I have picked up on this topic:

1. Dan Bricklin makes some valid points:
-- more than convenience, people will pay for things that enrich their lives - either through sharing personal feelings or just saying "hi" and that kind of stuff.
-- very few will really want to "do on mobile, just cuz they can." And "why not!" is not a valid business reason.

2. Convenience will be of value - for regular, mundane tasks. But given the nature of the beast, making money from the subscriber/consumer will be a very tricky affair. Not sure, freemium will work. My hunch is, not. The value line is simply too thin (or put another way - you can do it, but just make sure people privacy concerns are addressed, openly and ethically).

3. Everything else is too much of a nice to have - too many people wanting to do it first, chasing too few people wanting to "actually use it" (ie. too little money to be made) even through a mobile!

At the end of the day, one has to ask - does a product or service fit into my working day - as a value-add - or do I need to adjust to it?

Getting your word out there

2009-05-19T15:15:00.000-07:00

Want to do a press release - without having to go through the trouble of hiring a PR firm (and then teaching them about how to do PR in the "web 2.0" world).

Apparently, its easier than ever - and one doesn't have to hire a PR firm.

There are a plethora of sites that we more than willing to carry your press release for free (in the hopes of attracting eyeballs, getting free content, advertising), etc.. (a standard play)

Some of these include:

Free Press Release -- w/ tags

Press Release Point -- no tags

PR Log -- w/ tags

Post a Free Press Release -- no tags

iNewsWire -- no tags

Free Press Index -- no tags

Press Release 001

PR Urgent

Add PR

Press Media Wire

1888 Press Release

24-7 Press Release

Press Release Circulation

Made from India

BizEurope.com

eCommWire.com

Express-Press-Release.com

Free-News-Release.com

Free-Press-Release.com

Free-Press-Release-Center.info

FreePressRelease.co.cc

FreePressReleases.co.uk

IndiaPRWire.com

MediaSyndicate.com

MyFreePR.com

NewswireToday.com

PageRelease.com

PR.com

PR9.net

PR-Inside.com

PRCompass.com

PRurgent.com

PRzoom.com

PressAbout.com

PressBox.co.uk

PressFlow.co.uk

PressMethod.com

PressRelease.com

PressReleasePoint.com

TechPRSpider.com

TheOpenPress.com

There is always going to people who may view this as "cheap" but for small businesses and really young startups, it may be a good starting point.

Freemium working: an example

2009-04-07T23:57:00.000-07:00

Trent Reznor, Nine Inch Nails, seems to have been able to monetize his fan community even though he gives away his music for free.

Details

Am noting as this is something I want to track.

Bg on the freemium business model and NinWiki, SMM, Scott Monty's SMM blog.

Another example of freemium working and not working ...

China demographics

2009-04-05T14:21:00.000-07:00

China has:
- 300 million Chinese online users.
- Average age: very young – 66.7 % of them are younger than 29 years old and
- 35.2 % of them are teenagers
— Social networking and entertainment apps most popular
-- most make money via micro payments and virtual goods
-- QZone and 51.com - the biggest SNS
-- Keso is the most popular tech blogger out of China

source: techcrunch.

A possible security hole, if you offer "paid browsing"

2009-03-22T00:52:00.000-07:00

To start off, I am *not* advocating this. Am highlighting it more from a security perspective (as a hole and how it is exploited) rather than anything else.

Suppose you are at a hotel or an airport and you have a paid-browsing service.
Is it possible that someone can leech off your system?

Yes. It is possible to do IP over DNS and / or ICMP, if all you do is simple firewalling.

First, some defs:
IP - Internet Protocol - which is the foundation for most the web
DNS - is Domain Name System - this is the box that converts names to IPs and vice versa, ie. Its responsible for the "www" dogma.
ICMP - Internet Control Message Protocol

What do i need?
"ingredients" - a domain, a public ip and control of a dns, that's it!

How
Here's a tutorial on DNSTX and ICMPTX which details the configuration over DNS and ICMP, respectively.

Apparently, if UDP is open on port 53, one can even OpenVPN on it.

Awareness / tracking:
Use a packet filter, which support connection tracking - like PF.

Will do a follow-up post on how can one defend against it.

Jameslist

2009-03-14T06:14:00.000-07:00

It does exist. (No, its not a list of users of the 100% pure Java SMTP mail server - James or a list of people whose names begin with James )
What it is - is a Craigslist-of types for the uber-rich. In general, 7 figures wont cut it, here!

Right now, I am only recording the basic information here. Will update it down the line.

ADP 1.1

2009-03-13T17:08:00.000-07:00

== Android Dev Phone 1.1

Its available here. Release notes.

It offers:

an unlocked bootloader and

easy flashing support (so, yes, Flash is finally on Android, but beware, its a battery drainer).

The developer build is fully compatible with the retail one - so one can simulate "production" - which is something Apple should learn from.

Apparently, ADP1 will not let one access copy protected Market apps.

Mobile savvy countries ...

2009-03-11T10:22:00.001-07:00

World Top 10 - Countries With Highest Ratio Of Mobile Phone Users

Country	Subscribers	Mobile / 100 Inhabitants
Luxembourg	432,400	96.73
Taiwan	21,633,000	96.55
Hong Kong	5,701,700	84.35
Italy	48,698,000	83.94
Norway	3,737,000	82.53
Iceland	235,400	82.02
Israel	5,260,000	80.82
Austria	6,565,900	80.66
UK	47,026,000	78.28
Finland	4,044,000	77.84

source

iPhone sales and the App Store dynamics

2009-03-11T03:29:00.000-07:00

The yellow brick road of the iPhone world is not all that hunky-dory after all.

Countries were iPhone has yet to hit the mark.

Amidst all the hype of iPhone developers striking "gold", here is some data that is being shared by the owner of Dapple, and a gold-rusher, and one out of Australia. In general, people have been hesitant in sharing this info.

Pricing has also been an issue, with $20-apps a distant dream, as highlighted earlier.

Some data-bytes from Pinch Analytics analysis, that they shared:

App Store rankings tend to depend on a 24-hour rolling window of units downloaded

Appearing in a top 100 list increases daily new users by an average of 2.3x

The average price increase drops demand to 25%

You need 20,000 downloads to get into the top 25 now, versus 10,000 six months ago.

Only about 20% of users will keep using a free application beyond the first day.

After a month, only about 4% of users will still be using a free application.

Advertising is not a solid business model (it works, but it can’t replace paid sales revenue)

Finally, a list of iPhone dev resources (its a big list) - with some good video tutorials available for various levels.

P.S. One by-product of the App Store model, is that it encourages "typos and lower quality" (as making releasing new updates to an app is one way to get onto the "New apps" list - which has a direct correlation of sales.

Incidentally, on the dev-side, dates are a "pain" to deal with. Here is a way to deal with them, along with a technote on debugging, as well as a level 2 - intro into the iPhone.

ChIndia > elsewhere

2009-03-04T13:41:00.001-08:00

Layoff data broken down by time and industry. Largely US data.

(well.. any BRIC nation would do.)

Just say no, to Yxes

2009-02-23T04:06:00.000-08:00

It was just a matter of time before security became an issue on mobiles.

Latest incident:

Platform: S60 3rd Edition FP (Feature Pack) 1
Handset: Typically - Nokia (check here) and some LGs (KT610, etc)

Advice: Don't click on something you DON'T understand (or don't even want to).

Why?
It will destroy your contact / address book after trying to pass itself on to everyone in it via an SMS. It's fairly aggressive - it will exec on every phone reboot.

There is an SMS cleaner that Nokia provides, although its not clear, if it has been updated to address this particular incident.

Thankfully, my N71 is safe (but its successor, the N76 is not)! But, that's probably due to its age ... dunno if that's a good thing ... sigh!

Usage metrics and retention curves for the iPhone

2009-02-21T14:00:00.000-08:00

Ever wondered ...

Is Paid better than free?

If so, how much?

What are the current CPMs like

Key metrics to track for iphone usage / usage curve of an iphone app

All these answers, and more, here, ...

Mobile is at 10x subs over line services ...

2009-02-14T06:57:00.000-08:00

Medianama reports the latest subscription numbers:

Subscribers (Oct 2008)
– Mobile: 325.73 Million (up 10.42 Million)
– Broadband: 5.05 Million (up 150,000) / Statewise List of Broadband Subscribers
Subscribers (Oct 31st ‘ 08)
– Wireline: 38.22 Million (down 130,000)
– Teledensity: 31.50%

Internet pop distrib

2009-02-02T13:58:00.000-08:00

They say its according to comScore, Dec 2008. Have not been able to determine if its actually the case. Look at it as an unverified data point.

The numbers according to them

1. China: 179.7 million

2. United States: 163.3 million

3. Japan: 60.0 million

4. Germany: 37.0 million

5. United Kingdom: 36.7 million

6. France: 34.0 million

7. India: 32.1 million

8. Russia: 29.0 million

9. Brazil: 27.7 million

10. South Korea: 27.3 million

11. Canada: 21.8 million

12. Italy: 20.8 million

13. Spain: 17.9 million

14. Mexico: 12.5 million

15. Netherlands: 11.8 million

-- source

If one takes the proportions (not the values) to be reflective -- then one can infer ...

-- US ratio of internet pop to actual pop is roughly at 59%.
-- interesting to see this data trended over quarterly or half-yearly - would expect

---- US and Europe growth to have plateaued

---- China and the rest of BRICS to show some growth

-- given that the baby booming generation in the US will start retiring over the next couple of years
-- the web must evolve from its pro-20-to-30 something image - into something meaningful for the newly-retired generation
-- otherwise it risks alienating a significant chunk of its existing user base

-- obv, il8n, is going to take center stage in the next few years
-- the focus of the web will change as we move into a user-based dichotomy of the 20-30-somethings and 'post-career' bunches
-- if this doesn't happen, the US base may actually start diminishing as users will start seeing less and less value out of this medium - with users moving to other options such as the mobile and other 'targeted' offerings. In a sense, the web is targeted primarily at a 'consumer' who has money and wants to spend it. Even most of the 'social cause' and non-profit establishments on the web target such people.

-- other country bases will actually start leveraging their size (and reach) and that will affect the flavor of the 'vox populi'
-- most of the current web-celebs will start fading - countdown has already started
-- may even start seeing a new brand of politics - web, global, and 'representative' of a significant-sized 'focus group' that will make demands different from those espoused by their 'real-world' representatives, e.g. NRIs, travel, insurance, working styles, minority rights, etc.

... more later ... too tired right now.

Importance of a date+36

2009-01-31T15:56:00.000-08:00

Ever wanted to build an online brand?

Domain is the 'a' of the online world.

Anyone, who has ever bought/built a domain, understands the value that it provides - (i'm NOT going to enumerate all them ... but simple, web marketing begins with a domain )

The first step is tough - choosing a name

But arguably, the second step is the toughest - choosing - from the list of available ones - cause they are few and far between.

Then one goes through all the other steps of developing one's presences, marketing, monetizing, etc.

One last and sometimes overlooked piece is the who domain renewal process.

Effectively, the cycle follows something like this:

Key points:

in case you fail to renew before it gets into the redemption grace period - you can still get your domain - but will have to fork over 10x cost for 1 year

a domain typically becomes available to the general public - expire + 36 days

if you really want a domain badly, backorder - there are 3 major utils for this: NameJet, GoDaddy and Pool (with the last being the smallest) - setting up a backorder domain each requires significant infra investment - so its hard to duplicate. Also, depending on your domain, there is a "block of time" during which the name is made available - its during this interval that the backorder domain util - servers kick in - trying to nab the domain - as its a FcFs (first come, first served) basis.

if you able to snag someone else domain either through luck or a backorder - there is a 60 day wait before you can transfer to another registrar

nu-brand

2009-01-25T00:47:00.000-08:00

On the Social media front:

"Generic, faceless and mass 1-way broadcast communication is already a relic in the minds of the future generation. It’s a dated model. -- source"

The thinking is that brands will now have faces and attitude associated with them going forward. Possibly for some time.

The problem with this approach is that it automatically limits your audience. Rather than having one face, I think, brands will start having multiple faces - to address various demographics - esp of the long tail (which itself will be a non-trivial thing to balance, but that's what the PR and marketing team is for!). The really tricky part will be to have them share 'one voice' - a frequency match on key issues in an apolitical (.

Either way, aside from 'fame', it will provide companies that leverage such faces a way to really connect (e.g. personally), get valued feedback and build a platform for 2-way communication (while only supporting the brands political tones and not the other ones).

Just need to have some guidelines in place to prevent it from becoming a bitch-fest or a political mud-slinging circus.

The Linux alternative ...

2009-01-24T05:59:00.000-08:00

there is a linux alternative for almost everything out there.

the problem is that most don't know about half of them.

that's about to change ... with - what else, but the linux alternative.

So, what's your excuse now!

On a different note -- virtualization:
Anyone have experience with and Mac-On-Windows or Mac-on-Linux solutions other than PearPC or Mac-on-linux or maconlinux? It seems Pear is the best platform, for now.

Comparison of virtualization options

Intro to web bugs

2009-01-17T17:35:00.000-08:00

Perspective: Web

What is it?
It is generally an electronic image (aka single-pixel GIF, web bug, pixel tag, clear GIF, tracking beacon, web beacon, or tracking pixel).
- Generally transparent or white with 1x1 pixel dimensions.
- used in conjunction with cookies

Where is it applicable?
- web pages
- rtf mail
- mobile (wap)

What purpose does it serve?
- allows a web site to count users who have visited that page, or
- access certain cookies (how)?
- measure and improve the effectiveness of certain advertising.
- collects info such as demographic and usage information (IP address, the time and for how long, browser type and previously set cookie values)
- used by third parties to monitor the activity of a site.

How does it work?
Every time a page is opened, it also causes a 'hit' on the site hosting the 'tracking pixel'. Along with the fetch for the data, that site has access to page/navigation info, cookies and other such info. If you add parameters to the img src, you can also start sharing/collecting addl. info.

Performance impact?
tbd

What can I do about it?
-- detect by looking at the source code for the web page - look for img tags that are sourced from sites different from the rest of the page
-- turn off browser cookies - you will still be tracked as a visitor - but at least you will be anonymous
-- block the sites that are being pointed to - to totally disable it

Industry acceptance:
-- All the major companies have got together and put together a policy on this
-- Here's what the EFF has to say on this

Other:
An email header that is similar to is: Disposition-Notification-To ref: RFC 4021

Perspective: Mobile

How is it being used for the mobile?
-- used by WAP sites in a manner similar to the web

Foodie.mobi?

2009-01-17T13:07:00.000-08:00

I just don't know how I missed this!?!

To bring in the New Year cheer et al, we have launched a WAP solution for the Food industry.

Here's some background about the problem that its trying to solve and what it will do.

An out-of-the-box mobile (wap) solution for the order bookings. Essentially, it will allow (food) take-aways and delivery shops - like a franchise of Domino's or a Subway to use as a new sales channel.

We envision it will be something like a wap order booking solution. It will only collect orders and possibly collect feedback. It will not process them or manage financials.

Its a solution with which a mobile user can easily place an order - sms / email (both) can be sent to the vendor to login to the system (via their mobile phone and see the order details) - they then contact the person to confirm the order - they process it as per their existing system and user comes to collect (in the case of a take-away) or payment is collected on delivery.

It will provide location-sensitive information related to closest restaurants - of the mobile user, or his home/work.

Key business targets:
- takeaways
- mobile wap directories
- mobile location aggregators (something like a foodie.com - for the mobile)
- speciality restaurants

User stories:
Here are some of the user stories that we are attempting to address with the solution followed by some of the implicit attrib/characteristics associated with it:

Perspective: Customer
1. I feel like "Chinese" tonight (for an individual)
- implicit - fast food, chinese, veg / non-veg, offers

2. How about "Chinese" tonight (for a group)
- implicit - fast food, chinese, veg / non-veg, offers

3. Lets discuss this over dinner at "Chez Nous"
- implicit - gourmet restaurant, chinese, veg / non-veg, "waiting token"

4. "Birthday party" - lets celebrate with "pizza"

5. Its 10:30 pm! - who can deliver tandori food
- implicit - fast food, tandoori (ie. any speciality), veg / non-veg, offers

6. Its 10:30 pm, I'm starving - I just want to eat - who can deliver food the fastest to me?
- implicit - fast food, veg / non-veg, best delivery time, gps

7. I'm in the mood for some real good food
- implicit - veg / non-veg, best quality

8. I want to try something new
- implicit - veg / non-veg, exotic?, quality?

9. I want to try something new -- what's popular?
- implicit - veg / non-veg, frequency across speciality?

10. I'm on a budget - what are my options?
- implicit - veg / non-veg, average cost, type, quality, offers

Perspective: Restaurant - User
1. confirm / reject an order (due to time, etc) - (auto reject orders which have not been processed in 5, say, min)

2. Start an offer / promotion?
- across items, time, or dependencies (buy 1, 50% off on 2nd), start/end, comments (for example, 30min delivery guarantee invalid with offer)

3. End an offer / promotion?

Perspective: Restaurant - Manager
1. MIS - popular menu items, across day, month, delivery area, holidays, feedback, price range, veg / non-veg, popular combinations
2. Assign blanket offers - e.g. all HCL employees entitled to a 25% discount

It is being designed to have minimal "integration" needs - (ie - I just a phone number to send the sms or email to and a one time job of adding the menu items to the menu - along with the user's "logo").

Hosted vs. roll-your-own?
Will be offered as a hosted solution - that can be done off a subdomain of ours - or integrated with the respective customers domain (will use: wap.theirdomain.com) for hosting.

Deployment time : 1 week.

P.S. I'm back on my soapbox. ;)

The other side ...

2009-01-17T09:14:00.000-08:00

Up till now, have been largely spouting WAP based solutions, ideas and generally, getting on my WAP soapbox.

But, there is another world of the mobile phone (ok.. possibly 2 others, but lets leave things simple, for the sake of Java and this post).

And this is the J2ME world - you know - the download this app (and cross your fingers in the hope that it works ... world).

So, ever wondered, who and where the money is, what's popular, what's not, what the solution landscape looks like, trend-ding, etc ... here's fodder for the cause ...

a hosting service to avoid - znet india (now Znet Technologies)

2009-01-13T20:21:00.000-08:00

Want to share my experience with others, to save them some misery.

Background:
- hosting site and email with them for about 1 year
- renewed - probably out of laziness - for 1 year.

Buildup:
- after renewal - start getting emails saying renew or face penalty. I ignored, cuz I had better things to do.
- then get 1 mail saying - if I don't renew - then my service would be disrupted.
- I reply saying, saying - I had renewed - get your house in order - and stop sending me irritating mails.
- they reply - basically saying - we don't believe you have paid us - sorry.

Sh*t happens!
- next thing I know, my service has been cut!
- wow, great - just great!
- I send them a wtf? along with proof of payment receipt - and I get no reply for more than 16 hours.

So - my site and mail is down currently. I have contacted them to make restitution. But by now, considering that their unresponsiveness and utter incompetence, I think I am better of switching.

Wait a day or two, while I get it sorted out.

Until then - take my advice and STAY AWAY from ZDNET India.

Brainpulse and Net4India - seem to be ok - in one is looking for something in the NCR region.

Mobile Ad rates 25-40%-- this year

2008-12-16T13:19:00.000-08:00

mobile CPMs, or the cost to reach 1,000 consumers, now average about $15 compared with the average earlier this year of $20 to $25. And with the out-of-the-box, $40 to $50 CPMs of last year more or less history now, pricing is beginning to normalize ...

According to AdAge

The Playstation Home experience ...

2008-12-12T12:38:00.000-08:00

for MoGlee

India += 3G

2008-12-11T08:40:00.000-08:00

finally!

MTNL went live with 3G today.

Airtel sez gimme 6 months and it'll be affordable. That' remains to be seen!

Either way - the clock is ticking for us.

root cash analysis

2008-12-04T00:43:00.000-08:00

About 5-6 weeks back, I was going around saying that the impact of the credit crisis has hit VCs too as their PE does come from college (endowment) funds, to some extent.

Here's a better way to understand it.

When a VC "raises" a $100 million fund, what the firm really has done is gotten commitments from LPs that they will deliver $100 million over the life of the fund. The firm then issues "capital calls" over the next few years and gradually draws the money down. It is these calls that some LPs are reportedly starting to default on.

the deepening divide ...

2008-12-03T19:54:00.000-08:00

10% of US on food stamps, according to a Reuters article.

which by itself is ok.

The subscriptions to the program have been growing for the last 7 years - direct correlation with unemployment growth over the same period.

This leads to the concern. And the concern is long-term welfare dependence.
Typically, once one gets into this bracket, it take 5-6 years to get out of it.

And, irrespective of age, there does seem to be a direct correlation to lower employability. (obv the younger one is, when it happens, the greater the school dropout chances.)

Couple that with the lack of affordable housing for the weaker sections of the populace, and one will find that food money is being diverted to living costs. Extending the spiral.

So, you have
- more people who are poor,
- higher dependence on welfare,
- with marginalized employment options (reducing further due to outsourcing),
- frustrated over being unable to "find a place to live - in the world's only superpower",
- while they see the "asian minorities" (the only ones who seem NOT to be affected) living in the lap of luxury and being regularly lionized by media.
- and an economy stuttering on the brink of a depression.

Recipe for general social unrest.

Japan -= Nokia

2008-12-03T17:01:00.000-08:00

permanently!

Looks like 1% market share is a not a sustainable business model. Go figure!

Interestingly, Japanese market also exhibits a really interesting user characteristic:
- people generally do NOT upgrade / replace handset regularly
- why did it take them 15 years to figure this out?!

Onto other Rising-Sun data ...

They key mobile market segments that exist in Japan today, are:
* One Billing,
* SMS (Short Message Service),
* MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service),
* Email,
* IM (Instant Messaging),
* PTT (Push To Talk),
* Content Download/Streaming,
* Mobile Broadcasting,
* Mobile Portal/Community,
* Mobile Advertising,
* LBS (Location Based Services),
* Personal Tool/Storage,
* Mobile Mall and Mobile Auction,
* Mobile Banking and Mobile Trading,
* On Chip Banking, and
* On Chip Credit Service or Payment

Unconfirmed high growth areas:
* SNS - social networking sites
* Mobile coupons
* Mobile shopping
* and, of course, blogging - something they seem to have taken a liking to.

3G:
* penetration has grown to 90% (from 60 in 2006).
* 90% use the mobile web
* 50% phones have GPS
* "killer app" == "myNet" - Content produced by the subscribers themselves and forwarded among friends and family

Popular sites:
* Rakuten and
* Yahoo Mobile
* Mobagetown (5.5 mln users, 3 mln in 1 yr!) and
* Magic i-land (leader in mobile books)

Other trendy data according to, this vendor
- ring tones are passe - ring songs are IN!
- preferred compensation models for advertisers: CPC, CPA, and sponsored listings

The economics of free, the net, and public services ...

2008-12-02T02:06:00.000-08:00

This article outlines some of the factors that have kept ideas like
- internet via power cables
- laser powered net to your home
- muni-wifi
and why most of these continue to quintessentially be, "just around the corner".

Essentially, Tim Wu argues that providing a new service that does not provide either

a significant cost advantage, or

a superior service, and

a way to address the economics of sunk cost leveraged by existing players

is SOL.

He also alludes that, in general, you need to have all the above factors addressed - as most early movers are generally over-hyped, under-qualified and have limited understanding of the market they are looking to dominate.

If you build it, people, generally, will not come. Econ - 101.

mobile trends

2008-12-01T04:19:00.000-08:00

an interesting perspective ...

am recording for the future reference.
Personally, I found the presentation (the view / pictures part) to be really very well done!
Clear, sharp, concise and effective.

the minus points - too much text on half the slides.

Memorium ...

2008-11-28T15:24:00.000-08:00

Thoughts and prayers go out to the near and dear ones of the unfortunate casualties from the ongoing mumbai seige and terror strikes.

Incidentally, just found out Ashok Kamte was a senior ... 6 deg and all that ...

Let's all spare a moment in honor and memory ...

Bretton-nomics

2008-11-23T15:22:00.000-08:00

The Europeans always seem to be calling on the Americans to put their house in order by reducing their trade, or budget, deficits while Washington always wants the rest of the world to increase domestic demand (and thus buy more American exports). The Europeans tend to believe in international arrangements (such as fixed, or targeted, exchange rates); the Americans do not want any constraints placed on their domestic economic policies.

So in the early 1970s, the Bretton Woods system broke down because the Americans (to European eyes) neglected their responsibility to maintain the value of the dollar relative to gold; in contrast, the Americans felt they bore an unfair burden because Europeans had the option to devalue their currencies which the US did not. In the 1980s, the Americans saw their deficits as the short-term consequences of pro-growth, tax-cutting policies; rather than being forced to cut back, they wanted other countries (and particularly the Japanese) to adopt the same approach. Jump forward twenty years and the cast has changed, but the script remains the same; Washington now wants the Chinese to play the role of consumer of last resort.

According to the Economist

Sounds like a build up to "reforming the truly global institutions" (read - build up for setting up scapegoats out of the WB and IMF so that the US has leverage to help close out the Doha talks.)

Back then in took 2 years to complete - thanks in no small part to the painstaking research contributions by the concerned - coming on the cusp-end of a war (generally a good economic time).

Now, amidst the global, cross industrial "bailout banshee" everyone wants a "2-minute Maggi" solution - while karoke-ing "Washington Consensus"-nomics. Smells like a Drucker-Russia all over again!

Can you say - neo-world systems approach?

Lack of creativity or gumption?

2008-11-17T15:02:00.000-08:00

News out of the UK:

Apparently, there seems to be a real steadfast inertia (PC equiv == risk aversion) on the part of the creative team to put together creatives specifically tailored for the mobile. They seem to want to just throw the respective TV ads in its place.

Which is a real shame, as it essentially means that are not leveraging the unique demographic-level advantages that mobiles offer - which should lead to more effective ad targeting and coupled with other features such as frequency, yield management and loyalty programs - resulting in - higher brand awareness, development, recall and thereby, acceptance (== ROI)!

Some of the really unique and compelling reasons to leverage the mobi space.

So, it seems the ad execs really don't like being held accountable and management couldn't be bothered.

Sad.

Enocding MKV or OGM to (XVID) AVI

2008-11-17T06:16:00.000-08:00

Ever come across an OGM or a MKV file and try to rip it onto your DVD?
Tried burning either as a VCD/SVCD/DVD or data CD using your handy burner (Nero / Alcohol / etc)?

Didn't work, did it.

So, how does one do it?

1. Get mplayer. It comes with a handy little tool, mencoder. That's what your really need.

2. Use mencoder to translate, as follows:

"mencoder.exe "c:\video\video.mkv" -oac mp3lame -ovc xvid -xvidencopts pass=1 bitrate=1000 -o "c:\video\output.avi"

3. Go grab a bite to eat.

You should be good to go!

A great idea is to dump it onto a pen drive which hooks into your home theatre system (or get something like this).

Details:
-- mencoder.exe = this should either be in your PATH or give the full path to the exe on your system

-- "c:\video\video.mkv" = this is the input file (either mkv or ogm)

-- -oac mp3lame = translates the audio to mp3 using LAME

-- -ovc xvid = translates the video to xvid (or just use "-o copy" to leave the video source as is)

-- -xvidencopts pass=1 bitrate=1000 (only to be used with "-ovc xvid" above)

(if you are wondering about what bitrate to use: either don't specify the option or get a clue or use this calc )

-- -o "c:\video\output.avi" = output file

If you just want to encode one file format to xvid: use 2 pass for best results...
e.g.: mencoder input.avi -o output.avi -ovc xvid -xvidencopts pass=2:bitrate=3000

and add "-vf scale=320:240" if you want to rescale the video size.

Sampling rates vs bitrates ...

2008-11-17T05:43:00.000-08:00

An article on how your bitrate reflects upon you

Analog audio, e.g. sound, is a waveform. Waves of air pressure, or captured by a microphone to make an electrical signal representing the waveform.

Digital audio is an approximation made by measuring - sampling - the waveform at regular intervals. So the 'Sampling Rate' is how often the wave is measured.

Music reproduction equipment attempt to handle a range of audio frequencies from 20hz to 20,000 hz. To represent a sound you need a sampling rate at least double the frequency. Compact disc sampling is 44,100 Hz, Digital Audio Tape sampling is 48,000 Hz and are thus capable of representing 20,000 Hz signals.

A musical note is tuned on its basic frequency - its fundamental frequency. But each note has higher frequency harmonics or overtones typically multiples of the fundamental frequency.

A concert piano has notes ranging from 27 to 4,000 Hz. Human voice ranges from 80 to 1,000 Hz. But the fidelity of the sound includes capturing many of those higher harmonic frequencies as well. So you want to capture frequencies 4 times higher than the fundamental up to about 16,000 Hz which is the limit of the ears of most adults.

A telephone has a sampling rate of 8,000 Hz and thus handles sound frequencies up to 4,000 Hz. FM radio handles sound frequencies up to 15,000 Hz.

For a speech, a sampling rate of 8,000, 11,025 or 12,000 Hz should be fine. Further, the sound can be recorded as one channel Mono as opposed to Stereo for further space savings.

For singing, you want a higher sampling rate like 16,000, 22,050 or 24,000.

For instrumental music, or movie soundtracks you want at least 32,000 Hz sampling or the 44,100 or 48,000 standards.

Bit-rate, a number like 128Kb, is a different concept altogether.

A CD stores music uncompressed at a sampling rate of 44,100 Hz; a sample size of 16 bits and in stereo - 2 channels. The bitrate is 44,100 X 16 X 2 = 1,411,200 bits per second.

MP3 encoders vary in quality, but generally can produce a fair-quality representation of CD music using 128kb/s (11:1 compression ratio) and a very good representation at 320kb/s (4.4:1 compression ratio). AAC compression can produce equivalent quality with only 3/4 of the bits, so a 96kb (14.7:1) AAC file with the quality of a 128kb MP3.

The MPEG standards specify a list of bitrates, and all players should be able to handle all of them. Some MP3 encoders will allow non-standard bitrates that can make smaller files with adequate quality, but for compatability your bitrates should be on this list: 8, 16, 24, 32, 40, 48, 56, 64, 80, 96, 112, 128, 144, 160, 192, 224, 256, 320 kb/s

Standard sampling rates are: 8,000; 11,025; 12,000; 16,000; 22,050; 24,000; 32,000; 44,100; 48,000 samples per second (Hz)

Here are some typical sampling rates, their uncompressed sizes and standard mp3 bitrates that correspond to fair and very good compression ratios:

8,000 Hz, Mono = 128kb uncompressed : 8kb(16:1) to 24kb(5:1)

8,000 Hz, Stereo = 256kb 16kb(16:1) to 48kb(5:1)

22,050 Hz, Stereo = 705kb 48kb(15:1) to 144kb(5:1)

32,000 Hz, Stereo = 1mb 64kb(16:1) to 192kb(5:1)

44,100 Hz, Stereo = 1.4mb 80kb(17:1) to 320kb(4.4:1)

48,000 Hz, Stereo = 1.5mb 96kb(16:1) to 320kb(4.8:1)

-- credit: Wisegeek

US market realities ...

2008-11-16T16:43:00.000-08:00

Take-aways:

4,4 m subscribers for Video on Mobile (2% of total user base)
42% of TV watchers also watch content over the Internet
However, they spend >50% more time watching video on the phone vs. the Net

A18-24 watch longer, but A25-34 watch more (with A12-17 coming in a second) video on Mobile
Pie: MVT (mobile video time) = 3% of TV time; NVT (net video time) = 11% of TV time;

62% of mobile audience is in the 12-34 bracket

Gender-wise:
TV: F - 54%; M - 46%
Mobile: F - 46%; M -54%

Free seems the way to go:
36% (91m) own a video-capable mobile phone with 15% (13.9m) having a paid subscription for it.

73% of the online pop watches video online! - and its NOT news!

-- According to Nielsen

Meter down ...

2008-11-14T12:19:00.000-08:00

HotGigs reports on current rates for contractual work:

WAP hourly bill rates
WAP bill rate (low): $85.00
WAP bill rate (high): $95.00
WAP pay rate (low): $55.25
WAP pay rate (high): $61.75

Raises more questions than it answers
- type of project (small / med / large)
- location
- how recent is this information
- accuracy
- exp/skill set of people reporting, and
- onshore / near-shore?

Still, some noise is better than the sound of ().

Demographic Potpourri

2008-11-02T14:12:00.000-08:00

Nielsen says Indian's play games, email and bollywood on phones.Sports is a distant 5th!?!

As expected almost 50% girls gossip on phones actively; 26% boys.

Estimated total number of social networking mobile users: 4 mln US; 800K UK. Every other progressive market is at the 2% of population level (give or take). All chasing the elusive pie-in-the-sky.

All the existing cell phone user base, almost 85% expect to use the net through the cell phone. I hope they all have 3G access!

Haste makes waste?

2008-11-01T04:55:00.000-07:00

Michael Shayer of King’s College London has been testing children’s thinking skills since 1976, when he and colleagues started studying the development of reasoning abilities in young people. In 2006 and 2007 he got 14-year-olds to take some of the same tests as 30 years earlier. The findings, to be published early
next year, are sobering. More than a fifth of youngsters got high scores then, suggesting they were developing the ability to formulate and test hypotheses. Now only a tenth do.

The tests did not change, so the decline was not caused by different content or marking. And since they explored the ability to think deeply rather than to regurgitate information or whizz through tasks, the results matter deeply. In the purest test of reasoning, pupils were shown a pendulum and asked how to
find out what affects the rate at which it swings. “Their answers indicated whether they had progressed from the descriptive thinking that gets us through most of our days, to the interpretative thinking needed to analyse complex information and formulate and test hypotheses,” Professor Shayer explains.

In 1976 more boys than girls did well, a fact the researchers put down to boys roaming further out of doors and playing more with tools and mechanical toys. Both sexes now do worse than before, but boys’ scores have fallen more, suggesting that a decline in outdoor and hands-on play has slowed cognitive development in both sexes. Britain’s unusually early start to formal education may make things worse, as
infants are diverted from useful activities such as making sand-castles and playing with water into unhelpful ones, such as holding a pen and forming letters.

from the latest issue of The Economist, Nov 1, 2008

wireless trends

2008-10-31T18:06:00.000-07:00

-- near-field communications (NFC), Wibree, and Ultra Wideband
-- M-RFID - take your normal RFID and turn the tables ...
-- WiMax
-- Video Streaming

and the changing landscape ...

If we look back over the last fifty years, it typically took years for new technologies to reach their first million products in the field. It took the colour TV eight years to reach the million mark. The PC was faster, at 28 months, the Palm Pilot set a new record at 9 months. The iPod took just 17 days.

Wireless technologies have had even slower evolution. From the first to the millionth 802.11 chip took a leisurely 4 years. Bluetooth did better, but was still a slow starter taking 17 months from the first product to the millionth one, taking just another 5 years to get to the billion mark.

King of the handset hill

2008-10-31T14:01:00.000-07:00

Here's what the latest shipment numbers look like, courtesy Fierce Wireless

As expected, Apple is missing this party - though a report pegs this at 2.2%.

Salvation for testing on blackberrys

2008-10-31T12:53:00.000-07:00

DeviceAnywhere now provides Blackberry's! (iPhone 3G was already supported!)

If the wallet is deep enough, there is very little out there that replicates their solution. And if you think, emulators can cut it - you just haven't been in a production level environment!

Is SMS getting stale?

2008-10-31T12:24:00.001-07:00

Cellular News posted an article highlighting that Europeans received fewer SMS ads YoY (110 vs 112). Given that mobile ads are relatively a new thing - this is either a blip or an inflection point on its acceptability curve. Something worth tracking.
Have reproduced a table from the above article below.

	Aug-07	Aug-08	% Change	Aug-07	Aug-08	Point Change
Downloads for mobile phone	40,792	35,915	-12.0%	4.4%	3.9%	-0.6
News or information	25,929	22,122	-14.7%	2.8%	3.2%	0.4
Mobile phone or plan	32,222	31,574	-2.0%	4.6%	4.7%	0.1
Entertainment	12,644	11,230	-11.2%	4.3%	5.1%	0.7
Total Mobile + Media Sectors	111,587	100,841	-9.6%	4.1%	4.1%	0.0
Clothing/Fashion	3,982	5,503	38.2%	5.8%	6.4%	0.6
Restaurants	1,037	1,424	37.3%	11.6%	15.5%	3.9
Cars	4,407	3,731	-15.4%	11.2%	7.9%	-3.3
Food	1,413	2,162	53.0%	9.2%	12.6%	3.4
Financial services	8,963	9,956	11.1%	3.7%	4.7%	1.0
Consumer electronics	3,957	4,647	17.4%	6.3%	6.7%	0.4
Travel	5,779	6,602	14.2%	4.9%	5.8%	0.9
Total Non-Mobile/Media Sectors	29,539	34,024	15.2%	6.2%	6.8%	0.5

A peek into the mandi madness ...

2008-10-31T06:14:00.000-07:00

Medianama posted some interesting sub numbers ... Mobile stands at 315.24 Million -(reproduced their data table below).

This is well on its growth path (>50% covered) as outlined earlier.

They also have a summary of some of the discussions held at the recently concluded TiECon 2008.

The market scene seems to be one of "potential" as the telecom operators are loathe to venture out of their walled gardens, unlike their brethen in other parts of the world.

Voice-based VAS? Enter the voicesite!

Onto financing: Govind Sankaranarayanan, CFO of Tata Capital put out an article saying seed now for the future ... and oddly enough, I've been thinking the same thing over the past few weeks.

And lastly, something of immediate relevance, business lessons from the great depression.

Tinted glasses

2008-10-12T15:59:00.000-07:00

Reproduced w/o permission.

A toon on the current financial crisis ...

In case the URL doesn't open - its: http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=2959

Second - a political one - as the US election is just around the corner.

and finally, a link to the "Money as Debt" video on the way banks work ...

A global crisis ...

2008-10-05T16:32:00.000-07:00

An excerpt from a recent issue of The Economist:

European banks were collapsing at a dizzying pace even as Christian Noyer, governor of the Bank of France, declared that “there is no drama in front of us.” Hypo Real Estate was just one of five banks in seven European countries bailed out in three days. Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands carved up Fortis, a big bancassurer; Britain nationalised Bradford & Bingley; Belgium, France and Luxembourg saved Dexia; and Iceland rescued Glitnir. Separately, Ireland took €400 billion of contingent liabilities onto the national balance sheet, when it stood behind the deposits and debts of its six large banks and building societies. You have to wonder what Mr Noyer regards as dramatic.

Why are the non-US banks so worried? Their market exposure is high. Effectively they have been lending more than they have. Roughly $1.40 for each $1 of deposit compared to $0.96 to a $1 in the US. Coupled with the white elephant - junk American securities - they bought, housing busts in their respective countries (UK, Ireland, Spain - to name a few) and lack of oxygen (credit) in the system, have left most banks reeling. Mind you, its not just the west that is feeling the pain. Strong ripples have wafted through Russia, China, Hong Kong and even, here, India.

Short-term cover money is only available at exorbitant rates.

This is leading to everyone hoarding cash: banks and business. New products are being canceled or delayed; jobs are being pruned; credit exposure is highly marginalized and new construction is all, but, happening, and orgs are undertaking cost cutting.

All in all, seems like a depression is imminent - although, most are reluctant to admit this.

More than just trilateration ...

2008-09-29T21:19:00.000-07:00

In the evolution of MobiPorter's solutions portfolio - the latest entrant announced is GPS.

How does GPS work? Here's a nice explanation.

So, other than finding a location of your favorite car, or restaurant or something, what other types of solutions could GPS factor in?

Here's a partial list - some collated and some original ideas.

GPS family of solutions
-- Tour / audio guides
-- Treasure hunt
-- Logistics co-ordination / asset location / attendance systems
-- fleet management
-- early and best response management systems
-- route-auditing -- see where someone has been
-- geo-coding / geo-tagging - e.g. highlight location of delivery of goods.
-- geo-fencing -- boundary management
-- route optimization
-- location-based advertising
-- location-based loyalty programs
-- crazy idea - point of sale solutions for a car -- literally driving away with a car!

eMarketing Intro

2008-09-14T14:12:00.000-07:00

The 7C's of eMarketing

Am gonna doodle stuff on this. WIP.

Brick-n-mortar had 4 Ps - product, price, place, and promotion. Old news.

eMarketing has 7Cs

Contract - goal: what will be your core USP

Content - what appears on the website and its hot-linked websites

Construction - how are you giving customers convenience? what's one-clickable and automated?

Community - site-to-user and user-to-user forums build grassroots loyalty

Concentration - targeting via online behavioral profiling

Convergence - how are you providing an interactive experience that leverage convergence of TV and the Net?

Commerce - monetization angle - direct to user or commission-based referrals based models?

The latest scourge of the online world ... (Market update - part 3)

2008-09-12T14:47:00.000-07:00

... coming to a mobile near you.
Social Networking for mobile.

What are people doing?
Honestly - nothing much. At least in the west.
- update blogs - bah - who wants to type so much?!
- view friends' blog - ok - passive activity
- manage photo captions - barely interactive
- send and receive message - sigh ... 'sms'
- edit profile - how many times is THAT gonna happen
- status/mood - i'm happy, i'm sad, i'm busy, .... damn it, I'm bored!
- check your inbox - useful - but largely a RIM-recipe - ref: MobiPorter's @Mail solution - if you don't want to support RIM
- send email - wow!
- upload pictures to your favorite social network site - ok
- build sites - ho hum
- send greetings - ok

Jamie raises an interesting observation - corollaries follow:
- instead of finding ways to break the "walled garden", they are essentially creating "gardens of disdain"
- people have no real idea what will compel people to live off the medium
- none of the current players really have any idea about the future of social networking
- their respective "(g)rand (u)nified (t)heories" are really nothing more than 21st century "snakeoil", largely designed to keep their investors doe-eyed. (the plumber deserves the credit for the g.u.t.-acronym)

Probably being politically incorrect, but if these guys really had their act together, they would be "driving" the next facebook, rather than waiting for get acquired by it.

Am not criticizing their business strategy, am questioning their commitment to a cause - from a product perspective.

Things that they SHOULD be doing -
building (eco)systems to support the "ad hoc" and the "ad nauseum" (control freaks)
-- ad hoc stuff
-- hey (all), lets go to this new place that opened and do a bash / do a group movie / poker at Joe's tonight
-- take me to where my friend is hanging out
-- take me to where my friend isn't
-- send all my friends - the directions to the party along with a custom invite to let them through the door
-- group karaoke / counselling / disc
-- interactive gaming
... you get the idea

Advertising is leading the monetization angle in most cases.

for the "ad nauseum"
-- allow them to track stuff - fleet management
-- email and app-based alerts
-- branding - and sharing -
-- polling to find out where to go / hang out / eat / sleep / drink / whatever

in general, start looking at
-- location based updates (use: X-Forwarded-For header) -- these guys really seem to have a great pulse on this
-- recommend a nearby restaurant / a nearby bar/pub
-- recommend a nearby event - based on my facebook/social demographic
-- feedback systems
-- permission-based advertising
-- video streaming

Key take-aways. Build an ecosystem. Live a cause. Pepper it with value. You can't go wrong.

Key tech drivers, at this point:
- no single silver bullet - sms, wap, video, gps -
- look at "enterprise" level solutions, rather than stand-alone

DSLR and to UV or not to UV?

2008-09-10T12:50:00.000-07:00

Am contemplating buying a camera. A friend suggested the Nikon D40.

Which, all things considered, this seems like a good entry-level choice at its price point. Something that suits me to a 'T'. Started doing some research and ran into the whole - "UV filter" disc.

Essentially, I've come to the conclusion that for dslr's, one is not needed. Some reviews, including this one kind of made things abundantly clear.

Cheese!

Market data - part 2.1

2008-09-07T10:40:00.000-07:00

A short note:

A recent report from ComScore outlines a couple of interesting facts. Illustratively, its says - US 3G user base grew 80% over last year as compared to 47% to Western Europe!

Secondly. amid all the hype of "we love 3G", and the sharing of matching percentages (28.4 & 28.3, respectively) the fact that was hush-hush'd for the non-esoteric was, the Western Europe user base is *twice* that of US. I would think its harder to maintain a percentage as the user base grows especially over a medium lacking a "killer app".

A major pain in the ....

2008-09-04T16:22:00.001-07:00

Here are some of the major pain points associated with Mobile solutions, today:

* User demographic is highly concentrated on lazy 15-35 yr olds.
   - Highest participating group: 15-25 yrs
   - Very limited success with 35+
   - Usage tends to be highly sporadic and fragmented, yet habitual
   - 9 out of 10 users NEVER download apps
   - most view it as a social / collaborative tool
   - SMS is accepted as long as its costs are reasonable.

* Mobile Search / Advertising
   - web surfers population can only grow
   - WAP sites can only grow
   - ROI for mobile advertising is still low
   - Discovery is a headache and Entry is painful
   - High entry barrier. Solutions driven by back-to-back agreements between content provider / solution provider / carrier. Initial investment/cost of rollout is high.

* Mobile Web
   - Whose wap'ing? 1 out of 3 mobile users. Phones need to become "like email": push/pull; async; attitude; productivity tool, rather than a "play thing".
   - Voice-2-Text is really needed!

* Mobile Applications / TV / Video
   - Solutions don't come cheap. Refer Advertising above.
   - Small players have limited windows of opportunity; unless they are a one-stop shop, provide Adult content or a major content studio
   - Having said that, there is a strong case for "Wayne's World or Trekker" types to be come successful. Those that leverage and focus exclusively on established "pockets" of interest.

* Mobile Games
   - WAP versions have some ground to cover.

Fortunately, MobiPorter's solutions can help you in almost all aspects. Contact us today!

The law of averages & best practices ...

2008-09-04T00:10:00.000-07:00

a satire ...

Market data - part 2

2008-09-03T14:39:00.000-07:00

Mashup of various data nuggets scrounged up from the net:

Here's what's drawing people on cellphones - across various countries.

"Picasso", music, and sms ads largely with accessing info/news via browser being 4th across the board

in US, music actually dropped some notches - which is quite strange given the size of that market!

Sms ads seem to a phenom in most countries esp. France. Expect that to evolve with time

I get the distinct feeling that most people there are not content with the options being provided to them. Ergo, the low adoption and acceptance rates, 'cept for a few things like music and photo sharing. It would help to learn something from the Japanese.

Moving on. There seems to be a slowdown in the mobile growth in US. That was expected. More interestingly, the mobile internet penetration there is about 15.6%. India with close to 300 mln mobile users - is roughly at 1.8%. Report. And here's what they are doing on
it compared to their friends across the ocean.

The Indian mobile user base is expected to hit 600 mln by 2011 - that's roughly doubling in 2 yrs time! Very few markets which have such a growth trajectory. An exciting place to be in the mobile space, for sure!

Wireless subscriber growth is slowing due to market saturation, with US carriers adding only 26 mln new subscribers in the next five years to reach 266 mln in 2013. Adoption by teens and young adults will become nearly ubiquitous as the majority of the demographic already have cell phones, and 31% of parents with children ages 10 to 12 reported that their children also have cell phones, according to Jupiter Research

Trak.in has an article on the most popular mobile sites in India. I find it a little dubious. I don't think there is a full disclosure on how they collected and collated this info. Half of these sites are not used by anyone I know. Maybe I'm just outside the demographic.

CIOL reports that - The emerging trends of VAS in India show that growth is coming from the bottom of the pyramid with low end users (with about 59%, 175 mln). Hi-end users number roughly 7 mln (~2%).

The report also went on to say, that pre-paid mobile users are the main target of ads. Another reason to switch to post-paid!

Lastly, as John Chambers has been famously quoted - the shift is going to move from "You to Us". Expect - advertising, payment and social networking to be at the forefront of the mobile growth horizon.

More later ...

WAP and games?

2008-08-31T10:59:00.000-07:00

That's right! WAP & games! And it makes perfect sense.

And the leader in WAP development in India continues its innovative approach by extending its portfolio to include WAP games!

What's so great about WAP games? Here's some key points:
1. No firmware limitations
2. Bye bye - 1.4k deck and 160 character SMS limits
3. So long, long development cycles
4. Welcome - shorter development and release cycles
5. Certifications take on a whole new meaning
6. Costs are more manageable

The down side:
- Limited color options
- Limited color/bit depth
- Lack of an event-driven environment
- Limited programming options
- Unable to support effective "board" style play

How does it work
1. User requests URL; Phone connects to nearest tower
2. Tower passes request to WAP gateway
3. Gateway decodes, passes result to server @ URL (HTTP call)
4. Server processes request - returns data to gateway
5. Gateway may encode, passes data to phone
6. Phone displays

Other than this, have put together some key considerations that one should keep in mind:
- Majority of the action shifts to the server-side, so be careful w.r.t:

server-side performance

(server side) resource management

session management

keep each user footprint small

- User dynamics

expect users sessions to be fragmented - each spurt < 5 min

total game lenght should be < 10 min

must-have: high persistence - ability to pause/resume frequently

keep it simple

variable display sizes from - 100 by 100 pixels, 1-bit graphics and lack of on-board processing

users despise entering text

entering URLs is a big pain!

maximize URL-link menus

- There has to be a clear value proposition: as people are paying by data transfer
- Consider incorporating Location-based features
- Consider re-playability aspect

What types of games as suited for this format?
- turn-based, non-board games

trivia

role-playing

gameshows

text adventures

non-board based strategy games

Other ideas include:
- stock trading or financial competitions and fantasy sports contests - something like ESPN Super Selector.

Proximity-playing - the bluetooth angle:
- expect single player, but be ready to offer - "nearby" players to join - proximity-multi-playing.

Using a Content Adaptation server, such as the one provided by MobiPorter, can easily extend the game across a plethora of handsets with minimum maintenance overhead while maintaining quality.

Gotcha's
- avoid select lists
- avoid soft buttons and tables
- Cookies are not always available, so use url encoding
- avoid imagemaps and unnecessary network traffic

Arguably, the main format for games in North America. Accepted in Europe. With the emergence of level4 browsers, expect the space to really start heating up!

Market Data - Japan

2008-08-31T10:11:00.000-07:00

Came across some interesting mobile market data.

Am jotting/sharing -

Ref URL:

Excerpts below:

The mobile business in the walled garden of the carriers grew by
23% in 2007 to 10 billion dollars, according to a report
released by the Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and
Communications in July. However, the garden is getting very
crowded - there were more than 16 thousand mobile sites listed
on the carrier decks offered by 4,300 companies.

Mobile content sales accounted for about 4 billion dollars of
which 1.5 billion was spent on music. Due to the introduction
of flat data rate plans by the carriers, users do not have to
bother anymore about data usage, causing a shift to
consumption of rich contents. Downloads of full-length songs
reached 1 billion dollars, while the traditional ring tone
business fell 34% to 500 million dollars. Sales on e-books,
the fastest growing content, doubled last year to 200 million.
Popular genres are books about current TV dramas and movies,
mystery, comics, and history.

Mobile commerce is growing faster than the content business –
total revenues were about 6.5 billion dollars in 2007.
M-commerce is divided in three categories: shopping, services,
and transactions. Services - including sales of concert tickets,
hotel and restaurant reservations, airline and train tickets –
grew by 41% to 250 million dollars. The size of the mobile
advertising and promotion market was 550 million dollars in
2007.

Like on the PC, the search on mobile phones is a battle between
Google and Yahoo! Contrary to the PC world, MMD Labs, a market
research firm, found that Google Mobile is number two in the
Japanese market with a share of 52.5%, while 74.9% frequently
uses Yahoo Mobile. Most popular search categories are artists
and comedians, music, and vocabulary. Almost 40% of all
searches are for multiple key words.

A recent user panel survey by Net Asia revealed that
26% is watching mobile TV. It is not clear how the business
model around OneSeg will be defined

Chinese democracy and the Day that never comes

2008-08-29T00:27:00.001-07:00

Something completely not-related to Mobiles.

Someone gave me copies of the leaked upcoming GnR album - Chinese Democracy.

Feedback - they are trying hard, trying new stuff, yet trying to stay true. However, they seem to have lost the magic. Average songs, mashed-up rhythms and off-key singing / or at least its not blending into the song (or vice versa).

Overall: For a band that's been trying to release an album for almost a decade and-a-half costing as many millions of dollars - it was disappointing. Nowadays, GnR is shooting blanks. Just, stay away.

Onto - part 2.

The other thing I received was a copy of The Day that Never Comes - off Death Magnetic from the band that doesn't believe in brevity when it come to song titles (almost as bad as Meatloaf)

The video at Leeds, Aug 22:

The song starts off a little strange - but the rhythm and beat stay true and for a long song - its needed - otherwise, one would think its a complete jigsaw of melodies.

There is the occasional interlude that seems out of place, but that's par for the course with these guys.

Solo's are back! Although with this song - it wasn't that great, but not complaining.

The great thing about this band and their music is that you can always feel the energy coming out of the song (provided you listen to this genre). And that is true with this song.

The lyrics are ok.

The song really kicks in from the bridge and really gets going (sounding like the band of old) and ends on a high.

Overall: If this is a precursor to the rest of the album, i'd say, for once, believe the hype!

Other songs off the album include: Cyanide, My Apocalypse, and of course continuing the angst series, The Unforgiven III

New joinee induction

2008-08-29T00:21:00.000-07:00

Apparently, we have a new joinee in our company.

Time to indoctrinate (warning - extremely corny and cheesy bit follows):

May you WAP forever,
Be the bane of j2me!
J2me, shall your phone blight!
Let your warcry be heard far and wide - X H T M L - MP!
Graceful shall be your bandwidth consumption
extended your battery life be.

Chorus:
"Joie de vivre ... "

Mobile / VAS data - Part 1

2008-08-24T11:59:00.000-07:00

One of the crazy things about India, is how everyone wants to be information hog! Its just amazing how insecure and petty people are with sharing information. Although I am not a proponent of "Information WANTS to be free"; I am a staunch supporter of the I-really-really-really-hate-information-hogs-who-hog-for-no-real-reason.". I am all for confidentiality, etc w.r.t. commercial enterprises, etc. but public and for-public institutions being like that, really gets my goat, so to speak. But that is a topic for another post. Not this one.

In an effort to start collect, collate and consolidate market data, I am going on start making a collection of market data that I am able to slurp, peppered with some of my thoughts.

Starting off:
market research report

which leads to believe:
-- That mobile subscriptions at almost a 19x multiple over all Internet/Broadband subs. 24x if you just compare against Internet.
-- I wonder how close mobile penetration figures tally with those of TV and cable ?
think mobi-TV ! :p
-- WAP is an untapped market! Largely, because of cost, hungry telcos and lack of infra by telecom providers.
Less than in 1 in 12 people use VAS. I would wager that's largely due to the SMS bombing that happens.
-- 6.1m GPRS users. That's like 3% of the overall user base! The optimist in me, screams - Growth opportunity! ;)

Mobile pundit has some interesting facts in its article. Reproducing an excerpt here:

" ...
Indian Idol got more than 55 million votes via SMS between Nov 04 to Mar 05. At Rs 3 per SMS, that is Rs 16.5 crore (Rs 165 million). The telecom companies made Rs 11.5 crore (Rs 115 million), and Sony about Rs 5 crore (Rs 50 million).

Radio Mirchi gets 40,000-45,000 SMSes a day.

Indian music industry got about Rs 140 crore (Rs 1.40 billion) or 20% of its legitimate revenues from mobile music in 2005.

Shridhar Subramaniam, MD, Sony-BMG says a hit film can generate Rs 1-1.2 crore - about 5% of an album’s sale on mobile revenues. Its big mobile hit of the year is Rang De Basanti.

Saregama makes half its money on ringtones through its catalogue. It “sells nothing but ringtones. With new releases, we have the rights to images and wallpapers”, says Sarkar.

The big media firms — Star, Sony and BCCL, among others — have set up entire divisions for mobile entertainment.

Star CEO Peter Mukerjea has maintained that mobile telephony should eventually bring in 30% of the company’s revenues. And Sony will set up its own backend for digital downloads this year. ..."

Two more ... 1 here ...

Currently, the Indian market is split roughly at 60:30:10 between mobile operators, media companies and aggregators. Mobile operators argue that they make the investment and control the consumer, so they should keep a lion’s share of the mobile data pie.

and lastly ...

India has one of the lowest spectrum allocation per GSM operator in the world, about 6 Mhz against, over 25 in the UK or over 20 in China.

Just 15-20% of the phones in India have colour screens and/or cameras.

The revenues from VAS sector in India have been growing at an annual rate of 30 per cent and is likely to grow at a faster pace in the coming few years ...

Another useful data link

Revenue share between telcos & content providers / aggregators is 70:30, substantially more skewed in favor of telco than in other countries - further aggravated by lack of payment mechanisms.

That's enough to chew on for a bit. Will add more later.

A little history and a peek forward

2008-08-19T03:34:00.000-07:00

This blog is supposed to focus on my rants/raves/general focus around the mobile/wap world. Am working at the leading WAP solutions company in India, MobiPorter. At MobiPorter, we are trying to help organizations who are currently "on-line" in terms of web-based, leverage the enormous potential of the mobile platform. We are experts at mobify-ing anything and across technologies. Simply put, we help put the net on the third-screen.

Some of the recent developments in the whole mobile world has started a snowball effect. Initially, all mobile development used to be done either via C++ or J2ME apps (largely client side with a massive certification and maintenance headache involved. The other option: was to create applications in WML - the Wireless Markup Language. This wasn't a feature-rich language, but it did provide a small smattering of "html"-like options and then some. However, the key thing, here was that WML is not HTML. And, unfortunately, couldn't be translated into HTML, either (never the twain shall meet-types). So, the bridge between the two worlds (the online/Web) and the mobile seemed non-existent. No joy!

But don't abandon hope just yet! Along came a knight. And that knight was: XHTML-MP! More details can be found in my whitepaper.

But, was this really the silver bullet? In many and important aspects, the answer is a 'Yes'. However, there were some casualties. WML veterans would still be griping over them.
These included the following:

XHTML MP does not support decks and cards
XHTML MP does not support timers
XHTML MP does not support events (bummer!)
XHTML MP does not support variables (ouch!)
XHTML MP does not support client-side scripting (ugh!)
XHTML MP does not support programmable softkeys (pain!)
XHTML MP does not support the tag
XHTML MP does not support the format attribute for input fields
XHTML MP does not support posting of data with anchor links

So, while some of the above were "acceptable" losses. Some clearly weren't! It did push the WAP phenom back a bit.

But lo! There is hope at the horizon.

With the advent of Level-4 browsers in most smartphones today (expect them to hit mass-market in the next 12-18 months), most of the above issues are bound to be confined to the annals of history.

So, exactly what is a Level 4 browser? If you haven't heard of that term either, relax, you are not alone. Its a PIB! It tries to identify those browsers that are HTML 4 compliant. Currently, most are either 3.2 or lower (depending on your make, model and firmware).

So, will that solve the woes of the web world? Will this be the silver bullet? Will one finally be able to 'write-one and run-EVERYwhere'? Will everything be just an interface or a translation away?
Is Business Process Management truly possible?

Hardly! (But since when did that stop the "P. T. Barnums of the world" from trying ... ;) )

But it will nevertheless be a huge step towards helping the online world embrace the mobile one. One of the products we are developing at MobiPorter, is a catalyst to help organizations leverage all that is on offer today, and some of what's coming in tomorrow - to allow them to maximize their investments and leverage technology is a truly enabling manner (rather than 're-inventing the wheel').

After all, the future IS mobile! (for now, at least! ;) )

P.S. if you notice carefully, some of the links provided are actually wap-friendly... aren't I clever .... heh heh :p

A brand new day ....

2008-08-10T18:19:00.000-07:00

Hi, Am a Thirty-something Software Professional. Based out of Delhi/NCR. This is a personal weblog. The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer (past or present).

So, blogging is something I am starting off now. Its a new experience. Don't know how much I will like, want to do it, will feel comfortable with it or even if its stuff that I want to jot or remember down the line. But here goes, besides, its better to try and reject, than not try at all (at least with the non-life-threatening or "principle-safe" things).

Could I have started blogging earlier? Yes.
Why didn't I? Partly not really excited/thrilled with the whole blog-idea and secondly, I don't really want to start something I don't want to continue.

So, why now? Well, I have been wanting to pen my thoughts down for a while. Wasn't sure if a blog, especially a public-facing one would have been the best forum for it and also wasn't sure what I wanted to write about regularly. So, what's changed? For one, a few friends and I have launched a company in the mobile & software development space here in India. Secondly, am using this as a forum to share it with all of you. Thirdly, I expect things to start getting a little crazy over the next 12-18 months. So, thought this would an interesting way to doc it out. I do plan to be regular.

Those were the primary reasons. Did have a couple others.

However, as I started thinking and thinking and thunking ... I started bouncing, scraping, bumping, jostling, jumping, grinding, rubbing and tossing against all kinds of ideas. Secondly, I was trying to assimilate lots of information, but not really regurgitating it (to make sure that I really understood it) and lastly, I started developing this weird notion, that I was loosing my touch with prose. The last part's probably already happened. ;)

The last thing is that i would probably look at this as a medium to get away from the JD Salinger'ish type of prose that affects most of the bloggerati today. Funny, irreverent, easy-to-read, and probably far something that most are comfortable with. I have nothing against all these points. However, personally, I would like to try my hand with different styles. For me, that would part of the fun of this whole adventure. Otherwise, it would become too one-dimensional (at least from one perspective). The day is young, so who knows ...

To summarize: go visit MobiPorter, that's my company. We aim to be the leader in WAP and Video Streaming Solutions in India.

Cheers,