All Posts by Himanshu Sheth

|In: Technology|Last Updated:

Source : www.economictimes.com
Dated : 08/10/2006

(I am definitely waiting for the Microsoft ZUNE to hit the markets and to see how much would it affect the martket cap of the giant Apple IPOD.)


Microsoft recently declared that by this Christmas break it was going to come out with a new Zune+Tunes challenge for the present sleek and eye-catching long distance runner — Apple’s iPod and its software sister in iTunes.

So, what is Zune+Tunes? How is the “Zune effect” different from the iPod and iTunes and what is Microsoft’s “Zune challenge” all about in terms of competing with the present ring king in iPod? The present article on how technology changes life tries to capture the essence behind the challenge and provides an answer to the questions posed above.

What is Zune + Tunes?

Zune (as Microsoft calls it), is the name of a new MP3 player that the company plans to launch this winters which in many ways would be very similar to present ruling king i.e. the Apple’s iPod. With 30 Gigs of memory, close to a 3-inch screen, an FM tuner and in colors of white, black and brown, the Zune would be very close to the “look and feel” and accompanying functionality that is currently provided by the conventional big iPod (but which is still far in sleekness when compared with the iPod’s Nano version!).

Like Apple’s “iTunes” (which is a piece of software installed on the computers that make them speak to the hardware in the iPod), Microsoft’s Zune would also come out with its sister, free to download software for the windows PC and laptop computer users. I refer to this sister software, here in this article, as “+ Tunes”. The all-popular “Windows giant” has paired up with the Japanese brand in Toshiba, to manufacture Zune for its music fans.

How is IT different from the iPod and iTunes?

The Zune, as it appears, is going to be a “social machine” in the present Pod world of music for most of its fans. This does not mean that the soon-to-be-out Zune is going to be the first social music machine, as the iPod in its present form has already caused a social music revolution and today captures 75% of the MP3 music player industry in use and popularity.

When I call Zune a social machine, I am referring to the wireless music sharing feature that the new MP3 player promises to bring first time to the MP3 player market. The Zune’s wireless feature would enable a number of similar Zune devices to connect to each other using the wireless communication mode, where a person using a Zune would be able to listen to music and browse photos and videos stored on another distant Zunes, as if these were stored on his own.

To avoid the loud uproar this “widespread sharing of music” would bring from the music record companies, Microsoft plans to go for a “3-controlled sharing”of media. This means that the a Zune user would be able to listen to a piece of music (like a song) stored on other Zunes, only three times or for three days, which ever happens to be the first (and soon after the distant song, which the Zune user was listening to, automatically disappears from his Zune!).

But all this “wireless on Zune”, would mean more battery consumption (either making the Zune heavier with more batteries to support the wireless cause or the Zune providing a lesser battery run time, when compared to the iPod).

Most probably, the wireless would also come at a price and may not be the best means of sharing music for the cable familiar Indian music fans. The king Pod for many reasons at present, does not provide this wireless feature but still continues to holds a popularity among the avid music fans.

Another point to be noted in the Zune is that the 3-inch screen which would mostly cover 2/3rds of the front face area (which is definitely much bigger than what the present video iPod offers), not only makes Zune’s track-wheel much smaller but also make the device a costlier proposition when compared with the present iPod. Whether, Microsoft will be ready to sell a bigger screen at the same price as the iPod (and hence going in for an initial loss) is something to watch out for!

What is Zune’s challenge to the king Pod?

With similar features and size to the iPod and an additional wireless experience, what is in it for king Pod’s future popularity in the light of Zune’s winter release? Will Zune tunes turn iPod users from iTunes to Microsoft’s “+Tunes”? The questions reflect the interesting soon-to-happen challenge between the two competing companies in the IT industry today, where the competition, this time, is not between the Mac and the PC but in the music domain. Here Apple already holds a majority share with its iPod and Microsoft is going to be a new bee.

Although Indian music fans should themselves decide as to which would prove better for them, in my opinion Microsoft’s Zune would not be instantly popular device in the hands of present iPod users. The first users that the “Zune effect” is going to captures, for sure, would be the ones who still haven’t tasted the “iPod effect” and who continue to use non-iPod MP3 devices in the Pod world today!

|In: Entrepreneurship|Last Updated:

Source : www.economictimes.com
Dated : 06/10/2006

Big money and bigger perks notwithstanding, the IT/ITeS sector continues to be plagued with high employee burnout. While top executives taking a break at the height of their careers is not unheard of, young techies calling it quits to follow their heart and venture into different business streams is a recent trend. A case in point is IT professionals and management graduates Pallavi Gupta and Gaurav Jain who quit their cushy jobs at TCS and Wipro to start their own restaurant. Another techie with an ear for music put up his feet to turn his passion into a full-time interest.

When business and now life partners Gupta and Jain bid goodbye to IT two years ago, the idea seemed far-fetched. Compared to IT, food was considered a grungy business. The couple had no idea how to go about in the competitive, service-oriented business.

“We were clear about one thing — we wanted to be entrepreneurs as our energies were not being channelised optimally in the regular jobs,” says Gupta, director, Spring Leaf Retail. Their inclination towards a “challenging, upcoming sector where they could directly interact with customers” led them to zero on to the food business and Mast Kalandar, a restaurant chain specialising in North Indian cuisine, was born. Started in April 2005, Mast Kalandar has four outlets in Bangalore.

After spending nine years at Oracle, US, software architect Anand Adkoli decided it was about time to do his own thing. With friend Ramana Gogula, Mr Adkoli co-founded Liqwid Krystal in 1999. A Bangalore-based entity, it focuses on products and solutions for e-learning . Its CodeSaw platform is used by publishers and e-learning companies in the US and offers over 20,000 courses and 5,000 e-books .

“Most students start learning software programming from books, but the transition from books to the keyboard is never smooth. The idea behind Liqwid Krystal was to make this education more interactive,” says Adkoli. Gogula, who worked with Sybase, US, before co-founding Liqwid Krystal, has since moved on and is a full-time Hyderabad-based music director. If education and training were a priority for Mr Adkoli & Mr Gogula, alternate energy solutions found favour with Shiv Senthilvel.

After putting in 15 years in the software industry , including stints at HP and HCL, Senthilvel launched Alternate Lighting to offer turnkey solutions in alternate energy and market low-energy portable lighting products. “First, the Indian software industry wasn’t servicing the Indian market . That rankles after a while in spite of the lucrative salary. Second, I realised the importance of decentralised power generation. The way we use our resources today , there isn’t going to be anything left for the next generation,” says Senthilvel.

|In: Business|Last Updated:

Source : http://www.business-standard.com
Dated : 03/10/2006

Here’s how entrenched players tackle newer, low-priced competitors.

Think value brands and Nirma springs to mind almost immediately. The Ahmedabad-based detergent brand’s growth from a minuscule, one-man operation to a Rs 2,500-crore company that employs 14,000 people is the stuff of case studies. In many ways, Nirma was India’s original value brand — low cost, low price and good quality.

Now, of course, there are several examples and that too, across categories. And in almost every instance, incumbent players have emerged bruised, if not battered, by the entry of the value brand.

Consider Air Deccan. India’s first low-cost airline launched operations in 2003 by offering tickets for Re 1. Its most expensive ticket was still cheaper than the national carrier Indian Airlines (now Indian) and Jet Airways. Three years on, Air Deccan has a 21.2 per cent market share, pushing Indian to third place.

Then there’s Gold Winner. The refined sunflower oil brand was launched in 1995 by Chennai-based Kaleesuwari Refinery. When other brands such as Sundrop were selling at Rs 40 a litre, Gold Winner was a price warrior, offering three litres for Rs 100.

In the past seven or eight years, volumes have trebled and Gold Winner is now the leading sunflower oil brand, with a 24 per cent share of the Rs 2,000-crore mass packaged sunflower oil market.

How do value brands grow? Typically, value brands don’t carve out spaces for themselves; they fill existing gaps in the market. Once a value brand identifies a slot, it claims it on the price platform.

By adopting a low-cost business model, offering higher margins to retailers and growing volumes, value brands are able to offer lower prices than the existing players in the market.

Says Chris Outram, chairman, OC &C Strategy Consultants, “Behind a value brand is a business design to give a good quality product at a low price. They don’t come and go. We have seen them become leaders in more than one market.”

Where does that leave the incumbent players? Running for cover? Not really. They usually have strategies of their own. Here are a few.

Offence is the best defence
Value brands fill spaces that exist within the market. The best way to keep them out is by filling those cracks yourself: cover new need gaps as they emerge.

Tata Motors is a case in point. In 2000, losses at Telco (as the company was called until 2003) had crossed Rs 500 crore and market share had dipped in both light and heavy vehicles.

Based on the realisation that the company’s product-centric strategies were probably at fault, Telco initiated a study among customers to discover what they wanted.

“Traditionally, we took a product to the customer and asked for suggestions. This time we went to 5,000 customers without a product, to understand their requirements,” says Shyam Mani, vice president, sales and marketing, Tata Motors.

The findings were startling. There was no vehicle in the market that fit between the Rs 1.8-lakh three-wheelers (capacity: 700 kg) and four-wheelers like Telco’s 207 DI (1.1 tonne, Rs 4.2 lakh) and 407 (3.2 tonne, Rs 5 lakh).

Customers wanted a vehicle that fulfilled three important criteria: higher levels of safety than the average three-wheeler, comfort and lower operation costs than most four-wheelers.

Based on that research, last year Tata Motors launched the Tata Ace (750 kg, Rs 2.5 lakh). Tata sold 29,000 units of the Ace last year and expects to sell 65,000 this year. “We now look at what gaps the customer sees. Then we reconstruct and fill these gaps,” says Mani.

Meanwhile, another blue-chip company is filling the gap between the Ace and the 207. Last month, Mahindra & Mahindra launched the Maxx Maxi, a 900-kg, four-wheel truck priced at Rs 3.5 lakh, to compete in the same segment.

“It will be the vehicle of choice for three-wheeler and small four-wheeler owners who want to upgrade,” says Mahesh Kulkarni, deputy general manager, marketing, M & M automotive sector.

What’s even better than filling new gaps as they emerge? Filling them before they appear. Consider cigarette major ITC, which ensures it is present across price points.

At Rs 3.5-4 for a stick, Wills Classic Milds and Insignia compete with premium brands like Philip Morris’s Marlboro Lights and Indonesian clove cigarette brand Gudang Garam.

In the economy segment, Gold Flake and Wills Navy Cut sell for Rs 2-3 a stick, while Bristol and Capstan (Rs 1.4 a stick) fight it out with Godfrey Philips’ Four Square and Red & White.

Doesn’t leave much room for a value brand, does it? “We look at all our business from a portfolio window and deploy different brands in different price segments to meet varying needs of consumers,” agrees Syed Mahmood Ahmad, executive vice president, marketing, ITC.

A healthy distance
Moving up the value chain could help in deflecting competition from value brands. If your brand appeals to premium customers, it may be worthwhile to withdraw attention from the mass-market and instead focus on your upscale audience.

“It’s not a question of lower price points. It’s about defining a very clear territory or a tangible value and communicating the same to your consumers,” points out Kiran Khalap, co-founder of brand consultancy chlorophyll.

That’s what Kwality Walls did. Sales of Hindustan Lever’s ice cream division plummeted from Rs 171 crore in 1999 to Rs 89 crore in 2004. A key reason for the meltdown was the 2002 entry of Amul into the ice cream industry. Amul laun-ched on the value-for-money platform, with prices substantially lower than Walls’.

Consumers lapped it up and Amul is now the leader with 34 per cent of the market (volumes), while Walls is down to a meagre 6 per cent.

Walls did react to the Amul launch, though. It changed focus to concentrate on only the top six metros.

Changes in the product portfolio also underlined the urban emphasis: Vienetta, a premium vanilla ice cream, Double Sundae, Vienetta Capuccino Nut, Super Cornetto triple chocolate and Feast Almond Fudge were clearly aimed at the affluent, urban consumer.

In 2004, Walls extended its distribution to the top 16 cities and sales grew to Rs 98.15 crore the following year. Amul’s stranglehold on the market continues, but Walls’ change in positioning from mass to class is clearly bringing in results, albeit slowly.

Says a Hindustan Lever spokesman, “This strategy has been hugely successful for us and is evident in our growth in the past six quarters.”

Sometimes, premium bran-ds see the growth of value brands in related product categories as early warning signals, and react accordingly.

Marico’s blended oil brand Saffola is a case in point. Launched in the 1960s, the brand chugged along reasonably well for close to 30 years. Around the time Gold Winner was making its presence felt in the mass segment with its sunflower oil, the premium refined oils segment was taking a hit.

Nevertheless, Saffola continued and extended its premium positioning to the wellness platform: now it was the good-for-the-heart oil. Meanwhile, it restricted its presence to the top 20 cities.

“This way, we can run specialised ad campaigns that speak to our target audience,” points out Saugata Gupta, chief marketing officer, Marico. The shift in positioning has helped Saffola launch brand extensions and also grow at 21 per cent in the past five years.

If you can’t beat ’em, buy ’em
Finally, if nothing else works, analysts believe it makes perfect sense to acquire value-for-money brands. Of course, there’s a caveat: study the value brand’s business model and ensure you can leverage the same cost advantage once it is part of your stable.

In March 2006, when Hindustan Lever put its hair oil brand Nihar on the block, Marico paid Rs 216 crore for it. Hindustan Lever had acquired Nihar as part of its 1993 acquisition of Tata Oil Mills.

Under Hindustan Lever, Nihar continued to promote its value-for-money promise, but with little success. Marketshare dipped to 7 per cent in 2005, and Nihar was shown the door.

For Marico, the acquisition made immense sense. In one stroke, it was removing competition for Parachute, its premium hair oil brand, and also improving its presence in the eastern markets, where Nihar was popular.

Nihar will be a flanker brand for Parachute, even though it’s now down to a low 6.2 per cent market share of the Rs 800-crore market. It allows Marico to cater to a new consumer segment.

As Gupta says, “More than anything else, the move was beneficial because it enabled us to prevent any other brand from getting into that space.”

|In: Technology|Last Updated:

Source : www.ibnlive.com
Dated : 01/10/2006

Washington: IBM Corp is recalling 526,000 laptop batteries worldwide made by Sony Corp, the latest in a series of problems with Sony batteries, the Consumer Product Safety Commission said on Friday.

IBM and the batteries’ distributor, Lenovo Inc. of Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, were seeking the voluntary recall of the rechargeable, lithium-ion batteries used in ThinkPad notebook computers because they may pose a fire hazard.

About 168,500 of them were sold in the US, while the rest were distributed worldwide, the CPSC said.

It was the fourth recall in recent months involving Sony batteries believed to be defective.

In August, Dell asked customers to return 4.1 million faulty laptop batteries and Apple recalled 1.8 million batteries worldwide, warning they could catch fire.

Last week, Toshiba said it was recalling 340,000 laptop batteries due to a problem that caused the laptops to sometimes run out of power.

In the latest recall, Lenovo cited a potential risk following one confirmed report of a Sony battery overheating and causing a fire that damaged the notebook computer.

The fire, which occurred in an airport terminal as the user was boarding a plane, caused enough smoke that a fire extinguisher was needed to put it out.

There was minor property damage and no injuries were reported.

Spokeswoman for CPS, Julie Vallese, said the overheating poblem did not appear to be linked to the defects cited in the Apple and Dell case.

But IBM and Lenov sought a recall as a precution given Sony’s past problems, she said.

|In: Business|Last Updated:

Source : www.economictimes.com
Dated : 29/09/06

What’s hot and what’s not? In the last one year, a lot seems to have changed in the top 20 B-schools in India. McKinsey has become the most preferred recruiter on the campus. In fact, consultancy firms dominate the list – barring Lehman Brothers and TCS, three out of top five are consultancy firms. Tata Group’s TAS has for the first time figured in the top five list, a sharp jump from No 24 rank which it occupied last year.

Campustrack Survey ’06 is an annual survey conducted by AC Nielsen among 1,200 students across top 20 business schools of India.

It has been a big come down for the IT majors Microsoft, TCS, Oracle – who have fallen off the top ten list this year. Microsoft was the most preferred employer on the B-school campus last year. Even Google, which was the second most preferred recruiter last year has dropped to No 7. Banks seemed to have bounced back in thse top 10 list with Deutsche Bank, HSBC and Citigroup figuring in the top 10.

TAS is the only Indian firm that has figured in the top 10 list. According to Rajesh Dahiya, vice-president, TAS & Sourcing, Group Human Resources, Tata Group, “In the recent years, we have been working hard at creating very challenging opportunities for young talented TAS recruits, aggressively developing them and communicating with the campuses all this excitement. We are making progress as more potential recruits at the campuses share this excitement. We need to continuously keep connecting with the campus students and communicating the exciting career opportunities in the Tata Group.”

|In: Technology|Last Updated:

Source : http://tech.moneycontrol.com

The Apple vs. Microsoft war has moved away from the desktop to the user’s pockets with Microsoft finally making an official announcement of the Zune digital media player and platform, screaming up in the rear view mirror of Apple’s reigning iPod. After months of rumors and possible capabilities being posted all over the web, Microsoft has finally spoken and put down the real deal on paper for the world to see. Everyone is pretty kicked about it and eager to find out which is better. We’ll drag the current king of digital audio players with the new kid on the block, spec by spec, and tell you who will win.

Starting from 0, each spec comparison gets the players either a full point, half a point or nothing at all. And it gets added to its existing score.

First up, storage capacity
The iPod is currently available in two sizes, 30GB and 60GB. In time, we will also have the recently announced 80GB version. The Zune will only have a 30GB version when it releases and as of now, there have been no announcements about a higher capacity version to be released down the line. In terms of size options, the iPod is clearly the winner, because the 30GB iPod is likely to be phased out as the Nano approaches that territory. When that happens, the Zune will be less than half the capacity of the iPod. Both claim to be able to store up to 7,500 songs in their respective formats (AAC and WMA), but if you take standard quality, 128kbps, 3-minute MP3s, you can pump in almost 10,000 in both.

So, iPod 1, Zune 0.

Next, color
Both the iPod and the Zune are available in black as well as white, but the Zune is also available in an earthy brown color, which is quite off beat compared to mainstream DAPs. Microsoft says that the brown color will appeal to artists and musicians alike. The Zune will also be involved in co-branding during music concerts and other events. I must say I am rather intrigued by the color and I guess I’d actually want to buy something like that, but not everyone is equally enthusiastic about the choice of the third color. Hey, at least it’s not Pink!

Just half a point for a minority favorite brown color. iPod stands at 1, Zune goes ahead a bit at 0.5.

Battery life
The 30GB iPod shouts around 14 hours of music playback time, 4 hours of picture slide shows along with music in the background or around 3.5 hours of video playback. The Zune’s performance is a sort of a mixed bag, with around 12 hours of music playback, which is 2 hours less than the iPod, but it bumps up during picture slide shows to around 4.5 hours, while keeping video playback time around the same at 3.5 hours. However, it’s not known if the 4.5 hour slide show time also includes music playing in the background.

The race is still on; but no overtaking here. iPod still 1, Zune still 0.5.

Screen size
Both the iPod and the Zune have a 240×320 resolution color display, but the iPod has a 2.5-inch one while the Zune has a larger 3-inch one. The orientation of the screen on the iPod is landscape (1.33:1), while the Zune makes use of the space more effectively by having a portrait orientation (1:1.33), where big CD cover art is displayed on top while still having place for the track info below that. The orientation can be switched from portrait to landscape in the Zune, which races ahead!

iPod 1, Zune 1.5!

Control and User Interface
The Zune has a scroll wheel or “dial” if you want to call it that, which is not half as cool as the iPod’s touch wheel we’ve all grown used to. Still, I don’t think it would be any less intuitive or less usable than the touch wheel. In fact, if this actually clicks like a combination safe lock, the tactile feedback may make it more user friendly. To each his own, but the iPod touch wheel still makes you go “cool!” and hence catches up to the Zune.

iPod 1.5, Zune 1.5!

Size and Weight
Does the Zune fit in your pocket better than the iPod? No, because the iPod is 4.1 inches tall, 2.4 inches wide and about 0.43 inch thick, compared to the Zune, which is 4.4 inches tall, the same 2.4 inches wide and around 0.58 inch thick. The Zune is a wee bit taller and thicker than the 60GB iPod. Weight wise, the Zune is 5.8 ounces, or around 165 grams, while the iPod is around 4.8 ounces, or around 136 grams. These dimensions make the 30GB Zune a bit bigger and almost heavy as the 60GB iPod.

The lighter iPod speeds by the Zune; iPod 2.5, Zune 1.5.

Format support
The iPod jigs to tunes in AAC, protected AAC, MP3, Audible, Apple Lossless, WAV and AIFF formats, photos in JPEG, BMP, GIF, TIFF, Mac PSD and PNG formats and plays back video in H.264 and MPEG-4 formats. The Zune does AAC (but not protected AAC), WMA (but not PlaysForSure WMA) and MP3 music, only JPEG photos, while playing back WMV, H.264 as well as MPEG-4 video.

In audio playback, I think AAC, MP3 and WMA are the only formats to actually consider, so both the iPod and the Zune are loyal to their own turf (AAC vs. WMA). Photo capabilities are clearly in favor of the iPod’s SIX format support vs. the Zune’s singular JPEG support. The Zune snags the video points by adding WMV format support to common H.264 and MPEG-4. Audio/Video is almost a tie, but the additional photo support increases the distance between the two.

iPod 3, Zune 1.5.

FM Radio
FM Radio support is definitely one of the most important things as far as the Indian market is concerned. The junta is going to judge all portable media players based on this! The Zune has an FM radio tuner built in. Yep, all your mirchi and red and city, 24/7 on your Zune wherever you go! With the iPod, you’re restricted to only the music that’s on the hard disk.

The Zune inches closer. iPod 3, Zune 2.5!

The Zune also supports RBDS, or Radio Broadcast Data Standards (like RDS or Radio Data Service), that displays textual information like the name of the station and the song that’s currently playing, however, that doesn’t mean a thing to us Indians because its not available here. There’s no word on whether the Zune will be able to record FM, like most third-party east-Asian made MP3 players, but at least it has FM!

Connectivity
This is where it gets really interesting. The Zune connects to your PC via USB and it also offers WiFi for wireless connectivity! The iPod only does wired, with USB and FireWire/IEEE 1394 support. The Zune’s WiFi also enables personal Zune-to-Zune networking so you can wirelessly send a track that you like to your friend’s Zune, much like you can with cell phones using Bluetooth, opening up a whole new world in music sharing.

But there’s a downside to that – all tracks get sent in a DRM-wrapped WMA (presumably) that can only be played back three times over a period of three days, after which you can either delete the track or flag it for purchase on the online Zune Marketplace. There’s a growing concern over what happens to free, legal music when you send it to your friend – something we’ll only find out when Microsoft actually lets someone use the Zune for once! Hence, only half a point for the Zune in this rev making it nudge the iPod, side by side!

iPod 3, Zune 3.

The Zune can also connect to your Xbox, letting you play music from the device on your gaming console, but seeing that almost any USB mass storage device can be connected to the Xbox, this is not something as jaw-dropping a feature as WiFi support is.

Online and Software
A very important aspect of digital media players is their online counterpart. The Zune Marketplace is to the Zune, what the iTunes Store is to the iPod. Very little is known about the Zune media manager software (that connects to the online Zune Marketplace), other than the fact that it lets you transfer music and media (including photos) to your Zune, and lets you browse, preview and buy songs from the online library of music. The new iTunes 7 also lets you buy movies online, whereas the Zune Marketplace will not be selling movies or TV shows, at least not this year. Naturally, this should happen down the line, they have a 3-inch screen that plays back WMV files, for cryin’ out loud!

Music in the Zune Marketplace can be purchased either by credit card or Microsoft Points, which are the same points that you can use to buy stuff on the Xbox Live Marketplace. Like Xbox Live Tags, the Zune Marketplace will also allow for Zune tags, so you can expect some interaction between users when online. Maybe not voice chat, but the ability to browse another user’s music and perhaps also download tracks and/or flag them for buying… stuff like that. Can’t do that with iTunes!

Each gets equal points for movie purchasing and Zune Tags’ community potential, so they still scrape each other’s doors. iPod 3, Zune 3.

Both the iPod and the Zune have firmware updating capability.

Extendability
It’s probably easier to count the number of birds in the city sky than to actually sit down and count the number of third-party, official as well as unofficial accessories that are available for the iPod. The usual speaker docks and car adapters aside, the iPod also doubles up as a breathalyzer, a toilet paper dispenser accessory and can also be controlled by your denims. As of now, the Zune only has three official accessory packs like the car pack, the home A/V pack and the travel pack, but you can’t blame a device that hasn’t even come into stores yet. The iPod has had half a decade’s worth of a head start, so it’s not going ahead of the Zune just yet.

iPod 3, Zune 3.

Maybe in the near future we’ll do an actual comparison of the 6th generation iPod vs. the 2nd generation Zune, which would be a level playing field by then, since accessories from Altec Lansing, Harmon Kardon, Griffin, Jamo, Logitech etc. are lined up.

Compatibility
The iPod works on the Mac as well as the PC. As of now, the Zune seems to work only with PCs.

Besides the lack of support for a competitor’s operating system, the Zune is also going against Microsoft’s own PlaysForSure program, so any DRM-wrapped files you may have already purchased and downloaded from PlaysForSure stores like AOL Music Now, MTV’s Urge, Napster as well as Microsoft’s own MSN Music, will NOT be playable on the Zune. The Zune will only support music purchased from the Zune Marketplace, which in turn will not work with existing PlaysForSure devices that you may own, such as a Creative Zen or an iRiver, because the Zune Marketplace media will be wrapped with a different, incompatible DRM scheme. For most of the users who have an existing library of CDs and music on the PC that they’ll be copying on to the Zune, this may not be a huge drawback, but for everyone who bought in to Microsoft’s PlaysForSure initiative, it’s quite disappointing.

Windows Media Player connects to PlaysForSure compatible devices to let you transfer music to and from them, but the Zune is not one of them. Microsoft’s Windows Media Player doesn’t support Microsoft’s Zune? This makes the Zune pull the brakes, almost.

Price
The new pricing for the 30GB iPod stands at $249 (converted, around Rs. 11,700), while early rumored prices of the Zune are pegged at $299 (converted, around Rs. 14,000). If the recent Wal-Mart “leak” is to be believed, then it may cost $284 (converted, around Rs. 13,400). Update: According to some more recent news, the Zune might just be up on the racks for $229 ! Today, you can buy a 30GB iPod off the street for around Rs. 13,500, so if you calculate the price for the Zune, it should be somewhere between Rs. 15,300 to 16,000. Yes, the 30GB Zune is around Rs. 1,800 to Rs. 2,500 more than the 30GB iPod, but you’re getting a) a bigger screen, b) FM radio and c) Wi-Fi connectivity. On the other hand, just around Rs. 2,500 to Rs. 3,200 more than the Zune will get you the 60GB iPod (at Rs. 18,500), so you have to decide if the specifications are more important to you, or capacity. Personally, I would prefer a media player with as much as storage as possible, so I would be attracted to the 60GB iPod (or the 80GB once it comes to India), but if you pit the 30GB ones head to head, the Zune catches up again.

iPod 4, Zune 4!


Conclusion
Both the iPod and the Zune cross the line at the same time! After a careful, spec by spec comparison of the two devices poised to become the most talked about gadgets in the history of personal technology, we’ve come to the conclusion that both have an equal chance of winning over the other. But if you just look at it from the general perspective, the FM radio tuner, bigger screen and WiFi capabilities might just boost the Zune ahead a little bit. Like they say, it doesn’t matter if you win by an inch or a mile…

Update: After the $229 price “news”, you’re going to talking about a portable media player that has WiFi, FM, larger screen AND it costs around $20 less than the iPod. What do you think of that?

|In: Personal|Last Updated: | 2 Comments

This is during my recent visit to Chennai for the Blogger’s Unconference (9th and 10th September 2006).During both ways , I had taken Air Deccan.

Now,you might be wondering what made me write this in my diary.The reason is Air Deccan’s way to do cost cutting.As we know Air Decccan is a new age lost cost airline.Now,to give it a tag of low cost airline,it does not serve food in the flight.This is a good way of cost cutting.I do agree to this.

But,can u imagine someone does a cost cut on the paper as well as the printer.As you all know,we all used “Dot Matrix printers” when this age was not a jet age as it is like now.But there are few companies still using “Dot Matrix Printers”(Do we call it a printer….No…I dont think so).

Yes,you got me right.Air Deccan , Capt G.R.Gopinath headed “Air Deccan” still uses “Dot matrix Printers” which I dont think is a good idea to do cost cutting since it may create a false impression on its customers.

Aren’t there better ways to do cost cutting….Mr Gopinath and other board members improve the way to do cost cutting since there are low cost airline competitors in the pipeline who can blow up the entire aviation business.

|In: Business|Last Updated: | 2 Comments

The EconomicTimes Network
www.economictimes.com
September 14,2006


Even as employer branding catches on, India Inc has hit upon an exciting medium to do just that. Blogs are fast catching up as a medium among companies that seek to brand themselves as ‘great employers’.

Following in the footsteps of global biggies like Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, Honeywell, T-Mobile, the Indian subsidiaries of JWT, Frito-Lay, Motorola and a few others are planning blogs that talk about career options and employee experiences in the organisations. These blogs are also a platform for exchange of ideas.

Infosys has its own blog, www.infosysblogs.com. Options Executives Search, a Hyderabad based HR consultancy, has also embarked on a similar initiative. These companies want to attract the young and tech-savvy crowd, which could possibly be on their payroll in future.

JWT is planning a blog in the next one month, which would essentially be a feedback platform for existing employees. It will discuss career-related issues, and be an experience-sharing forum for employees and ex-employees.

“We didn’t want to be left behind and miss out on this highly interactive medium, which can get us in touch with an extremely active talent pool,” says Sapna Srivastava, HR head, JWT India. “So, while our employees can talk about their experiences in training workshops and similar activities, others could give their feedback on what they think about the various issues that are being discussed on the blog or even share their own ideas.”

Analysts say, most people log on to company websites and forget about it; however, blogs that discuss topics relevant to aspiring professionals and give an insight into the corporate world may be able engage individuals for a longer time.

Fritolay India will have a similar blog in two months. A brainchild of the company’s HR head, Abhijit Bhaduri, it will seek to attract job seekers, among other things.

“It’s a very effective medium to reach out to those in their 20s and 30s and can also help create a prospective talent pool for the future. Such blogs will help attract a diverse pool of talent for future hiring,” says Gautam Ghosh, an ex-Deloitte advising Fritolay India on the project. Citing an example, he says, the blog could possibly start with an interaction on a career-related topic. And the company could well proceed to offer a job if the blogger is interested.

The idea of a blog has also clicked with Motorola India’s HR head Raghuram Reddum, who is planning a blog on similar lines. “We do have an internal blog, but we plan to take it far beyond that and involve people in general through the blog,” he says.

Globally, Microsoft’s blogs like Jobsblog and Heather aimed at employer branding, have been hugely successful. In fact, Jobsblog hired close to 60 software engineers after a year of operation and the employees cited the blog as their reason for getting interested in the company.