Category: India

  • Appy times

    And that much talked about day is finally here. The Orkut applications have started their invasion. When I logged in today, what do is see beneath my daily fortune – ‘New! Add applications and customize your profile with songs, games and much more. ‘ With the launch of MySpace slated later in the evening today, the timing couldn’t have been more perfect. Was that by design? 😉

    Though these days, orkut has been relegated to a routine daily check, i dived in to see what’s on offer. A lot of stuff seems to what a Facebook user would be familiar with – Horoscopes, ILike (music), Teen Patti, India Dekha, TopFriends, Slide TV, Flixster, iRead, IPoke etc. But there are also stuff which i have not seen – Chakpak, an application from the website with the same name, based on Bollywood, and Typeracer, which is a typing speed testing game.

    The latter already seems to be making waves, if I am to believe the various tweets that i have heard. I confess that it is quite addictive :). Interestingly, C2W also has an application, based on Hangman. Wonder if there’ll be copyright issues like Scrabble. Though I am yet to try it out, what’s cool is that apparently one can one’s own version based on fave movies etc.

    I’m not quite sure how this would affect Facebook, them specially becaue apps has been one of their USPs. For all those who grumble about Facebook being confusing, Orkut with apps might be the answer. For the regular Facebook users, it does have a huge first mover advantage, which Orkut will take some time to overcome, if it does, at all. And where will MySpace and the desi versions figure in all of this?

    until next time, go apply yourself 🙂

    PS. Looks to be a big day for Indian social networking. Big B going to blog, i read here.

  • Social Panchvi Pass

    A few days back, Dhanashree pointed me towards a new app on Facebook. This is based on the about-to-start show on Star Plus ‘Kya Aap Paanchvi Pass se tez hain’ ( which is the desi version of ‘Are you smarter than a 5th grader?‘) The show has been promoted heavily on TV, and the application has been conceptualised and created by RMG Connect.

    I’m not sure if I’ve seen any online ads for the show, and a google search took me to the homepage for the show. Before we get into the application, my first take is that the site as well as the application could do with a bit of cross promo help, not just with each other, maybe even with the TV ads, and on mobile. I didn’t hear about it until i got the link. Of course, all that depends on how much stickiness they want for the site/application. Some of the winners get a chance to go on the shoe, but if the only idea is to push viewership, then maybe not.

    As Dhanashree mentioned, the very idea of an app based on an SRK hosted show has the potential of a viral. So, the concept in itself would get some takers. For instance, i added the app, and sidestepped the ‘invite friends’ part, but noticed that by the next day, 3 of my friends had added it too. But, IMHO the finish could’ve been slightly better, not just in terms of looks, but also the jerkiness of showing the next question, and the spelling mistakes, for instance. The ‘contest rules’ is almost hidden, i didn’t see a quick 3-5 step up guide on how to play, and in general, the navigation is a tad unfriendly. I did like the box design though, on the profile page, though I’m still a toddler 🙂 (thats even less than first standard pass).

    I wonder if they’ll use the kind of stuff that say, Text Twist does, which pushes itself at you saying ‘XYZ has beaten your highest score’. But the very fact that they built a facebook app itself is a good thing that has to be commended

    until next time, passing standards

  • Share Market

    The success of youtube and the mega deal had spawned a lot of wannabe sites locally – Apna Videos, Video Dubba, Desi Lassi etc. There was even one called SuckooBai, though i don’t know its current status. A fairly comprehensive list can be found here. Though the sites have attempted a lot of localisation, I’m not sure how much of traffic they’ve been able to manage. Its actually a bit of Catch 22, isn’t it? As a user I’d like to share it on a platform where it gets maximum exposure, and as a visitor, I’d visit the site where i can expect maximum content.

    The last couple of days, Rediff has caught my attention, purely on content merit. Rediff, as a site, has massive traffic coming in because of various things. It has been updating itself on a regular basis for a long time now, news, mail, blogs (I started blogging thanks to them), shopping, images, classifieds, air ticket comparison, stocks…These are diverse things, and rediff, in my view, is using its existing equity quite well to leverage its new products. But, we digress.

    What caught my attention yesterday was the trailer of Sarkaar Raj, followed today by one of Spiderman 4, though the latter has many fake versions on YouTube already, so…  I also remember the c2w april fool video finding its way here, and as the day’s top blog. Not to mention the trailer of Love Story 2050. Rediff is increasingly encouraging content providers across media platforms to use its iShare. Desi content creators most likely will have a limited understanding of digital media, and would be more than happy to share the content on Rediff’s platform. And it’s not just videos, its also pictures, music etc. And over a period of time, there’s no reason why it cannot become a stand alone brand.

    I can already see one snag though. A lot of us started blogging with rediff, but when we became familiar with blogging, moved on to blogger/ wordpress/ live journal/ typepad etc because rediff was nowhere close in terms of user interface design, technology etc. If they learn from that, and keep updating themselves on the tech front, they stand a good chance in the share market 😉

    until next time, if.. rediff

  • Ménage à trois ?

    And finally the battle is on. The one that most people in the media fraternity would’ve been waiting for. TOI has finally launched in Chennai, amidst a lot of fanfare, and has succesfully provoked two of its three resident English publications. More on that in a bit.

    While the planning has been going on for years, I feel that TOI is late, by about 3 years, around the time that Deccan Chronicle took its baby steps outside AP. This was around the time that TOI was beginning to pull away from Deccan Herald in Bangalore and establishing itself as a clear leader. This momentum should’ve been carried on to Chennai too. From its experience in Hyderabad, TOI should’ve realised that DC is not to be taken lightly, and understood its intentions.  But then, thats water under the bridge.

    What have the resident publications been upto? Indian Express has woken up just in time (thats debatable) and launched a new brand campaign, and a new look, complete with tagline – ‘100% steel, 0% gas’. While it does sound a bit like an infrastructural mutual fund, the ads per se were quite interesting, sporting a graffiti look and tabloid style provocative lines.

    The Hindu, in what i believe, is a strategic faux pas as far as timing goes, has reduced its cover price from Rs.3.25 to Rs.2.50. They look to be rattled already, and that’s a wrong signal to send out, especially from the market leader. The least they could’ve done is timed this earlier so that it didn’t look like a reaction.

    Deccan Chronicle has been conspicuously silent. It is inching closer to the Hindu and currently priced at 1.50. Wonder if they will revert to their old pricing, if TOI eats into their share.

    From the looks of it, TOI might succeed in becoming the second paper in the Hindu households and possibly the first paper for the new entrants to the city. Exactly the situation in bangalore a while back. But Hindu is no DH, since they’ve already started supplements which are supposed to bridge the need gap, which The Hindu per se, cannot do. And thats exactly what the biggest barrier for TOI is, a habit. One that it will try to circumvent by inculcating itself as a habit to the new Chennai residents.

    Chennai reminds me of Panipat. To tell you why would entail a short history lesson. The first battle of Panipat resulted in the founding of the Mughal empire. Against the massive resources of Lodhi, Babur’s guns proved to be the ace. Not dissimilar from the price war that DC unleashed on Hindu. And while Babur won, and DC is a close second, it might be just a matter of time. Those of you who have seen Jodhaa Akbar or paid attention to your history teacher (her history lessons, cheapos 🙂 ) would understand the pivotal role of the second battle. If not for a freak archer, it would’ve prevented the Mughals from establishing their empire, it changed India.  For Hindu, Chennai is home, one that has to defended at all costs. For DC, its second home, and critical to their plans of becoming the masthead of South India. For TOI, its one more significant step towards becoming the only significant player to have footprints across India. Who will blink first?

    until next time, or is it fourplay?

  • That used to be my brand?

    Almost every brand that one comes across these days is targeting the youth, and thats across categories. Of course, some brands have been doing it forever, and some have just joined the party, maybe because the increasing incomes have forced them to define their target audience, so communication can be made in sync.

    Now youth, honestly is a very vague term. For some, its actually ‘youth’, say 18-25, and for some, its more ‘young at heart’ which means it can go upto 35. I’m not saying thats really old, all I’m saying is that with a workforce thats getting younger as every year passes, 35 ain’t young. But thats not the point of the post.

    A person aged say 50 now, got his first whiff of liberalisation when he was 33. And those were the days when employees still contemplated one life-one organisation. And in the seventeen years since, things have changed drastically – more brands, more options, and more costs. Did he have enough time to be able to react or cope or build a corpus enough to enable himself to lead a decent lifestyle? Judging by the number of products that cater to the current 50 year old, i guess not.

    But this generation (30 year olds now) is aware of this and also aware that even this can change in a flash, and that they need to be prepared. They are very familiar with brands and the costs associated with their lifestyle tastes. So, will the brands in say, 10 years time also start catering to a 40 year old who was once their target audience? Will Levis, which i buy now, have a design for me when I’ll be 50, because i don’t see any brand now that does? (Enlighten me if i have missed it, please)

    Because, unlike the current hapless senior citizens, who didn’t know what hit them, the future senior citizens would be a prosperous lot, with at least some money to burn. Please don’t get me wrong here,  I am not saying all senior citizens are poor, but I do come across a lot of them who look at the brands, the malls, the clothes and the accessories with a melancholic expression that acknowledges a changed world, and their inability to make sense out of it or cope with it.

    until next time, this provoked the thought