Windows Mobile: Gen- NXT

The Windows Mobile, a compact operating system (OS) combined with a suite of basic applications is designed based on the Microsoft Win32 application. The operating system is compatible with Pocket PCs, Smart phones, Portable Media Centers, and on-board computers for certain automobiles. The current available version is Windows Mobile 6 and there are a few more new releases scheduled for 2008.

The features of the Windows Mobile are very similar to the Windows desktop version. It has the ability to convert your phone to a virtual PC that lets you stay in touch with your work even without your presence at office. Windows Live Messenger allows the user to chat online and can capture images with a high resolution embedded digital camera, listen to your favorite music and view movies (& the list never ends).

Windows Mobile is not the only operating system that is available; there are a few operating systems like Symbian, and Palm used by different mobile manufacturers like Nokia and Sony Ericsson. But unlike these operating systems the Windows Mobile enables the user to operate on applications like Microsoft Office and much more…

Windows Mobile in India
Currently the few brands of PDA and Smart phones that operate on Windows Mobile are HTC (High Tech Computers), Motorola, HP and O2 in India, but there are a few more brands that are yet to be launched with the Windows operating System.

Can You Believe It!!!!!

Microsoft’s Windows Mobile (WM) has achieved a record sales of 1, 00,000 units in just over 15 months of its launch in India, making it the fastest growing mobile operating system in the country.

"The one lakh mark is a significant achievement for any player in the messaging space. We are greatly enthused by the response we received, and at crossing this important milestone. We aim to touch the two lakh figure by end of FY08," said Sumeet Gugnani, director, mobile communications business, Microsoft India.

So People, Lets get synchronized with the future of windows mobile handsets!!!!!!!

Cheers!!!!!!!!!!!!

Praveen.B.M

Nvidia – Graphics Unlimited

Welcome to the world of pixels, shaders, graphics processing units (GPUs) and stream processors. We are talking about Nvidia here, the Forbes company of 2007. If you belong to a certain category called as “gamers” (yes, we are humans too!!), then Nvidia would be on your lips 24x7 because it is the holy grail of gaming supercomputing. But, there is more to that. Nvidia is a prime example of clear vision and strategy. Not only do they set the bar, they continue to raise it time after time. Read on.

Origins
Since its inception in 1995, Nvidia has been at the forefront in graphics innovation. It’s Chief Executive Jen-Hsun Huang and cofounders Christopher Malachowsky (Nvidia's vice president of information technology) and Curtis Priem (retired in 2003) noted the low textured graphics which gave a less satisfactory cartoonish feel to games prevalent at that point of time. It was then that Nvidia saw a glimpse of the future. It was all about improving visual and gaming experience.

The GPU – Why is it important?
In simple terms, a GPU completely offloads the graphics processing from the processor thereby ensuring that it is only used for its computational abilities. The high graphics requirements in Windows Vista are a testament to this fact. A GPU’s primary function lies in processing high amounts of raw graphical data. Currently, Nvidia addresses different segments through its different range of cards – The Geforce series for consumer PCs, the Quadro range for animation, Tesla series for the computing requirements of scientific data, GoForce for mobiles and the GeForce M for laptops. To give an idea about the graphical requirements today consider this - an Intel Core 2 Quad processor has up to 4 processing cores on a single chip; Nvidia's new GeForce 8800 GTS has an astounding 128.

The road to glory
A decade ago games did not require an additional GPU setup because they were not graphically intensive. A processor was enough to run them. As the degree of complexity increased in game creation so did the requirements. Then emerged the GPU, which in layman terms is the graphics card. Since then, Nvidia and ATI have slugged it out in the GPU industry, which recently Nvidia has dominated with absolute authority. Not only it has enhanced gamer experience, but it allowed game developers to bring innovation into the mainstream. Its Geforce 8 series, especially the mid-range 8800 GTS and high-end 8800 GTX and 8800 Ultra have confirmed its dominance in the consumer graphics card segment. These were the only cards in the market that allowed for extensive graphical quality in games at high resolutions, something impossible to experience in older cards.

Their recent acquisition of Aegia Technologies has confirmed that it aims to strengthen their already formidable presence in the gaming segment. As mentioned before, Nvidia has also proliferated into different segments as well – laptops, workstations, high performance computing and mobiles. It was the first company to release NVIDIA Quadro; the World's First Workstation GPU in 1999 and NVIDIA GeForce2 Go; the World's First Mobile GPU. Movies like Spiderman 3 and Open Season have used Nvidia’s Quadro range to render graphics. On the other hand, University of Illinois and Systems Integration have used their Tesla range of cards. Currently Intel still leads the graphics chipset market because of their integrated chipsets in motherboards and mobile phones, spaces that they still dominate. However, Nvidia has been catching up with Intel in the recent past. Nvidia’s market share has increased from 19% in Q2 2006 to 34% in Q3 2007, compared to Intel’s 40% to 38% in the same period.

The X-factor – Innovative technologies
Now, the list can go on stretching for ever but let us restrict ourselves to a few, just to get a taste of what Nvidia capable of. Its scalable link interface (SLI), a technology that allows multiple GPU (through two graphics cards) usage was the first of its kind in the world. In its present form, it continues to push and challenge its own benchmarks in the world of gaming and high end computing (Beware of the new triple SLI feature which allows usage of three cards simultaneously!). Hybrid SLI, a power saving feature which gives the option of using two different types of chipsets (e.g. a low power consuming 8500 GT with a high power draining 8800GTX) for usage in Windows Vista. Its Purevideo feature uses advanced techniques found only on very high-end consumer players and TVs to make Blu-ray, HD DVD, standard-definition DVD movies, PC and mobile device content look crisp, clear, smooth and vibrant.

The road ahead – A smooth sail?
As technologies improve, no doubt GPUs will continue to become more powerful. However, there is a question to ask – Does innovation come at a price and what are its limitations. The current range of GPUs, especially the high end GeForce 8800 GTX and 8800 Ultra consume huge amounts of power. A single card pushes the whole system usage to 360 watts when fully utilized. In addition, if one throws into the mix the technologies of SLI and triple SLI, peak wattages of 500 watts and 750 watts are just a stone’s throw away. Hence, the first challenge lies in the form of minimizing energy usage. To some extent, this problem is being addressed by many semiconductor companies like Intel and AMD through constantly reducing the size of transistors present in their chips. Intel’s Yorkfield and Wolfdale use 45nm technology which has showed reduced power usage. Nvidia currently uses a 65nm chip codenamed as G92 for its new Geforce 8800 GTS card.

However, in recent years there have been limitations to Moore’s law which states that the number of transistors on a chip would continue to double every two years. In his own words, Moore has opined that the semiconductor industry has10-15 years to go before hitting a roadblock. Then remains the competition from consoles – they offer a gaming experience (albeit at a relatively lower graphical quality compared to that of a high end PC) at the price lower than that of a high end GeForce graphics card. Since the last four years, Nvidia has always been in a position to charge at a premium because of the quality it offers. This trend is set to continue unless ATI comes up with a monster. As Jen-Hsun Huang rightly knows, if one can deliver something exciting and newer, even if for just 6-8 months, that fickle customer will be mighty pleased.

By Dipankar Mohanty

India: The World’s Prominent IT And Outsourcing Focal Point

India is undoubtedly a world leader in outsourcing. Its IT supremacy has reached overseas shores, with the government deserving appreciation for having supported the focus on various fields like education, information technology, sciences, etc.

These intensive efforts by the government on the education sector, and the industries combined have paid off. “India today has not only projected itself to IT prominence, with Bangalore named as Silicon Valley, it also acquired the faith of Fortune’s top corporations over other outsourcing locations.”

Today, India is experiencing a boom in employment generation, in both domestic and foreign markets. India provides three major outsourcing services to clients:
• Financing,
• Human Resource and
• Customer Service

The outsourcing sector contributes an amazing growth of 90% in the country’s revenue for the fiscal year 2006-2007. Maintaining its lead over other outsourcing target in the world, India is now targeting its sights on other industry like pharmaceutical with an estimated strength of over $17 billion worldwide, followed by legal services.

“The prospect looks superior for both pharmaceutical and legal services with a projected growth of at-least $50 billion worldwide for the next five years, and legal services registering $6 billion by the same number of years”.

Today, it has refined its approach to produce more offshore clients, as it is visualizing on elevating the nation as the “world’s prominent IT and outsourcing center”.

By Rohith R R

US Recession Pinching End Customers

The US economy has been in a softened, recessionary mode since last year. Consumers have been dealing with high prices and shaky job prospects. Budgets are being challenged and spending has taken a conservative turn. Shoppers more than ever are frequenting three or more channels for key categories, buying only when they feel they have a good price.

With the rising cost of milk, eggs, meat, and corn contributing to the biggest jump in food prices in 17 years, consumers have started to feel the pinch.

Some shoppers, already dealing with falling home values and rising fuel costs, are finding creative ways to save money. They are now opting for cheaper ingredients and private-label goods and are leaning more heavily on discount grocers, which has led U.S. retailers to offer In-house brand & private-label goods at a significant discount. This is the time when U.S. retailers reported their slowest monthly sales in January 2008. Restaurant diners, who have been eating out less frequently, will likely face even higher prices on menus.

The food prices are rising for a number of reasons. A growing middle class in Latin America and Asia can afford more meat and milk, which has driven up the demand for grain to feed cattle and hogs. A drought in Australia in 2006 reduced the supply of milk available to Asia, further pushing up the cost. Increasing global demand for U.S. wheat and poor harvests in other wheat-producing countries have caused wheat prices to soar to record levels last year.

Demand for grain-derived ethanol, driven by government incentives, has helped push up corn and soybean prices, which in turn have raised the cost of many products derived from these crops, like oils, and high-fructose corn syrup, a sweetener used in everything from soft drinks to ketchup. The egg prices too were up by 19.5%, milk rose by 13.3%, chicken by 10%, navel oranges 19.8%, apples 11.7%, dried beans up 11.5% and white bread missed double-digit growth in 2007 as compared to 2006. On top it of it; rising fuel costs are making it more expensive to transport food from the producers to stores, consumers, and restaurants.

Retailers are feeling the pressure, and most feel as though they are already in a recession and are trimming their costs everywhere they can, reducing advertising, delaying new hires and renovations, curtailing employee travel, and saving gas for their delivery trucks. Not only had this but Macy's, the second-biggest US department-store chain, cut 2,300 jobs as January 2008 sales dropped 7.1% over the previous month. Even Wal-Mart’s sales rose only 0.5% in January 2008 as opposed to the forecast of 2%. Even manufacturers like Kraft and Kellogg are boosting ad spend to tout the brand to consumers as an ‘ultimate indulgence’, so that recession weary consumers can treat themselves and their families to the best.

A number of initiatives have also been taken by food retailers to attract the budget-conscious customers with product improvements, cost cutting, and strict inventory management. Burger King and Wendy’s are increasingly offering more food for less money by offering double cheeseburgers on dollar menus copying the same strategy of McDonalds. Taco Bell is offering Gordita Supreme, one of the largest menu items, for 99 cents which was earlier priced at $1.50. Likewise, Quiznos sandwich chain launched a line of $2 small flatbread sandwiches called Sammies in November 2007, having a combo meal with two Sammies, a medium drink and either chips, a side salad or a bowl of soup for $6.

This is how the manufacturers, retailers, and shoppers are playing their roles in the current U.S. recession, which is similar to the role they have played in the 2001 recession. An aspect, which needs to be pointed out, is that the retailers, by defeating brands with generics and private label, are changing the way the consumers perceive value. There has to be some cost-effective program for customers, as price alone will lead to their downfall. Manufacturers offering new consumer choices while retailers quickly counter with private label or a generic brand then engage in pricing that defeats the manufacturer. Is there a retailer - manufacturer war?

By Vikash Ranjan

LG’s Marketing Strategy: ‘Brands that speaks for itself’

LG has developed a unique strategy to attract customers to its mobile phones in order to differentiate itself from its competitors. The company is very clear about their target market and their approach will most certainly get them the response they are looking for for. Unlike other players, the brand name very clearly signifies the kind of customer it is designed for.


LG had introduced a smart phone named ‘Voyager’, which offers a great deal of functions at a competitive price. Voyager, which means an explorer or traveler, has all the functions that a professional always on the move would require to execute his official work with ease.


Similarly ‘Venus’ was introduced keeping women in mind and another phone ‘Prada’ named after the well-known Italian fashion company, was designed for people who like to make a style statement. LG has now launched a camera phone ‘Viewty’ that flaunts its 5.0-megapixel camera and xenon flash. This adds strength to the argument that camera phones are now a serious option for those looking to ditch their dedicated camera for the convenience of carrying only one device. LG Viewty has recorded impressive sales performance of over 310,000 units since its introduction. It is also great news that Viewty has been launched in India too, so let us wait, and watch what results this phone will have in Indian market.

LG is also trying to capture the smart phone market by launching their new phone ‘Voyager’, (still not launched in India) but the phone lacks features like Wi-Fi, built-in e-mail client and an option to synchronize contacts and calendar between the PC and the phone, which are the basic features of smart phones but it is very competitive in price and multimedia features. It is a good combination of multimedia and smart capability phones.

By Shashi Pandey

Boom Times Ahead for Packaged Drinking Water

During my school days in Chennai (Madras), when I used to play cricket on the roadside, I just had to reach out next door for gulping some water to quench my thirst. But nowadays the situation is totally different, you will definitely find the next door, but with a cost, a sachet of 200ml water would cost you not less than a rupee with no guarantee that it’s the safest water that is fit to drink.

India is set to become the third largest economy after the US & China by the year 2020 with its current growth rate. Given the scenario, I would say boom times are ahead for packaged drinking water. As per the available data the total number of ISI certified packaged drinking water companies in India are close to 1450; and unauthorized companies are over 2000. In India the southern state of Tamil Nadu is the biggest market. Roughly, in Tamil Nadu alone there are about 450 authorized and 300+ unauthorized companies selling water to this water scarce state and making one-fourth of total sales in India.

The current Indian market size of bottled water industry is Rs. 18 billion and is poised to grow at a staggering rate of 40 percent per annum.

The history of bottled drinking water dates back to the year 1583. The Romans are said to be the inventors of bottled drinking water, who first exported it to King Henry II of France. It became more popular in the West during the 1920s and developed rapidly.

In India, bottled/packaged water is still not perceived as a product for masses; so what, look at the facts, it gives you a totally different picture. It is the world’s fastest growing market, the per-capita bottled water consumption is less than five liters a year as compared to the global average of 24 liters.

The industry has seen many new entrants, year on year several small players have entered the trade in India to capitalize on the craze, there has hardly been any involvement of statutory body in defining specific standards. Recently, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), the highest governing authority in India, has got involved in the process to provide check on the new entrants. Some serious doubts also have been raised about the safety of so-called bottled water available.

The new entrants with their low pricing and aggressive marketing strategy, are here to capture the huge middle class population of our country, I would be wrong in saying middle class, infact its all section of people who are being targeted. Can you believe that in a survey conducted it has found that truck drivers form major consumers of packaged drinking water? Penetration in rural areas is another significant factor that is likely to play a key role in the development of the bottled water trade.

In comparison to global standards India’s bottled water segment is largely unregulated. However, with the stringent measures adopted by BIS would make this industry a more regulated and would see more growth in the near future.

By Vijai Kumar G

Leadership in the Twenty-first Century

The qualities of great leadership are integrity, respect, and responsibility. These core qualities are what others would see in a person having leadership character.

As Myles Munroe has written in his book Becoming A Leader, Everyone Can Do It, “True leadership is born out of a guiding vision and a passion to accomplish a noble task, and to inspire others to develop and release their potential. It derives its fulfillment from the success of others.” It can be said to have the skill of influencing people to work enthusiastically toward goals identified as being for the common good. Very simply put, a leader is interpreted as someone who sets direction in an effort and influences people to follow that direction.

Leadership reflects a wide spectrum of traits and as the study of leadership in an ongoing one, there will never be full agreement on what constitutes leadership traits. But there are certain characteristics that all leaders seem to possess.

Courage: Leaders who dare to do something are prepared for opposition. Leaders have the courage of their convictions and are ready to be ridiculed, opposed, and ultimately agreed with.
Pride: Not only does the leader take pride in his accomplishments, he also creates an atmosphere that allows others to do the same.
Sincerity: Leaders manage to convey sincere concern for other people, genuine interest in subjects other than themselves.
Adaptability: The leader is able to see both sides of the picture, to maintain a balanced perspective of the complexity.
Influence: Leaders know how to influence others, to persuade them to a higher calling. If you intend to lead others, you can’t depend on the authority of your managerial position.
Vision: A vision is the leader’s ideas and plans for the organization’s future. It gives a sense of the differences between the present and future states of an organization and builds a sense of bonding in the process of a shared vision.

To some degree we have all of them -- some more so than others. We must work to strengthen these qualities in ourselves to become effective leaders.
Moreover the position of the leader also has three key functions:
Authority: the right to make decisions.
Responsibility: assignment for achieving a goal.
Accountability: acceptance of success or failure.

Normally it is perceived that it is enough for a manger to have authority for the success of an enterprise without considering any other aspects of the enterprise.

A person in the leadership position is faced with the dichotomy between power and authority. Power is the ability to force or coerce someone to do your will because of your position of might. At the same time, authority is getting to do so willingly due to your personal influence.

The role of leadership in management is largely determined by the organizational culture of the company. It can be stated that managers' beliefs, experience values and assumptions are of critical importance to the overall style of leadership that they adopt.

While there are several different leadership styles that been identified. We consider the prominent styles of functioning of managers. Each technique has its own set of good and not-so-good characteristics, and each uses leadership in a different way.
The Autocrat: he dominates the team-members, using unilateralism to achieve a singular objective. This approach to leadership generally results in passive resistance from team-members and requires continual pressure and direction from the leader in order to get things done. Generally, an authoritarian approach is not a good way to get the best performance from a team.
The Laissez-Faire Manager: exercises little control over his group, leaving them to sort out their roles and tackle their work, without participating in this process himself. This approach leaves the team floundering with little direction or motivation.
The Democrat: The democratic leader makes decisions by consulting his team, whilst still maintaining control of the group. The democratic leader allows his team to decide how the task will be tackled and who will perform which task. A good democratic leader encourages participation and delegates wisely, but never loses sight of the fact that he bears the crucial responsibility of leadership. He values group discussion and input from his team and can be seen as drawing from a pool of his team members' strong points in order to obtain the best performance from his team. He motivates his team by empowering them to direct themselves.

Leadership is about behavior first, skills second. Good leaders are followed primarily because people trust and respect them, rather than the skills they possess. Leadership is different to management. Management relies more on planning, organizational and communications skills. Leadership relies on management skills too, but more on qualities like integrity, honesty, courage, commitment, sincerity, confidence, empathy, wisdom, determination and compassion. Some people being good managers are also effective leaders, which all managers can’t claim to be.

By G Ravi