Emergic: Rajesh Jain's Blog

This weekend’s links: A fascinating collection of 75+ comments on my three [1 2 3] elections-related blog posts. I wish the Indian political parties would read this. What would Google do? An interview with Jeff Jarvis about his new book. The Big Fix: A New York Times Magazine article on the US economy. “While Washington [...]

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I am on a panel discussing “Role of Business and Government” in the event tomorrow (Saturday) at Nehru Centre, Mumbai. Here are the details of the 2-day conference, hosted by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National Election Watch (NEW). The context of the event: “Since 2002, the major impacts of these campaigns have [...]

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For the reasons expressed below, I have decided that being a silent supporter (and voter) for a political party is not good enough. Hence, I have decided to publicly voice my support for the BJP for the general elections to be held in April-May. I am also working together with a group of like-minded professionals [...]

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There are about 100 days to the elections in India. These will be be the 15th national elections in India’s history. I like to think that the 2004 elections were the last of the 20th century elections, and these will be the first of the 21st century. We, the People, need to give a decisive [...]

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…Mint! There is no shortage of business dailies: Economic Times, Business Standard, Financial Express, Business Line and Financial Chronicle, along with Mint. I like Mint for its news reporting and editorial pages. I think they have amongst the best journalists, and it shows. For scoops and exclusives, it is still the Economic Times. In their [...]

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Slumdog Millionaire: I saw the movie over the weekend, was underwhelmed. It may be great watching for non-Indians internationally, but for me living in Mumbai, it was a case of good-not-great. PVR: The PVR multiplex that has opened recently at Phoenix Mills is excellent. Much better than Metro Adlabs and Inox Nariman Point — the [...]

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Given that elections are coming along soon, this paper I had co-authored in 2003 is worth a second read. Poverty—income poverty as well as non-income poverty—is perhaps the most common characteristic that defines the populations living in the developing world today. Non-income poverty in terms of education, health-care, access to markets, etc., directly produce the [...]

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This weekend’s links:  3G and Broadband Wireless Access in India: A BDA-FICCI Report Inside the GPS Revolution: Wired Feb 2009 issue cover story on 10 cool apps Great Entrepreneurs build “Tribes”: David Hornik writes about Seth Godin’s new book Microsoft’s Missed Opportunities in Search: A fascinating Wall Street Journal story. “Nearly a decade ago, early [...]

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I finally got the software upgraded on the iPhone I have been using now for more than 15 months. And it feels like a different phone! The most important feature is the access to the AppStore, and the ability to add new applications so easily. While I have always been a proponent of the mobile [...]

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Like probably everyone else, I watched the inauguration on Tuesday night on TV, and after I long time in recent times, I felt jealous of America – that they have  elected a person like Obama, who in turn has put a ‘dream team’ in place to lead and is bringing in a new attitude and [...]

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TRAI recently came out with a paper outlining draft recommendations for the growth of Mobile Value-added Services (MVAS) in India [TRAI press release, TRAI paper]. Here is NetCore’s response sent to TRAI: At the outset we would like to congratulate TRAI for having made extremely well thought out recommendations that will be far-reaching in their [...]

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I did a brief presentation to a group of NetCore partners last week, sharing some ideas on what to do during tough times (T2) like these. Here it is. Innovative Ideas for Tough Times View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own.

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Even as Obama takes oath to become the 44th president of the US, India is gearing up for its own election season. Sometime in April-May, hundreds of millions will vote in the general elections for the 15th Lok Sabha. It would have been hard to imagine five years ago that the Congress would have been [...]

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Since the IndiaWorld deal has been brought back to the forefront in recent times because of the controversy surrounding Satyam, I thought it would be a good idea to read how it all began. I wrote this series in late 1997 and early 1998. The IndiaWorld story begins in September 1994. I was in the [...]

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This weekend’s links: Let’s Invent an iTunes for Tunes: by David Carr, in The New York Times Nokia’s Challenges and Opportunities: from Fortune and The Times Cutting through Info-Clutter: by Ed Sperling in Forbes Is 2009 the year of Mobile Computing: by Ed Sim Nothing but Net: JP Morgan Chase’s 340-page 2009 Internet Report

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Here is the presentation I made at Infocom in Kolkata on Thursday on “Breakthrough Innovations in Mobile.” Infocom Presentation: Breakthrough Innovations in Mobile View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own.

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One of the ideas I have been thinking about is paid microcontent subscriptions delivered to the mobile — via SMS or mail. The key word is “paid” — will people pay, or will it have to be free forever? The mobile is different — see the success of Blackberry and push mail, and also mobile [...]

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As private companies, we are not obliged to publish any quarterly financials. But imagine if we did think of our business with quarterly targets, and published a report and financials (for internal circulation only) — just like the public companies do? I think it will help small, private companies got a better handle on their [...]

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I will be speaking at Infocom 08-09 on Thursday at ITC Sonar in Kolkata. My session is at 4 pm, and I have 20 minutes to speak on “Breakthrough Innovations in Mobile.” There will be three other speakers in the 90-minute session. The session brief is as follows: Turning ideas into reality is what innovation [...]

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One of the nice things about Mumbai is the Arabian Sea. But unlike many other cities, we haven’t really made much of the sea. Only now will we get our first bridge (connecting Bandra and Worli). And then there are the boat rides. On Saturday evening, I took Abhishek and my niece for a boat [...]

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