My article (reproduced below) on Amazon’s MP3 service was recently featured on Techdirt: Recently, we mentioned that Amazon’s MP3 Download Store got the DRM-free part right but screwed up on the pricing model — the real Achilles heel of iTunes. As it turns out there’s another angle from which Amazon could go one-up on iTunes: […]
We’ve previously covered the lame marketing aspect of the new Indiatimes mail. Let’s extend that coverage to their extremely lame advertising. Why, in your opinion, does the ad feature a screaming guy running around in only his underwear? My guess is, he took one look at the new Indiatimes mail, felt like a Neanderthal, hence […]
Today’s dangerous quotes are ample proof that “experts,” especially in all matters monetary, are no better off than the layman. Read every word – they’re diamonds. Source: An expert interview featured on CNBC/MoneyControl – Domestic fundamentals quite strong: Principal O(x)us Investment. All in all, 10% from these levels is certainly very doable, which puts us […]
Advertisements can’t get any lamer than this ad for Shark Tooth cassettes and CDs. What’s the connection between a pet shark that functions as a dredging machine at the first whistle, a confused whistler, and cassettes and CDs? Did you observe that at no point during the commercial do you actually see the shark’s teeth? […]
It is just the sheer supply of money coming into this market. Ever since liberalization started and FIIs were allowed to invest in India, we have seen this kind of volume of money. It is almost torrents of money, which is coming in. Some of the predictions are that Bernanke will reduce interest rates further. […]
There are two sequential phases involved when you use your credit card: the first is the time interval between your usage of the credit card and the cut-off date for billing; the second is the time interval between the billing date and the payment due date. The MasterCard “priceless” series of advertisements, however, try to […]
Source: Indian markets set to scale greater highs soon: First Global. We think India is headed to P/E multiples of between 25 and 35 times in the next nine months’ time. China trades at 40-45 times earnings and that market does not look like selling off. So there is no reason why India should be […]
My one humble question to Vodafone-Essar: “Change is good. For who? The dog?” And as a Vodafone official put it, these advertisements are part of a “saturation media blitz”. I reached saturation the first time I saw this advertisement. How about you?
I’ve already bought these books for reading in October. If you’ve read or are reading any, drop a comment detailing your thoughts about the book/author. Jagdish N. Sheth’s The Self-Destructive Habits of Good Companies: …And How to Break Them (Hardcover). Chris Anderson’s The Long Tail How Endless Choice Is Creating Unlimited Demand (Paperback). I didn’t […]
In a recent interview about the Indian auto industry published by India Knowledge@Wharton, John Paul MacDuffie says: Hyundai is the real surprise. They came in relatively [recently] and built a plant that was almost an exact duplicate of a plant in Korea. This included lots of automation, which you wouldn’t expect. They made the Sonata, […]
My recent post about why you can’t view your Airtel mobile bill online seems to have taken on a life of its own. Google Analytics suggests that it is the single most viewed page on this site. Apparently, people have formed the perception that I sit at Airtel’s office dispatching everyone’s bills – both physical […]
How cool is this for a marketing message? Routine. Who wants it? We certainly don’t subscribe to one. And neither would we wish such a blasphemy on your work life. Work is fluid, work is laid back, work is Friday. Which is why, like always, we’re twisting the rules and barging in with Friday Culture. […]
Photo album: Pictures from my trip to the Chenna Keshava Temple at Belur. Breathtaking! Photo album: Pictures of Gowri – Ganesha festival shot at my sister’s house. I have upgraded to a Canon PowerShot SD850 IS – a delightfully portable digital camera. My PowerShot A95’s internals have gone for a toss and I am yet […]
I was hooked to these thoughts for quite some time today. In 1959, Benjamin Graham (author of The Intelligent Investor) had this to say about Initial Public Offerings (IPOs): Somewhere in the middle of the bull market the first common-stock flotations [i.e. IPOs] make their appearance. These are priced not unattractively, and some large profits […]
How do you think Airtel’s gearing up to propel forward in the ultra-competitive Indian telecom market? By “embarking on a significant shift in its marketing strategy” through “reorganizing users into different segments based on attitude, adoption of value added services, and revenues generated per user.” It seems Airtel had a one-size-fits-all demographic segmentation up to […]
At Crossword, I picked up “The Intelligent Investor” by Benjamin Graham. I am hooked to the book – Graham’s ideas are as applicable today as they were when he first wrote the book back in the 1950’s. I’d say that a general awareness of finance is required to fully appreciate the text. Graham offers refreshing […]
We’re back after being down for close to seventeen hours. Turns out that shifting stuff from one datacenter to another is quite a complex task. No matter how solid your business/disaster recovery plans are, there’s always an unanticipated surprise or two waiting to catch you unawares. But full credit to NearlyFreeSpeech.NET for keeping its customers […]
After a brief – ok, long – hiatus, the Tweets make a comeback. A comment that the Notary – he’s disappeared, hasn’t he? – made sometime back during a conversation stuck in my mind and that’s why you’re seeing the Tweets again. Have fun reading them and let me know what you think of them. […]
This blog’s web host is having a planned downtime and therefore this blog too is having a planned downtime. You won’t be able to access content anywhere from four to eight hours starting 00:30 IST on Tuesday, September 11, 2007. Here’s the official communication from NearlyFreeSpeech.NET: We are sending out a special email broadcast to […]
If you are (or have been) adventurous enough to believe (or visit) VLCC then a Lipo-Lift is a treatment meant for a slackened oval face, a double chin, and loosened cheeks. It also works on a face that is naturally too round and plump. You might now be wondering: “What exactly will I be subjected […]