Tuesday 4 February 2014

Lenovo signals 'global ambitions' with Motorola deal

2/04/2014 09:28:00 am TECHNOLOGY No comments

Lenovo signals 'global ambitions' with Motorola deal

The back-to-back deals which Lenovo inked with Motorola and are all the more significant because of their timing.

BEIJING: In 1984, with only $25,000 in Chinese government funding and a dusty 20-square-metre bungalow as their headquarters, a small group of scientists in Beijing founded a firm called New Technology Developer Inc.

Thirty years later, the tech company -- which went on to become Legend and later, Lenovo -- is the world's biggest personal computer maker, and has just completed two major deals with IBM and Google that analysts say will help it to diversify away from the sagging PC market and boost its expansion overseas.

Lenovo's $2.3 billion purchase of IBM's low-end server business and its $2.91 billion acquisition of Motorolafrom Google are evidence of the Chinese tech giant's "global ambitions", said Jean-Francois Dufour at DCA Chine-Analyse.

"Just as iPhones and iPads have overtaken Macs in commercial importance for Apple, smartphones and tablets are expected to replace PCs in part for Lenovo," said Dufour, who called the firm "the pioneer of Chinese companies' global offensive".

The back-to-back deals are all the more significant because of their timing, coming just as US President Barack Obama noted in his annual State of the Union address on Tuesday that "for the first time in over a decade, business leaders around the world have declared that China is no longer the world's number one place to invest; America is".

With Chinese investment in the US doubling to $14 billion in 2013, a larger and larger share of that capital is coming from America's rival across the Pacific -- a fact unmentioned by Obama in his speech.

From its humble beginnings, Lenovo has charted an impressive course in the personal computer market. Under its earlier name, Legend, it secured the biggest share in China's domestic market in 1996 and in the Asia-Pacific region three years later.

Its 2003 decision to change the name of its PC brand from Legend to Lenovo in a bid to boost its sales abroad marked the beginning of its ascent to global preeminence.

That move was followed by a successful 2004 bid to serve as the exclusive computing technology provider for the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics and the 2008 Beijing Games, making it the first Chinese firm to become a major Olympic sponsor.

But it was Lenovo's 2005 acquisition of IBM's PC division for $1.75 billion that cemented its rise, setting it on track to unseat Hewlett-Packard as the world's top PC vendor last year.

Lenovo now has PC products in more than 160 countries and has worked to build its global brand by recruiting celebrities such as basketball star Kobe Bryant and Hollywood actor Ashton Kutcher, who the company named a "product engineer" for its new Yoga Tablet device.

With its Motorola purchase, Lenovo hopes to replicate its PC market success in the smartphone universe. The deal "will immediately make Lenovo a strong global competitor in smartphones", Lenovo chairman and chief executive officer Yang Yuanqing said.

As it did after the 2005 IBM deal, however, it faces tough odds. Lenovo is the number-two smartphone maker in China with a 12.5% market share in the third quarter of 2013, behind South Korea-based Samsung's 18.4%.

But globally, Lenovo ranked fifth in the same quarter, with only 4.5% market share. Its acquisition of Motorola is likely to bump it up to the No. 3 spot, Yang said, but it will remain well behind leaders Samsung and US tech giant Apple, with 31.3% and 15.3%, respectively.

Varun Goel, head of portfolio management services at Karvy Stock Broking, noted that while Lenovo has succeeded in the world of PCs, the smartphone market is "a very different ball game, with entrenched players like Apple and Samsung leading the fray".

"While Lenovo has expertise in hardware, today's smartphone industry is driven by smarter softwares," Goel told AFP.

"In the smartphone markets, Google's Android platform has been gaining strength. There is very little differentiation that Motorola's Android-powered phones currently have over Samsung, which uses the same platform."

"We are not sure if this acquisition will add long term value to Lenovo's shareholders," he added.

China's official Xinhua news agency had a more optimistic outlook. In a commentary published Thursday, it greeted Lenovo's Motorola purchase and said by expanding their global reach, Chinese companies seek to "bring about a win-win outcome".

"The amicable combination should ... be greeted by blessing rather than doubt by the world," it said, noting that Lenovo has pledged not to lay off any Motorola employees following the deal
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Apple's new challenge: Building a better battery

2/04/2014 08:33:00 am TECHNOLOGY No comments

Apple's new challenge: Building a better battery

The next breakthrough smartphone, or maybe the one after that, might not have a traditional battery as its sole source of power.

SAN FRANCISCO: The next breakthrough smartphone, or maybe the one after that, might not have a traditional battery as its sole source of power. Instead, it could pull energy from the air or power itself through television, cellular or Wi-Fi signals.

Engineers at Apple even tried for many years to build a smarter battery by adding solar charging to iPhones and iPods, a former Apple executive said. And they have continued to experiment with solar charging, two people who work at the company said.

Batteries, long the poor cousin to computer chips in research-obsessed Silicon Valley, are now the rage.

As tech companies push their businesses into making wearable devices like fitness bands, eyeglasses and smart watches, the limitations of battery technology have become the biggest obstacle to sales and greater profits. Consumers are unlikely to embrace a wristwatch computer like the one being worked on by Apple, orGoogle Glass, if they work only a few hours between charges and must be removed to be plugged in.

So the race is on - both to find alternatives to the traditional battery and to discover ways to make battery power last longer.

Consumers are going to say, "Give me a better battery because it doesn't last long enough," said Mujeeb Ijaz, chief technology officer at A123 Systems, a company that makes batteries for electric cars and invests in startups that are developing new battery technologies.

"That need wasn't there five years ago," he continued. "Now it's a matter of the market and the developers coming together and saying, what is the need and how many R&D dollars do we put in?"

Although computer chips have doubled in speed every few years, and digital displays have become significantly brighter and sharper, battery technology is largely stuck in the 20th century. Device makers have relied on incremental improvements to battery power, now usually supplied by a decades-old lithium-ion concoction, in combination with more energy-efficient chips and screens.

The problem, in part, is that it is hard to ensure the safety of many new power technologies. A faulty battery could potentially turn into a miniature bomb. So the products require exhaustive testing by regulators before hitting store shelves.

Even if a new power system is approved, it often requires adoption by reputable brands like Apple, Samsung or Microsoft before everyday consumers start to trust it.

Some in Silicon Valley, like Tony Fadell, the former Apple vice president who led iPod and iPhone development, think it is smarter to focus on improving batteries and other components by taking small steps, rather than trying to reinvent the battery itself.

"Hoping and betting on new battery technology to me is a fool's errand," said Fadell, who is now the chief executive of Nest, which makes household technology and was bought by Google last month. "Don't wait for the battery technology to get there because it's incredibly slow to move."

Fadell, who is often referred to as "one of the fathers of the iPod" for his work on the first version of Apple's venerable music player, said Apple tried for many years to build a smarter battery by adding solar charging to iPhones and iPods. But the method never proved practical, he said, because mobile devices often stay inside pockets when people are outdoors, and indoor artificial light generates only a tiny amount of energy.

These days, Apple's latest products, including its newest MacBook Airs, iPads and iPhones, rely more on energy-efficient processors and software algorithms to save power than on the battery itself. A spokeswoman for Apple declined to comment on future products and technologies. But there are clues that the company is looking into ways to improve battery technology.

Over the past few years, Apple has hired engineers with expertise in power technology and battery design from companies like Tesla, Toyota and A123 Systems. Last year, Apple acquired Passif Semiconductor, a startup that developed low-energy communication chips.

For its wristwatch, Apple has been testing a method to charge the battery wirelessly with magnetic induction, according to a person briefed on the product. A similar technology is already used in some Nokia smartphones - when a phone is placed on a charging plate, an electrical current creates a magnetic field, which creates voltage that powers the phone.

Apple has also experimented with new power-charging methods for a potential smartwatch, people close to the efforts said, though such experiments are years from becoming a reality. The watch is expected to have a curved glass screen, and one idea is to add a solar-charging layer to that screen, which would give power to the device in daylight, they said.

In the fall, Apple posted a job listing seeking engineers who specialize in solar energy.

Another experiment at Apple has involved charging the battery through movement, a method that is already used in many modern watches. A person's arm swinging could operate a tiny charging station that generates and pushes power to the device while walking, according to a patent filed by Apple in 2009.

In July, Apple was awarded a patent for a flexible battery that could fit in a wristwatch or tablet. Although the battery would be traditional, it would have a thin and curved form that could easily couple with a flexible solar panel layer.

Google also has been looking at new battery technologies, trying to figure out ways to extend the life of smartphones. "People do not want to have to go run and find a charger at 3 p.m. every day," said Mark Randall, senior vice president for supply chain and operations atMotorola, which Google announced last week it would sell to Lenovo.

Samsung, too, has been designing new types of batteries with wearable computers in mind. The company has introduced compact curved batteries that can be installed inside wristbands. And last year, it introduced Dream Battery, which uses solid electrolytes, instead of the liquid or polymer used by lithium-ion batteries, to eliminate the risk of explosions and other safety problems for flexible electronics.

Universities and startups are also making their own efforts - some just as ambitious as Apple's and, perhaps, a little pie in the sky. Nonetheless, they are attracting attention and venture capital.

For example, prominent investors like the Founders Fund; Yahoo's chief executive, Marissa Mayer; and the Andreessen Horowitz firm are backing uBeam, a start-up in Mountain View, Calif., that is trying to develop a system in which devices pull energy from the air. The technology involves piezoelectricity - a form of charge that is created in vibrations of certain crystals and ceramics.

"Battery technology advancements are lagging far behind advancements in mobile tech, while power consumption rate is increasing as consumers demand more from their devices," said Meredith Perry, founder of uBeam.

"When wireless power is everywhere, battery life and charging rates will no longer be critical factors in mobile devices as our devices will always be charging," Perry said.

Yi Cui, a Stanford professor who founded the startup Amprius, is developing a way to replace the carbon anodes in lithium ion batteries with silicon. Silicon, he said, has 10 times the storage capacity of carbon, but it expands and breaks. So Cui and his team coated the silicon with polymer, a soft and stretchy substance similar to the material used in contact lenses, that spontaneously heals tiny cracks during battery operation.

Researchers at the University of Washington have also been working on a method for wireless devices to communicate without using any battery power. The technique involves harvesting energy from TV, cellular and Wi-Fi signals that are already in the air, said Shyamnath Gollakota, an assistant professor of computer science and engineering who is working on the project.

"The idea is basically you have signals around you," Gollakota said. "So why do you have to generate new signals to communicate?"

In a commercial smartphone, a battery would still be necessary for powering the screen and other functions, but the signal-harvesting method would allow phone calls or text messages to be placed without using any power, he said.

At Google, building a better battery is so important that the quest goes all the way to the top. During an earnings call last year, Larry Page, Google's chief executive, said battery life on mobile devices, including tablets and smartphones, was prime for reinvention.

"There's real potential to invent new and better experiences," he said
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Clients to decide salary hikes at Cognizant, Wipro, HCL Tech, Mindtree

2/04/2014 08:30:00 am TECHNOLOGY No comments

Clients to decide salary hikes at Cognizant, Wipro, HCL Tech, Mindtree

Senior IT industry execs say linking customer feedback with key result areas drives positive behaviour among executives.

BANGALORE: For roughly 30,000 client-facing executives at India's No.3 software services exporter Wipro, this year's performance appraisal will be different.

The Bangalore-based company, whose customers include Citigroup and Cisco Systems, has embarked on a new experiment, in which its sales executives are ranked and graded based on customer feedback, with 70% of the performance rating coming from them. "If your customer says this guy is lousy and your boss says terrific, it's not going to matter. Customer feedback is going to be a priority," said TK Kurien, chief executive of Wipro told ET in an interview last month.

"That cultural change is what we are going through. And my sense is that when it finishes we will be in a far better position." Kurien, who has been beefing up Wipro's sales team, said the initiative is part of a '360-degree survey' where everyone, including project managers, will be covered. Wipro is not the only one adopting this.

Cognizant, Mindtree rely on feedback
The need to better evaluate sales staff and improve their relationship with top customers is forcing other big players in the Indian technology services industry to place greater emphasis on client feedback while assessing staff performance.

Senior IT industry executives say linking customer feedback with key result areas drives positive behaviour among executives to ensure enhanced customer satisfaction. "If an executive falls short of meeting or exceeding desired client satisfaction levels, it has a directly proportional impact on the annualised variable payout of the individual," said Prithvi Shergill, chief HR officer at Noida-based HCL Technologies.

At New Jersey-based Cognizant Technology Solutions, which has most of its employees based in Chennai, quantitative and qualitative feedback from clients are part of each leader's individual bonus plan.

The company organised a planning session for its clients and board of directors, where the board had a chance to hear feedback from customers, said James Lennox, its HR head. Vidya Santhanam, director, people function, at midsized firm Mindtree, said in future the company's delivery platform will "enable clients to directly give feedback to each project member".

Employees appraised using customer feedback are almost always sales and other client-facing executives who are responsible for raising client satisfaction levels. Since most of their interaction is with clients, companies say it is only fair if these executives are appraised by clients.

Besides evaluating employees better, it also helps companies do away with the ageold annual performance appraisal process, where managers and their subordinates discuss goals and performance. But not everyone is excited.

Some industry experts say placing a higher weightage on customer feedback may fail to motivate employees. "The practice of using client feedback to appraise employees isn't accurate because of the nature of products and services being delivered to these clients by IT companies," said Ajit Isaac, MD and CEO at Ikya Human Capital Solutions.

"Essentially, services rendered by IT firms are an aggregation of firms, and no one employee, or group of employees can be appraised based merely on feedback."

Elango R, HR head at Mphasis said the company has been using consumer feedback to appraise employees for the past couple of years, but it faced problems as "over-enthusiastic customers gave really extreme feedback". "Relying entirely on this method gave a very one dimensional view of the employee. In cases of extreme feedback, we would now discuss it with the customer and employee individually to figure out why," he said
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Supreme Court refuses to extend Airtel, Vodafone's licences

2/04/2014 08:28:00 am TECHNOLOGY No comments

Supreme Court refuses to extend Airtel, Vodafone's licences

The Supreme Court’s refusal to extend the licences of Airtel and Vodafone, will force them to bid the highest during spectrum auctions.

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court's refusal to extend the licences of the country's two biggestmobile phone service providers, Airtel and Vodafone, will force them to bid the highest during spectrum auctions, if they wish to remain in business beyond November 2014.

After the telecom appellate tribunal refused to extend their licences, which expire in November 2014, Airtel and Vodafone had sought an urgent hearing of their petitions in the apex court and sought extension of their licences, which they have been holding for the last two decades, by another 10 years.

But a bench of justices AR Dave and S A Bobde, which on Sunday heard the matter in the apex court, refused to give any interim relief to the two mobile telephony companies though it admitted their petitions and agreed to hear them expeditiously.

Senior advocates Mukul Rohatgi, A M Singhvi and Maninder Singh, who appeared for the telecom companies, requested the court for extension of licence. When it was refused, they requested the court to direct the telecom ministry to keep the allotted band of spectrum reserved for them during pendency of their petitions and not put it up for auction.

Airtel and Vodafone, which together have 350 million subscribers, pleaded that they had a right to seek extension of the licences bundled with spectrum to provide seamless and continuous mobile telephony services. Both agreed to pay the market determined price for spectrum.

They also cited a recommendation made by an expert committee headed by Subodh Kumar, additional secretary in the telecom ministry, which in 2009 had recommended that existing licensees could be offered the right of first refusal when the time for renewal of the licences comes.

"Security of tenure is a basic feature of telecom licence. This is in line with global practice for extension of licences. The licences have a rolling period to ensure investments are made," the committee had said. Together, the companies claimed to have invested over Rs 20,000 crore to set up telecommunication network all over India. But the bench asked, "Should you have a monopoly over spectrum?"

Vodafone and Bharti Airtel are participating in the spectrum auction and have been shortlisted as eligible bidders
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Sony Vaio Flip 13 review: Perfect for road warrior

2/04/2014 08:27:00 am TECHNOLOGY No comments

Sony Vaio Flip 13 review: Perfect for road warrior

Ever since the iPad's launch, PC makers like Sony, Lenovo, Dell, HP etc have been scrambling to make the laptop cool again. Today's tablets are good enough for almost every task, whether it is watching videos, listening to music, playing games, surfing the web, emails, and even creating and editing documents.

But when it comes to actual business tasks, most tablets are found lacking. Still, the stock of tablets has grown while laptops have increasingly gone out of reckoning in buyers' minds. This has, however, not deterred manufacturers from trying to blend the good old laptop with new age tablets.

Sony's latest step in this direction is the Vaio Flip range, starting at a pricey Rs 95,000. The 13-incher in the range - the smallest model in this series - is the Vaio Flip 13, which carries a powerful processor, touchscreen, compact and portable body and even an 8MP camera.

We reviewed the Sony Vaio Flip 13 to see whether it is the best hybrid laptop that money - Rs 99,990 to be exact - can buy today. Here's what we found...

Design and body
The highlight of Sony Vaio Flip 13 is how it becomes a tablet. Instead of the standard single hinge that connects the keyboard and the screen, Sony has used two hinges in the Flip series. The second hinge is located slightly above the middle of the display chassis and pulls out the display panel with a slight push. Here are a few pictures to demonstrate exactly how this mechanism works:

While the hinge mechanism may look a little frail, we found that it is quite reliable and operated smoothly throughout the week that we used the model. Small magnets have been placed at the bottom of the lid to ensure that the screen is secured to the chassis while in laptop mode. Of course, you can choose to keep the display panel secured to the lid as and when you want by pushing the Lock key (located just below the screen on the keyboard deck).

Sony has done a pretty great job of designing the Vaio Flip 13, and this is not limited to just the hinging mechanism. We really liked the attention to detail Sony has given to the model, which is evident from the materials used in its construction. The lid and keyboard deck is made of brushed metal, while the bottom chassis of the keyboard deck is made using plastic. The frame of the display is layered with rubber, so that it is kept safe from dust and other particulates.

Another pretty amazing thing about the laptop is how incredibly thin and light it is. At 1.3kg, it is extremely easy to carry around and would be our preferred choice if we need a hybrid laptop that needs to be carried around frequently. At the edges, the keyboard deck is just 3mm thin, adding to the pleasant ergonomics of the laptop.

Overall, the design of Sony Vaio Flip 13 gets a big thumbs-up from us.

Display
The new Vaio Flip 13 has a 13-inch screen with full HD (1920x1080p) resolution; like most modern hybrids, it offers touch functionality too. Text, videos and everything else you can think of appears pretty crisp, something that goes in its favour. However, we have two issues with the screen, which are more in the realm of usability than quality.

First, the touch experience is not smooth; we observed a slight drag while scrolling up and down on web pages, something you are sure to do quite frequently in both laptop and tablet modes. However, just to be clear, the touchscreen is accurate and responds fast whenever we tap an on-screen button.

Second, the viewing angles are decent, still a bit lacking. The screen displays vibrant colours and masks the off-colouring when it's viewed from the steep angles. Though it seems like a good thing, we do not expect it to happen in such a high-priced laptop.

The hardware inside
Sony has used the fourth-generation Intel Core i5 (Haswell) processor, with 4GB memory and integrated graphics card (Intel HD Graphics 44). This processor is clocked at 1.6GHz and ensures that all common tasks are performed without any hiccups. For a clearer view on performance, we put it through some benchmarks, namely PCMark 8 and 3DMark.

In PCMark 8 Home, it scored 2488, while it notched up 4052 in PCMark 8 Work. Both are decent scores and show that Vaio Flip 13 can get on top of things when required. Its average 3DMark benchmark score was north of 380. By using a low voltage charger, Sony has traded off the performance a little, but this is what you get when you want portability more.

Vaio Flio 13 comes with 128GB SSD (solid state drive), offering approximately 60GB of storage space as the rest is taken up by Windows 8 system files. In order to keep the Vaio Flip 13 thin, Sony has pulled the plug on HDDs; so you can either buy an external hard disk or go for cloud storage. If you want more storage, opt for the 14-inch model, which has 1TB internal storage and costs Rs 5,000 less, but is not as portable.

Like Apple did with Macbook Air, Sony too has done away with Ethernet port in order to retain thinness, thus leaving Wi-Fi as the only option of accessing the internet. On the right side of the laptop are two USB ports, a HDMI port, the power button and a SD card reader. The left side gets only the earphone jack, whereas a volume rocker is located on the bridge of the keyboard deck.

And the software
You get Windows 8 in the laptop, upgradeable to Windows 8.1 for free; you don't get the option of Windows 7. The device comes with Sony's suite of software like Vaio Clip and Paper, along with some useful applications, such as Norton Antivirus and Trend Micro Titanium Security. However, most other companies offer the same stuff too, so it's not really a big advantage.

You also get a free subscription to Sony Music Jive, giving you access to download unlimited music for 60 days. Sony has also thrown in the MDR-XB910A headphones (worth Rs 12,000) for free with this laptop under a limited period introductory offer, which will go well with the free music you have downloaded.

Using the Sony Vaio Flip 13
Benchmark and specifications apart, how the laptop performs during actual usage is what matters the most. We liked how fast and easy it was to use the Vaio Flip 13 even in the dark. The backlit keyboard is a treat to use, with well spaced-out keys that operate with a satisfying click when pressed. The trackpad, however, can use a bit more work; there is no delineation of the left and right keys, and can make things a little confusing for new users. A few hours of use, though, and you shall be able to operate it easily.

Speakers are located on the sides in this model, so that sound is not muffled in most cases. However, the sound quality delivered by the laptop is in itself not enough. We'd recommend a speaker set, else enjoying videos - even with volume cranked to the maximum - would be difficult.

The camera is located at the bottom, something we found odd at first look, but once we put it in tablet mode, it all made sense. In tablet mode, the camera is positioned behind the screen, making it pretty simple to use the rear camera. However, the camera is not placed in a recessed spot and is susceptible to scratches in laptop mode, since it will come in contact with the surface on which the device is placed.

The camera quality is pretty good and it clicks photos with vibrant and saturated colours. Details are a little dodgy but, frankly, it is to be expected from a tablet. In any case, we preferred the smartphone for clicking pictures even while carrying this laptop.

The battery life is nearly satisfactory, offering six hours of operating life on a single charge on an average. While playing graphic intensive games, the battery life comes down to four hours, but considering it is more of a work-oriented model, it should get you through the day just fine. Yet, if one were to look at the battery backup time as a tablet, it is inadequate.

The charger of Sony Vaio Flip 13 is one of the most compact we have seen in the market, making it easier to carry around as well. However, as we found during our review, it comes off with just a little tug. We had to be extra careful about checking that it was plugged in whenever we moved the laptop from one spot to another, which happens quite a lot while working. After a point, it just got annoying.

Another issue we faced with the Vaio Flip 13 is with the ventilation fan. It runs constantly, but at least remains noiseless while running small applications. However, when we push things and run a few resource-hungry applications, the fan becomes too noisy, killing the user experience.

Rivals
If you have Rs 1 lakh in your pocket and need a hybrid laptop that is easy to carry around, then we would recommend the Sony Vaio Flip 13. It is a pretty good device - powerful enough, light and offering good battery life.

However, if your budget is restricted, then you can choose the Vaio Pro 13, another 13-incher by Sony. Priced at Rs 75,000, this is a touchscreen ultrabook and has the same hardware as the Flip 13, but cannot be converted into a tablet. In essence, it is just as light and equally powerful, so go for it if you do not see yourself using the tablet too much.

Another option is the Asus Transformer Book Trio, which comes with a detachable keyboard dock. In tablet mode, it is easier to carry since it weighs only 700gram, but you'd have always to find a place to keep the keyboard deck. Plus, it comes with both Android and Windows 8.

It has more storage space (500GB) and fourth-generation i7 processor. However, the display is smaller at 11.6-inch. So, it's basically a trade-off between smaller display and better hardware; it is priced at Rs 98,000 in India.

You can also take a look at Dell XPS 12, a laptop that also doubles up as a tablet. Available at a starting price of Rs 97,000, this model also has a hinging mechanism where the display is flipped in order to use the laptop to be used as a tablet. It has a slightly smaller screen, measuring 12.5-inch, but looks much more beautiful than the Sony Vaio Flip 13. Hardware-wise, the two are the same, but the Dell model has 512GB SSD option. However, XPS 12 is not as portable a device as Vaio Flip 13 and weighs 1.5kg.

Verdict
Sony Vaio Flip 13 proves that it means business and is not just a me-too device. It has all the characteristics of a powerful laptop-cum-tablet and clearly has the potential to make its mark in the market. It is a little underpowered, but can still perform most tasks quite efficiently. Its sleek profile and well-designed body are clearly plus-points. The rear 8MP camera is a small but added advantage.

In our view, Sony Vaio Flip 13 is the perfect device for those who travel a lot, offering a versatile suite of features to take care of both business and entertainment requirements.

'India, the next big thing for Facebook'

2/04/2014 08:25:00 am TECHNOLOGY No comments

'India, the next big thing for Facebook'

Kirthiga Reddy (42), Facebook's India chief, says that India is the next big thing for his business.

NEW DELHI: She's the India head of a global firm that celebrates its 10th anniversary this week, and the company's founder is a tech icon who says India is the next big thing for his business. She appears confident the Indian market can deliver what the boss wants.

Kirthiga Reddy (42), Facebook's India chief, says her challenge is to make Indian firms seeFacebook as a mass media, not social media. "That's the shift that I see, that's the kind of conversation I have with Indian CEOs and CMOs," Reddy says.

"Zuck ( Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's founder) sees India as a key market...a large market for our monetisation drive, a lead market for emerging economy models," says Reddy, who joined the company in July 2010. "What we learn in India, we implement elsewhere," she adds.

FB's India numbers are impressive: 93 million users, second only to the US user base, and as many as 75 million of these are on mobile (December 2013). Given FB's globally announced emphasis on exploiting the mobile platform, FB India seems to have the right kind of platform.

Facebook, as a company, started operations in India about four years ago and Reddy came on board when the user base was a mere 8 million in the country.

How to lure businesses Facebook adds about 2 million new users a month in India and offers services in nine languages.

But just as Facebook is answering questions on the eve of its 10th anniversary about its business model, Reddy has a battle on her hands - to make a user base that may soon reach 100 million attractive enough for businesses.

She seems very confident: "I know 18 months from now it will be a different media landscape and Facebook is going to be a key part of fuelling that change." The India head, who has 2,000 Facebook friends, argues companies and brands across categories will adopt the platform. She gives examples.

"There are over a million advertisers on Facebook globally, a very significant milestone for us to reach. We don't share country-specific numbers. But I can see different genres of advertisers coming. Coca-Cola India did significant launches with us last year. Yepme, an online fashion retailer, used Facebook and got 4.5 times returns on ad-sales dollars. Small businesses such as Pigtales and Ponys - two college students in Bangalore started this hair accessories company - leveraged Facebook and it became a business on its own."

"Whether it is Nitin Paranjpae (former chief of HUL) or Srini (CVL Srinivas) from GroupM or other media planners, the first thing they want to know is how to use the platform. They want to be educated. A lot of companies have been using Facebook for fan engagement and that is valuable in itself. We have studies that show fans buy 1.9 times more than non-fans. However, fans are a small percentage of the target audience. Facebook as a whole is a valuable platform."

Reddy says Facebook India's appeal to companies is its ability to deliver specific targets. "We are effective and efficient because of our ability to do targeted ads. For example, when Samsung did its Note 3 launch last quarter, they used different creatives for men and women on Facebook. Brands can't do this on television or in print. Another example is the launch of Nokia 205, where through Facebook, the company targeted the feature phone users with a customised message because they were most likely to upgrade to the new model."

Reddy has a message to advertisers on their key metric - returns on investment (RoI): "It's the ability to drive a message in a particular way with zero spillage that drives RoI. We are results-focused. We ask brands what are your biggest brand and business objectives? We can deliver the next stage of growth."

While Reddy declined to share revenue numbers for India, citing global policy, she rubbished analyst talk on the platform being less relevant over the next five years. "We have read all the doom and gloom articles. You can see the data and figures of our growth and they tell a different story. We have seamless integration, the best mobile products and solutions in the market."

Whether Reddy or her boss 'Zuck' are right is a matter, analysts say, that will be resolved soon. Facebook pessimists and optimists are both making predictions on the company's 10th anniversary.

For India, we may have the beginnings of the answer in 18 months, as Facebook's India chief insists
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I want to express myself on the field now: Jacques Kallis

2/04/2014 08:24:00 am CRICKET No comments

I want to express myself on the field now: Jacques Kallis

All through his illustrious career, Jacques Kallis has been a man of few words, letting his cricket do the talking. (AFP Photo)

Jacques Kallis, for many the greatest cricketer of the modern era, and one of the greatest allrounders ever, surprised his fans by retiring from Test cricket after the series against India last December.

He went out with a bang, scoring his 45th Test century in his final knock as South Africa wrapped up the series. All through his illustrious career, Kallis has been a man of few words, letting his cricket do the talking. The legend from Cape Town, however, opened up in an email interview with TOI, the first to an Indian publication since his Test retirement. Read on...

Jacques, now that you have played your last Test and spent some time relaxing, how do you look back at yourremarkable career?

I was amazed how quickly the years went by. I really enjoyed my Test career. I feel proud of my achievements and that I was able to assist South Africa in becoming the No. 1 Test-playing team in the world.

While you have enjoyed great success in one-day cricket and have also excelled in the T20 format, your greatest feats have probably been as a Test cricketer. Why did you decide to retire from Tests and not limited-overs cricket?

Playing Tests really takes it out of you, both physically and mentally. The ODI setup is a different sort of pressure. I want to go out and express myself now on the field. Retiring from Tests gives me that freedom. Everything I do now is to improve my skills in the one-day format.

Many feel that without you, South Africa will find it a bit tough to deal with the upbeat Australians in the series coming up shortly...

I think it will be a tough series for both teams. It is difficult to answer the question. I hope that South Africa do really well without me and beat the Aussies.

You played your last Test against India. What are your views about the Indian bowling attack?

The Indian bowling attack is not bad. I feel that sometimes away from home they battle with what length to bowl. I also feel maybe they should have included someone with real pace in South Africa rather than relying just on swing.

You have played a lot of cricket in India. How has been the experience?

India is a fascinating place to tour. The conditions are very different to anywhere else in the world. The passion of the people is amazing. They just love the game and their players. I really feel that the Indian team feeds off the energy of the people. That's why their record is so good at home.

Can you tell us something about the Jacques Kallis Scholarship Foundation?

The game of cricket has been good to me. I have met amazing people both on and off the field. When I was awarded a benefit year in 2005 I decided that I wanted to give back something to the game and my country. I, therefore, used the money I raised in the year to start the JK Scholarship Foundation. It's main objective is to fund underprivileged young people in South Africa through what we call Model C schools in South Africa. We wanted to firstly give them a proper education and secondly try and provide as best as possible cricket coaching. It has given me great pleasure in seeing young boys arrive and grow into grown men when they leave. Some have progressed from a cricketing point of view and others have been given a chance because of the education in a world that is cut-throat.

What part of the game you personally enjoy the most?

I enjoy batting the most.

How much of your success would you credit to talent and how much of it to hard work and training?

Difficult question. I don't think you can get to the top with no talent. But you do have to put in the long hours as well. It is possibly a combo of the two.

Which bowler has troubled you the most?

Difficult question again as you play on so many surfaces. A spinner would trouble you on a turning wicket and a seamer on a green top. Probably Shane Warne on a turning track andWasim Akram on a seaming wicket.

You seemed to be quite intense while playing. How did you maintain such intensity and focus over such a long period? Did you go for some specific mental exercise?

I always prepare well mentally. It is something I taught myself and then it became a habit over time.

Would you like to be connected with cricket in any way after your playing days?

Definitely in some way.

Many experts and fellow players say Jacques Kallis is the greatest allrounder ever, or the greatest of the modern era. How do you react to such high praise?

Very happy to be included in a list of great allrounders.

Has the advent of T20 cricket helped cricket in any way?

I think so. It has helped improve the skills of players, especially batsmen.

What is the one quality, according to you, which marks out a great player from the rest?

Mental toughness and technique
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