Month: January 2022

No Free Ride to Big Tech

Shabbir Chunawalla

News is aggregated by the Big Tech companies. More and more news is consumed online. The current system, therefore, becomes unfair to news publishers. Google and Facebook use their dominant position to get 70-80 per cent of advertising revenue which comes out of online news consumption. Mainstream news publishers incur a heavy cost and efforts in news gathering — they are the gatekeepers and fact checkers. They have to employ trained professionals to do so. Thus Big Tech makes them financially unviable.

This has led to actions in Australia which has passed a law last year that requires Big Tech to pay local media outlets fairly for linking their content in news feeds or search results. France too has implemented the EU’s updated copyright rules that require digital platforms to compensate news publishers for previews of news content. Facebook has been compelled to sign a deal with a French group that represents 300 French publishers.

India too needs some action against Big Tech. India must have independent and financially viable news media.

If news is not reliably produced, there is a plethora of fake content, half truths, manipulated content and hate mongering. It can lead to a chaotic situation. Big Tech does bring traffic to news publishers. Still, it works both ways. A lot of Google queries are news related. Therefore, Google too gets considerable traffic. Big Tech cannot enjoy a free ride. They should share online advertising revenues with news publishers equitably.

Indian authorities have moved the Competition Commission of India (CCI). It has ordered a proble against Google.

Wordle — A Word Game

Shabbir Chunawalla

This is a word game created by a software engineer, Josh Wardle from the US to entertain his partner. He named it Wordle and it was to be played between the two of them. The game then was extended to a WhatsApp group. Later it was released for the public at large. In October, 2021, a couple of hundred people played it. In just two months, 3 lac plus people started playing it.

It invites players to conjecture a five letter word and then whether any of those letters are in the secret word and in the correct position. There are six chances to crack this right. He built a website. It is just fun. The collaboration was of two people — Wardle himself, and his partner, Palak Shah.

It limited players to one game a day. There are about 12000 words of five letters in the English language, some of which are obscure and difficult to guess. Later the list was narrowed down to 2500 words which would last for a few years

Pseudonymous Bitcoin Creator

Shabbir Chunawalla

It is popularly believed that Satoshi Nakamoto is the creator of Bitcoin. Satoshi Nakamoto’s anonymity is one of the greatest mysteries of our times. Nakamoto remains pseudonymous. If his identity is revealed, it may lead to a crash of Bitcoin. He remained pseudonymous while releasing his October 2008 paper — Bitcoin-A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System. Some believe Nakamoto could be a group of persons, as the code is too well-designed for one person.

Some claim that he is 46-year old Japan-based gentleman. There are other contenders — Craig Wright, an Australian entrepreneur; Villi Lehdonvirta, a Finnish sociologist; Michael Clear, Irish student; Shinichi Mochizuki, Japanese mathmatician; Adam Back, inventor of Hashcash and British cryptographer.

Tesla’s Musk believes Nicholas Szabo, a computer scientist could be behind this as he had proposed BitGold in 1998. However, the computer scientist denies this.

Nakamoto’s first statue has been unveiled at Budapest in September 2021. He wears a hoodie, and has vague facial features. The hoodie has a Bitcoin logo engraved on it.

Maybe, Nakamoto is dead. Maybe, he was Hal Finney, a computer scientist who passed away in 2014. Maybe, he is incarcerated. In the past, those who have proposed private currency have been convicted, e.g. Bernard for proposing Liberty Dollar and Ross, the creator of the dark web.

Metamorphosis of Metaverse

Shabbir Chunawalla

Social media, to begin with, was all about posting personal content for a closed network of friends on Facebook or Instagram. Users shared pictures which they had captured on WhatsApp. This is not true anymore.

Users love to be creators of content and snack on content produced by someone else. Social media 1.0 has to keep pace with the aspirations of the consumers. They have to change to hold on to traffic to maintain the advertising revenues. Facebooks, rechristened as Meta, faces hypercompetitive environment from well-funded startups.

In game streaming, short videos, content commerce, and groups, Meta is being challenged by the niche startups which are just a click away. It dissipates the audience of Facebook or Meta. Facebook has thus to move faster than the local rivals to retain and capture more market share.

WhatsApp Pay has not yet been established. Shops on Instagram awaits a launch. Gaming is taking just baby steps. It has powered Reels on Instagram. It has tied up with Reliance Jio and edtech unicorn Unacademy. Meta has not caught a wave after Instagram and WhatsApp. They should have entered the startup space a bit earlier.

Marketing Tomorrow : Philip Kotler

Shabbir Chunawalla

The following paras summarise Kotler’s views on the above topic. He expresses these views in FAQs on marketing.

Customer-orientation should not be paid only lip sympathy. Customer satisfaction level must be tracked. Reverse marketing is applicable to all the four Ps. Here a buyer defines the terms of exchange. Reverse design let the consumers participate in designing the products they want. Reverse pricing means telling the marketers what price they are willing to pay. Reverse advertising means taking permission from the customers before putting the message across. Reverse distribution means a choice of channels the customers desire.

When the customers create the products and services they want, they become prosumers — producing consumers. As most of the product related factors such as service, quality and value are being copied rapidly, it becomes difficult to differentiate a product. Technology and globalization has changed the landscape. Companies are competing anywhere, thanks to internet and more free trade. Hyper-competition puts a downward pressure on price. in hyper-competition there is hardly any sustainable competitive advantage. Technology and globalization can destroy competitive advantage overnight. we must improve continuously. Companies are compelled to differentiate which is mostly psychological, and not real. Internet has made consumers discriminating. Companies have to offer value in spite of downward pressure on prices which in turn affect profitability too.

The trends visible are brand ownership rather than asset ownership, customization rather than mass marketing, operating as a cyber firm along with brick-and-mortar firm, more emphasis on customer retention and relationship marketing, emphasis on DM, multi-channel marketing, company-wide marketing and partnership with the supply chain.

5G

Shabbir Chunawalla

Most 5G tests in India involve non-standalone platforms. The non-standalone architecture (NSA) anchors the control signalling of 5G radio networks to 4G core. Standalone architecture (SA) connects the 5G radio directly to the 5G core network.

NSA brings higher speeds of 5G. SA in addition enables the development of totally new services and business models. In SA, 5G core is a fully virtualised, cloud-native architecture. If introduces new ways to develope, deploy and manage services.

A private 5G network is a wireless local area network (LAN) that enables 5G-enabled technologies to create a network with dedicated bandwidth and infrastructure that meets a company’s specific connectivity needs.

5G WhatsApp video calls are being tested. They display the 5G band and speed.

5G makes movie downloads faster and has cloud gaming features.

5G VONR or Voice/Video on New Radio calls offer superior call quality. There are instant connections and clearer sound with no background noise.

Smart Proteins as Meat and Dairy Alternatives

Shabbir Chunawalla

Alternative proteins called smart proteins aim to replace meat. This sector has attracted huge investment. They are expected to capture 4 to 60 per cent of meat market by 2050, and 7 per cent of the global meat market by 2035.

Most Indian companies in this sector have come up in the last two years. Imagine Meats and Blue Tribe Foods (Alkem) expect to bring plant-based meat to market. Several companies such as Goodmylk and Epigamia expect to bring plant-based dairy products to the market.

ITC too is interested in plant-based meat products. Domino’s and Jubilant Food has launched a pizza with plant-based meat toppings.

Smart proteins are of three types — plant-based, cultivated and fermentation-derived meat, eggs and dairy.

Plant-based meat uses soy extracts, beet-root juice, coconut oil etc. These try to mimic the animal-based products. Replicas of kebabs, cutlets and biryanis can be made from these alternatives.

Cultivated meat is produced from a small sample of animal cells. Fermentation-derived proteins are made using microbes such as fungi. These two, i.e. cultivated meat and fermentation-derived are still far away from being mass market products.

Plant-based smart proteins are classified as vegan food.

Can all this replace animal products? Indians may take to plant-based meats if they match the taste of natural real products. To begin with, they will remain supplementary products.

However, it is too optimistic to think that the traditional products will be fully replaced by these. Ultimately, consumers will decide. Of course, there is a possibility that vegetarians will take to those products. They may or may not lure the traditional meat lovers. They are likely to remain niche products like the soya milk.

Play and View

Shabbir Chunawalla

Entertainment and gaming can be combined to offer some interactive content. Netflix has put video games as a new content category. They would like to provide experience which is controlled by viewer and is interactive. It can be made hybrid experience, which combines film and game. Here one can take control of the storyline. Black Mirror, a 2018 science fiction became a huge hit. People engage in and explore. Media and entertainment are being reimagined. India will see a significant growth in OTT, online gaming and Internet advertising.

Roblox is a 3D computer animated comedy action or adventure film. It is based on videogame. It is on Netflix. It is a multi-player game. There is feedback or interaction working both ways. The end result is decided by the players.

Globally, it is time to welcome interactive and creative entertainment. Flipkart has introduced Flipkart Videos. Crime Stories draws viewers to become a part of the narrative and choose different storylines. They are expected to explore alternative possibilities. Audiences can win prizes by predicting the right outcome.

Blogs

Shabbir Chunawalla

Originally it was called web logs — a personalised online journal. Blogs are a means to publish and communicate to a web audience. A blog is a website where a person writes on anything that pleases him on a continuous basis and has an option to keep it open for others to read. New entries show up at the top. One can comment on these or link to them or send an email to the author of the blog. At an individual level, a blog is a personal diary. At another level, it can be collaborative space. In short, a blog is what its host wants it to be.

Changing Media Scene

Shabbir Chunawalla

Happy Makar Sankranti

In media, the major change is occurring in how content is created, consumed and bought. Media companies may create or may aggregate and disseminate content. The delivery is at a place, time and gadget of consumer’s choice.

Big Tech influences media. Companies have become multi-channel, multi-platform and multi-device ready. All content — news, movies, TV shows, games, concerts — require reimagination. Media companies have to adapt to the changing environment.

All newspapers have a digital version, apart from a physical edition. Movies are released in theatres as well as online. Episodes of TV serials are shown on linear TV and OTT channels. Sports can be seen live or virtually.

Media consumption is on the rise continuously. We are consuming more media now than anytime in the past.

Video streaming platforms called OTTs have put entertainment in the pocket of consumers.

Theatres owners or multiplexes are sure about their audiences as those between 12 and 39 would always like to get out for entertainment. Of course, a segment would like to be indoors for whatever reasons — cost, hesitation or comfort.

There are subscription-based digital services. There are social media-based content packets.

Globally, there is interaction between virtual and on-ground entertainment. NFTs could be game changers in the live entertainment industry.

Media companies of future will be data-driven, process-centric and more digital. They would be able to create personalised viewing experience. The content offered would amaze and delight the audiences. Media companies will be more interactive. Gaming will pick up. Companies will have to protect data privacy. They will have to address issues of misinformation.