Product-based IT companies develop their own products to sell, e.g. Google, Facebook, Adobe etc. Product-based companies operate both in the IT and non-IT fields. However, they need IT support for their products. Service-based companies may or may not have their products. Generally, they work for other organisations. In fact, they provide services or support to the product-based companies who are their clients. To illustrate, Wipro, Cognizant, TCS, Accenture, Infosys are service-based companies.

Product-based companies keep small teams of bright candidates from good institutes. Service-based companies hire from all sorts of institutions in large numbers. Emoluments at product-based companies are high. Comparatively, service-based companies provide average salaries. Recruitment and selection at product-based companies is competitive, and tough. The candidates face a series of interviews. Comparatively, service-based companies recruit easily if the candidate’s fundamentals are good. Product-based companies offer flexible timings and service-based companies expect an 8-9 hour shift. Product-based companies have to do marketing spend. Service-based companies sell their service by contacting clients.

India so far focused on IT services and companies such as TCS, Infosys, Wipro and HCL are known for their IT services to clients. They work on different projects of the clients, and each projects is time-bound. Engineers working in services provide support to the clients whenever required, even on holidays. Product-based companies say Amazon develop products according to the time-frame they set. Product-based firms take ownership and deliver on time. They are proactive and customer-centred. At product-based companies, codes are deployed on a daily basis, and there is no deferring to a future date. It is a good learning ground for freshers. Codes once formulated are not changed frequently. Whenever, changes are made, they are for the long-term. In a product company, you learn the tricks of the trade on the job. You have to learn on your own. Services companies provide you enough time to pick up things. Engineers are given training in the fields required. They are exposed to different programming languages. Each project has its own requirements. In product-companies, manpower migrates from one software to another in a well-planned manner and are given enough time to learn the nuances of the new product. In service companies, candidates who are without a project work sit on the bench. During this time, they brush up their skills. Projects are randomly allocated, and the project that comes to a candidate is a matter of chance. It is difficult to get released from an on-going project in a service company. Service companies while recruiting just test the fundamentals of the candidate. In product company, they test the candidates ability to apply his knowledge. They have to code a problem to offer a solution.

Matter cannot occupy, as per classical physics, the same space at the same time. However, in particle physics, particles like atoms and sub-atomic particles like electrons and light behave differently and can exist in more than one state at the same time. The field called quantum mechanics had contributions from Planck, Bohr and Einstein. Light could exist as a wave and particle, depending on how it is seen.

Quantum mechanics allows two or more particles to exist in entangled state. What happens to one particle in the entangled pair determines what happens to the other. Distance between them does not matter. Einstein attributed this co-ordination to hidden variables which he called ‘spooky action at a distance.’

John Bell in the 1960s came to the conclusion that rather than hidden variables, the co-ordination between entangled pair could be attributed to chance element. It occurs while measuring the characteristics of one of the particles. Bell developed a mathematical inequality. It states had there been hidden variables, the correlation between results of a great number of measurements would not exceed a certain value. Quantum mechanics proved this to be false, as there are results which exceed this value.

Alain Aspect, John Clauser and Anton Zeilinger have been awarded 2022 Nobel in physics for their pioneering work in Quantum mechanics. They have built on Bell’s work.

Clauser from the US started work way back in 1969, and is still alive to receive the prize. He conducted an experiment by passing entangled photons through polarisation filters to test Bell’s inequality. The experiment violates Bell’s inequality. It confirms there are no hidden variables at work. It is governed by quantum mechanics. The experiment of Clauser had some flaws — the measurements were fixed. It thus could not have detected the hidden variables.

Aspect a French physicist, eliminated this bias by varying measurement settings only after the entangled photons left their source. Thus the experimental set-up would not tell upon the results.

Zeilinger, an Australian physicist, used more than two entangled particles. These now become the foundation of quantum computation. These entangled particles could be manipulated. He discovered quantum teleportation — here the particles assume unknown quantum characteristics different from other particles over long distances.

Zeilinger envisages quantum communication all over the world.

Quantum physics is the study of matter and energy at sub-atomic level. These are the smallest building blocks of nature. The subject goes against the usual ideas of cause and effect and the nature of reality.

Quantum entanglement could be a stepping stone for a whole new technology. Transistors and lasers are the products of first quantum revolution. The ability to manage and manipulate systems of entangled particles will provide the researchers the tools to create quantum computers, build quantum networks and secure quantum communication.

Crypto industry is not immune to hacking attacks. There are cases of online theft of cryptos stored in wallets. There are raids on exchanges where investors buy and sell digital currencies. There is a whole new field of DeFi with many startups such as Beanstalk.

Ben Weintraub, a college drop-out, developed a software platform Beanstalk offering Stablecoin which attracted crypto investors. Stablecoin has a fixed value of $1. However, this platform collapsed as a hacker stole away $180 million from users. There are other thefts on other DeFi platforms too.

There DeFi platforms have brought in disintermediation — people can borrow, lend and conduct other transactions without banks or brokers. The whole system is governed by a code.

The sector of DeFi has been hailed as the future of finance. Crypto users made available a huge corpus of fund, say $100 billion in virtual currency to DeFi projects. However, the software was not flawless. It led to thefts. The thefts occur because of the smart contract code that was faulty. This code powers DeFi, and is open source. It is an attack on infrastructure rather than an individual infiltration.

Cruise, backed by General Motors, is offering low-cost rides to a few customers in driverless cars in San Francisco. Of course, such rides have glitches, say some swerve and there is a jolt when the brakes are applied. However, the car navigates competently. It changes lanes on its own. The front is empty as there is no one in the driver’s seat and its adjacent seat. The services could be expanded to Austin. Texas and Phoenix by the end of 2022. It is a taxi service served by an app right now available on iPhone but not on Android-powered phone. They have a fleet of 30 cars, and operate on certain specific routes between 10 pm and 5.30am. The idea is that the traffic is minimal in these hours.

Though very rare, the cars get confused in certain situations. In such a case, the operators in a remote centre retrieve them by deploying technicians. Certain difficult situations are unprotected left-hand turn, jaywalking etc.

The driverless cars seem to take side streets rather than the main roads to steer clear of heavy traffic and unprotected left-hand turns.

A car may detect a potential collision, and car comes to a halt on the side. Such stalled cars are a problem.

Waymo of Google would like to start a second service in San Francisco. Argo AI of Ford and Volkswagen is at work in Austin and Miami. Hyundai’s Motional is interested to start service in Las Vegas.

Organisations are going for digitalisation. The duty of the chief operating officer (CXO) then is to integrate the various applications and systems being used by the organisation. A big organisation on average uses 50 plus applications with its own technology and architecture, protocol, database. The whole thing is hosted on-premise or on cloud. There are legacy systems in use. These legacy systems must be integrated with modern applications.

Integration has to be real-time and through an API-platform. Several startups build enterprise-class integration and API-platform. The platform should be easy to use. There should be simple drags and drops for integration and automated workflows.

There should be a help-team for the clients to guide them. There are live, online training programmes.

Some applications are pre-integrated. Quikwork, a Mumbai-based startup solves this problem of integration.

In March 2017, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai had a dinner in a Vietnamese restaurant in Silicon Valley. The photos were published in the mainstream US media. Such meetings between top honchos of corporates are common. However, these two are competitors. There was speculation about what transpired between them. They were silent. However, after three years, certain things were revealed. It was a meeting that led to an agreement between them. It was about Apple allowing the Google search engine on its iPhone. Google would pay Apple per annum $15 billion to achieve this. The revelation came after an anti-trust suit was filed in an American court. Are they friends or foes?

The world has been vertically divided on the criteria of the use of smartphone by these two companies. Big Tech has affected the world — Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon etc. However, Apple and Google are in a different league. They are truly competitive.

Smartphone as a gadget has changed the world. It has affected social relations. It has led to analytics and artificial intelligence. It is a means of communication. It is a newspaper and TV. It also serves as a camera. It not only entertains, but also educates. It is just like a university. It facilitates transactions. It is the greatest instrument in the world. There is a competition between Apple and Google about the control of the smartphone.

Apple’s focus is on hardware. Google’s focus is on software Apple tries to launch exclusive products. Google’s attempt is to make the products which are extensively used. Apple wants to maximise sales. Google prefers to distribute the products free. Google wants to leverage the users’ data to benefit itself. These two companies do not have commonalities to be each other’s rivals. Apples iPhone is an excellent piece of hardware. Google’s Android Operating System is the best software produced. These two companies, instead of being competitors, could be complementary to each other.

About 15 years ago, iPhone was being developed. Jobs had realised that a PC could be accommodated in the pocket of a human being. Such miniaturization led to the concept of iPhone. In those days, the only operating system known for mobiles was Nokia’s Symbian. Microsoft could not adapt its Windows to mobiles even after trying. In those days, Apple and Google’s manpower was jointly working on a new mobile system. Apple team was led by Jobs and was working towards creating an iPhone. Larry Page and Sergey Brin , Google’s founders were following the development, and were interested in providing Google services. They were sure that Apple’s new product would overtake Microsoft. How Google Search, Google Mail and Google Maps would adapt to iPhone? A team from Google had been working on this at Apple’s California office. An American-Indian Vic Gundotra, formerly of MS, had realised that smartphone will be a gamechanger, However, his views were not taken seriously at MS. Google roped in Vic. The joint effort of Google and Apple was to adapt Google services to iPhone. Google’s CEO was given a Board seat in Apple. In 2007, Job launched the first iPhone. He invited at the press conference the CEO of Google on the stage.

Many were uncomfortable in Google about this joint striving. iPhone was going to be a gamechanger technologically. At the same time Apple would hold the apron strings of Google permanently.

Google too wanted the mobile to be a smartphone right from 2005. Google purchased the ownership of a company of Andy Rubin who was developing Android Operating System. Andy founded Anroid inc. In 2003. Google acquired Android Inc. in 2005 for $50 million. Rubin served as Google VP. He left Google in 2014. Rubin and his team continued work on Android in Google. Google wanted the handset making companies to use the Android software.

Apple launched the first iPhone in 2007, and the whole picture changed. There was no thought given to the concept of touch screen in Rubin’s team. Google realised that it had lagged behind. Google’s team girded loin, and revised Android. To do this, they were counselled by Jobs. Jobs too later realised that the new version of Android is akin to iPhone. He insisted on changing Android somewhat but that insistence was not successful. Jobs severed relations with Google saying that Google had copied Apple.

It was the beginning of the conflict between two seemingly complementary companies. They compete hard with each other and the fervour remains the same even after one and a half decade. iPhone has been established as the best product in the world. However, in terms of users Android phones leave Apple behind. Apple commands 25 per cent of smartphone sales. The rest is Google’s market.

Apple has concentrated on product excellence. It decides what the customer would expect from the phone. Google started in technology sector as a search engine company. It spotted an advertising opportunity in its search results. It came to know user’s choices and likings. This data could be leveraged to acquire advertisements. Google continued to collect data through its other apps — mail, maps and YouTube. Android Operating System’s foundation has been laid on this leverage.

The separation of these companies benefited the technology sector. They both want to command smartphone market. Their ways are different. Apple’s plus point is hardware. It always brings new versions of iPhone in the market. What features should be given to the consumers? Apple decided this. iPhone created a loyal customer base.

Google concentrated on consumer expectations. They changed Android quite often. Google itself created Pixel phone from 2016. Both the companies know each other’s strengths. Jobs severed relations, and was not availing of Google’s services. He created Apple Maps. However, they could not create an alternative search engine. They partnered with MS Binge. That did not work out. They again contacted Google. Google too wanted its search engine on iPhone. Google could get access to the data of iPhone users. And that was what they negotiated in the dinner meeting in 2017.

Ruja Ignatova, a Bulgarian-born businesswoman, created a fake cryptocurrency OneCoin as a counter to Bitcoin in 2014. It was not based on blockchain. It was worthless right from the beginning. It became a billion dollar currency in just 15 months. She also created a pyramid of people who were promised commissions to recruit others. All of them invested in OneCoin to strike big. It was a Ponzi scheme. People were not ready to miss out. In fact, they missed the bus when Bitcoin was launched. They announced a blockchain based entity, though there was none of this. Several IPOs were announced, but the company never went public. There was a meteoric rise of her crypto. When the things began going wrong the, the law enforcement agencies pursued her case. She disappeared from the scene. She, it seemed, had planned an exit story. She made some else a scapegoat — her younger brother Konstantin. He was arrested. He pleaded guilty in a New York court. The cryptoqueen must be floating somewhere on the high seas with a new name, a new face and access to huge capital. She believed, ‘ Fake it till you make it’.

In past, hardware ruled, and software was subservient to it. Blockchain revolution witnesses the rule of the software, making hardware subservient to it. At the heart of blockchain technology is distributed consensus. One individual does not control the system. There is a large community of ownership and decentralised consensus. It is combined with open access. In fact, this powers the next-generation internet ecosystem.

It is mistakenly believed that as distributed ledgers, blockchains are used for tax evasion or money-laundering. However, blockchains, especially the modern ones such as Ethereum, allow one to code and compute on them. It is not just a protocol. It is an enforceable computer code, protected by millions.

Blockchain is something like a Lego or building block. Each piece of code leads to a large, open community using its intelligence to build on it. Service itself is a reusable code on which others can build.

Blockchain is without any owner and yet enforces ownership. It vests with you the property rights — the right to use or exclude or include etc. for digital data, using smart contracts which are perpetual, autonomous algorithms.

Blockchain has generated two movements — crypto and Web3.0. Here they create applications that run on blockchain.

Blockchain as a technology has infrastructure layer and an application layer. Both are co-evolving on an open source basis. Re-composable software is being created for both infrastructure and application layers so that the technology works seamlessly.

Manpower subcontracting is the term that refers to outsourcing work to third party staff who are not on the employment rolls of the client. In the technology company, it is a common practice. At times clients do require manpower from the IT companies for a particular project, and not on a continuous basis. To meet such requirements of clients, subcontracting is done.

Even during economically challenging times, subcontracting helps to allow the exit of the outsourced manpower, as the contract terminates. Of course, there is a hanging axe always ready to fall on subcontracted manpower. Companies do not use outsourced manpower in key outcome-dependent projects and long-term projects. Subcontracted manpower is used for short-term projects.

The extent of outsourcing in Indian IT companies is currently 6-8 per cent, and overall in Indian tech industry it is 3 per cent. In the US, outsourcing goes to the extent of 18 per cent of its requirements. The growth of outsourced manpower in the IT is expected to be at least 6 per cent, with IT can contributing 8-10 per cent of this score in the next five years.

In the US and Europe, they opt to subcontract for 3-6 and 6-12 months respectively so as not to dilute the brand equity. Specific IT companies may use 15-18 per cent of their revenue on subcontracting. In India, companies such as HCL, Wipro and Tech Mahindra use subcontracting extensively.

Recession affects the direct recruitment. Companies will not have more permanent staff, and employs subcontracted staff. Immigration policies too affect the allotment of visas, and thus there is talent gap. At such times, the companies hire local talent.

In non-IT companies too, digitalization would improve job opportunities, and some of these opening will be filled up by outsourced staff. There could be a talent shift from IT to non-IT companies. It will go up in future.