Month: May 2015

Reliance Jio Delivered Unmatched LTE Backed Wi-Fi Experience at IPL Mumbai

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Reliance Jio 4G Speeds UnbeatableReliance Jio Infocomm launched Jio Chat App (messaging /file sharing, audio & video calling app) last month and has already crossed 500,000 downloads. During IPL matches in Mumbai, the company offered free Wi-Fi facility backed by 4G LTE network for over 30,000 spectators at the Wankhede Stadium.

A reader of our Blog has sent in this review along with a screenshot of the Speedtest Result using OOKLA App he performed at the Wankhede Stadium using Reliance Jio Mobile Broadband. The results were quite impressive, clocking speeds of 51Mbps download and 36Mbps upload. It took just half a minute to download a 60 MB video, which typically takes ~4 minutes on

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Microsoft Azure Cloud – Too Late & Shrinking Developer Eco-System

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Azure Cloud Late Entrant Microsoft is spending significant time talking about the transition from on-premises to cloud in its business. As part of this, the question is how much demand for the cloud products is transition of existing workloads vs. the building of new workloads. We believe the answer is relatively simple, with Office365 largely being existing workload migration while Azure is new workloads.

The debate in our view is how

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Online Property Classifieds – Penetration in Single Digit

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Real estate advertisement market in India (including print, hoardings and online media) was worth ~Rs40bn in FY14. The online penetration is very small, and all online media (real estate classifieds, Google) accounted for only ~Rs3bn (~8%) of the total market.

CommonFloor and Housing.com two new kids on the block – having a very media mind & voice share, are still lagging behind the early entrants in the supply side. We believe that although having access to capital helps, beefing up this part of the business is more about on the ground execution rather than platform, and

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Jabong & FabFurnish Sales / Profit Metrics

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Jabong Sales MetricsIn an industry where not much data is available given most companies are unlisted, we have got some details from Rocket Internet which has stake in Jabong (fashion) & FabFurnish (furniture).

Jabong’s Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) rose 136% yoy in CY14 leading to a 136% yoy increase in net revenue. Encouragingly, Jabong indicated that majority of the orders are being placed by repeat customers. FabFurnish’s GMV too rose 125%yoy during the same period. Jabong’s gross loss expanded to Rs1.6bn (+400%yoy), indicating high competition. Capex intensity has risen from 3.7% capex/sales in CY13 to 4.8% in CY14 on investment in IT and infrastructure. Net working capital too rose by ~250%yoy driven by

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Google Mobile Search Queries Exceed Desktop in 10 Countries

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Google Mobile SearchSearch Giant, Google indicated that mobile searches now exceed desktop in 10 countries, including the US, and that users have more ability to tune in and tune out of messages (micro-moments) so mobile ad formats have to match user needs.

Google is working hard to provide advertisers new tools to enable positive ROI ad spending and better visibility on ad spend effectiveness, which suggests the company is confident that its ads add value. Google introduced a new reporting dashboard that enables automated bidding across display and

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Mobile Money Fragmentation (Telcos / Banks) Breaks Mass Market

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In a world where each nation uses its own currency which could not be exchanged, global commerce would stall. But if one or even two currencies were introduced, which were accepted globally, international commerce could resume.

Using this analogy, we argue that fragmented industries (Telecom Companies / Banks) fundamentally cannot successfully launch global m-payment systems as by definition they are too regional. If consumers want to make a purchase or transfer through a mobile, they don’t want to discover their m-payment mechanism isn’t compatible. Therefore, we believe that a sustainable, long-term m-payment application will require a critical mass comparable to the number of iPhone (600m) or Android (1.9bn) users and consequently

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Reliance Jio Lights Up 60,000+ Towers, Testing Small Cell Networks

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Reliance JIo Employyes Network TestWe got some updates on Reliance Jio Infocomm’s network from some of the Service Providers(SP) who are currently serving the upcoming telco. Of the ~65,000 sites of RJio that are currently installed, it appears 28,000-30,000 are RJio’s own towers (mix of poles and full ground based towers). If true, this is a much larger share of own towers in RJio’s network than what we had earlier anticipated.

Further, one of the SPs we spoke to that has a contract from Reliance Jio in few of the circles indicated that many of these sites are up and running (i.e. company is spending on fuel/power on a daily basis) as network testing is aggressively being carried out. The SP is gearing up for the launch of commercial voice+data services (23000MHz + 1800MHz) by Reliance Jio in a handful of cities in June / July.

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Why iPhone & Mac Sales Grow while iPad Slips ?

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iPhone Mac Sales GrowiPhone continues to be the key driver of top-line and bottom-line upside, with units up 40% y/y—two and a half times the pace of IDC’s estimate for 16% growth within the smartphone market globally (and well above our 25% estimate heading into the print). In particular, emerging markets were the key driver of this upside, with unit sales up 63% y/y in emerging regions, and in China, the iPhone was up over 70% y/y. Management noted it continues to see a higher rate of switchers with the iPhone 6/6 Plus relative to prior iPhone cycles, and that there is a sizeable number of first-time buyers, particularly in emerging markets.

Tim Cook appeared optimistic that the iPhone can maintain its momentum, noting

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Want to Stay Connected? Choose Your Internet Service Provider Wisely!

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The internet has brought the world much closer. India has also been affected in more ways than one because of the surge in internet usage. And this cannot be better corroborated than our outstanding contribution in the outsourcing industry. Recent initiatives of the Indian government to bring last mile connectivity also indicate growing demand in the country.

Historically, when Indians moved houses or evaluated rental homes, things like electricity, water, accessibility to daily needs and transport were main considerations. Now internet connectivity has been added to the list.

Internet service providers in India have become more professional and offer more choices to the urban consumer now. Earlier, dial-up connections were the order of the day and in addition to state owned enterprises; you could find only a couple of private vendors who would charge a premium for their services.

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