Smart moves by Smart Phones - The Mobile Movement

Google just released a some statistics about Smart Phones and where it is leading us in the future. Nice.

Messages for Japan

Excellent initiative by Google. Go to Messages for Japan, share your message, make a donation, do good. That's I love'em so much. Good work.

Crowdsourcing for disease surveillance

Using the internet to predict and prevent epidemics in developing countries? Wow. This is indeed Doing Good. Using technology and innovative research for genuine betterment of people. Research has shown that what people search for and say online can reflect and even predict outbreaks. Now we know internet subscribers and users in India will grow to more than 240 million by the end of 2012. Can we extend the reach of internet and technology to stay ahead of infectious diseases?

Can we see Ranbaxy, Dr. Reddy's, Astra Zeneca, Sanofi Aventis playing a lead role in collaboration with Google, Microsoft Bing etc along with the WHO, UN and local govt. It will indeed be a breakthrough development in countries like our Indian Sub-continent and the Sub Saharan Africa.

Google - how thoughtful.

To everyone in Japan, to everyone who has someone in Japan. Please try this new Google Person Finder. Google - you're a good brand. And we love you.

World's 50 most innovative companies

Here's a great list of the World's 50 Most Innovative Companies of 2011 by the Fast Company. These companies have made innovation the core of their DNA. Interestingly W+K features at No. 25. Now thats something. When will the others learn?

One Pass

Google launched One Pass. A simple payment system that enables publishers to set the terms for access of their digital content.

I think Google should work on the One Pass platform and also extend it on the mobile. I hope will work on the One Pass platform and make it into a M-commerce gateway that will serve us better and not just for publishers. Now that will be a breakthrough imperative. We need one integrated M-commerce platform for India and Google has the capabilities to transform M-commerce into a viable transaction mode.

Nokia's Burning Platform

Nokia is expected to bring some radical changes to revive the fortunes of the company, says new CEO Stephen Elop in a memo to all his employees. The memo says, "The company's situation is that of a man standing on an oil platform in the North Sea and facing a raging fire on multiple fronts - who has no choice but to jump into freezing water to survive."

• "...there is intense heat coming from our competitors, more rapidly than we ever expected. Apple disrupted the market by redefining the smartphone and attracting developers to a closed, but very powerful ecosystem."
• "They changed the game, and today, Apple owns the high-end range."
• "Google has become a gravitational force, drawing much of the industry's innovation to its core."
• "We have some brilliant sources of innovation inside Nokia, but we are not bringing it to market fast enough. We thought MeeGo would be a platform for winning high-end smartphones. However, at this rate, by the end of 2011, we might have only one MeeGo product in the market."
• "...Symbian is proving to be an increasingly difficult environment in which to develop to meet the continuously expanding consumer requirements..."
• "Our competitors aren't taking our market share with devices; they are taking our market share with an entire ecosystem."
• "We poured gasoline on our own burning platform. I believe we have lacked accountability and leadership to align and direct the company through these disruptive times. We had a series of misses. We haven't been delivering innovation fast enough. We're not collaborating internally. Nokia, our platform is burning."

Nokia has become just another handset manufacturer from being the world leader especially in the Smart Phone category which is now being dominated by Android and Apple. Well, I was wondering what is W+K doing with the Nokia account? Couple of months back, I met someone from W+K Amsterdam office who works on the Nokia account and uses an iPhone. When I asked him why not the N5, he was utterly embarrassed. I guess, that's why I didn't get the job. Anyways.

Nokia needs a miracle to survive the onslaught launched by Apple IOS and Google's Android. God save them. This is a perfect example of how a market leader is reduced to nothing when they lose focus on competition. Apple and Google on the other hand has managed to create strong eco-system around themselves. Brands that manage to build stronger eco-systems around their core offerings will not only be successful but drive consumers along with them in the future.

More on Brand Eco-system coming soon. Cheers.