Tuesday, February 26, 2013

OSCARS: Time to Re-invent Magic

Hmm.... so the grand OSCARS this is year went as expected and most of the winners were almost quite easy to guess. Best movie 'Argo', Best Director 'Ang Lee' for 'Life of Pi', Best Actor 'Daniel Day-Lewis' for 'Lincoln', Best Actress 'Jennifer Lawrence' for 'Silver Linings Playbook' (though I would have voted for 'Jessica Chastain' for 'Zero Dark Thirty'), Best Animation movie 'Brave', Best Visual effects 'Life of Pi', Best supporting actor 'Christoph Waltz' for 'Django Unchained', Best supporting actress 'Anne Hathaway' for 'Les Misérables' and so on.

Now here is the surprise, the most popular and successful movies last year 'Avengers' and 'The Dark Knight Rises' failed to get any OSCAR and top of it they were able to earn only one nomination. 'Zero Dark Thirty' even after so much acclaim and its controversial plot failed to create any ripples. No new debutante stars ever felicitated for their performances. No life time achievement award was given to anyone. So may be its time for OSCARS to re-invent magic and plug such voids because awards are not for few distinguished ones but for the gifted ones. It should propagate feeling of triumph rather than the feeling of loss. 

A nine year old kid like 'Quvenzhané Wallis' (for her superb and heart moving performance in 'Beasts of the Southern Wild') would have gone home triumph if there would have been a category for best child artist. 'Avengers' would have at least got most popular movie award if there was such a category in the OSCARS. While watching a movie, we live a life with it and just imagine how many people would have lived that life how many times while making it. So according to me OSCARS should be celebration of that life which means it can be more grand on scale in which people can believe and not only dream and this is what my heart whispers to me................

Friday, February 08, 2013

The MOBILE WARS

With new age mobile phones or so called the smartphones literally doing job of a phone, a computer and a companion (by keeping you informed and entertained), it was but natural that there is bound to be a horse race between world's top manufacturers to dominate this segment. But in recent times in India, because of this segment gaining huge popularity among the helpless population succumbing to these handheld attractions, this race has turned into a war among the top players (with host of models or in our case ammunitions) which I think is the biggest after 'The STAR WARS'...LOL...So that's why I thought I will cherish few facts and fiction on this on-going saga of 'The MOBILE WARS'.


In this epic battle (raging within the Indian market), main characters are obviously Samsung, Apple, Nokia, Micromax, HTC, LG, Sony, Motorola, Xiomi, Karbonn, Gionee, and Blackberry.


Apple: The Inventor
Apple has all its current and outdated models in its current ammunition namely 'iPhone' - 3, 3S, 4, 4S, 5 and soon there will be 5S for sure. So you can see the barrel is same but bullets keep on changing...LOL...SIM is getting smaller while budget is getting bigger. Pride of ownership remains but otherwise it is very hard for a normal user (until and unless you spend more time with your phone than your regular work) to actually experience the change. Screen size has just got bigger but still feels less than the Samsung canons. Nevertheless it still has best and trouble free application store as well as the user interface. Even with all its hits and misses, Apple will always be Numero-Uno of the game because it has actually invented the world of smartphones.


Samsung: The Reigning King
There are so many models or ammunition with them in entire price band spectrum that one will actually lose count of all the types. Samsung Galaxy Y, Y Duos, S2, S3, S4, S5, Note, Note 2, Note 3, Note 4, S Advance, S Grand, Ace, Ace Duos and god only knows what else. Largest screen to host of functions, to best brand image in affordable pricing or you can say any band of pricing has made it click for Samsung literally. Moreover Android application store is not much behind the inventor and almost all the necessary or commonly used applications are already available in it. So if nothing drastic is done by any other contender, Samsung is bound to be on top for a long-long time.


Nokia: The Fallen Legacy
Even though Nokia is trying to break its jinx in this smartphone market but it is still considered as a poor man's device and such a brand image is hurting it in positioning as well as in matters of pride of ownership. With Nokia Lumia 510, 610, 710, 800, 820, 900, 920, 1120 (God only knows on what basis they keep name of the phones) and Nokia Asha series, it is still far from the top of the range. Even though user interface is good, lack of functions and applications is further hurting their chances to reach on top of the branding matrix. Something drastic and more innovative approach is required to penetrate the mind of the users as well to create good old times.


Micromax: The Challanger
Micromax started on a good note by providing smartphones to the general public at the most economical prices and suddenly there are plenty of new models from its stable in the market. From the begining itself Micromax was the real contender for Nokia's place in the Indian market, and now it is challenging even the big daddies. Recently there were some really good surprise launches suddenly and with its A90, A110, A116, Knight, Turbo and so on things are falling in place for the ingenious manufacturer provided there is enough availability of its models to sell.


HTC: The On-Off Contender
Even though people knew about its smart range before they knew about Samsung or Apple, the manufacturer has been in on-off mode in Indian market. Suddenly there were no new models and recently there are many in the market. Suddenly there was lot of marketing and suddenly there was none. Even though the products are good and reliable, the brand image fails to appeal to the masses as of now and something dramatic has to happen if they really want to create a mass appeal. Product range is fairly balanced and covers lot of price band, so there is a very good chance if they take Indian market seriously, they can play a major role in the on-going mobile war.

Blackberry: The Lost Cause
Blackberry even though was one of the most preferred model of businessmen and professionals (due to their BBM service) lost the initial plot in smartphone game. The earlier launched models in a hurry, failed to steam up the market and upgraded versions took too much of time to make an appearance and still not in sight soon. So the only advantage with which Blackberry would have survived and flourished in the Indian market would have been its BBM service only and nothing else but with BBM services now available for IOS, Android and Windows users as well, I don't think Blackberry will be able to cash on it any further. Moreover, they will surely be hoping that applications like WhatsApp, LINE and WeChat must not take this advantage away from them any further otherwise it will be an impossible task to crack the tough nut called Indian market once again.

 Sony, Motorola and LG: The Pursuers
With Sony Xperia series, Motorola X / G series and LG Optimus series, these companies have waged battle against all others and surely making their strong presence felt in the Indian market. Their smartphones are loaded with features and boast of excellent quality. With competitive pricing against peers, these can be true pursuers to Samsung and Apple models. In fact the smallest smart phone by Motorola E series is quite a big hit among budget buyers. What all path breaking models and innovative strategy these giants are going to introduce that only time will tell but they are bound to make competition tough in the on-going war in the mobile market.


Gionee and Xiomi: The Carnivores
Xiomi has become synonym for flash sale in Indian mobile market with thousands of pieces selling into minutes on Flipkart. Its models are not only packed with top most hardware and software, their prices are almost 50% of the competitors models. Gionee on the other hand can also boast of power packed mobile range at amazing prices including world's slimmest phone in Elife S5.5. In future once their infrastructure set-up is complete, like carnivores these two companies can eat lot of market share which right now belongs companies like Samsung, Nokia and Micromax.

Anyways the consumer is always in a dizzy while current 'MOBILE WAR' is going on. You set your heart on a model and next day there is another one better than that in the market. You purchase a tiny wonder and tomorrow it is available at a cheaper rate somewhere else. Since you cannot own each and every great wonder available in the market today and tomorrow as well as cannot upgrade your device every month, it is better to be content with what is available with you today and wait and watch for the right time, right device to upgrade and that is what my heart whispers to me...........