Learnings from Micromax

Ohh yes guys, the IPO of Micromax might hit the Indian market soon. Do you know Micromax? Honestly, I was not aware of this brand unless some of my friends and colleagues bought the mobiles of Micromax. Very few people know and in fact, even I was surprised to know that Micromax is the largest selling mobile handset in India. And the most amazing story of its success is: it has done so in a very short period of 3 years. Today, it is valued at $1 Bn. As far as I have heard about the Micromax from my friends, they say one prefers Micromax because it provided dual SIM support, qwerty interface at an amazingly low cost. Yes, low cost was its selling point and as I have discussed earlier on this blog, no matter what technology you provide and what features you give, we, Indians have just one first question: What is the price? And here is where I feel Micromax is a winner. I was not surprised to know that Micromax has gained its popularity in such a short period of time and captured 5% of the Indian mobile market, as reports suggest.

So, what does it mean to us?

• Don’t stop dreaming and dreaming big. Remember 3 years back Nokia, Motorola, Samsung and few others were household names. Introducing itself at that time and emerging as the leading player is one of the greatest example of living a life of dreams for Micromax. kudos to all the whole team.
• Entrepreneurs don’t fear. The believe in themselves more than anyone does. And Micromax proved it with its valuation.
• Hard work, Focus and Determination are the key to success. Its the combination of all these factors that today Micromax is going for an IPO.
• Ideas with customers in mind matter the most. I believe what clicked for Micromax is their approach to the Indian market. They just combined the idea of iPhone, cost factor plus the Indian attitude of shifting telecom providers to suit to the cheapest calling rates at that instant of time. Apple did not lunch iPhone in India and when it did, the cost was too high that it could even be anywhere near to success. Blackberry was not in market. And Micromax launched itself at just the right time with the correct attitude.

So, guys keep dreaming and believe in them. You never know when your Idea could be the IPO of the Indian Economy!!!

Sources: http://trak.in/tags/business/2011/01/10/micromax-ipo-stock-markets/

http://micromaxinfo.com/

Read Full Post »

Motorola gives birth to twins

Today marks the day when Motorola officially splits into two independent companies: Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions. Personally, I worked with Motorola in its research team during my internship way back in 2007. As a company, I have always admired it but deep inside me felt during my short tenure of 6 months that there was something wrong. After Moto Razr, none of the mobile phones did well and it lost the battle to smartphone such as iPhone.

I have always admired Motorola for its innovation. They were the pioneers of mobile technology. I remember the classic case study during my graduate studies: the classic case of failure of brick-size Motorola phones. I feel Motorola failed to learn from its mistakes. Constant innovation is the only change that every technology company has to embrace in order to stay in the market. Todays market is only for the fittest but the fit does not sustain for long. So keep innovating.

Coming back to the split, here are the key take-aways:

• Motorola shareholders of record on Dec. 21 will receive one share of Mobility for every eight shares of Motorola Inc. they already held. Motorola Inc. shares will then go through a 1-for-7 reverse split and become Motorola Solutions shares.
• Motorola is also selling off a division that makes network equipment for cell phone companies to Nokia Siemens Networks.
• After the split, Motorola Mobility had $2.9 billion in sales in the most recent quarter, compared with $1.9 billion for the Motorola Solutions segments. However, the $321 million in operating earnings at Solutions was stronger than the $3 million that Mobility made.
• Solutions will continue to be based in Schaumburg, I’ll., while Mobility will take up a temporary home in nearby Libertyville, Ill. Motorola officials have said that it may later move its headquarters team to San Diego, the San Francisco area or Austin, Texas.

I wish both the babies a very happy birthday and we will try to revisit them again on their birthdays to see their growth.

Source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/01/03/financial/f122752S81.DTL

Read Full Post »