White Space

Indigo says No, and I like it!

2012-04-16T00:34:00.000+05:30

Kingfisher Airlines going bust and the general brouhaha of Indian airline industry running in losses made me think, and also the fact that Indigo is the only airline that's profitable. I had previously written about Indigo and their ability to talk and how I am a fan of theirs. Somehow I was not surprised that they were the only one profitable, I always thought that they were doing something right.

I decided to watch them closely to know the reasons behind this and my findings were very interesting. They say No at the right places but not at the expense of the overall user experience. Below are my little fundas of things they are doing right.

1. They said No to aerobridge

Using aerobridge at the airports is an extra expense to the airline. But using step ladder also adds extra effort to the airline eg more people to support wheel chair bound passengers. Coaches to ferry passengers from the terminal to the aircraft, but no airline can completely say no to it as there are instances when the aerobridge wont be available for use. And of course the not so great user experience.

The ramp you see here is their answer to an aerobridge. This would make the boarding process a little different for the user. They place one crew member at the start of the ramp and one at the turn. Its conversational. And yes they dont need extra people to support wheel chair bound passengers.

2. They said No to in-flight magazine

However they have a very interesting in-flight catalog of things they sell. Its like a magazine in itself. Its also their showcase of talent, mouthpiece to brag and take digs at competitors and yes to make money too. Sample the below shots.

My personal favorite is their Eat Spice, Drink Beer and Fly Indigo T Shirt ;-)

3. They said No to warm food

Warm food means more energy, aluminium foil packing etc. However their menu made it so irresistible to order. I ordered for a samosa and the miss Indigo said "We do serve samosa but its not warm. Is that Ok?" I showed a face but she smiled. I said fine.

She got the Samosa in an interesting packaging which made me smile.

4. They said No to water bottle

More weight to carry and unnecessary expense if given to people who really dont need water. They serve water from a jug to a paper cup.

5. They said NO to delays, ahem in a clever way

Now this is debatable but I dont find a problem with it. The flying duration of Indigo flights are communicated as little more than other airlines coz it includes the slight delay that occur due to traffic congestion or something beyond their control. This is smart as it allows them to be percieved as on time and no one seems to be complaining. Eg Do a search from BLR to BOM on any travel site and look at the flying duration of Indigo flights.

Will I ever stop going out for shopping?

2012-03-10T18:00:00.003+05:30

The Tesco South Korea virtual store is one story that excited me some time back. The technology was simple and not new but the right usage of it made it so big hit that I'm guessing it would kill the brick and mortar super markets in South Korea. Apparently grocery shopping is something South Koreans don't enjoy at all.

Brick and Mortar stores failing infront of online stores is not far away. The closing down of Borders, the second-largest U.S. bookstore chain is just the start. Why do you have to go to a book store and browse through the books and then buy when you can get them on Amazon sitting at home and that too for a cheaper price. Hell, soon digital books are going to kill the real books too. I have already moved to kindle edition books and going forward the world also will. If not they will be forced to move as the digital book stores will take over the world.

Recently over a beer Ram, Aditya and Me were discussing about the grand visions of companies like Google, Apple and Amazon and how slowly they worked towards realizing them. If Amazon's vision (no brainer) is to make everyone in this world buy things only from them, then that would be the death of the brick and mortar stores and high streets as we see know it today. But how much of a possibility is that? We debated. Will I stop going for shopping?

There is a remote possibility of that happening. If I see the history a lot of things that I used to do in the real world before has gone digital and virtual. A lot of industries have got disrupted and destroyed because of the digital revolution. Music is just one example of that in my generation. I have seen it evolving from cassettes to Real Player to MP3s to iPods to Google Play and to recently Flipkart. I know that music as we knew 20 years ago doesn't exist any more. Hip and happening air conditioned audio and video parlours dont exist today. We no more go out of rent videos or buy cassettes and CDs. Why cant this happen to shopping?

I was an early adopter of e commerce. My first purchase from an online store was in 2001 from Fabmart.com. Was a cassette. I used to buy books and CDs from Indiatimes.com. Ordered and sent flowers online to my wife (before marriage of course. I buy kindle books. Not to mention the online train and flight tickets. But I always thought that there were some things online stores wont help me with. But Aditya was questioning me and that made me think.

I recently bought an iPod online coz there was no need for me to go to a store, check the features out and touch and feel it before I buy. I knew an iPod inside out. So is that the breaking point? But I love going to malls and super markets. But is that right for everyone else? In Indian cities this might be valid as there is nothing much for people to do in the weekends other than hopping malls, restaurants and cinemas. We are not workaholics like South Koreans. People in America have a lot more to do and visit than mall hopping. I'm not saying they dont go out for shopping but a recent survey done with our friends in the US said that they thought the best way to shop was to do it online. So what are the chances that I'll also go online shopping full on...

Electronics
Definitely. If I know the exact model number i will order it online. I'll get it cheaper too. Anyway i dont get to own the demo piece i touch and feel at the store. I may actually scout around for something at the stores and then buy it online.

Grocery
As of now in India there are some stuff that are non branded (daal, chaaval) which i would like to buy in person. Moreover i like my supermarket visits. But i think the day is not far.

Vegetables
No, coz i have to make sure I'm buying fresh ones. But its again an Indian thing. I need not worry about this in America.

Food
I do order food at home on phone, havent done online yet, but nothings stopping me. But I think the eat out option will remain as dining is much more than a chore.

Jewellery
Well ahem, I have once bought jewellery online. It was a gift to my then girl friend. But when the ring came the size was wrong and I had a harrowing time in returning it and getting my money back. I haven't bought jewellery much even otherwise, so i don't know.

Clothes
I would like to try it before I buy, so may be not. Also if clothes shopping goes online my wife will go into depression. I have seen these concepts where people try out clothes on a monitor etc. May be it will happen. Btw there is something I buy without trying out; underwear.

Perfume
Again I would like to test the fragrance before I buy. However just now my wife asked me to buy this particular perfume online. I was surprised and asked her how she can buy perfumes online. She replied saying she is well aware of it's fragrance.

Shoes
Again a No from me. But recently I was talking to the designer of Myntra.com and he told me that his site gets a lot of orders from tier 2 towns in India. The fact is there are lot of rich people in these towns but they dont have the high end brand stores there. So they are forced to order it online. Very interesting. Btw Myntra.com is a very well designed site.

Sun Glasses/Frames
No, coz I have to be sure by wearing them before I buy. But again i think its a matter of time. Warby Parker, a new optical frames and sunglasses brand in the US is trying to make this happen. Not only they are trying to make frames cheaper by optmizing a lot of logistics at their end but also by making it available online. They have this 'Home Try On program' where a user can get a maximum of 5 frames delivered at home and have 5 days to return the ones he is not buying. You should check out their site. Pretty well designed.

Furniture and Other curios
Yes I will. We dont have much of these sites in India. But again in America there is Fab.com

OK that's it from my side. What do you think?

PS: Btw its interesting to know that brick and mortar stores are using mobile internet/technology to fight against the competition from desktop online stores. Most of their solutions are to bring customers to their store when on the move. But that's for another day.

Trends, mobile will enable in 2012

2012-01-22T14:13:00.000+05:30

Mobile Payments and Allied activities

Yes this has been a prediction every year and nothing substantial has happened till Square and Google Wallet got introduced. Its expected that the new Android devices will bring NFC devices to millions of users in 2012. Businesses will start pushing offers, coupons and recommendations electronically on mobile phones over the air using internet, NFC tags and QR code. Payments will be the next obvious thing they will do with their phones after redeeming the offer at the Point of Sale. Mass transit companies will also use NFC for ticket purchase, storage and validation. Mobile Payments will be enabled and driven by

Google: Google checkout is now Google Wallet. All of google's payment services will be focussed on mobile now. Already deployed at their partner stores across US. They are working with Credit card companies and Public transit companies for partnerships; NJ transit to start with.
Square: Biggest adoption seen till now. Mastercard's strategic investment. Their technology doesn't have dependencies other than internet connection. Most definitely Apple will acquire them
Paypal: Already started out trials in Home Depot stores for mobile and Paypal credit card payments

Mobile payments will not become a norm in 2012 but users will start warming up to the mobile payment/redemption use cases.

Serendipity

The mobile device enabling you to encounter things as a pleasant surprise. Almost all the contenders are right now in the data collection stage to find out people's likes and dislikes and what all they do. Location based services will drive this as they go on a recommendation mode making way for mobile phones to be the best companion.

Square: The Card case app has an explore feature recommending places. It alerts store keeper about your presence who in turn will call you by name, get your regular drink fixed, pushes rewards, offers etc.
Foursquare: Gradually going away from the checkin model to a recommendation service as they have already collected enough information from the checkins. Radar on phones and the new Redesiged explore feature on web is a start.
Google Places: Currently in data collection mode using Google plus checkins, Location history, Schemer and Google map maker. They are trying to acquire Pinterest (At the time of writing this).
Facebook: Knows about you quite a bit. Bought Gowalla who was on the path of becoming a travel companion.
Kevin Rose's Oink: You rate things and not places. Has good potential for Google acquisition.

Big Screens

Phones will get bigger screens. More Phablets will come to the market. Single hand operations will become more difficult, but no one is likely to complain. Mobile phone application navigation patterns will change to anchor more towards the bottom of the screen. OS providers will be forced to get their voice action capabilities right as typing and tapping becomes a two hands activity. Trousers will get bigger pockets. An entire ecosystem will be introduced to handle the user problems the bigger screens create.

Voice Actions

Voice will find more adoption on mobile but not as a virtual assistant. The curiosity Siri created will make users want more of voice interaction with their phones. This will be rekindled coz of the bigger device screens. More and more devices, mobile and non mobile, will start supporting voice. Google will come with a better version of their voice actions and will integrate to all their devices including tv. Siri will come out of beta. Nuance, who powers Siri has already announced Dragon TV a voice control platform for all TV makers. Kinect as a platform will be used in more use cases like retail. Cars will get integrated voice Actions to control media. Voice will be primarily used in relaxed use cases like to control media/games which will improve adoption which will pave for more adoption in the future.

Time, Effort and Quality

2011-12-29T18:47:00.001+05:30

I recently noticed that my bathroom floor tiles were getting increasingly dirty day by day. I was not surprised as I clean it only once a month or so, but I quickly realized that its not enough. As usual I started thinking about a possible solution to this like a typical design problem.

I first identified the reasons that stopped me in doing a better job at cleaning

Cleaning the entire bathroom took some time. As I usually enter the bathroom at the last minute I skip the cleaning to another day
I had to dedicate some good amount of prime time for bathroom cleaning on weekends; which I didnt want to do.
I was getting lazy coz of the effort taken for bathroom cleaning. I started procrastinating
As I was forced to do it I was not doing a good job of it
As I was cleaning only once in a month or so and that too a bad job of it, most of the times the bathroom remained dirty. This brought down my spirits

The main issues that bubbled up from the above points were Time, Effort and Quality and that's what I had to crack; and i came up with this solution.

Clean daily but just one part of the bathroom, and do it well

This takes less time and effort and as a result I can do a good job of it. By the time I finish all the parts the first part would have become a bit dirty, so I start again. After the bathroom is considerably clean, then do it on a need basis, ie clean wherever gets dirty. Its also encouraging for me to see the cleanliness so that i'm more enthusiastic to maintain it.

I think I'm on the right track. My bathroom is a whole lot cleaner now.

Product Lessons Learnt

Don't attempt to design and build a product in its entirety on day one. Have the bigger picture in your mind but take the most important/basic feature and build it with the right depth, quality and polish. Add the just enough ancillary features to make the basic stuff look complete. This will also help to channelize the energy of your resources. Once the first set of features are done well, take the next. Once every feature is done with the desired quality, revisit the first feature and continue the cycle. This will make the product live and remain clean.

Is Google Plus for me?

2011-12-11T19:15:00.000+05:30

If you are a regular reader of this blog, use Google reader, attend unconferences; basically a tech fan, then chances are that you will like google plus. But only if you use it the way it should be used.

I made my circles. Now what?

Agreed that the most important thing Google Plus talked about when they started off is the circles. The first thing even i did was to put my friends and family (same FB crowd) in creatively named circles. And then I had the same question. Now what? I waited and waited. Nothing happened. Then i started searching for twitter crowd on google plus added them to a circle called Twitter crowd. Now my stream was full of updates from a regular set of people but not all of the Twitter crowd. All their updates and conversations were around tech. I now gained some ground and started posting tech stuff there and started getting a lot of traction. It was working. At the same time Facebook was full of updates to the effect of calling Google plus a burial ground.

A Social Network is all the about the network of people you have there

I quickly understood that the people using Google Plus are early adopters. And early adopters of technology are of course people who love technology. Previously there were Twitter and Facebook. I used Twitter for crowd sourcing and FB for friend sourcing. I also linked Twitter to FB so that my tweets automatically got posted on FB. The reason being most of my tweets to the open world were good enough to be shared with my friends who were not on Twitter. But when it came to posts on tech and design (google and twitter) i never got much traction in FB. Most of my friends on FB even said they dont understand most of my posts. Also its difficult to have a good conversation on Twitter. Twitter is not designed for meaningful conversations; its unstructured micro broadcast. And that's the beauty of it. And ofcourse the noise rate of Twitter is more. So even if my tech tweets had takers, I didnt know about it or couldn't have a meaningful conversation around it.

So here is the deal. Twitter has general crowd who I cant really categorize into relationships or interests. Facebook has my friends. People on Google Plus are tech.

So add the right kind of people to your circles so you will see meaningful posts in your stream. Don't add people whose last update is about their new display picture.

I have you on Twitter and FB. Shouldn't that be enough?

A friend once told me that he is inundated with my same posts on Twitter, FB, Buzz and Linkedin. Its a valid problem. But I've fixed it. Right now I dont post anything tech or design related on Twitter or FB. They are on Google Plus for the same reasons described above. Also one good thing Google Plus did was to not allow linking of Twitter feed. Which means it has original content. So if you are a tech fan it does make sense to have me in your Google Plus circles and check my updates that are original.

Which circle do I share to?

As I'm talking tech and nothing personal it makes sense to share things Public. The idea is to make my posts available in the open so that someone who is adding me to his/her circle knows what I'm talking about. Also it will be available on Google Search. Google Plus is a combination of the best features from Twitter and FB. It works on a Follow model with a FB style algorithmic Stream/Wall of conversations. I dont add random people into my circle unless i know what they are talking about.

So why should I have family and friends circles?

Going forward all Google products will be integrated with Google Plus. It makes sense to maintain your contacts on Google Plus centrally and not on Gmail. It reduces Google's loose contact problem. If you are a heavy user of google's products you have to be on google plus as early as possible. Google plus is also going to influence Google search in a big way.

Will I stop using FB and Twitter?

No. I will continue using it for the network i have there.

I want some tech fans to follow

The Twitter crowd circle

Android Fans Cirle

Other Interesting People

Square vs Google Wallet

2011-11-26T23:23:00.000+05:30

Somehow I have suddenly become a big fan of mobile payments especially because of the cool quotient of how they are being implemented.

I like Square coz they are the best example of being innovative and disruptive at the same time. They identified a problem, ie the inability of smaller businesses to accept credit card payments and came up with a mobile phone based credit card reader, which is cheaper, more handy and easy to use; a solution no one else could even imagine. Once they disrupted the payment segment, they slowly started getting into Point of Sale applications and made them tablet based. The next obvious step was to get onto the customer's phone who pays the bill. Once paid The Square card case app allows customers to pay any Square merchants hands free.

I like Google wallet for being the fun way to pay as they dont really solve any major problem. They are just making it easier to make payments and eliminating the need to carry wallets.

I'm now inclined to compare both the services as they both are trying to revolutionize payments using mobile phones.

1. Square enables small merchants to accept real world payments using mobile phones and not having to go for a more expensive conventional Point of sale systems and credit card readers. It also allows customers to pay using mobile phones.

Google wallet enables customers to make payments using their mobile phones at any merchant who uses the conventional Point of Sale systems. It also allows users to make online purchases (Google checkout is merged with Google wallet now).

2. The Square card case app allows customers to use them only at Square merchants.

Google wallet allows user to pay at any merchant who uses a Pay Pass credit card reader, who is more common.

3. Square applications can be used on any iPhone and Android devices with an internet connection.

Google wallet is currently only available on Android and also on devices with an NFC chip.

4. Square lets merchants to know about their regular customers being present even before they come for paying so that they can given them personalized offers while in the store.

Google wallet only gives the information of the user to the merchant while paying but it can capture and save (google) offers online, even while outside the store.

5. Square applications and the way they work is more cooler than Google wallet. Square allows users to explore stores and pay hands free. Whereas Google wallet looks more like a practical solution.

Is there a winner yet? I dont think so. Both are working to solve different problems and they will definitely get better at it. Square has taken off really well in the US as a credit card reader for smaller businesses but Google wallet is still in its nascant stages as there is a big technology adoption barrier for its usage; NFC.

Updated on Dec 1st

But according to me who will win?

I think Google will win provided more NFC based devices come out. Here are the reasons.

1. Google has a bigger foot print than Square. Google can be quicker in getting their integrations done in countries like India.

2. Even though Square is indeed a better solution for small merchants the customer solution is too cool and dependent on internet for users outside US/UK/Australia to use it.

3. Can my NFC Android phone with Google wallet use the new Beam feature to act as a Pay Pass like thing? ie accept payments by tapping a credit card onto the phone?. That will make a killer feature.

A public Twitter timeline will kick ass

2011-10-29T19:56:00.002+05:30

What is Twitter timeline?

If you are a Twitter user, you see a stream of your Tweets and from people you follow listed in real-time order. Twitter calls it the Home Timeline. When you go to another user's profile it shows the User Timeline.

Public Timeline

There is no general public twitter timeline showing tweets from EVERYONE. Twitter had this long back but not anymore. It doesn't make sense. But what makes sense is a public timeline which is curated by trending topics. All the major trending topics mapped against a timeline. Something using which i can search for topics or explore by zooming in into geography or slice and dice by say nature of topic (sports, entertainment) etc. If this happens the Twitter public timeline will be looked up as the World History Wall. If you want to browse through the history and not only know the events, but also read through what the world thought about them and have an in depth analysis. Twitter has a huge wealth of data in their data bases. Its time for them to do something with it. However its not an easy job. The key is in how they are going to visualize the data and make it interactive for people to make read sense out of them.

So what will we achieve?

I will never need to search on Google when and where was the last Olympics held and get a Wikipedia link on it. If I want to quickly know the important events happened last month or during last 6 months which will help me in some decision making this will be the place to go. If i want to know the major annual events of Australia to plan a trip I can come here. And its public, I don't have to be a Twitter user to look at the timeline.

What more?

OK this can be a stretch but Twitter will be in a good position to find patterns and may be predict the future. Or at least it will enable people to do that.

Are you listening @biz?

Bye bye wallet. Well, not yet!

2011-10-22T10:00:00.000+05:30

I'm so kicked about Google wallet. Readers of this blog may not be surprised as I get kicked about everything google comes up with. Its disruptive and its also cool. Google describes it as the fun way to pay. Well, i dont think paying can ever be fun :) but I like the fact that i can finally use my phone to make payments by just simply touching on some gadget (the pay pass thing). I'm excited the same way I was when i got my first debit card and went out shopping with it.

The Google wallet app can hold my credit cards virtualized and then i can pay at any store that supports Pay Pass by simply pointing or touching my phone to the payment reader device. Done. No credit card handing, waiting for it to come back and no signatures. In the US you swipe your credit card yourself on this machine and do a virtual signature using a stylus. From now on you just touch the machine with your phone. Of course Google will have to integrate all the credit card companies all over the world to have their virtual cards addable to Google wallet. The have started with Citibank credit cards and soon will be Amex ready. Till then should i wait? No. Google wallet comes with a virtual Google prepaid card to which i can fill money using any credit card.

I have no idea when its going to be available in India. I have seen Pay Pass credit card readers in Shoppers Stop. But never used it. Google India should be proactive in getting Citibank India integrated which will enable Android (with NFC) users at least pay at Shoppers Stop. By then all other stores will be able to keen to get this done at their counters. India is big on Android but not all Android devices have NFC. Thats one more hurdle. The device manufacturers are reluctant to invest in NFC as they dont see people benefiting from it yet. Someone in the line has to take a step forward for others to move. Its a chicken and egg problem. NFC can be used for other purposes also like sharing and checking in. Device manufacturers please do something about it... make people comfortable using NFC. Android Beam is Google's next step at making people use NFC for other than payment.

Google is taking all the steps to make this happen. Google brought out there own phones with NFC built in. They have integrated with Citibank master card but also came up with the prepaid card. They worked with pay pass to make the point sale compatible. They tied up with merchants in the US to ready them to use the latest version of pay pass gadgets. Their volunteers are going to these stores and demonstrating google wallet to the customers. They are working with other credit card companies for integration. They have now acquired Motorola and its a given that all their new phone will have NFC. And this is happening in US now. They have long way to go before making this happen around the world.

So is your wallet (the real one) only about payments? Well i have my movie tickets, loyalty cards, discount coupons, gift cards, metro pass and flight boarding pass in it. Google wallet will eventually have all of them too. Of course your family's picture is already there on the phone. Google literally means it when they say "Bye bye wallet, we will take it from here".

I'm so excited about Google wallet. Next time I go to US, i'll make sure that i go to all the stores where I can pay with Google Wallet and experience it first hand. I can only pray that it should come to India soon.

Steve and my job

2011-10-06T11:13:00.000+05:30

The career timeline in my resume is divided into pre iphone and post iphone era. I'm an Android fan but if it weren't for iPhone, Android as we know it today wouldn't have happened. Thanks Steve Jobs for changing my career, teaching me some lessons on user experience and ownership, making my life easier and also making my workplace more happening. You will be remembered.

Why Google TV makes sense to me

2011-09-25T22:32:00.000+05:30

My work timings tend to stretch more into the night nowadays and I totally miss the prime time tv programmes. I do manage to catch up some of the re runs of my favorite shows late night or I wait for the weekend. Again I'm completely at the mercy of channels' timings to catch them. I'm more and more becoming unsuccessful at watching tv shows and all the latest movies. #fail

I want the tv shows to apear whenever I want them to happen. By this I dont mean I want all of them to be on You Tube. Today almost all businesses, even movies to an extent, have gone on demand and there is no reason why TV channels cant. Imagine Star World working as it is by default but also works on demand as per our convenience.

I think this is possible if I have access to apps like Hulu (I dont get it in India) or to an extent on You Tube. But then I have to watch them to my laptop or tablet or do some dance to connect it to my television to watch it on bigger screen.

Google TV is trying to help me out here. I will be able to watch live tv as it is or if I want to watch something specific i can search for it on the web or open the channel's video app and watch the show. I can even use it in India too. Logitech Revue is available on Amazon.com for $99 and you can get it delivered in India for $26. I'm seriously thinking of buying this.

Why am I not buying it? Well I have an old tube tv right now, will have to upgrade it to a nice LCD tv and then go for it. Its Ok to wait for some more time as Google TV is currently little low on content. I'm sure it will pick up soon after Ice Cream sandwich release in October after which it will be easy to develop android apps for different screen sizes. There will be more apps for Android tablets and Google TV by next year. Plus Google is currently working with every video provider on the web to make their interface friendly for Google TV. They are also working with every tv channel to make their content available on Google TV as on demand. Content is the big adoption factor right now for Google TV coz I think most of the TV channels dont understand this business model.

I know its a long way for Google to convince every content provider to be on board, have apps, and again they will have to repeat the integration efforts in India for it to make sense to me completely. Currently the problem is that Google doesn't have a lot of users to show the content providers to convince them. Its again the chicken and egg problem. As as Google fan and an early adopter I've decided to be their user as it will only help me in the long run. I can at least browse the web and watch online videos on a bigger screen as of now.

4sq checkin is not just sharing

2011-09-11T00:22:00.000+05:30

The other day my friend and me had an argument over foursquare check ins.

Friend: Why are there no foursuqare checkin buttons for the web? Store websites can show it on their mobile sites.

Me: huh dont you know Frousquare doesnt encourage check ins on web?

Friend: Why is that?

Me: For foursquare location is foremost important and they have a very tight control over it using their mobile app. May be the day the entire world moves onto smartphone with html5 browsers they may have check in button on their website. Also may be an external checkin button but they should take care of the location carefully.

Friend: What is there to take care of?

Me: ie the button shouldnt allow the user to checkin unless he is atleast near the store. Also most of the store websites doesnt really have separate websites for different locations. And also oauth etc. It will be messy. It will be easier for users to open the 4sq app and checkin rather than using the web checkin button.

Friend: I dont think the stores are really worried about locations. They just want people to check in

Me: Huh how does it make sense? Their check in based offers are to bring the user to the store. Also semantically a checkin is a way the user confirms his presence in a particular location.

Friend: I dont think so. The stores just want their names to come on the user's Facebook wall.

Me: Actually a checkin doesnt show up on FB. You are manually or automatically SHARING your checkin on FB. Thats optional.

Friend: The 4sq app does allow you to checkin to any place. Then why is that?

Me: Ideally they shouldnt.

We then try to check in to Bangalore International Airport on 4sq and it doesnt show up in the search results. We try again with some far way stores and some of them show up as anomalies.

Me: See what i said. I think the ones which are showing up are just bugs. Its a matter of time before they fix it.

Friend by now goes to his check in history, clicks on a location and fake checks in there.

Friend: See I can

Me: Its called breaking the system. I didnt say you cant do that. But stillit is not going to help the stores

Friend: Why not?

Me: Normally when i share my 4sq check ins on Social Networks, good conversations get sparked on; I genuinely want my friends to know i was there and the stores also want that to happen. If I fake check in, I wouldn't share it on social networks as I have to behave well in the network. So its not helping the store like you said.

Friend: I really think foursquare is just a sharing mechanism. It just have your location with it. Like how you can tag your location with every tweet or FB update.

Me: I dont think so. As i said before, a check in and its sharing are two different things. Foursquare wouldnt want to be just a sharing mechanism like you said as they would then run the risk of losing their credibility and utility.

The day Foursquare loses its control over the user's behavior they are dead. They need to bring in some credibility and authenticity to the user's action. They have the social network etiquettes users follow to help them half way and the rest of the things should be taken care of by technology. In simple terms the whole point of Foursquare is to make people visit places.

Btw I like the idea of displaying QR codes on Store doors, when scanned would check in the user on Foursquare.

The road to disruption

2011-08-13T22:00:00.000+05:30

At work my team regularly get together and talk about things happening around us, in the industry, design, technology and business. We call it UX Masterclass. Every member of the team volunteer to talk about something, share an idea, videos or some links. In one of those meets the topic of discussion was how does Apple manage to make every product of theirs a hit with the users. The topic was started with the mention of someone in London already waiting in the que to buy an iPhone 5 which is not yet announced by Apple. We took iPhone as the example (obviously) to get deep into this and the finding was that iPhone was disruptive and also marketed so well, like other apple products to make it an aspirational product.

Then on I was wondering whats the road to a disruptive product by some thinking, reverse engineering, reading and some good discussions.

Ask Why?

I think this is the most important question. The moment we decide to go with set rules and principles we stop thinking differently. The moment we decide to go with evolutionary growth we get idle. Ask "why" at every step. The moment you ask that question you will start thinking in a different direction and you may get a breakthrough. I never believed in blindly going with standards. But it doesn't mean we have to be ignorant about the rules. First know the rules and then break them.

I remember once i was part of a discussion where people were trying to come up with a better and more usable mobile keyboard. I listened to the entire discussion for an hour and the question i asked was "Why do we even need a keyboard? Why cant we talk to the phone and the make it type it for me?"

Solve a problem

The interesting thing about "problems" are that not all of them are visible to us. There are lot of things we do which we dont have to. If we can see them, a problem is born and then we can try to solve them. Asking "why" to everything we do is the best way to find that problem. Self indulgent egoistic solutions which is in need of a problem will definitely have a bad death.

I think iPad was a result of this kind of thinking.

Understand the concept; thoroughly!!

Dont just realize the problem, but also try to get insights into it. Its the insight that will give us the best idea to solve the problem. Its the insight that is more valuable than an idea.

The Square idea was born out of Jack Dorsey's insight into the complex credit card payment system. TESCO's idea of enabling people in South Korea to buy products when they wait for train is another example of an idea coming out of an insight. An idea when copied and implemented without proper insight into the problem you are solving may fail.

Have a strategy

Most of the times your ideas to solve a problem would be too futuristic or using technologies that don't exist or are too expensive. This should not stop you. Think of ways you can go towards your vision with whatever you have today. Set small milestones towards your final goal based on things that are feasible today and get things rolling. Parallely do everything to get the world working for you to achieve your vision; a new market, users, supply, demand, technology, cost, raw materials etc.

Come outside in

If you have an idea to solve a particular problem which you see at the extreme end of an already set system, just focus on that and try to solve that well upfront. Once you have solved that problem there are more chances of the already set system changing tracks to adapt to your solution which could disrupt them. You then may have an opportunity to redefine that space too.

See how Square simplified credit card payment first and is now getting to redefine the conventional point of sale system.

Should there be a tablet web?

2011-05-15T13:09:00.000+05:30

I dont think so. All the new tablet screen resolutions are 1024x968 and above, which is more or less equal to the desktop (or laptop) screen resolutions. This means the big web is good enough for tablets.

Then what is the fuss about?

The fuss and doubts are coz the new age tablets are seen as evolutions of touch smart phones. When we look from that angle its understood that why the need for a tablet web is.

What should change?

Not much. Already the contemporary web design philosophies are to have liquid layout, big text and button sizes and larger hit area. Combined with the amazing touch screen techhnology all the new age websites are already usable on tablets. But what we can do is to re look at them keeping in mind that these sites/apps have a high possibility of being used on a mobile touch device (read tablets). Some tweaking in the info architecture and ui would make them more usable on tablets. Also when we start on a brand new design keep these things in mind.

Is it bad for desktop web?

Well lets aim NOT to have things like desktop web, tablet web, touch mobile web and non touch mobile web, going forward. The future should be just big and small web.

So is it bad for big web considering they will be used on laptops? I dont think so. On the contrary I think the change will only be for good. It will make the web sites/apps simpler to use with less clutter but rich and unify the experience on all devices.

Recently I used Yahoo mail on an iPad which was a tablet optimized experience. I liked it. I dont know why its not the same on my laptop. I really liked the chrome web app version of cricinfo. I dont know why its not the same on their normal desktop web url.

We all should work towards having just one website/app having two modes, big and small, to be future proof. Both of them should be touch and mobile friendly.

What would Mobile Payments do for me?

2011-05-08T18:51:00.002+05:30

Mobile payments is something I have been hearing about from the time I started working in this industry . How mobile payments are going to change the way we shop, how I will stop carrying my wallet, how I will point my phone at my shopping cart at a store and get the total amount I should pay and then with a tap i would pay for it etc. Just that nothing major has happened till now.

This year was touted as the year of NFC based payments but its May and I'm still carrying my wallet for shopping. Yes I do have made payments on mobile but mostly online for movie tickets but when it comes to brick and mortar store shopping its still with my credit cards. But I'm ready (My Nexus S has NFC) and waiting.

What do I want from mobile payments?

It should help me in those rare occasions when I forget to take my wallet or get stolen. This has happened to me 3-4 years ago. I once did a long ISD call from a PCO and then realized I didnt have money. Luckily the guy over there trusted me and allowed me to get money from home. I really wished if I could transfer some money from my mobile phone credit to his account. The mobile phone being one more way of payment. Open some app, put in my pin, punch in the amount and tap the phone onto an NFC payment thingy at the point of sales. But I still dont think its going to replace my wallet. I'll be paying using my card or cash for some more time.
An easier mobile way to share the bill with my friends at a restaurant. The NFC thingy at the table could take multiple taps from phones till the bill amount is settled.
The ability to use my phone to store the metro season ticket information and tap to validate the charge whenever I travel. The same could be used for any kind of prepaid subscriptions.
Accept payments. Yes I think Square is the most outstanding idea of recent times. Square allows anyone to accept payments from a credit card using their phones. My friend can pay me back the money I lent him using his credit card. The guy who buys my old furniture can pay me using his credit card. I can pay the newspaper boy, milk man, mobile istri guy and cable guy using my credit card.
Easier utility bill payments. I know today i can do that but should be more easier to do.

Please let me know if you have any more use cases for mobile payments.

I hate Yahoo!

2011-04-23T22:34:00.000+05:30

I hate Yahoo. I hate Yahoo and it has nothing to with their products. Its coz of their ad banners. Its irritating.

I'm talking about this irritating ad banner format that takes over the entire webpage on mouse over. And most cases its on top of the page and my mouse pointer invariably hovers it and the irritating banner covers the screen. It happens every time i move my mouse towards the address bar.

I also know that Yahoo has probably nothing to do with this irritating ad format. But as a user I see the brand that is irritating me. And thats Yahoo.

I understand the importance of ad monetization on web and the importance of making the user notice the ad and also to make him/her engaged with the brand. But this kind of forced engagement is absolutely not appreciated. Instead it back fires. Any brand that spoils the user experience is at the risk of being hated.

Next time you decide to advertise on web or mobile make sure you dont come as a usability bummer. Else you are in trouble.

I hate Yahoo.

What difference does an app make?

2011-04-10T20:11:00.001+05:30

Is it Facebook web or app you are using?

I asked my wife, one of my focus group users, when she was busy facebooking something on her windows mobile phone.

Web. But what difference does that make?

Very good question I thought. I immediately checked facebook on my android browser and I didnt think i missed anything. Ya ok just one thing, I cant upload a picture. Other than that the web app worked exactly like the native app... well better than that.

So whats this app hullabaloo?

I dont know. I can understand a utility app which extensively uses the phone's native features and its need to run in the background etc, or a game that is animation heavy being an app. I can also understand a big brand ticking off its "namesake presence" on app stores.

Services that dont fall into the above 2 categories, what you need is a good web app (read html5) which is easier to make and maintain, which also ensures cross browser compatibility.

On my desktop comp, Google chrome is the only app i use (other than adobe photoshop) for all my needs. There is an operating system getting ready in Google which wholly depends on the web app idea. Then why is it different on a phone?

OK may be its just a matter of time. I strongly believe that this phase will pass and web will win eventually.

All you internet services out there, what you need to do is to get a mobile web app done well and not run behind apps to be future proof. App are just a fad and it will fade. Web apps will make your product usable in any smartphone out there. Oh ok not Windows Phone 7 for now but it is getting a better browser soon. It should otherwise the phone has no future. Are you worried about the camera access and photo upload feature? Its coming. I truly appreciate Cleartrip in taking this bold decision of the mobile web app direction. Is bookmyshow listening?

The first thing i'm going to do now is to uninstall all the apps from my phone that has a web presence and free up some space.

What I think should be open on mobile!

2011-03-30T22:06:00.000+05:30

Apurva's (@unitechy) write up on Closed and Open systems on mobile on Mobile Knots, made me think what open on mobile really means? Or what it should be. At least for me.

1. Open as in anyone can do anything with it?

No. I dont like device manufacturers changing the UX of Android and hence not able to provide updates when Google has it ready. Simply no one should meddle up with the basic OS. However allow OEMs to innovate on hardware.

Android is on the wrong path here.

2. Closed like the big brother types?

No. May be Apple is right in saying no to apps that dont make them happy. But I dont think we need more of Apples. Let there be apps that can deeply be integrated into the OS to bring in new functionalities and no restriction on that. Let it be the user's choice to go for them or not. Let there be an app for every need of a user from a phone. Let them change the home screen. Let them change the icon themes. Let HTC offer their superb weather widget in the Market and not force on their (non)Sense UI on to their devices. Let the app intercept a call or the dialler to fix a "facebook sync" issue.

Android is on the right path here.

3. Open to competition?

Yes. Apple is all about design and I can understand they saying no to any app that will make their phone look or perceived bad. I also like the "App store" approach of selling apps. But I dont agree they say they wont allow Amazon kindle app to have books bought out of the iTunes ecosystem. I dont agree when they reject Google voice saying the functionality is very similar to their dialer app. I like Amazon App Store.

Android is right here too. Its open to competition.

Samsung Google Nexus S after 3 months

2011-03-28T09:22:00.000+05:30

As Google Nexus S is coming to India by April first week, I thought i will post my views on the phone after using it for 3 months.

The Good

The contoured SAMOLED display which gives the screen a deep contrast and a slight magnified effect. I have made my screen bg color as black and the effect is superb. You cant really make out the edge of the screen and the bezel. I love it.

PS: The version which is coming to India is a Super LCD version. Not sure how that will look like.
Gingerbread is fast. Its definitely faster than any android phone I have used.
Touch sensitiveness is superb. I think its better than iPhone, especially the feel on the finger. Its smoother than the hard glass feel of iPhone 4.
The overall feel of the hardware is better than iPhone 4. I like the plastic feel as it give more grip than Nexus One. Also the black plastic color goes very well with the deep black screen i talked about previously.
Battery is better. Lasts for a day with heavy internet usage. I think its a Gingerbread feature. PS: I also know that Gingerbread is giving battery problems on Nexus One.
Its very light in weight

The Bad

The irritating random restart problem during a call. I still haven't got the 2.3.3 patch which will apparently fix this issue
Its very bad at picking wifi signals. At home when my laptop shows full strength, Nexus S shows just 1 bar and keeps dropping.
Sometimes it just doesn't show internet connectivity. I have to restart the phone to get it working. But then its twice or thrice in a month. But irritating indeed.
For some reason the memory space allocated for installing apps is very limited. I have only 156mb of internal memory used but I'm almost at the max level. Last time Angry Birds had an update, I had to uninstall some of the apps to get it installed properly. #Fail
Other small software issues which I hope will get fixed by software updates. eg Camera's flash doesnt get switched on, No unicode support on browser etc.

The bads are seriously bad but I have learnt work arounds to solve some of the connectivity issues.

Will I recommend buying this phone? Well as of now... I dont know. If they fix the bads, then definitely YES.

Why I think iPad is better than Android Tablets

2011-03-20T09:18:00.000+05:30

To start with lets recap the smartphone use case.

You are on the road looking for some place, you pull out your phone to search for it on the map and find how to get there.
During an ad hoc heated conversation in the cafeteria, you quickly search for the thing you are arguing about on wikipedia and prove your point.
You want to send out an email on the move and its impossible to type as you have lot of thing in hand, you speak into the phone and it types for you and send the mail.
Book a movie ticket as part of you last minute plan
Catch up with the latest news when waiting in traffic signal
Pay shopping bills
Reminder for important meetings and events
Your friend seems to be lost his way and needs to get to you and you share your location with him
Get offers when you are at some mall
You are visiting some new place and wants to know more about it; you point your phone's camera to it and you get all the details
You want to do some quick office work when you are in a cinema, and its all synced on your phone and ready to work with
Facebook, Twitter, Email, Chat and Games on the go

In the above use cases, the most popular would be the last one. All the other ones are perfectly valid but will be mostly used by a geek. A geek's need of a smartphone is to help him in all possible ways when he is on the road. Anything less is not going excite him. A real smartphone is the for the geek and his needs. And most of the time a user who uses his smartphone on the road will be in his geek self. At the end of the day its the availability, features, reliability and price that matter the most than the eye candy aspect of it for a geek. And thats why i believe Android is a better smartphone than Apple iPhone. Android has its shortcomings now, but i will come to that a bit later.

Tablets are for relaxed mobility. Its not in your pocket but in your bag. Its for your living room couch, hotel bed, airport lounge, on air/train use cases. In this use case you are far from your geek self. You will be reading books, watching movies, playing games, catching up with yours friends on Facebook, browse some web etc. iPad is the device for this use case. No you are not going to walk on road with a tablet.

Apple already has your media requirements basics in place by iTunes, Airplay, Home Sharing, Apple TV, an ecosystem of Apple compatible music docks and other services and it will only grow. Soon it will all talk through the cloud too. Not to forget its book store and reader app. Google is also trying to get there but has nothing in place yet and i think they have a long way to get there.

Also Android has a lot of problems which I can forgive when i'm in my geek self. I understand road maps, features, bugs, priorities and frustrating QA cycles when i'm in my geek self. But not when i'm in my relaxed self. Apple products also have shortcomings but at any given point of time their product versions look complete and polished. Also they have a lot of basic stuff working well.

I rest my case!

Think before you follow process

2011-02-21T21:16:00.000+05:30

Personally I believe in following a process in doing things at work and in life in general to bring predictability and structure to whatever I do. The word 'process' seems to be heavy here but they are just those simple things I keep in mind when I cook, do shopping, travel, drive etc. I also believe that the process should be simple enough for me to have complete control over it. The moment I think the process doesnt make sense I should be able to break it and behave as per situation. Basically a process shouldn't be a rule it should only be a guideline and people who are supposed to follow processes should have the common sense to make those exceptions. eg A traffic cop should stop and penalize vehicles that jump signals but not when they are taking a patient to the hospital in an emergency situation. It doesnt make sense to follow process blindly. You have to understand it well and also be capable of making exceptions.

Recently my wife's address change application was rejected by Axis Bank authorities saying she didnt have a proof of address to show them. This happened even after she personally visiting the branch, signing on the application form with all necessary information. I can understand a bank asking for proof of identity and address before starting the account as I'm new to them, but whats the logic in asking for proofs once I have become their customer and have been operating the account for years? They have photographs and signatures to cross verify and confirm the credibility. The joke is; she could sign a cheque to wipe out her entire account balance and the bank would accept it but when she asked them to update her address in their records so that the account statement and other important communication wouldnt reach wrong hands, they wouldnt accept. And yes most importantly they blame it on the process.

Think before you follow processes blindly.

PS: Citibank and ICICI allows me to change the address on phone or online. No hassles.

Relaxed mobility

2011-01-05T23:17:00.003+05:30

2011 is expected to be the "Year of Tablets" as iPad 2 and a slew of Android based tablets are expected to hit the market especially after the launch of Honeycomb in March 2011.

So why do we need a Tablet?

Operating system wise both iPad and Galaxy Tab have almost the same experience as their mobile phone counterparts but on a bigger screen size. However as a package I think iPad is better placed coz of its 9 inch screen size, 1024x768 resolution and how well the size works for the tablet use case.

iOS SDK has support for bigger and hdpi screens which allows developers to make separate versions of apps for phones and tablets. But when it comes to web, iPad users are redirected to the big websites and takes out the need to show the mobile version of those sites. But when a mobile version of the website is designed with special formats and location based features for phones, why do we have to ignore the aspect of mobility and only focus on the screens size when it comes to a tablet?

My safe assumption is that going forward almost all gadgets will be mobile as technology allows machines to become smaller and affordable; there is no future for desktops and big ass machines.

A tablet ~~is an in-between mobile device~~ has an in-between mobile use case

Mobility is a use case. The scenario where you carry a device from one place to another for whatever reasons. And the scenarios differ and hence the devices you choose to carry.

There are different grades to being mobile, and I think on a high level we can classify them into three.

1. At work mobility: You are sitting and working but also need to run into a room to do a presentation, do a discussion and take notes, do some agile collaboration by temporarily working from another workstation, take some work home..... yes this is when the laptop is used. Duh.

Laptop (big) sites and apps have a format which makes use of the bigger screen real estate and some are also location specific not by using the the user's exact position but a higher level city information as the assumption is that the user is not on the road.

3. On road mobility: This is when you are of course on the road, walking, driving, trying to find some place, waiting for someone to turn up, amidst a crowd..... the scenario every one of us is now aware of. This is when we would use a mobile phone.

Mobile sites and apps are designed to work well with smaller screen sizes, in outdoor light, offer info and services that help some one on the road to find something based on his real time GPS location etc.

Those were the extreme cases of mobility and hence the numbering. The use case which is in between is

2. Relaxed Mobile: You are at home, not at the study desk but on your sofa watching tv and is also online. You are on a long train journey or on a flight. You are on vacation and is in your hotel room bed. Today we use our laptop in these scenarios and I think it is not the right fit. Many times I have burnt my lap while watching tv and tried hard to get the right ergonomic position to use laptops on a sofa. I have been embarrassed to take my laptop out in a train full of people. When on vacation I just dont like to carry my laptop but there were times i missed internet when i was in the hotel room. A mobile phone is also not the ideal device here as its too small, a mobile site is too less of content, there is nothing i'm gaining much using the GPS and also I would want to save the phone's charge to make calls.

This is where the tablet comes into the picture and hence its important to address this space with its own importance. We have to identify the needs, come up with use cases and offer content in the ideal format and not just redirect the user to mobile/laptop sites and apps. This will indeed take time to mature as content providers will not invest in this space unless tablets become popular.

A tablet is not a bigger phone or a smaller laptop. Its is not here to replace the laptop or the phone. All of them are mobile devices used for different grades of mobility and they will all co exist.

Also our needs to go beyond the On road mobility use case is also not far away. What if I'm out and have a phone in my pocket but i cant take it out coz its raining?

Whats Google Cloud Print?

2010-12-10T12:43:00.007+05:30

My friend commented on my buzz on 'Live From Google’s Chrome Event: Chrome OS, Web Store, And More'

Friend: What is the use of cloud printing?

Me: You have bought air ticket online and its in your mail. You go to airport and the security at the gate asks for your ticket print out. You spot a cloud printer in the Airport terminal with the service name AirPrint. You open your mobile, go to your mail, print to AirPrint (Search for printer service, find AirPrint). The printer prints your ticket. The printer and your device need not be in a local network and no installations etc.

Friend: Oh

Me: My dad, who stays in Kerala, currently asks me to book railway tickets for him online, print it and then courier it to him. He is not even comfortable receiving it in his email and getting it printed etc. In the future I can setup a cloud printer at home and I can directly print the ticket from Bangalore on the printer at my place in Kerala.

Friend: Super

Well, at least this is what I think, from my little understanding, how cloud printers would work. Very similar to fax machines.

Google's Loose Contact Problem

2010-11-02T10:00:00.001+05:30

The biggest advantage of using an Android phone according to me is the way it syncs all my Google contacts on to my phone address book as soon as I activate the phone. Its not all. The moment I activate the Facebook app on Android, my contacts become richer as it adds pictures, status updates and birthdays to them. Its amazing coz none of those frills are information that I had to creat. They are all created and maintained by my contacts on their Facebook profile which just came into my phone with just a Facebook login. Not done yet. They all get updated on my phone automatically when they are changed at their end so that I always have up to date info. Any changes I do on my phone gets synced back into the Google contacts automatically so that all the data is always on the cloud and secure and vice versa. All's well.

Even though the Facebook information which automatically makes my phone contacts rich and up to date is created and maintained by my friends, my primary phone/Google contacts are created and maintained by myself. It was super cool to start with but soon I understood the limitations of it. Google contacts are not shared profile information of my friends that is maintained at their end. So its me who has to update the contacts when their phone number or address got changed. This is bad.

This happened coz when I started using Gmail, Google was not into social networking. When I added my friends on Google talk, their profiles were not shared with me with the info that they chose to be made available to me. When I added a user on Google Talk, a corresponding entry got added in my Gmail contacts into which I later added more information. I also added other contacts who are not on my Google Talk. I dont even know if Google had a user profile then. Hell how many of us know that we have one today? Oh yeah Orkut. I had a profile there. What happened to that? Does anyone know?

As Google introduced Buzz, its official foray into social network, it also introduced a user profile page on which I could share some information and status updates (Buzz). But again the page is not integrated into other Google services. The information I've shared there doesn't reflect on Gmail contacts or on Android. Its just one more profile page along with my Orkut and Blogger profiles.

Its high time someone in Google looked at this problem and fix it. As Android is growing and is being adopted widely, fixing the "loose contact" problem would give it a big advantage over any other mobile platform. It'll give one good reason for people to be on Android and not move out of it. The same reason why people refused to come out of Twitter and go for similar services like Jaiku and Pownce. They just didn't want to lose the contacts they had already built.

The Complexity of Simplicity

2010-10-19T10:00:00.000+05:30

Its good to have a small sized dust bin in the kitchen. It forces us to clear the garbage frequently which will in turn keep the place free from odor and flies.

A bit of restriction is good to keep things neat and simple. It may look like a shortcoming initially and people may complain, but they will soon get used to the situation and also realize the advantages.

One way to keep things simple in a product is to not allow users to do a lot of things which may make it complicated. But if you HAVE to give the users the ability to do complex operations, the best way is to hide them and let the users explore only if they need are in need of them.

Foremost Formats

2010-10-01T00:00:00.000+05:30

Some time back I was talking about how important is to understand the format on which you work on. I was trying to explain how important it is to adapt content from the big web to mobile web by coming up with a format which works well on small devices but convey the same message without losing the core essence. As an example I mentioned the different ad formats; TV, Radio and Print. The best ad would be that which can convey the message best utilizing the format on which it is presented. ie When I look at a print ad I should get the same message which someone else got when he saw it as a TV ad.

TATA Docomo's My Song TV commercial is one of my favorites as it conveys the "Listen to what you want to hear" message by showing a traditional South Indian mom appreciating her daughter's tattoo on her lower back. Its a good example of how you can make an effective ad using humor but its also a good example of how the message fails to convey when it is transfered to another format without adapting to it. What sense does it make when you show a tattoo on a girl's lower back on a billboard with a tagline "My Song"?

Ditto the problem with their "Love just one thing?" ad