Tech Directions: Through the Apple and Google Lens

What’s the direction?

With Apple Market Cap at 570 BUSD and Google at 385 BUSD, they have become the vanguard of tech industry.

Apple WWDC and Google IO developer events are a good indicator of tech industry directions.

Both the companies conduct the developer event in June at the same location Moscone Center, San Francisco, USA. The commonality does not stop here.

So, what’s the tech direction? Here!

Motivation 3.0

21st century motivation is based on intrinsic (within) and not extrinsic. This is the view of Daniel Pink in the book Drive! Daniel Pink is in the World Thinkers 50 - 2013 list.

Daniel says we are now in the world which needs Motivation 3.0.

What is Motivation 1.0 and 2.0?

• Motivation 1.0 was animal centric "Survival & Biological needs"
• Motivation 2.0 was driven by extrinsic "Carrot & Stick"

Pink argues that the current knowledge economy needs Motivation 3.0 which is more self directed unlike the previous method of command and control.

What is Motivation 3.0?
Motivation 3.0 is centred around 3 broad areas of intrinsic motivation:

1. Autonomy
2. Mastery
3. Purpose

Autonomy is the freedom and flexibility to do things. It can be on the Task, Time, Technique and Team.  The task is what we do? The time is when and where we do?  The technique is how we do? The team is with whom we do?
Mastery is the desire of self improvement and excellence. Daniel says - Mastery is a mindset, Mastery is a pain, Mastery is an asymptote.

• Mastery is Mindset - "If you think you can do a thing or think you cannot do a thing. You are right!" 
• Mastery is Pain - "No pain no gain!" 
• Mastery is Asymptote as in Algebra - a straight line that a curve approaches but never quite reaches. Similarly Mastery is a journey without an end reach!

Purpose is Performance with a purpose - to contribute and make an impact larger than the self!  Profit is the catalyst and not the objective.

What Drives you? Think about it!

Can Leaders learn from Teabags!

A real tea quality comes only when the teabag is dipped in hot water! Similarly a true quality of a leader can be seen in a challenging situation like hot water.

Whether the tea bag is in the top, middle or bottom, quality does not differ. True leaders perform well no matter where they are in the organisation layer.

Tea quality degrades if the Tea bag stays in the cup beyond the needs. Great leaders do not hold on and know when to leave a legacy for the next generation to perform.

This is from a book “The secret of leadership” by Prakash Iyer. Prakash comes from the corporate world and this his second book after the successful first book "Habit of winning ". 
Prakash has the ability to connect stories from cricket to olympics, giraffe to tea bag and make it interesting to change mindset, attitude, habits.

Some of the memorable insights from the book are:

• Good is the enemy of Great.
• Bronze medalist are happier than Silver medalist in their achievement!
• FEAR is False Expectations Appearing Real!

if you want to connect with yourself and team through inspiring stories then this book can help you.

Coaching for Performance

I was researching on How Sports Excellence can be applied to Corporate Excellence? In the process, found two experts in the field Timothy Gallwey and John Whitmore.

Seven takeaways from reading their works:

1. Performance = Potential - Interference (How to minimize the interference to realize the potential?)
2. Focus on future possibilities and not past mistakes
3. Awareness leads to Responsibility (Can Control: What we are aware? and Controlled by: What we are unaware)
4. Learning - Enjoyment - Performance are Integral (Performance does not  happen without learning and enjoyment)
5. Knowledge - Experience - Attitude of mind are the key ingredients for performance
6. Performance Goal(fully under control), End Goal and Dream goal. Three levels of goal can make the performance experience a realistic journey.
7. GROW model for execution - Goal, Reality, Options/Obstacles,Way forward/Will

Innovation - Ten Thinkers

My new interest is to coach "Innovation as a Practice!"

Based on my understanding of this space, following are the ten Thinkers on Innovation:

1. Peter Drucker (Innovation as a Discipline)
2. Clayton Christensen (Disruptive Innovation)
3. Chan Kim & Renee Mauborgne (Value Innovation/Blue Ocean Strategy)
4. Hal Gregersen & Jeffrey Dyer (Innovation Skills)
5. Henry Chesbrough (Open Innovation)
6. Scott Anthony (Innovation Methodology)
7. Mark Johnson (Business Model Innovation)
8. Vijay Govindarajan & Chris Trimble (Reverse Innovation)
9. Michael Hammer (Operational Innovation)
10. Rita McGrath (Innovation Risk Management)

Book Review: Great by Choice

I am a fan of Jim Collins, with his books like “Built to Last”, “Good to Great”. 
I read his new book,“Great by Choice”. “Great by Choice” is an apt book in the current Uncertain times with Chaos. 
Collins - beliefs this kind of turbulent times are going to be the new normal in this world. 
“Great by Choice” is not only applicable to corporates it could be applied to individual life too. 
Collins calls “Great by Choice” companies as 10Xers. 10Xers produce ten times better results than the average.
IT industry is known for jargons. But, it can not compete with Jim Collins! 
So, what are the attributes of 10Xers?

• 20 Mile March – called as fanatic discipline. As the saying goes - "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit" Human/Corporate tendency is to over do in good times and under do in bad times. 20 Mile March stresses consistency for great performance. Not zero miles one day and 50 miles another day!
• Fire Bullets, Then Cannonballs – called as empirical creativity. Try few things (fire bullets) and one which works scale it to big (then cannonballs). Untested Big Bang can backfire and also, not taking advantage of what worked leads to mediocrity. 
• Leading above the death line – called as Productive Paranoia. As the saying goes – “when the whole world sinks our ship will be the last to sink” It is the awareness of the calamity at an early stage and better prepared. If fear of failure is productively channelized then it can lead to better preparation. 

In a nutshell, smartest does not make it great! It is smart enough with consistency is “Great by Choice” 
And there are more jargons – SMaC recipe, Zoom Out Then Zoom In, Return on Luck etc. Read “Great by Choice”

Top Ten Global Tech Companies

Book Review - Geek Nation

With my interest to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) education for the Next Generation, a new book titled "Geek Nation" caught my attention.
The author Angela Saini is a British Science Journalist born to Indian parents. Saini writing have been published in Wired, New Scientist etc.

This book is more a Science travelogue of India (Geek Nation).
Saini visits:
i) Space Science - ISRO, Trivandrum and explores how the Communication Satellites laid the foundation for India's Communication revolution.
ii) Genetic Science - National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow and explores how Banana (India is the largest producer) shelf life extending research could reduce the wastage.
iii) Information Science - Infosys, Bangalore and meets Narayana Murthy. Saini calls Narayana Murthy as Geek God. And also, explores how Speaking Web research done in IBM India could help India, which has lower literacy.
iv) Nuclear Science - Bhabha Atomic Research Center, Trombay and explores how researchers are experimenting Thorium as an alternate to Uranium. This could help to reduce the external dependency of Uranium.

She also visits and explores - Ancient Science, Medicinal Science and more.

Overall it is a good read to know the past Applied Science of India, with a current touch and with an eye on the future.

In a Nutshell - Google IO 2011

Annual Developer events are a good place to spot the IT trends. In the past, I use to follow - Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, SAP. Now, I follow more - Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon annual developer events.
In this context, I was monitoring the Google IO (IO means Innovation in the Open) - 4th Annual developer conference.
Google Search was a closed technology. Now, with Android, Chrome, Google App Engine and with varied Google APIes - it has more open things for developers to play.

These are the two big things from my perspective:
1. Home Automation Through Android - In just 2-3 years Android based (mobile, tablet) devices have reached 100 Million. Now, Google is launching Android Open Accessory development kit, Android@Home framework. If these gets matured & standardized then it would create another big area.
2. A Second Alternate to MS Windows PC/Notebooks – App iMac/ MacBook is the first alternate. Now, ChromeBook could become the second alternate. Google Tool Bar success lead to Google Chrome Browser. Now, with 160 Million Chrome Browser, Google Chrome Browser is moving to Google Chrome OS as ChromeBook.

Android success is driven through Android Market apps ecosystem and Google Internet Services ( Search, Maps, Mail etc.).
Similarly, Chrome OS success is going to be driven through Chrome Web Store apps ecosystem and Google Internet Services (Google App Engine, Google Apps etc. and with offline access to Mail, Calendar)

With this - Google has filled the Client Devices (Mobile, Tablet, Notebook) to Power their Internet services.

In a Nutshell - Mobile world Congress 2011

I was following the Mobile World congress 2011 and here is a nutshell (in 250 words!)

Background

Mobile World Congress (MWC) is a premium annual event held everywhere in Barcelona, Spain.

All the world leading Mobile operators, Mobile equipment and device manufacturers, Mobile content and software providers participate in this event.

MWC 2011

2011 event got completed on 17 Feb 2011.

Some of the key note speakers were i) Vittorio Colao, CEO, Vodafone ii) Steve Ballmer, CEO, MS to iii) Peter Chou, CEO, HTC iv) Paul Jacobs, CEO, Qualcomm.

Top Five Take away

1. LTE (Long Term Evolution) Roll-out in few parts of the world -Telia Soneria, Nordic region, Verizon, USA, Telstra, Australia (LTE is the 4G which gives -10 Mbps mobile data access speed).

2. NFC (Near field communication) is getting accepted as a standard for mobile payment and other contactless transactions and interactions.

3. Mobile LBS (Location Based Services) & Mobile ads are becoming more main stream.

4. WAC (Wholesale Applications Community) consortium by leading mobile operators to develop cross platform mobile apps.

5. Trying to select a Mobile World Capital from the final four - Barcelona, Milan, Munich, Paris.

Mobile awards 2011

The notable awards are:

· Best Mobile App : Angry Birds (with more than 50 Million downloads)

· Mobile device manufacturer of the year: HTC (now, a Global Brand from Taiwan)

· Best Mobile Money Product: Airtel Africa, MasterCard, Standard Chartered Bank combo - 1time Shopping Card (to use mobile phone as a virtual payment card)

What is your view to this story?

Android Phone, Tablet, TV - What more?

Google Android based devices are expanding with big players making devices across industries.

1. Android Phones - HTC, Samsung, Motorola, LG, Sony Ericsson...(Mobile phone world)
2. Android Tablets - Dell, Acer, Toshiba, Lenovo, Cisco...(PC/IT world)
3. Android ebook readers - Barnes and Noble (Nook)... (Digital book world)
4. Android MP3/MP4 Players - Philips (Go Gear Connect)...(Consumer Electronics world)
5. Android Google TV/Set-Top Box - Sony, Logitech(Revue)...(Consumer Electronics world)
6. Android Digital Photo frame - Nikon...(Consumer Electronics world)

More to come with big names support..

and in this party, notable absence are Microsoft, Apple, Nokia...

Is Android the next Windows for the Phone/PC/Consumer Electronics Industry?

Next Google, Facebook, Twitter? 5 Possibilities

Who will be the next

Google(1998) -Search, Facebook(2004) - Social Networking, Twitter(2006) - Microblog

and the next category creators on the internet.

Here are the 5 possibilities based on my understanding:

1. Zygna (2007) - Social Gaming (Mark Pincus)
2. Groupon (2008) - Collective Buying (Andrew Mason)
3. FourSquare (2009) - Location Based Social Networking (Dennis Crowley)
4. Square (2010) - Mobile Payment service (Jack Dorsey - also, Twitter founder)
5. Layar (2010) - Augmented Reality Apps (Raimo)

Other companies who came close are Obopay, Spotify, GetJar, Bump, Flipboard

Do you have any recommendation?

Top10 - K12 Education Change Agents

Indian K-12 (Kindergarten to XII standard) is changing. In my understanding following Ten people are bringing innovative new methods for this change. There are many other change agents too.

1. Shantanu Prakash Educomp Smart Class (ICT aided classroom)
2. Lina Ashar Kangaroo Kids Learner centric methods in Preschools
3. Ashish Rajpal iDiscoveri Teachers development
4. Nirmala Sankaran Hey Math Innovative Math learning
5. Sridhar Rajagopalan Educational Initiatives Asset - Diagnostic tests
6. Sharat Chandra Butterfly Edufields Science - learning by doing
7. Saumil Majmudar Edusports - Outsourced Sports!
8. Umesh Malhotra Hippocampus Library centered learning
9. Krishnan Ganesh Tutorvista Virtual teacher!
10. Pulkit Gaur Edubotix Robotics learning

Do you have any recommendation to this list?

Information Technology Biggies

Information Technology landscape is always on a tectonic shift. Mobile & Cloud are the new tectonic force. Here are the Top 10 by the market value.

200 Billion Plus USD (BPlus)

Apple, Microsoft

150 BPlus

Google, IBM

100 BPlus

Cisco, HP, Intel, Oracle

50 BPlus

Qualcomm, SAP

Note: Dell is out and Qualcomm is in. What next?

World Expo 2010 - Begins in Shanghai #1

World Expo 2010 - Begins in Shanghai with a Theme - Better City Better life.

Some Stat

189 countries are participating and the event is held for 184 days.

70 Million visitors expected. and 200,000 on day one.

Urban Best Practices area is one of key pavilion themes. 55 Cities across the world participating..

Things which are looking promising based on first glance.

1. Odsense, Denmark -Bicycle as a transport for city life.
2. Taipei, Taiwan - Wireless City
3. Sao Paulo, Brazil - a City with out outdoor ads!
4. Pondicherry, India - Heritage preservation a way for better city
5. Vancouver, Canada - Urban Sanctuary through wooden structures

more to come for Better City Better Life!

Top 3 Techno Biz writers

Following are my top 3 pick of Techno Biz writers.

1. Nicholas Carr (My pick in his writings: Big Switch - He talks about IT transforming to Cloud computing and also, compares with electricity evolution in a similar way)

2. Chris Anderson (Both his book Long Tail and Free are good read to understand the Internet based biz trends...)

3. Tim O'Reilly (Defined the now famous Web 2.0 and now, he is defining the Internet Operating System)

what are your views and picks?

Survey : Mobile Operating System

New Breed of Indian Global Companies

1 Shree Renuka Sugars - From Belgaum to Brazil wanted to lead the Sugar space...(Murkumbi IIM-A is called as the Lakshmi Mittal for Sugar!)

2 Bharti Enterprise - From Allahabad to Africa wanted to lead the Mobile space in the emerging economies

3 Fortis Heathcare - aspiring to be a global health care player (first of it's kind as per Malvinder!)
Watch this new breed of Indian Global Companies..