Quick Impressions Of Mobile World Congress 2016
27 Feb 2016

Quick Impressions Of Mobile World Congress 2016

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The Mobile World Congress 2016

The definitive and the biggest mobile show attracted 100,000 people from across the globe. Mobile World Congress already has a naming crisis – as the technology showcased at Barcelona has gone beyond Mobile many times over! 

What were the highlights of Mobile World Congress 2016?

1. Virtual Reality: Mark Zuckerberg ensured that Virtual Reality and Oculus got its gigantic push. Across the show, VR was in vogue. VR has gone mainstream. Facebook has promised a special Social VR Team to create new centre of experiences. With HTC, LG, Samsung and many other jumping the VR bandwagon, get prepared for a new definition of Surrealism!

2. Cute Pet Robots: All of us loved BB-8 in Star Wars. LG’s Rolling is cuter and advanced than BB-8. With its cameras, lasers, microphones, wireless tech and speakers, Rolling Bot is a cutie toy that can control the house and is a remote-controlled security system.

3. Friendly Neighbourhood Delivery Bots: Starship Technologies’ delivery robot can find your house from the supermarket. The six-wheeled robot will can carry bags of groceries. Its nine cameras help it to avoid obstacles and seek remote operator help to navigate, if it encounters a trouble.

4. Smart Trashcans: MWC14 and MWC15 saw series of Smart Launches. Smart Shoes. Smart Homes, Smart Luggage Tags, Smart Clothing, Smart Weighing Scales, etc. MWC16 saw the launch of Smart Trash Cans. Sigfox idea is already being implemented by Barcelona city. It will install 200 trash cans that use the low-power Sigfox wireless network to report when they’re getting full so the city can empty them sooner — and not have to send collectors out to trash cans that aren’t full.
World is getting smarter. Are we?

5. Wearables Were Quiet: Inspire of wearables going mainstream and important line item in revenue sheets, there were few wearable launches. Shows that industry focus is on stabilising and strengthening existing lines. Good. BTW – Smart watches have overtaken Swiss watches.

6. Cars: Self-driving cars are big things. Uber, Google, Tesla, Ford and all carmakers are focusing on this area. Facebook and Operators are happy. People will either download movies on 5G or experience Facebook VR while they are driven in self-driving cars.

7. 5G: The race for 5G has started. Will it be SK Telecom or AT&T? Or a European Carrier?

8. Mobile Phones: Evolution Continued. Sexier Phones. Waterproof. Curved. Infrared Cameras. Projectors. Yawn. Yawn.

Samsung Galaxy S7.
LG G5.
HTC Desire Series.
Kyocera’s Waterproof Phones.
Gionee S8 with 3D Touch.
Xiaomi Mi5.
Archos.
Acer Liquid Series.
Akyumen Holofone Is Projector as Well.
Sony Xperia X.
Meizu with Ubuntu OS.
Oppo’s Quick Charging Phones. 15 Min Full Battery Charging Phones.
Caterpillar’s Thermal Camera Phone.
HP Elite 3 with Fingerprint Sensor & Iris Scanner. 
Huawei…

Interesting to Note:
1. Xiaomi Plans US Launch: Brave Act!
2. Project Tango: Google’s spatial mapping technology will unlock possibilities for museums and campuses. Will it help me in IKEA?
3. Motorola Verveones: Completely wireless headphones are an exciting proposition. The Verveones by Motorola, fit into a carrying case which doubles as a wireless charger. Bring them on!

The biggest networking event came to an end where ideas, money and warmth multiplied.

Image Credit: CNET

Digital Banking – A Whole New World!
13 Feb 2016

Digital Banking – A Whole New World!

Revolutions Are The Locomotives Of History
– Karl Marx

When was the last you visited a bank?
When was the last you withdrew cash at the bank counter?

Even if that was not very long ago, I bet that the frequency of these visits is not the same as before.

Money is a high trust and high emotion area. People prefer security over everything else. Hence consumers continue to bank with large traditional banks. This trust has resulted in banking being a complex and ambiguous and highly profitable industry!

But the banking industry as we know is ready for disruption. The digital revolution is set to change the game in banking landscape. Digital Banks are all set to become the new challengers.

Digital Banking is a whole new way of banking. They are thinking differently – thinking the same way as the Uber-Instagram-Whatsapp style startups. They offer pure play banking services through mobile apps and digital channels only – no branches. They do have call-centres. They do not have legacy thinking, infrastructure or even legacy issues.

Digital Banks have a fertile ground because of various factors:

1. The New Generation users have a disconnect with traditional banking models. Their relationship with money is driven by different motivations as compared to earlier generations. They want to deal with a bank that speaks their language and understands their mindset.

2. The Mobile Generation wants the best of technology in all walks of life and banking is no different. They will want to transfer the funds with same ease as sharing an Instagram snap.

3. The New Generation is comfortable with trusting Apps for money. The m-Commerce and e-Commerce experience have given the confidence to try Digital Banking models.

4. Pure play and on-demand services are the mantra in digital economy. Traditional banks try to cross-sell and push multiple products. Millennials want pure-play banking and Digital Banks will fill that need.

Digital banks are leveraging the best of technology to create competitive advantage. Offering real time intelligence – analysis of money spent or affordability of that new car ! Giving ideas to save money. Atom Bank plans to use 3D visualisations and gaming technology for its app, and plans to integrate cutting edge biometric security. Digital Banks can also offer personalisation. Of course, all of these value-adds can be copied by traditional banking giants.

UK already has seen the launch of Digital Banks – Atom Bank, Starling Bank, Tandem, Mondo etc. Lunar Way has been launched in Norway.

Interesting Times…Another industry faces the digital challenge ! Expect High-Street Banks to learn from these banks. Also acquire these new banks. In any case, the banking industry is ripe for a paradigm shift !

Image Credit: KHRawlings

titli-dark-daring
20 Jan 2016

Titli – Dark & Daring

Titli has been one of the most amazing films of 2015. It was a part of my top movies of 2015. Here is the detailed review.

Titli Review:
Happy times sow the seeds of darkness.

Dark times sow the seeds of hope.

Titli is a film about these seeds of hope after a lifetime of darkness.

The setting of the movie Titli is black…very black
– A family that takes you down.
– A life that is only dismal darkness
– A life that has no hope
– All the family members live in their own hells. And the way of dealing is with this hell is to make the life hell for the others.

Titli introduces us to the under-belly of the national capital region. It is about those areas that we know that exist but we choose to ignore them. We refuse to see them.

The movie revolves around the father and his three sons. It is a very patriarch driven and crime-driven family. The youngest son is the protagonist and is named Titli. He dreams of leaving the family and setup his parking business – to upgrade his life. But the family gets Titli married to Neelu and add the innocent woman to the crime gang and leverage her to dupe people. Neelu is their passport to additional revenues. But Neelu has her own demons and her own version of hell.

Everyone acts out of selfish interest and use each other. The family of Rajshri and Karan Johar does not exist – here everyone is out to make life miserable for each other.

But Titli and Neelu want to escape the life of violence and poverty. They yearn for a better life.

Ranvir Shorey as the elder son has given his best performance till date. A superb screenplay, excellent direction and great acting. A must-watch. It is a different world. Bollywood’s growth continues in the shadow of blockbusters.

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