The curious case of company identity...

When I joined Motorola some years ago, it was one company. After a few years, Motorola got split up into two companies, Motorola Mobility, which became the handsets business and Motorola Solutions, which was primarily the networks and push-to-talk business. I became part of Motorola Solutions after that split.

A few years later, Motorola Mobility got bought over by Google. And a part of the Motorola Solutions business by Nokia-Siemens Networks (NSN). That brought an end to an 80 year old company called Motorola; though Motorola Solutions is still around carrying the legacy of Motorola, albeit only a small piece of the giant it once was. For many of the old-timers, it was a defining moment.

Well, I became part of the NSN group after that (A joint partnership between Nokia and Siemens). Later this year, Siemens pulled out of this partnership and we became Nokia Solutions and Networks (still retaining the name NSN!).

And now, just a few weeks ago, Microsoft has bought over Nokia itself. With it, another company, with almost a 150 year old history has come to an end. And I am sure that very many emotions were at play on the minds and hearts of those who had been associated with it.

So I was wondering for a while if we will soon be called MSN (though I had a sneaky feeling I had heard that name somewhere before!). But that was not the case and our company continues to function as NSN, a Nokia company.

But imagine I am introducing myself and I am asked where I worked. Earlier it was simple. I would simply say, “I work for Motorola”. After a few years, “I work for Motorola Solutions”. Now here comes the confusion. People unfamiliar with the Motorola brand would automatically associate it with mobile phones, and I would have to patiently explain the difference between the network world and the handset world. And then after a few years I said, “I work for NSN..it stands for Nokia-Siemens Networks, which recently acquired the networks divisions of Motorola Solutions”. So they would say, “Ah, so Motorola exists no more?”, and I would say, “It does, Motorola Solutions is still around..”. Confusion!

Thankfully, the name NSN qualified what world I worked in, but many would still continue saying I work in “Nokia” (the devices company), which wasn’t true!

From this year I have been saying, “I work for Nokia-Solutions and Networks”. And now when I say this, they would say, “But didn’t Nokia get bought over by Microsoft” (someone’s reading up the papers!)”. I would go on to explain that Nokia (the handsets company) is bought over. The Nokia legacy still lives on, albeit in a smaller form, as NSN.

By the way, all this was only what I have seen happening. I have not gone into the legacies of these companies, or the numerous companies that were an offshoot from them, in previous years! But, having seen some of the action, I have now developed this ability to roll-off words like mergers and acquisitions and consolidation in the telecom world etc, quite adroitly!

In any case, what is quite apparent is that many of the earlier so called “software-only” companies are getting into the mobile eco-system and mobile computing/devices business.

I am sure many others might have witnessed something similar elsewhere! Do share your thoughts.

Mobile App Conference...

Silicon India had organized a Mobile App Conference today. I went for it, thanks to a colleague who wanted me to tag along. And it turned out to be pretty nice! Lots of panel discussions and sales ("Elevator") speeches by quite a few start-ups who are in the mobile app space. There were talks related to the entire app eco-system and economy, monetization of apps, segmentation and all the jazz, that is marketing! Quite some time was devoted to understanding the business proposition and revenue models of companies who are trying to carve a business in this whole space. Interesting and refreshing.

There were many exhibitors and start-ups with their products. Almost all catered more to the services sectors rather than the product sector. More opportunities? Sure, but also because product sectors would mean more customized and "enterprise" apps. And before I went I used to always wonder what are the things that can be done at the enterprise level. There are lots of things, as I learnt! Right from automation of processes, to task-based jobs, material, inventory and checklists. Useful in many different industries. There was one company which I felt were very clear in their entire thinking and approach to it. Rossi-tek was their name I think..

My personal best was one with cloud services and seamless UX across any operator connectivity/availability! All your apps and data synchronized across any platform and any network operator. Phew! The guy there explained it really well. I think they were called United Mobile Apps.

I hope the app story does not turn out to be something like what happened in the dot com bubble though. Lots of fabulous ideas and "fantasies" which never took off because of lack of proper knowledge of monetization, marketing and business models. A sustainable model at that, which is another way of saying you need to bet for it for the long term. I wont be surprised if it turns out to be a bubble, just like that of the dot com era. People can dismiss it, saying we have really learnt our lessons and fund houses are more smarter than to believe in jacked up and fantastic growth projections...But I think we might be overestimating their abilities! That's not to dismiss their abilities but just because there is so much happening out there! I don't see how someone can really pick something which will work and skip others by believing something wont. Its a gamble at best, and no one "really" knows where the next big wave is going to come from. And just because, again, there is so much happening out there (in that space) and so many interesting creative ways of doing businesses!!

Ofcourse, the few good ones would always remain, finding their niche and discovering themselves successfully. The world is a stage, and hopefully, they will have "happy" parts to play! The others..well, something else maybe.

As for my part...for now, its the audience :)

Fixing my mob screen - 2

I went over to the workshop where the mob was getting fixed and asked the guy there about the whole screen setup. It turns out that on older phones, the touch sensors and the display are two separate units. The sensors are the first thing on the screen, behind which is the actual light and display screen setup. So one is independent of the other (I also got a look at my mob innards). But this is not the case with the newer phones on which the touch sensor (screen) and the display are integrated into one. It also explains why the newer phones are slimmer than the older ones.

My Sammy is an old phone, as mentioned in my previous post. So in a way it is a good thing as one screen can be replaced without affecting the other, and it is way cheaper too. The touch sensors are the costly part whereas the display's are not as much.

In any case, my problem isn't solved yet...

Turns out that they were out of stock for the displays, and I might have to wait for another week before they 'might' get a fresh stock from the company. All this while they were trying out with existing display's (and local made ones too!). Its not easy to get those displays anymore, according to the folks there.

So I have said bye to my Sammy (atleast for a while) and taken up on an old Windows Mobile phone which Dad wasn't using anymore. Its the Motorola Q8 which runs on WM 6.x. Yeah, kinda old when you think that Win7 and Win8 phone are the current running versions in the Lumia range of mobs from Nokia. Can't help it!

But which also brings me to my search for software for WM 6...Now let me tell you this. After getting used to the Android app store (Google Play), there is no way Windows comes even close to it. Just doing a search for apps for WM will make you realize how poor their app eco-system is when compared to Android (and ofcourse Apple).

After a lot of searching I found a few apps for Twitter, FB, gtalk and a few others. And it was an absolute nightmarish experience to know what about the whole .NET compact framework thing that is out there. How do ppl get around all of that? I am not surprised why there are very few takers for WM.

On the other hand, the best thing that I find with it is the ActiveSync function. It works well and integrates well with Outlook. So atleast mails are a breeze.

Will update more on the status of my mob later. Till then, will try and catch a few more ".cab's" (get it?!)

Fixing my mob screen - 1

My samsung screen has shrunk to half its size! No, nothing to do with any magic potion but the darned pixels which just won't fire up anymore. And only the bottom half of my screen faces this problem. Its completely grayed out. I am getting it fixed as I am not about to spend another 10-15K on a phone..(pssst, though I did look up the prices of refurbished iPhones on eBay ;)

Anyway, the point is that the the screen can be fixed, which is a good thing. I half expected them to say they did not carry any inventory on a phone which was 2 years old (gosh!), or that there was some other problem with it (like a OS glitch). Luckily, it looks like the chip that handles the UI/screen seems intact, though I think the reason that the phone went down with its pixels in the first place was because it got dropped quite a few times.

It started with a few lines materializing on the phone screen, which wasn't so bad, but another couple of drops, and from a smartphone, it turned into a dumb one! Maybe there is a very specific reason for that.. like the pixels got burned out when the mob dropped? Why? Though I could actually touch the parts that were grayed out and still do a few operations like make calls and check messages etc. So obviously, the visible part and the touch sensors itself are two different things, and unrelated.

I wonder how the whole thing is arranged..maybe I should look it up sometime.

More news later...

Bluetooth Remote..!

Its been long since I tried out any new apps, and true to the adage, necessity is the mother of invention, my need was the necessity for my search of an app!

The need was that I wanted to control my pc using my phone. While there are a ton of apps to do all kinds of things like turning on/off lights, home appliances etc, by remotely using the internet on your phone, and a wi-fi connection at home, searching for an app to simply control my pc was not that an easy find! When I did find a few apps which seemed promising, they all needed a wi-fi network and using a common network for both the pc and your phone.

I wanted something using only bluetooth, as its simpler and just seems so much more better! I wanted to control the volume of my media player and use my phone as a wireless mouse. Simple, basic functionality :) After quite a few searches I came upon the Remote Control PC (yeah, it couldn't have been simpler!), which had good reviews and which worked off both bluetooth and wi fi. It required a server program to be installed on the PC and a java runtime environment. And of course the all important Android app downloaded from the market.

Installation was a breeze; pairing and connecting my phone with the laptop, I started off the app. It had a nice UI, with the first screen giving a basic tutorial on using the app, and selecting the mode of connection.

Then I began testing it out. I could use it for changing the volume, changing tracks etc on my media player running on my pc; complete with stop, start and pause buttons! Plus my phone screen could be used to act like a wireless track pad for my mouse!

As a bonus, there was also the ability to control power point presentations too!

All in all, a pretty nifty tool. Do check it out!

Oh, and one more thing, its free :)

Mobile blogging

Ok, so here is the lowdown. I was out of the city for a few days and was itching to get back to writing my blog. I could have probably taken the time to do it from my laptop or something but didn't get around it (lazy...zzz..). I was looking for something that I can use while on the go and yet not be bogged down with anything heavy to lug around.

And I found the solution for that just now:) I have now installed the blogger app for android and now I can post blogs on the move and never give up on my writing! Plus it helps to have swype on your phone so that the speed dosent kill you either! I am posting this too while I'm on my way back home:) It really is so convenient and I don't have to pull out anything smarter than my phone. Now I can call myself the new age blogger!

Hastala vista! And Bon (Blog)age!

Protect your mob

A close friend of mine lost something very personal...a mobile! Not only did it have lots of personal messages and contacts, it also contained pics, music and other important documents which you would download on a smartphone.

Losing a mobile phone is a traumatic experience because it is something that you carry around with you all the time. It almost becomes a part of your daily life and living without it even for a few hours makes you feel incomplete! I know you should try not to let any device/gadget take control of you so much, but heck, it does have an effect! Imagining someone going thro' my stuff makes me cringe.

There are a few precautions you can take though. On Samsung phones (I own one, so this is what I know about it, and I am sure other phones too might have similar features), there is something called a mobile tracker. It helps you to manage your phone remotely by letting you add in lock codes, erase your data and lot of other features. Check this out to find out more.

My Sam is a lil older and I don't have that option, though I do have an option of enabling an automatic message being sent to a pre-defined number in case someone removes the SIM from my mob and inserts another. That way I can track my phone.

Another option on Android phones (in case your device does not natively support remotely managing it) is to install an app to do the job. Android Lost is one such option.

Again, I haven't tried it yet because it works only on Android 2.2 and above. Mine is a 2.1. I know...I should upgrade...sigh.