Category: Indian internet

Online office and tools

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Web based applications, productivity suites and tools get a lot of coverage in the websites covering technology. These include online office tools like Google Docs, Zoho and personal finance management tools like Onyem, Boxfer , Perfios . These tools may be very popular but may not succeed locally because of several reasons

  • Internet access is still expensive, ISPs like BSNL, MTNL, Hathway charge users on the basis of every MB downloaded. For BSNL , the lowest plan has a download limit of 150 MB, so just uploading and downloading the documents can be expensive.
  • Internet connections are not reliable. At times, the connection is not available for more than  24 hours due to cable failure and other problems. You may need to review it , but will simply not be able to access it.
  • Security – Even when you deal with the largest internet companies today as a customer or affiliate, most of them are unable to ensure that your data is confidential, some times due to factors beyond their control. Uploading your personal information including finances and bank details online can lead to a new set of problems.

Wireless Internet connection

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I have been searching for a reliable wireless internet connection for some time , which allows some amount of  flexibility while using it.   My requirements are simple , it should be a prepaid USB connection and should work in  Mumbai and Goa.  Since I do not view videos or download movies,  the connection should have the speed of a dialup connection at the minimum.

I have evaluated the various internet connections available and listed their features and problems:

  • Airtel USB Modem :  Costs  Rs 2999, can be purchased through Indiatimes,  tariff  starts from 20 paise / 50 KB download (or Rs 4 / MB download) ,  Rs 349 for 500 MB free data usage,  1 month validity. However, there is no information on  how you are going to charge /load the amount for the prepaid usage. Seller B.T. Agencies has no feedback on Indiatimes
  • Idea Netsetter : Costs Rs 2490 ,  Minimum prepaid  amount is  Rs 150,  Access charges are  Rs 1.7 / MB  ( from http://www.ideacellular.com/IDEA.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=IDEA_Page_Advertisements&displayParam=NetSetterPostpaid/NetSetterUSBModem_DELHI.html) . However some users have found the speed of an Idea connection slow.
  • Vlink USB modem :  Starter kit is the cheapest at Rs 99 ( but should be used with a mobile phone) ,  data charges  60 paise / minute.   However, the terms for their Rs 349 and Rs 801 recharge at their website are confusing and this connection does not offer the coverage I want.
    http://www.virginmobile.in/plan_special_offers_vlink-usb.html

Reliance Netconnect seems to be a data card. I will also check forums and list the feedback from users , so that this review is comprehensive.

Social networking

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One of the biggest problems due to the proliferation of social networking  is the spam invites  you receive from perfect strangers to the various social networking websites.   I am extremely careful online,  but I still face this deluge of  unwanted mails. The worst culprits are:

Facebook  – “Check out my photos” –  who wants to waste time looking at photos of  perfect strangers ?

SiliconIndia  –  Invites from an assortment of  girls with faces pancaked with make up.  They use email ids which I do not publish anywhere online, I wonder how they get the email ids.

Orkut

Zorpia

Unyk

Apnacircle

Shtyle.fm

Jhoos –  XXX  wants to be your friend

Netlog

Boxbe

Yaari

When you are in college or have just started working, you have plenty of time and nothing much to do , you can afford to waste time on social networking and making “friends” with perfect strangers.  As you grow older,  you have seen enough of human nature to make  an effort to make friends. You  value your time and  there is so much you want to do, why waste  time socializing, especially  with people with whom you have nothing in common.

Startup costs

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If you have an internet business which is exclusively online,  there is always a lot of competition since the entry barriers are low.  One of the things to track is the costs which other companies who could compete with you have, so I found this post (and comments ) on startup costs interesting.

In India the infrastructure is very poor , electricity goes off  up to eight times in an hour where I stay (and it is worse in other places) and internet connections are often very slow, so the only way you can compete with other companies worldwide is by keeping your costs very low.  Most start ups founders wish to maintain the lifestyle they lead when they had a job,  but if you need a minimum of  10 lakh a year for your start up, your chances of success are much lower.

If you lead a frugal lifestyle and optimize your web hosting costs,  you can easily manage an online business with even a few lakhs a year.  The advantage of having a low cost set up, is that you can reinvest a much larger amount on productive business assets, experiment more with new ideas and also be very selective  while choosing both your customers and vendors.

Corporate espionage

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As this article indicates, corporate espionage is widespread in India today , and some Indian companies are very careless about their internal security systems.  With the lifestyle people lead, “integrity is the cheapest commodity that can be purchased in India today” and I will write more about it later.

In the internet sector, you will never experience it if you are:

  • An internet company catering exclusively to the Indian market , with little interest / expertise in expanding world wide.
  • Providing outsourced services like programming, content writing
  • A start up whose main aim is to get (or already have got) funding  from Venture Capitalists (they are your “minders”)
  • In your twenties , incapable of independent thinking, with little exposure to real business , foreign policy, has been brainwashed into thinking that  Google can do no evil and what ever is written on websites like Techcrunch and other similar websites is the only thing that matters.

American and European companies spend billions of dollars every year on corporate espionage. In the past 2 years , I have personally experienced corporate espionage.    At first I did not realize what was happening,  but in the last few months I have got proof of their activities.

The corporate espionage groups can be classified into 3 categories :

  • Group based in Bridgeport, CT, USA  – this group has been tracking my activities for a long time.  They sign up on forums I own, make payments from stolen accounts and generally trouble me.
  • UK based – check out all the content of the websites I own, want me to sell to them cheap, pretend to be false buyers.
  • Located in India – most of them do it for money,  their activities are sponsored by  G* (Giant Internet Company), and  I have a lot of information on them including their phone numbers and address.  They intercept and sometimes alter the content of  my email. ( I have proof of this) . Many work/ have friends in local internet companies.  Unfortunately, they are kites , paid to do the dirty work, tracking the company (or companies) who pays them will take time.

These companies also sponsor organized stalkers/gang stalkers to harass individuals and spread rumors, you can find more information about Organized / gang stalking online, it seems to be a world wide phenomenon, if  you are an outspoken individual.

The companies do this because they are confident they will never get caught or exposed, and I am writing this post to indicate all their activities and correspondence will be content for this and other websites in future.  Stealing secrets only works if your competitor has a similar organization and cost structure to yours.

Cybercrime networks

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These articles on  Cybercrime networks in Mumbai and the e-crooks confirms what something that has troubled me for the last two years.  From the article

The latter two cases indicate social engineering, where the victim has been spied on and cultivated. The Pune man had to have had a reason to believe he had African property and the Worli businessman’s cheaters knew he had recently bought a BMW. In other words, they were not entirely random attacks.

These networks are very well entrenched and have their informants in all major internet companies here. At first I was surprised that this was happening, now after two years I am just trying to gather the evidence so that I have a solid case. The general level of internet literacy is low, so these cybercriminals  think that they can get away with it (and they usually do). In Europe, USA, Canada, cyber criminals have served jail terms, so it is safer with businesses there.

All this has badly hampered the growth of internet in India. If you are sure that your emails are being intercepted, will you send any important information over email?  The signature of these cybercriminals is blank calls from non existent phone numbers.  Some Indian internet companies turn a blind eye to these criminal activities of their employees, but they do not realize that in the long run, they lose both money and goodwill.  If  your customers are getting hurt financially by these  criminals,  they will spend less money with you and move their business to other vendors.

After a time, it is easy to detect these activities, the  criminals are humans and they start leaving evidence. Some of these criminal networks seem to be hired by big global companies.  Unfortunately,  some  Indian internet companies are not very cooperative and do not take any action to prevent this problem, which also damages the companies in the long term.

Online VC funding

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Most of the online news coverage in India relates to startups and VC funding, but is Venture capital or an angel investor really required for an online business . Most startups in India waste a lot of time and energy trying to get funding when they should be focussing on growing their business.  You can make a lot of money with just a computer and an internet connection if  you are willing to work hard and understand the market needs, instead of believing the hype being published.

Digital media

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India Today, India’s largest magazine publisher is not going to spend any more money on digital media,  they are not getting the returns they want.  You can make money from  content, but you have to keep your overheads really low.  Most big Indian media companies have plush offices and highly paid employees( very important for “status” in India), with those expenses, it is very difficult to be profitable online with content websites.

The other thing the publisher has correctly pointed out (which you will rarely see mentioned in India’s digital media)  is that Google has a monopoly and often uses the information available to destroy /damage any potential competitor.  I have personally experienced it and at least two of the ad networks I work with have specifically confirmed it.  When the demand for advertising space exceeds supply, Google is happy to have content publishers,  but now when the supply exceeds demand, Google shows PSAs on content websites who use Adsense so that the advertisers spend their entire budget on advertising directly on Google’s own properties.

Smaller Indian content websites can make money online, but few have the imagination, motivation or exposure to really grow big, compete with companies worldwide and beat them.  They are too worried about others stealing their ideas.  Compared to a decade ago, people in their twenties have a lot of distractions and often do not focus or  reinvest enough into their business.

From my personal experience, when you are very small, the damage  the big companies can do is more.  Once you learn to out maneuver them and are more careful,  at least some of them will stop wasting their money and leave you alone.  Others will continue their attempts to damage your business, but just treat it like a game of chess, a form of entertainment.  Lets see who has the last laugh.

India online

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Unlike the rest of the world,  the number of  internet users in  India is decreasing . Part of the reason is that there are almost no Indian websites which are worth visiting, most are just copy cats of foreign websites.  They are simply not value for money, why will any one want to spend money making friends (90% fake) online.  I like the way Chinese companies use the internet, they will directly tell you they got my email from one of my websites, they want to sell their product.  I get a lot of friend requests from India along with photos, but I am NOT interested in making fake friends online, if you want to buy / sell / want advice, better to get to the point directly.   I am very good at detecting lies.

Very few local companies spend any amount of time doing market research, they expend their energy and money spying and sabotaging any other company who they think will grow.Unlike coding where you learn a new language every few years, one of the better aspects of making money online is that experience matters.  Till 2 years ago, most of the money I made from my websites was from a single source.  Today, it is very diversified. My only regret is that I did not try the other methods earlier.

You may have an MBA from a top school,  have  hundreds of employees,  passed all the necessary certifications or read all the blogs of the all the “internet marketing gurus”,  it does not matter for online success.  A large number of employees can be a problem when times are bad (the previous post on Infosys layoffs has been very popular)

Unless you have hands on experience in making money online from your own websites or online,  you are unlikely to be able to formulate  a viable monetization strategy or run a profitable online business.