Is Nokia following the Apple steps?

I still remember it was around 98, when Nokia was the cool phone, the one you need to have. It was (if I'm not mistaken) the first to go without antenna and came out with sleek plastic color designs that can be customized. It used to be a great product, a great phone that everyone loves. I think these days it may need to focus on low to middle market as "how the mighty have fallen". After years of success, in fact I think they are retracing the Apple path right before 1997.

Their product line has become very confusing, they keep on rolling different models and sub-series for each line. And they only have minor details upgrade or some extra features. Their UI is also not as good or has become more confusing, it used to be really simple. Then there is pre-Windows phone version where they try to come up with "their own" UI but really just copy Apple. The result was not impressive at all, the scroll was just way to weird and no smoothness in transition at all. It just became middle of the road product.

Then came in the desperate partnership between Nokia and Microsoft to launch their latest smartphone. The UI is better, but its not Nokia's and have stray even further from where they use to be. Whether Nokia-Windows phone will take off, not sure. They still have a lot of groundwork to do and far from Apple or Android.

Anyway, I was picking up a phone for my mum and I noticed several things when I was doing research on which product to get her. Nokia website has just undergo renovation and... it copied Apple layout? It became a lot simpler, with all the navigation bar on the top, search bar on the right, big photos and 3 main sub-promo... it all just look too familiar and did a comparison and yup it is the same.

Next (and I'm still an iPhone user by the way, is just that my mum operates simple phone) I decided to pick-up a Nokia Asha 300 at their official retail stores which is couple days ago. Service and experience was just not great, there was no salesmanship, no excitement about technology and enquiring what type of phone am I looking. Instead I was just left alone until I picked a phone and still no part of it convinced me, I had to go around to several other phone store and decided to came back and convince myself. Worse, its holiday season, no gift wrap, no holiday specials. No wonder the company is in trouble, its not inventing anything anymore, its just contempt going in circles.

And that's why Nokia's stock market has slumped from their highest of 39.71 (Nov 2007) to today's 4.95, that's a whooping fall down. Pity, for a company that used to be leading the phone industry.

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iPhone 4S launched in KL

Well after months of waiting iPhone 4S has finally arrived in Kuala Lumpur today, so I went to check it out today at the first outlet available. Currently you can only pick it up at Maxis KLCC, I think (and I only am guessing) they have reserved iPhone 4S for people that has pre-registered at their website weeks ago.

I have to say, I was expecting a bit more excitement (something like a long queue line), but there was only a handful of people and I don't think they even displayed the 4S as a demo, only iPhone 4 was displayed. So I didn't get the chance to chat with Siri.

Anyway the package is quite pricey if you add up the whole thing and it is kinda of complicated...
First the contract you need to get is here.
Second, if you walk out of the contract minimum of 12 months you'll have to pay for the rest... ouch.
Last, the plan will evaluate if you are current Maxis customer and instead of just say adding a bit more months on top of your current contract, they increase on top of it... so double ouch (say you have committed a year previously and you have used for 8 months, the new iValue plan will add another 12 months on top of it, instead of just releasing it to you with just additional 4 more months.

Anyway I did a bit of calculations and I think you'll agree with me... if you are non Malay resident.
Say we'll take the iValue 1 at RM100, 12 months. Choosing iPhone 4S 16GB.
So it will be RM500 (RM100 x 5 months) + RM1,750 = RM2,250. But you'll need to stick with the whole 12 months, you can upgrade. So say 12 months plus the iPhone 4S you will be paying RM2,950. And if you walk away from the contract you have to pay the remaining of the months... so ouch if you plan to leave Kuala Lumpur/Malaysia in the next 12 months.

Best bet is to get the unlocked version straight from Apple, check it out here. If you do the math you will end up with RM2,076 (based on exchange rate USD1=RM3.2) no contract and as iPhone is a global phone you can take it anywhere and get a local micro-sim card. Which you can also just pay RM25 to get your sim card switched here or you can take the risk of cutting it. As I am using 2 Maxis plan and I have to say that I am paying varying between 50-150 top per month and its rarely I hit 150. So better to save up that cash and use it somewhere else.

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Kind regards,
Adhi

Zynga, North or South?

Zynga, has been getting the PR spotlight in tech, gaming, Internet or social media industry for the last couple of weeks. Biggest headline or pressure to launch USD $1 billion IPO offering, largest since 2004 of Google.

First, Zynga has discovered a niche market of 'freemium' business model, it can strike a balance between getting cash from its players (although the margin is low) or it can get it from its advertisers that are interested in a certain set of demographics. There are potential in this market, it hasn't been fully discovered yet and has a lot of growth opportunities. The way I've seen multiple research of eMarketer, a lot of companies will be sure to find alternatives way to invest more into the cyberspace as it has proven return whether it is short or long as the online space has matured a long way since the golden days of its launching.

Second, as a social game company, it can compete with bigger companies such as Electronic Arts and alike. Which is pretty outstanding.

Zynga is not only focusing on its current games as their major assets, it is planning to release new stream of gaming again (possibly pending due to IPO to lift up after its first trading this Friday). As well as an approach to the mobile gaming as this is the second largest stream of revenue with 1 billion mobile on the planet and the growing platform of smartphones. It is a market with a lot of potential even if Zynga decided to just tap into 3 providers, aka iPhone/Apple, Android and Windows Phone. Again they can approach this market with either selling the app itself as a game, the virtual goods or tap into the mobile advertising opportunities.

It's special relations with Facebook, as well as revenue shares will have Facebook ensure it is in their best interest to allow their partner to be successful in their domain. Its presence in several countries such as China and the youth easily addicted to online gaming is another edge. Finally Zynga has over 13 studios under its flag, including the bid for PopCap Games one of the largest successful online game company acquisition will probably catapult them.

Last, who is in the seat of the driver, is he determined? Is he a great leader? Mark Pincus was on the other side of Internet business investment, he was behind several big things from Friendster, Facebook, Yahoo and so on. So he knows the game on two side of the fence and he runs a very tight ship.

I think there is a lot to expect from Zynga if they continue to make great products and the way the social network grows. I guess we'll see their debut on 16 December 2011.

You can read the details of their IPO offering here.

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