Whose data is it anyway?

Breaking News : The Delhi High Court today asked InfoMedia 18( part of the TV18 group) to stop its site askme.in from functioning until next hearing. I just checked their site and it gave a 503 - Not available message.

JustDial claims Infomedia 18 copied its extensive database which is its key competitive advantage. Now, the big question is who owns the data that a website indexes and displays to the viewers for free? Does the method of copying even matter? The answer to this question could have huge implications for well-known sites in India which rely on such freely available data. I , for one, do not believe that all local search and classifieds websites built up their database organically from scratch, talking to each business owner in the process.

Another way of asking the same question : If your website shows up in google search, does it mean google owns the exclusive right to displaying it ( and other search engines cannot?)

 

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Why Indian web companies build crappy products?

Actually, the title of the post is misleading. Indian companies are very good at building good web products, but only when someone else is defining and managing the product. There are very few who can define and then iteratively build excellent products. Therefore, hold no grudge against the investors who invest in replicated ideas and US-returned expats.

What are the reasons?

1) Most Indian web companies  "do not" consider their product as a key competitive advantage. In that sense, they are much more like media companies , always focused on more eyeballs leading to more advertisement moolah. Those that do have a non-ad revenue model, rely on their alliances or their sales teams.

2) Indian web companies focus much more on marketing than they ever do on the product. Most big web companies are just "online" extensions of their offline businesses. The culture of product innovation just isn't there because all of them get their job done at the same outsourcing shops. There is no overarching product vision just feature additions.

3) Indian software engineers have not been exposed to the latest and the best, even though Indians are no.2 or 3 in Techcrunch readership. This is mostly because the managers and the VP's have themselves never been software engineers. They hardly know their HTML5 from their XML.

4) Sadly, most software engineers are neither risk takers nor good coders nor do they enjoy their jobs. More importantly, very few have that attitude of curiosity which spurs innovation. Combined with 3) , it just becomes a chicken and egg problem.

What do you think?
 

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Please fill this survey - http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/KGBSN3N

Hello folks,

Mobikwik has designed a small survey for you to fill . Only 5 questions! This survey is designed to gauge the interest for a new service that we are planning. The survey is here.

Happy Surveying!

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Lessons from Vodafone 360 launch UK

A hard hitting article from Ewan talks about how Vodafone 360, Vodafone's latest service platform in UK , has flunked at the launch itself. This should serve as a wake up call to Indian mobile carriers on their approach to 3G.

This is consistent with the struggle mobile carriers all over the world are facing - are they just network providers ( or bit-pipes) or can they actually provide innovative services using the network as a platform? Unlike the internet which is an open network which can be used by anyone to develop apps,  the wireless networks of mobile carriers are walled gardens where no one can get in except with their permission. Until now, the carriers' approach has not resulted in any serious innovation.

More on Vodafone 360 here.

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EBS - The best payment gateway in India?

Disclosure : www.mobikwik.com uses E-billing Solutions.

There's been a lot of debate of late over which is the best payment gateway in India. A payment gateway is essentially a 3rd party which creates a merchant account for a business to accept payments on their behalf.

CCAvenue has long been a leader in this space. Back in 2008 when we contacted them, they just refused to even talk to me. I filled in their online form but no response.

We also contacted TimesofMoney ( used by Google Adwords in India) supported by the Times of India Group. Response was prompt, but they refused to accept credit cards on our behalf as we were a startup.

We also contacted abcpayments ( which has since shut shop , I guess) and paysignet but the rates were unsatisfactory and low quality was apparent.

Finally we contacted E-billing solutions and started talking. As a startup, established companies usually take you for granted . However, this was not the case with E-billing solutions from day one. I think I spoke to 2 or 3 of their employees independently and all of them came across as professional and flexible. Remember that mobikwik had not started generating any revenues by then. We finally struck a deal and got the Integration API from them.

1) People and Attitude

Very professional as explained above. Don't treat fledgling startups as sh*t.

2) Quality of API

We were impressed with the quality of API. Not many merchants give this a second thought but a tightly knit API can save you from many surprises later on. Developers know what I am talking about.

3) Risk Management

Ours is a real time product, which means once product is sold there's no way to get it back. There's no shipping delay which means fraud checking need to be immediate. While not 100% accurate, EBS risk management system has been of great help to us by flagging transactions based on various parameters : country/ip mismatch, velocity checks and so on. This is real time flagging which implies a fraudster will not get the product immediately.

4) Commission -

Not the best but decent if you explain your business model + ambition correctly.

5) Banks and Cards support -

Not the best in coverage but getting there. Except for a few obscure banks/cards and SBI maestro, they support every bank and credit card.

6) Support system -

EBS has a very good customer support system setup. It responds within an hour at worst, accepts their mistakes and corrects them. They are also willing to listen to you to improve their own system.

Ofcourse, we havent used other payment gateways, but as a startup, I would go with EBS just for points 1) and 6). Highly recommended.

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What customers want?

Today, we received this unique request through our customer care. Couldn't help sharing :) Though we are prompt in addressing customer issues, this is one request we could not satisfy.

"

TicketID: 588
Email: sinha****@rediffmail.com
Cell: 909***8181
Category: payment

Issue: aap muhje 1000 Rs ka recharge ka do maine aap ko kal paise deduga.

"

The phrase in italics translated : "Please give me mobile recharge of Rs 1000, I will give you money tomorrow".

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