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Showing posts from February, 2016

Low-Cost Chinese Smartphone Brand Xiaomi Goes After The Wealthy

Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi is changing its Internet sales model to boost growth in China and fend off competition from fast-rising rivals such as Huawei. Chief Executive   Lei Jun   said last week that the company would open as many as 300 retail outlets throughout China, as it explores retail channels. Although Lei didn’t reveal more details, the figure itself surprised many industry watchers because Xiaomi used to rely entirely on the online flash sales of bargain Android smartphones. The strategy, which helped the six-year-old startup became a sensation in China, no longer works well as competitors followed with similar   business   models and consumers opt for high-end products. It shipped more than 70 million smartphones last year, missing its own target of 80-100 million. Its China market share grew 14% to 14.9%, while Huawei’s share grew 52% to 14.3%.   Apple   AAPL +0.13%   Inc. also had 14.3% of the market, according to consultancy Counterpoint Research. A

15 More Reasons To Hope We'll Learn A Bit About This World

Friday was another day of rampant bloodshed and injustice in many parts of the globe, and a great one for international journalism on offer to the U.S. The reason to be upbeat was the annual awarding of 15 working scholarships by the Overseas Press Club of America to early-career talents who are going abroad (in nearly every case, doing so again) to provide coverage of the world, for better or worse. Whether as reporters, photographers or both, they are committed to being the eyes and ears of an informed public. The determined optimism of this annual event, held in New York by the OPC Foundation (disclosure: I am treasurer of the Club), was as always a brave face on a craft that is under siege from many directions, including the increasingly precarious finances of serious media and the blatant know-nothingism of broad swaths of the U.S. population. Real courage, however, is represented in the willingness of accomplished millennials to risk a field with little promise of good

Chennai Pharma Entrepreneur Braved Odds To Sell Meds In Latin America

When C.C. Paarthipan, a first-gen pharma entrepreneur, listed his tiny Chennai company, Caplin Point Labs–with revenues of less than $1 million–it was oversubscribed 117 times. He raised about $900,000 in the 1994 IPO and deployed it in a formulations plant in Pondicherry. But in just a few years the company got mired in quality-control issues; consignments were rejected, and it became a penny stock. “I couldn’t pay my sons’ school fees–my company had become a non performing asset,” recalls Paarthipan, 62. “That’s when I took the risk of going to places where most people fear to go.” He packed his bags and left for Africa and then Latin America. He braved the weather, the food, guns, drug lords and competitors to set up a base. He networked with importers and pharmacies to forge deals in these semiregulated markets, which lack the stringency of the U.S. market. The early move to Latin America has differentiated Caplin because small Indian pharmas that choose to export typic

How to Use Social Media for Trend Research

In 1998, the founders of Google set out on a mission to do one thing: organize the world’s information. Google has come a long way since then, however, and so has digital media. Until recently, social media content was somewhat ephemeral: The more content that was created, the more possibilities got lost in the noise. But popular social networks are at last creating order from the chaos, and turning social media content into a powerful research resource for advertisers. Social media, after all, is rich with user-generated content from digital creatives, businesses and brands. The effect has been an overwhelming deluge of information about the world, but more specifically, the kinds of things people worldwide tend to be buzzing about on any particular day. This data can be particularly useful for marketers looking for timely consumer trends and new ways to engage with online audiences. At any given moment, social media users are talking about a multitude of topics; how

EduGrid Project unifying all state universities: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Sri N. Chandrababu Naidu

Each educational institution needs to be well-managed Convert Anganwadi centers into free schools   Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Sri N. Chandrababu Naidu held a review on primary and secondary education and skill development during the Collectors’ Conference. Taking forward Andhra Pradesh government's digital literacy programme, the higher education department said it would implement the EduGrid project of IT&C department unifying all state universities.The step would enable students to access data on their attendance, grading profile and assignments, among others, through the university website.The Chief Minister also directed the officials to get all 143 colleges in the state, private and government, NAAC accreditation. During the review, Education Department officials presented a grading system that was taken based on Microsoft Azure Machine Learning and Advanced Visualization.According to the grading, 12 government schools were given A grade.  The Chie

Economic Survey estimates 7 to 7.5% growth rate for 2016-17

After a 7.2 per cent economic growth in 2014-15, it said the expansion in economy will be 7.6 per cent in the current fiscal, the fastest in the world. The Indian government will meet its fiscal deficit target of 3.9 per cent of GDP. Ahead of the Union Budget, the Economic Survey on Friday termed external environment as challenging but projected a 7-7.5 per cent GDP growth rate in the next fiscal which could accelerate to eight per cent in a couple of years. The Economic Survey for 2015-16, which was tabled in Parliament today, also made a case for carrying forward the reform process to achieve macroeconomic stability. Inspite of challenges and lower than projected GDP growth rate during 2015-16, “the fiscal deficit target of 3.9 per cent of GDP seems achievable.” After a 7.2 per cent economic growth in 2014-15, it said the expansion in economy will be 7.6 per cent in the current fiscal, the fastest in the world. However, it cautioned that if the world economy r

GSMA ANNOUNCES WINNERS OF THE 2016 GLOMO AWARDS

February 25, 2016 Barcelona:   The GSMA today congratulates all winners of the 2016 Glomo Awards, which were announced during a series of ceremonies and live TV presentations throughout the week at the GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Awards hosts TV presenters Suzi Perry and Ortis Deley revealed the winners on Mobile World Live TV and at the official awards ceremony, which took place on Tuesday, 23 February.  “Our congratulations to all of the winners and nominees of the GSMA’s Glomo Awards this week of Mobile World Congress," said Michael O’Hara, Chief Marketing Officer, GSMA. "In what was a remarkably wide field of more than 930 entrants, narrowed to 170 nominees, it is truly an outstanding achievement to have been selected by our esteemed judging panels. We thank all of our entrants, judges, sponsors and partners for supporting the 21st Glomo Awards.” Also announced in separate ceremonies at Mobile World Congress were winners of the “Government