Power of Microsoft-Nokia-Blackberry trio?

Ever since Nokia ( the company my friend Saurabh loves till death and has delayed buying a new cell in spite of damaging his half-a-decade old N72 in the hope of a new perfect phone being launched by Nokia very very soon)  chief Stephen Elops announced that Windows will be the primary OS for all of Nokia smartphones, tongues have been wagging whether eventually Nokia will be taken over by Microsoft.  Reports of another troubled handset maker Research In Motion, makers of BlackBerry cell phones, being sold and the top contender to buy the company being Microsoft amongst others gives rise to a very interesting situation in case both the companies are actually bought by Microsoft.

Before going into the details of what the possible implications could be here is a quick look at why the Microsoft can easily lap these two companies.  Microsoft has around $50bn in cash reserves while the market capitalization ( for laymen, it is the total value of the company based on the value of the stock and can be calculated by multiplying the number of shares of the company and the value each stock on the stock exchanges) of Nokia and Blackberry have fallen drastically compared to 2007-08.  The market capitalization of Nokia and Blackberry maker RIM are approx $7bn and $4bn respectively.  So even if Microsoft buys both the companies it won't be much of a dent in the cash reserves.  More so debt can be easily raised and hence it is not at all difficult for Microsoft to carry out the transaction.

But why would Microsoft buy these companies and would it make business sense?  I personally feel the answer to this question would be 'YES'.  And this is why I think it can prove a formidable competition to the Androids and the iOSs of the world.  Microsoft has had a very rocky journey in the mobile space with failed attempts of Windows 5.0,6.0 and 6.1.  More so Stephen Elop is an old Microsoft guy and his intentions are inclined towards Nokia playing a major role in Microsoft's success if any.  The way Meego OS was unceremoniously stopped after N9 and also not forging a partnership with Google give us hints to think in this direction.  Meego will now continue as 'Jolla' by people who worked on Meego and have the patents as well.

As far as Nokia is concerned it is still the favorite brand among Indians (India is the second fastest growing market in the world) and as mentioned in the first line people still love it.  So Microsoft gets a  foothold in such a huge market.  Also the hardware of Nokia is undoubtedly the best.  A 3.2MP camera on a Nokia phone would do the job of a 5MP camera on a say HTC or LG.  Also it has a great battery life though it is because of the outdated Symbian OS.  So together with a few twists in the OS and riding on the Nokia brand Microsoft can succeed.  Besides Microsoft also gets the stake of Nokia in the Nokia-Siemens joint venture which lays the network for communications as well as huge number of patents in the telecom domain which are very valuable.  But there is still one space where Nokia has never been very successful except the E Series and that is the traditional domain of Blackberry, the enterprise class. And by buying Nokia, Microsoft also saves $1bn per year it pays to Nokia as fees for being the primary OS.

Until about two years ago it was a sin if a corporate person did not have a Blackberry.  Superlative security along with amazing sound quality and almost zero time email delivery made it a hit with the ' Business Class' . But with the iPhone and Android email was not an exclusive feature and slowly people started turning away from Blackberry.  But even today it has the most secure network and it is almost impossible to trace emails via the servers of the company.  Also the latest OS 10 looks very impressive.  And not to forget the battery life is better than iOS and Android barring the BOLD4.  So by buying RIM Microsoft gets the most secure network.

Microsoft itself has a huge variety of products to offer.  First it has the popular XBOX 360 which can be integrated with the cell phones and has been done with the latest Nokia offerings.  The popular Office Suite is another huge product Microsoft can add.  Besides Microsoft has a been a great marketer of products reflected in the fact that 90% of the PCs worldwide work on Windows in spite of proof that there is some flaw in the system.  Also Microsoft gets a stronghold in all categories of cell phones be it music or business.

But the biggest question remains as to whether it can integrate all the systems to form a perfect system taking the best from all systems it inherits as it has been a herculean task for Blackberry to migrate to BB OS 10 which it acquired from QNX.  Personally I'm not a fan of Microsoft and hence I wish that Nokia teams up with Android which would give the best combination ever and Blackberry comes up with the BB10 soon.  I would not like to see my favorite brand die.  Blackberry has impressed me with the call quality and the email service and plan to upgrade to a BB as soon as front facing camera becomes a norm and OS 10 arrives.

Destiny- accept it happily or suffer!!!

The weekly hangout at the soda shop with dear friend Abhijeet many a times brings about serious discussions,sometimes saddening when given a thought later.  During one of the recent hangouts he suggested this very topic and after giving much thought to this topic,which is usually taken lightly but actually is not, I decided to share my views.  And no better time than sitting at home because of a company's bad financial condition to write on this topic!!

Destiny and Luck are often confused but in reality there is nothing such as Luck.  Everything is destined before hand.  But the mentality of  humans is if something good happens we call it "good luck" and if something bad happens we call it "bad luck" and try to pacify ourselves by saying that its destiny that we have to suffer.  If we read into Lord Krishna's teachings, popularly known as the Bhagwad Gita ( I haven't read it but being a fan of the original B.R.Chopra's Mahabharat and watching it quite a few times I've learnt some things about destiny) it can be deciphered that we clearly are the writers of our destiny as our life is a result of our 'karma' and it is guided by the good and evil things we have done.  So its no use pointing fingers at our destiny for the ill fate , if any, as we ourselves are the authors of our destiny.

We are destined to achieve everything that we achieve in life but yet we must not stop working towards our goal thinking that if we are destined to be successful we shall be.  And this is when it becomes necessary to sometimes not think about destiny or not at all believe in it.  Because the day we submit ourselves to our destiny without toiling we are bound to be doomed sooner than later.  Destiny is a fact of life but not the guiding point of our life which is why some people who believe in perseverance over destiny fare well because they themselves write their destiny by working consistently towards their goal and making sure that they achieve it. ( The last part is what my sister Prakruti believes in)

Destiny is when even after studying hard for years and passing with first class students passing from professional courses do not have a job and the jobs offered have meager salaries.  Destiny is when people become friends but then become enemies and so is the separation of friends after years of friendship.  I particularly believe in the last statement because I have had both.  While I would not like to discuss the first part of the sentence the second part of the sentence relates to most of my friends going to America for higher studies. ( A detailed blog on the pain of friends going away on August 10) .  But it is a part of life destined to be that way and somewhere down the line I feel happy for them because I know for sure they will make it big in life in some years.

Destiny is when you buy a stock worth Rs.100 anticipating it to reach 120 and you making a profit of 20 rupees on the share but the stock moves in another direction and reaches 60 thus making a loss of 40 rupees.

Now for the destiny in a person's love life.  Our Bollywood films or even Hollywood ones have always presented romantic films in such a way that we know for sure that the lead characters are destined to meet come what may.  But a look at Shakespearean works and we know that it is not all that rosy.  Two people loving each other might never become one and on the other hand a person may not be able to express his love or maybe he or she expresses it when it is too late.  All this is destiny and it has to be accepted that way.  Trying to change it can be dangerous for all involved and hence it is said that some things are best left untouched.

I am a staunch believer in Destiny but at the same time I do not leave everything to chance.  I believe that success is 99% hard work and 1% luck.  But in spite of working hard and scoring good marks I missed the call from premier institutes in MBA earlier this year by a very small margin.  That made me believe in destiny even more.  Or for that matter getting a hairline fracture on my right leg on my last step of crossing.  I was never adventurous in life when it came to such things and hence this saddened me.  But a detailed explanation by my doctor on how lucky I was to escape with just a hairline instead of life long disability made me realize that whatever happened had happened for good and it taught me to be even more careful in my future endeavors.

It is destiny that in spite of starting to write the blog 3 days back I was unable to complete it till today.  The reason being two paragraphs into the blog and I started chatting with another dear friend Akshay who is in the States for his MS and rarely meets online.  Or be it the case of Nirjar, another dear pal, who did not get a visa for a good six months even though he had done nothing wrong.  It had little impact on his career but it was destiny.( I consider it good because I wouldn't have been able to deal with 2 friends leaving India within a gap of 4 days).  It is destiny that the most calculative person of our group( in a game of cards he will make a thorough study of the various combinations before playing a hand) Suneet who has just resigned from his job in Chennai and will be uniting by July end.  Add to it that my joining at Infosys has delayed and I get time to enjoy (Again it is destiny that my friends in Accenture have their joining this month).  This is sheer destiny.  Becoming very good friends in just 3 years, another dear friend will be departing forever in less than a month and going to the native country in South America and I will never meet that friend which is saddening but all this is destiny whether I personally like it or not.

So Destiny may be good or not so good( I never call it bad).  But in the end whatever happens is for our own good  whether we like it or not.  My life till date has not been very good or successful and has had more downs than ups and so I may have shown the sad part of the destiny.  But somewhere it has to be good.  So the whole thing can be summarized in this beautiful saying, " whatever happened, happens and will happen is for good".

Until another blog have a great time.