Nearly 85% of cable television in Metros digitized, says Government

The government on Friday said that in four metro cities– Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata– digitization of cable television has reached 85 %. Mumbai has nearly achieved 100% digitization, while digitization in Delhi has reached 83 %, Kolkata has achieved 8 % and Chennai has achieved 61 %.

The information and broadcasting ministry was responding to a report which said that contrary to the Government’s claim, only 59 % digitization had been achieved in four metros.

There has been a sharp increase in the number of Set Top Boxes being installed in the homes of people.  In the last few days, the average number of STBs installed has jumped to almost 50,000 boxes per day, the government said in a statement.  As per the data provided by the DTH operators, the DTH sector has also been making a steady progress.  Daily installation of DTH connections in the above mentioned 4 metro cities has gone up to 8000 Boxes per day from an average of about 2000 Boxes a few weeks back. [government statement]

The ministry said that on examination, it found that the survey was incorrect.

On examination in the Ministry it has been found that these organizations relied on certain industry reports only, for collation of data.   Even the data source has not been quoted and elaborated upon.  On perusal, it has been found that the surveys and analysis have not provided details of the sample size, sampling methodology, details of field visits and areas covered in the four metros, number of respondents, details of questionnaire, period of survey etc.

The total number of TV households in the 4 metros is around 83 lakhs as per the Census 2011. Earlier, the government had passed a bill in the Lok Sabha last year to digitize the entire cable television sector by December 31, 2014. The “Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Amendment Bill 2011″ mandated complete digitization of television and standardization of equipment. complete switch over from Analog to Digital is expected to cost approximately Rs 30,000 crores.

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» Nearly 85% of cable television in Metros digitized, says Government @Pluggd.in.

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Online grocery store, Shopveg Shuts shop due to lack of funds [+ Expectation mismatch with the accelerators?]

ShopVeg.in, one of the first online fruits-vegetables and groceries stores in Mumbai, (read our previous coverage), shut shop earlier this month for lack of funds.

To give you a quick recap of their journey so far, the startup was part of VentureNursery accelerator program and as per the founders of ShopVeg, the accelerator had committed to provide seed money but weeks after the pitch, the investor associated with the accelerator backed out citing reasons that the total amount requested fell short while gathering from the investors. Three weeks after the pitch day, they were also told that they should rather approach private equity players without raising a seed round (another startup, Oravel who was also part of the same program recently raised funding from VentureNursery angel investors.]

A case of expectation mismatch?

We asked VentureNursery for more inputs, but we believe that this could be a case of expectation mismatch. The startup probably was expecting a sureshot funding, which accelerators do not commit to (we have reached out to VentureNursery for official statement on this issue, which they will share later).

VentureNursery’s Apoorva Sharma clearly mentions that they are just an accelerator and provide mentorship. All companies under the program are given a chance to meet angels and put their business plan forward, and are never committed an investment.

ShopVeg: Current status

The ShopVeg website is still operational. However, after you create an order and proceed to checkout, it tells you that you have not chosen a delivery slot though there is no option to chose one. A notice displayed on the same page says that the company has paused operations for some time.

This is perhaps an attempt to retain at least a few of their existing customers hoping they will be back in the game soon. The ShopVeg team was working on a complementary product that would have changed the way people shop online, but looks like those plans too have to be stalled with this.

Anannya met with a different experience though. She was able to place an order and checkout, but received an email saying her order has been cancelled, with no reference to pausing operations:

The food and grocery market in India is estimated to be around $343 billion in size out of which a large segment is unorganised (read: Report: The Online Grocery market in India). One major challenge in running such an operation is the ability to maintain quality of goods and the cost of logistics. One obviously needs very deep pockets. To expand in each city, some online grocery retailers have had to spend around $5 million.

Startups: Beyond Product market fit

Beyond product market fit, there are several other reasons startups fail, lack of funds being one of them. Being low on capital is one thing, but being promised by an investor and the startup having spent time, effort, and money, and then the investor backing out certainly discourages startups.

Startups, on the other hand, should not bank on accelerators for funding. Accelerators can, well, accelerate the process of getting funded but cannot promise one. I can recall a very famous dialog from The Matrix that suits it:

“I can only show you the door. You’re the one that has to walk through it.”

Moreover, fund raising is like a sales process – shit happens and you don’t call it done unless money reaches the bank. But then, totally depending on one prospect is a huge risk as well.

What are your thoughts on this whole issue? Do Accelerators need to play down the funding part?

[With inputs from Anannya Debnath.]

Also see: THE list of Accelerators and Incubators in India.

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» Online grocery store, Shopveg Shuts shop due to lack of funds [+ Expectation mismatch with the accelerators?] @Pluggd.in.

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Newsreel [Oct 27] Google’s app engine is now back up & Nexus 10 leaks

- Citigroup Pays Fine and Fires Star Technology Analyst: Mark S. Mahaney has been a stock-picking star among a wave of new technology companies, a number-cruncher with Silicon Valley flair. But his career took a bizarre turn on Friday, as he was swept into a regulatory investigation of Wall Street that stems from Facebook’s messy stock debut. Citigroup fired Mr. Mahaney early Friday morning, after regulators discovered that he answered a reporter’s e-mail without the bank’s blessing. When confronted by the bank about the brief exchange, which was unrelated to Facebook, he covered up his mistake. Read the full story here.- Google’s app engine which faced an outage is now back up, the company has said in a statement. A Google spokesperson said an “event” occurred this morning,  which caused the load balancing issue.  They are still looking into the root cause. They plan to post an incidence report, reports TechCrunch. Earlier in the day, at about 7.30 am Pacific Time, Google began facing trouble. Dropbox and Tumblr also reported outages, said the report. Read more here.

- Nexus 10 Tablet Seen Running Android 4.2id 4.2: More details have surfaced regarding Google’s Nexus 10 tablet.The bigger brother to the Nexus 7, released earlier this year, the Nexus 10 Is expected to be announced on Monday at a Google event in New York City. According to Brief Mobile, which published shots of the tablet Friday, the Nexus 10 will has a Samsung-built Exynos 5250 processor (the same processor being used in Google’s new Chromebook), 2GB of RAM, and 16GB of built-in storage. Read more here. Apparent pictures and specs of Samsung Nexus 10 tablet leak: read here.

How to Get Windows 8 Now: Microsoft officially launched its Windows 8 operating system Friday, but you will only find the software on brand new computer systems. The good news, however, is that you can now upgrade existing systems to Windows 8 Pro via digital download or through various retailers. Read more here.

- Apple’s results have shrunken the iPad mini’s relevance to size. Hawking nearly 27 million iPhones last quarter dwarfs all the hoopla earlier this week surrounding the launch of the tinier tablet, which may sell about the same amount in a year. Moreover, iPad profit margins don’t compare – and the mini’s will be smaller still. The phone still energizes the Apple ecosystem, writes Robert Cyran for BreakingViews.com. Read more.

- In the last few years, dozens of incubator programs catering to tech startups have popped up. Their typical business model is to take equity in the young companies they nurture in the hopes of breeding some superstars that yield big returns. Mark Milian writes about What Entrepreneurs Should Look for in Tech Startup Incubators for Bloomberg. Read more.

- Brazil’s Google News Boycott Reportedly Only Drops Traffic 5%. “The fact is, Google News is absolutely irrelevant in Brazil,” said Carlos Müller, communications advisor for National Association of Newspapers in Brazil (AJN), after a widespread boycott of Google’s popular news aggregator. Read here.

Product announcements are all about showmanship: Product announcements tend to follow a familiar pattern. The presenting company, whether it’s Apple, Google, or Microsoft, opens with a quick, by-the-numbers overlook of how it’s doing, follows with a few product announcements, and then leaves so the tech press can get their hands on the shiny new product waiting in the other room. These presentations are the artistic equivalent of a paint-by-numbers. That’s starting to change, however. Nathaniel Mott writes.

Stocktwits has opened its API for financial data dominance: There are two social networks for finance professionals. One is inside a Bloomberg terminal and costs $2,000 a month to belong to. The other is a startup that began on Twitter, ripped itself from the platform, grew to 6 million monthly active users and is free. That one, of course, is Stocktwits, a financial social network and data service that’s leading a “data to the people” revolution for investors. Read more here. 

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» Newsreel [Oct 27] Google’s app engine is now back up & Nexus 10 leaks @Pluggd.in.

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Ship Dates Announced for Xiaomi Mi2: First Units to Ship Oct 30

If you’re one of the Xiaomi fans who preordered Xiaomi’s new Mi2 Android handset, you may not have to keep waiting too much longer. According to the company’s website, the first 50,000 units will ship out on October 30. The next round, of about 250,000 units, should be hitting doorsteps around China sometime in mid-November.

If you didn’t preorder, you can reserve a handset of your own via Xiaomi’s website, but you’ll have to pay 224 RMB ($35) for the privilege and who knows when devices preordered now will actually ship. Still, even with a 224 RMB preorder charge, the phones are likely to be cheaper through Xiaomi’s site than the inflated prices on Taobao will be once these things start shipping out and scalpers get their hands on them.

At this point, it’s hard to believe that Xiaomi is having issues manufacturing the phone in large quantities, so this delayed shipping schedule — which is exactly what the company did last year with the Mi1 — is clearly a case of artificial scarcity designed to boost interest. I’m not a big fan of artificial scarcity — from a consumer perspective, it sucks — but no one could deny that it has been hugely successful for Xiaomi so far.

Based on the Mi1, which was an excellent handset aside from its subpar camera, I expect the Mi2 to be more than worth the 2000 RMB ($317) asking price, and I expect to see the handsets selling for a good deal more than that on Taobao starting October 21st. In fact, you can already preorder the phone on Taobao if you’re willing to drop an extra $100-$200 on it.

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Tsukuri.com Released – Make Your Own Visual Novel

Kuusoukagaku Inc. [J] (Fantasy Science Inc.) has released Tsukuri.com [J] (Make.com), an Android application that lets you make your own visual novel.

“Tsukuri.com” is an application where you can make an original visual novel which runs on Android, setting items, characters, and scenery with pictures taken on your smartphone.  The app itself is free, and it charges a fee according to the capacity and functions used.  SNS functions are also in the works for the next version up, and in addition to being able to make exchanges with user peers through the games you made, the edit function will also be enhanced.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_novel

(C)Kuusoukagaku Corp.

Translation authorized by VSMedia

Tsukuri.com Released – Make Your Own Visual Novel

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Qihoo’s Zhou Hongyi Sues Detractor, Asks MIIT to Inspect 360 Browser

It has been two weeks since Qihoo 360 CEO Zhou Hongyi has been in the headlines, and apparently that’s too long. The bombastic Zhou has now announced that in response to Fang Zhouzi’s criticism, he has submitted Qihoo’s 360 Browser for Windows to China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) so that a third-party investigation can confirm that the browser is safe. He also says he has sued both Fang Zhouzi and Baidu (for some reason) in court for hurting his reputation.

MIIT has confirmed that it is indeed investigating the browser. Zhou also said that he felt the browser ought to be judged not by whether or not it’s sending information to servers but by what information it is sending, and whether or not users are aware of it, noting that there is a button users push to confirm they are aware data is being sent.

It will be interesting to see what MIIT says, but I would prefer Zhou had chosen a totally uninvolved third party. Presumably, there are people at MIIT who work with Qihoo and people there who work with Baidu (who Zhou seems to think is pulling the strings here despite a complete lack of evidence to support that idea), so a totally unconnected and uninvolved third party would have been better. We already know that the 360 Browser employs some evil tactics to keep users from switching, and a similar investigation of its safety claims by a similarly uninvolved third party might be just what the doctor ordered.

As for the lawsuit, given that Zhou accused Fang of being on Baidu’s payroll without any evidence to support that claim, I can’t imagine his lawsuit will be in the court system long before both Fang and Baidu file countersuits. It’s no secret I’m not Zhou’s biggest fan, and once again he has chosen to take the low road here. Even if he wins and neither party counter-sues, he’s not likely to be awarded more than a few thousand RMB; the lawsuits seem like nothing more than yet another publicity stunt. Ugh.

Zhou could learn something from the folks at Baidu, who haven’t said one word about this whole ugly mess since it began. Choosing not to dignify Zhou’s actions with a response is perfect; it makes Baidu look above it all while Zhou comes off as petty and paranoid. Moreover, I have to wonder how much shouting about how other people think 360 Browser is unsafe really helps Qihoo at all. Even if Fang’s claims are proved totally wrong, isn’t Zhou just helping to publicize them by continuing to go on about it?

[via Sina Tech]

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Groupon China’s New Owner Nets $40 Million in Funding for Daily Deals Expansion

You might recall that in June of this year, Groupon China was merged with larger daily deals rival FTuan into a company called GroupNet. And now GroupNet’s CEO, Lin Ning, has revealed that it has recently netted $40 million in funding. The investment is thought to have been led by Groupon (NASDAQ:GRPN) and Chinese web giant Tencent (HKG:0700), but that’s not confirmed by offiicial channels.

This year’s merger was masterminded by Tencent, which already had an undisclosed stake in Ftuan and was also the official local partner for Groupon in China. As a part of the merger deal, GroupNet also runs Tencent’s own QQ Tuan daily deals site. It’s believed that FTuan – which attracted three major funding rounds already before its amalgamation – still holds the majority of the stake in GroupNet.

The investment is interesting as Lin Ning said that it will be used to acquire some smaller deals sites – so we might finally be seeing some of the tens of thousands of group buy sites in China get a meaningful exit. As opposed to collapsing in financial ruin, which is the way that thousands of them are going each year.

Lin Ning also revealed that GroupNet gets many merger proposals each day, and that the troubled 24Quan – which recently suspended operations – is one target that it might actually go for. Any acquisitions will be a case of buying users, rather than talent, in this overcrowded market.

In figures for 2012 Q2, Taobao Juhuasuan (run by Alibaba, which is is Tencent’s e-commerce nemesis) is the top deals site in China with 21.5 percent market share, and Meituan is a steady second place.

[Source: Techweb - article in Chinese]

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Newsreel [Oct 26th]: Richard Branson willing to invest in high speed trains of Indian railways

Here goes the evening Newsreel, our daily news roundup.

- Virgin Group’s top brass Richard Branson has said that he would certainly like to invest in high speed passenger services of Indian Railways if there were opportunities. Currently, Branson is in India to launch Virgin Atlantic’s service on the Mumbai-London route. The Indian Railways is studying the feasibility of attracting private investment for high-speed trains for six routes -Pune-Mumbai-Ahmedabad,Delhi-Agra-Lucknow-Varanasi-Patna,Hyderabad-Dornakal-Vijayawada-Chennai,Chennai-Bangalore-Coimbatore-Ernakulam, Delhi-Chandigarh-Amritsar and Howrah-Haldia, read complete post here.

- Capital advisory firm Viedea has announced that it’s merging with Bangalore based investment bank Allegro Capital Advisors. Viedea is an advisory firm, which offers venture capital fundraising and merger and acquisition services to growth stage firms in the internet and digital media space. Started in 2002 as a boutique corporate finance house with mid-market focus, Currently, Allegro  has workforce of 300 professionals across 44 cities in India. Viedea’s team will be transitioning to Allegro from November including Deepak Srinath, Founder-Director of Viedea, who will  join the existing management team of Allegro as a Partner and lead the Technology and Emerging Sectors Practice, read complete post here.

- Seems to be a good news for users of Apple’s app store in India as Apple is now launching app billing in Indian National Rupees (INR) instead of US Dollars. Currently, it appears that Apple is launching this new pricing slowly, however Apple had not said anything officially so far, read complete post here. Earlier, we had reported that iPhone 5 will be launched in India on November 2nd.

- Digital Media Network firm Tyroo Media has become the third largest display ad-network with 28.849 million unique visitors in September. As per the latest Comscore numbers, Tyroo Media (including all Tyroo entities: Tyroo Direct, Tyroo Audience and DGM India) is the third largest display ad-network in India after Google and Tribal Fusion and the largest Indian display ad-network that reaches out to over 43.7% of the internet users in India. The average daily visitors and total page views for Tyroo stand at 3.2M and 820MM respectively, read complete post here.

- 16 States and Union Territories Sign tripartite agreements for laying digital highways under National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN). The signed tripartite includes memorandums of understanding for free Right of Way (RoW) with the Central Government and Bharat Broadband Network Limited. In total 1,40,727 GPs will get covered by Optical Fibre Network in these States and UTs.The Central Government, through Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF), will fund the project while the contribution of State Government would be by providing free Right of Way (RoW) for laying OFC. With the availability of NOFN at Gram Panchayats in these states, a minimum bandwidth of 100 Mbps will be available at each GP, read complete post here

- Sudhir Valia, promoter of Sun Pharmaceuticals has acquired 26% stake in Telenor Group’s new Indian entity -Telewings Communications Pvt. Ltd. (Telewings). According to statement from Telenor, Lakshdeep  Investments & Finance Pvt. Ltd, a company controlled by Valia, will contribute an agreed amount of equity into Telewings. Telenor Group will maintain operational control and upon necessary approvals for all assets of Unitech Wireless (Uninor), read complete post here.

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» Newsreel [Oct 26th]: Richard Branson willing to invest in high speed trains of Indian railways @Pluggd.in.

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