Why is Google Android beating Symbian?

In the battle of the open-source mobile platforms, developers have at least two choices:

Google Android, which is open source but (relatively) closed development,

or Symbian, which is open source...once it gets around to releasing the full source code.

Guess which one is winning?

Experts expect Android to become the second-most popular mobile platform within the next few years as it continues to gobble up Symbian's declining market share.

But why?

Symbian has been dismissive of Google Android, as well as smaller upstarts like the LiMo Foundation, arguing that the latter is overly focused on middleware for wireless operators and the former is fake open source with more hype than substance.

All of which might be true, but the reality is that it seems to be working for Android. Google has been signing new handset manufacturers at a frenetic pace, while Symbian has been holding steady with Nokia...and that's about it.

Despite Symbian announcing new handsets, Google is actually shipping Android. There's a big difference between marketing and reality. Google Android offers the latter.

For all the buzz that Android gets from developers, its success owes more to handset manufacturers than to open-source developers. Handset manufacturers and wireless carriers are hungry for alternatives to surging Apple and declining Microsoft. And while others may not be seeing source code in copious amounts, handset manufacturers are apparently getting their fill.

More than this, though, Google gives them a safe, consumer-friendly brand. Symbian does not.

This is the reason Google Android is winning. It's not about developers--at least, not yet. Neither Symbian nor Android really offers developers open communities and open code.

No, the difference today is brand. Google has it. Symbian does not, and that's despite decade-long dominance of the mobile market. I mean, before Windows started advertising its presence in mobile software sector & Android caught your eye in the newspaper, how aware were we of the Brand Symbian which resided in our very pockets!

Symbian still has a ways to go. It has a weak user interface (UI) that is supposed to get better, but that describes much that is wrong with Symbian today. Everything (source code, revamped UI, and resumption of market dominance) is always spoken of in the future tense.

Meanwhile, Google Android rolls on--not because it out open-sources Symbian, but rather because it out-executes it.

COLLABORATIVE COMMERCE

Creating a collaborative network of trade partners is key to strong business growth, according to a new study by Deloitte Consulting.

Companies are undergoing a shift in the way they compete, increasingly tying their competitive advantage to a "dynamic ecosystem" of trade partners, says the report put out by New York-based Deloitte. A survey of 300 business leaders shows that sharing decision making, workflow and data boost business more than 70%.

"Collaborative commerce has enabled companies to dramatically improve the way they manage their cross-enterprise, value chain processes," says John Ferreira, a partner at Deloitte Consulting. "The successful integration of business processes and information systems of different companies provided companies with a substantial competitive advantage -- these companies are seeing better profits, better revenue growth, greater market share and better return to investors."

Collaborative commerce is gaining increasing acceptance & an important example of it is stated below:

In the US about 50 FMCG companies that include Procter & Gamble, Levers, Nestle, Coke, Pepsi: - biggest names in the FMCG industry have got together and have invested in an exchange.This exchange is a separate company by itself.Several of these companies have a stake in this exchange.The company is called TRANSORA which is a neutral market place not only for the manufactures but it extends across the entire supply chain to suppliers, to dealers and customers.TRANSORA is looking at end-to-end Supply Chain market place.PROCTER & GAMBLE has an active participation in TRANSORA.TRANSORA has active operations in North America and Western Europe and has started signing up companies in Asia

Collaborative Commerce enables retailers, suppliers, and distributors to share information with one another in a standard business language, benefiting all members of the supply chain. This initiative includes the processes, technologies, and supporting standards that allow continuous and automated communication of electronic information between trading partners.

In today’s global commerce environment, the need for accurate, standards-based information is critical for conducting business efficiently. By standardizing the way information is communicated, and by having all trading partners accessing the same information, the opportunity for errors decreases dramatically, costs are reduced, and supply chains operate more efficiently.

Collaborative Commerce is based on the GS1 System — a suite of integrated supply chain standards. The GS1 System is accepted worldwide, accommodating the needs of all trading partners within the global trade community. The standards allow for products, services, and raw materials to be sourced and sold anywhere in the world.

COHESIVE MARKETING

My today's post introduces you to the concept of cohesive marketing whereby a group of companies or brands get together to promote their product under one common umbrella. The term may also be used when a company ventures to promote its different departments or different products/brands under its wings as one integral representation of the company's policy, credibility & character. The example I am going to enumerate today falls in the previous category where we talk about Indian Pharma Companies resorting to cohesive marketing, an article I found in Brandchannel.

The All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD) is boosting the nation's vast pharmaceutical industry by moving toward cohesive branding.

By next February, the AIOCD plans to bring 20,000 retail pharmacies across India under one common brand. With the sector growing over 15% per year, the group says its target is 300,000 or more, to be brought under the common brand within several years.

While "branding" often brrings to mind massive global brands like Ford and Coca-Cola, the benefits of imposing a brand can be equally dramatic on local or regional enterprises. Under one brand, India's pharmacies will gain name recognition and a sense of service assurance, just as often-local pharmacy brands in the US like Walgreens and New York's Duane Reade stand as recognizable guarantees of service and product.

Undoubtedly, AIOCD's locations will offer scaled-up competition for India's existing retail pharmacy brands like as Apollo Pharmacy, which operates over 1,000 outlets across the country. While these brands may feel swamped by the sheer size of the new AIOCD alliance, they have a head start in profiting from brand-building. Apollo and Guardian Lifecare have taken the lead in developing private labels, with Bangalore-based Trust Pharmacy, Hyderabad-based MedPlus Pharmacy and Religare Wellness not far behind.

FLASH MOB MARKETING

A flash mob (or flashmob) is a large group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual action for a brief time, then quickly disperse. The term flash mob is generally applied only to gatherings organized viatelecommunications, social media, or viral emails.The term is generally not applied to events organized by public relations firms or as publicity stunts.

This form of marketing has been successfully used in the past in the US mainly & has of recent taken an entry into India. A most recent example was one where Apparel Brand, Allen Solly employed 100 models dressed in their latest casual collection to move around our very own TGIP Mall (The Great India Palace, Noida) & they all froze together at different spots for 7 minutes. This really took the shoppers & all out their by surprise given that there was a quite a crowd gathered at the Mall give that it was a pleasant Friday evening on the 30th of October. The passers- by started prodding these people & stopped only when they saw the Allen Solly tags on their grab. The Brand definitely made quite an impression on a focused group of people & at a low cost too.

This is one amongst some of the recent attempts at cashing in on flash mob marketing, the other being Colors promoting Big Boss 3 or Channel V or 7Up engaging troop dancers to promote their new look. However, a Flashmob comes with its own liabilities. So long as its done in malls, it free from any legal policing, however, if it needs to be taken to streets, it must be done in a very calculated manner so as to not to disrupt any traffic or the normal rhythm. One wrong step can get you fined or slapped with a case under Sec. 37(1) in India.

Despite these hurdles, there is no doubt that the venture is novel and saves the much needed marketing expenditure during a recession (rather hopefully speaking in the post recession phase). A lot of companies are in fact allocating a handsome part of the promotion budget for BTL (below the line) promotion which previously stood at a meager ratio of 1:9 Vs ATL.But then, just like the guerrilla marketing tactics, it needs to be seen that this form of promotion is not over used, lest it looses its luster.