PhotoJagat January 28, 2007
Posted by Pallav Sharda in : Photos & DIY content , add a commentI remember stumbling onto PhotoJagat in mid-2004. The site had a different look back then (although I dont remember what exactly was different). The upload-online-we’ll-deliver-in-india concept was new back then.
Now the second-level domain name (PhotoJagat) forwards to InternetImagingNetwork domain. I decided to check InternetImagingNetwork out, and it forwarded to PhotoChannel Networks Inc.- a canadian company that focuses on online digital photo solutions. Did PhotoJagat get bought or were they a part of PhotoChannel to begin with? I dont know. But it explains PhotoJagat’s seeming ‘extension’ beyond just Indian territory. They claim that they can deliver photos to any major international cities in 3-7 business days. If only I could get stats on their customer base..
Karishma Software January 27, 2007
Posted by Pallav Sharda in : Healthcare, Technology , add a commentA good friend recently joined Karishma Software, so I thought I’ll look it up.
The site looks like that of a mature software development company. Their flagship product is a sort of Hospital Management System. Also in the portfolio: an Imaging system, Decision Support System and a Telemedicine system (plus others).
The other market they focus on is that of Information Systems for Educational Instiutions. Their customer list is not much, but still somewhat impressive for an evolving product in the emerging Indian Healthcare IT market.
I hate being nitpicky- but can’t they find pictures with Indians in them? All the graphics/pictures on the site have foreigners. Though subtle, it makes them look bit less authentic (at least to me).
IndiaFm January 27, 2007
Posted by anaghadutt in : Entertainment , 2commentsIndiaFm is a leading entertainment portal specializing in the Indian film industry (Bollywood). It was acquired in 2000 by Hungama- another player in the online entertainment arena.
IndiaFm is like reading a Bollywood newspaper! It has quite a few sections. Apart from news, reviews, and previews of movies, it also lets you see the promos of new movies (under the section Broadband, for some reason). There are forums to discuss… what else? Bollywood. Buy ring tones and wallpapers for mobiles in the mobile section. And just in case you are interested in seeing how was the trade for a new movie, there is a section on that too. Overall a complete Bollywood reporter, not much else.
Jobs4Freshers January 24, 2007
Posted by Pallav Sharda in : Jobs , 3commentsHere is an example of startups trying to grab niche markets when the general one is dominated by big players. Matrimonial and Career sites are probably two most overcrowded areas in the Indian internet business arena, but Jobs4Freshers still takes a swing at the ‘freshers’ (just-out-of-college) job market.
Needless to say, the jobs posted are nothing spectacular.. sales rep, call center person, etc. That is reflective of how Indian fresh-graduates are valued, and not a fault of the people behind Jobs4Freshers. But I’m not at all impressed by the user-interface. The usual fare of blinking, scrolling, mis-aligned widgets is served here too. Overall, the navigation is clunky and non-intuitive.
Anyway, it’s the content that matters, right? They had about 900 jobs listed when I checked. That is not bad for a startup that came online in september 2005. Not sure how the overall ‘user experience’ is for the site though- couldn’t dig up anything on what happens when someone responds to a posting, how the site facilitates it, etc. No idea if they have any other revenue model (pay-per-posting, etc) than advertisements (they have no ads yet, so maybe even that’s not a model).
All in all, an amateur effort. But there is some potential in the business idea. The guy behind it decided to have another site: YoungProfessionals.co.in and make it the ‘parent’ company of Jobs4Freshers. No new info there, just some canned ‘our-mission-our-values’ type stuff. Though the ‘contact us’ section gives away an address & someone’s cellphone number in a fearless way. But that’s not surprising for Indian websites. No privacy concerns for Indians 
NASSCOM January 22, 2007
Posted by Pallav Sharda in : Organizations, Technology , add a commentVerbatim from their website: “NASSCOM is India’s National Association of Software and Service Companies, the premier trade body and the chamber of commerce of the IT software and services industry in India. NASSCOM is a global trade body with over 1050 members, of which over 150 are global companies from the US, UK, EU, Japan and China. NASSCOM’s member companies are in the business of software development, software services, software products and IT-enabled/BPO services.”
Nasscom’s mission is to accelerate IT industry growth in India. As of 2006, more than 1050 companies were members of Nasscom.
India Venture Capital Association January 22, 2007
Posted by Pallav Sharda in : Organizations , add a commentIndia Venture Capital Association is an association of VC funds in India. It’s based in New Delhi, and claims over 40 members (including affiliates). Seems like they are well represented in governmental partnerships (SEBI, Nasscom, FICCI etc) and hold regular meetings and training courses.
They also have a US chapter in silicon valley, aimed at creating better relationships with US-based VC funds. I’ve recently subscribed to their email newsletter for keeping up with investments in India… will update this posts when I form an opinion.
PrescriptionPad.in January 22, 2007
Posted by Pallav Sharda in : Healthcare, Technology , add a commentPrescriptionPad is an indigenous product aimed at facilitating prescription writing. It’s core content appears to be Indian pharmacopoeia list and drug interaction information, but it has some peripheral, outpatient EMR type functionality too - report generation, and patient index, appointment scheduling, educational handouts etc.
My opinion about the software is superficial, since I haven’t used it. They have a word document and slideshowthat show some screenshots of the product functionality. It’s interesting to see an outpatient EMR built from a prescription-writing angle. As expected, they have announcement on homepage about a “Full fledged Hospital Management System” under construction.
The real issue in any pharmacy-related system is it’s knowledge-maintenance, of course (at least in the US). Maybe it is much less of a concern in Indian market. It’s interesting to see their pricing model: basic system config costs 4000Rs. (~100$). I am curious as to what the SSA (Software Support Agreement) or similar costs are.
Shaadi January 20, 2007
Posted by Pallav Sharda in : Technology , add a commentShaadi is probably one of the cleaner looking matrimonial websites. It’s run by People Interactive (India) Pvt Ltd, another rising internet company with sites like Fropper (social networking site), Mauj (wireless related), Astrolife (astrology portal) in it’s portfolio.
I’m not sure how much they hold up, but the Shaadi.com makes some pretty big claims. One is to be the ‘most visited matrimonial website in India’ (stats from Ranking.com). They also have ‘World’s Largest Matrimonial Service’ as their punchline- don’t know what they have to back that up. One thing I know for sure is their claim about Alexa ranking of ‘#8 most visited site in India’ means nothing. Alexa is useless, since it only accounts for the surfing pattern of people who download it’s browser toolbar.
Damn.What did I get myself into… There are tons of these matrimonial sites out there, as I dig into this. I’ll probably post about couple more. But People Interactive is definately an interesting find- a company to keep an eye on, just like Naukri.com’s Info Edge.
Update: People Interactive also owns Makaan which we have reviewed here.
NRILinks January 19, 2007
Posted by Pallav Sharda in : Uncategorized , add a commentThis can be a potential sub-category in itself: Ad-infested, overcrowded, tiny text, everything-from-bollywood-to-matrimony type websites that focus on the niche rich-cum-apparently-tasteless non-resident Indians.
NRILinks is a good example. You stare at the homepage and wonder “where should I start reading?” There are so many things stuffed on that page. Anyway, they offer the standard fare- news, reviews, classifieds, ecards, shopping et al. Even a mysterious link ‘USA‘ that takes you to a general information page about America (even the national anthem). Now you know what their target user population is.
Zapak January 18, 2007
Posted by anaghadutt in : Technology , 1 comment so farI was reading about Reliance, when I came across Zapak Digital Entertainment Limited, a Reliance ADA (Anil Dhirubhai Ambani) Group venture. Zapak is a gaming portal offering a number of games in different categories: action, racing, puzzles, etc.. around 160 games in all.
Needless to say, the site design is professional (so they have used their deep pockets wisely). The offerings include multiplayer games, forums, chat client, email service and even a place to upload/view your own videos (Take that, Youtube!). And yes, for all those bollywood fans (which would include all Indians, I guess) there are some games with celebrities characters in it. Just saw one game advertised that had Salman Khan as lead character. With Reliance as the parent company, Zapak definitely has a bright future.
I don’t have time to go register and play bunch on online games for reviewing Zapak. So I trust that if you are reading this and have experience with Zapak, you’ll be kind enough to post a comment.