Nokia promises new Windows phone coming soon

Nokia (NOK1V.HE) Chief Executive Stephen Elop promised to unveil a new smartphone using Microsoft's (MSFT.O) latest Windows 8 software soon, boosting expectations it will be launched before rival Apple (AAPL.O) promotes its new iPhone.

The Finnish company, which is fighting for survival after losing out to rivals in the lucrative smartphone business, is due to hold a trade show in Helsinki on September 5-6, just before an Apple event on September 12 where the U.S. competitor could announce a redesigned iPhone.

Nokia has not commented on what it will announce at the Nokia World event, but many investors anticipate a new handset designed to challenge the popularity of the iPhone and Samsung's Galaxy smartphone.

Elop did not deny a September launch but would only say Windows 8 smartphones would be released "relatively near term."

Nokia shares, which have been trading near all-time lows, rose sharply after Elop's comments. Even after Standard & Poor's downgraded the shares to deeper junk status later in the day, rating them BB- with a negative outlook, they were still up 5.6 percent at 2.12 euros around 1207 GMT.

Elop, who was brought in from Microsoft in September, 2010, to lead Nokia's fightback against Apple and Samsung (005930.KS), said he was sticking to his strategy of using Microsoft software despite the limited success of Windows Phones so far.

Nokia decided in early 2011 to ditch its home-grown Symbian software for a deal with Microsoft.

"I don't think about rewinding the clock and thinking about competing elsewhere," he told reporters.

"In today's war ... (between) Android, Apple and Windows, we are very clear, we are fighting that with the Windows phone," said Elop, who was in Oslo for a meeting with Telenor (TEL.OL) chief executive Jon Fredrik Baksaas.

Nokia lost 1.53 billion euros in the second quarter and sold just 4 million Windows phones in the period, well short of Apple's sales of 26 million iPhones and Samsung's 50 million smartphones.

Nokia shrugged off S&P's announcement, saying it had sufficient liquidity and was saving money. S&P cut Nokia's rating in April to BB+ - junk status - meaning conservative investors like pension funds will consider it too risky to hold.

Facebook: We are working on building a team in India

It is Erik Johnson's Fifth visit to India in the last nine months and the head of sales for Asia-Pacific at Facebook describes it as among the fastest growing and the most exciting market for the social networking website. In an interview with Times Of India, Johnson highlights why India is a thriving market for Facebook and why, despite a tanking stock price since its IPO this year, the company has little reasons to be worried. Excerpts:

What fraction of Facebook's total user base are Indians and how fast is this number growing? 
India is a large country and so we have great expectations from this market. Currently there are 965 million Facebook users and India accounts for 55 million of them. We had our first 'log out' advertisement run here which we have done for a big FMCG company in India. We are working on building a team here, and connecting with brands, which do not have as much social presence. It is a very important market not just for us but any company that wants to be successful.

India is a fast-growing economy and people are more accustomed to change and are tech-savvy. A lot of change is going on everywhere in the world but in India it is happening a lot faster and with more intensity. It's also very innovative for digital marketing. We would love it if everybody could have computers but good thing is we have solution on feature and smartphones.

Online payments and use of paid applications in India is still not that common. With India accounting for a significant user base for Facebook, what alternative revenue sources do you plan to use in India and such other countries?

We have had a good growth in India on the user front. We see good traction in terms of engagement with advertisers as well. We are aware of the challenges. Payment infrastructure in India is probably not robust as it is in other markets. But we are focused on all dimensions from a business point of view.

Your financial results after the IPO were quite disappointing ... 
First and the most important thing is to see the commitment the company has for the long term. At Facebook we say the journey is 1% finished. Our growth still feels good. We are just at the beginning of the social web campaign and there is a lot of work we have to do for corporate users and brands. The earning announcement brings some good information. It shows that we clearly see shift towards mobile and that's something we are focused on.

By focusing on mobile platform for growth, isn't monetising these users a challenge? Will it lead to some sort of cannibalization of users on the web?
We got a pretty good story on the monetisation part. We got 'sponsored stories' and we got 'news feed' on mobile device. That's a great ad for us. We are pretty excited about the mobile advertising solution.

‘Samsung Galaxy Note II image leaked‘

A leaked image of the front panel of the Upcoming Samsung Galaxy Note II has surfaced online. The image, provided to GSMArena.com by an anonymous tipster, shows that the design theme of the upcoming phablet (phone+tablet) is quite similar to that of the Samsung Galaxy S III.

The look is characterized by curved edges and a standard single hardware button flanked by a hap-tic key on either side. The Galaxy Note II is expected to be launched within the next few weeks, most likely during the Samsung Unpacked event on August 29, 2012.

In its post, GSMarena itself said that the authenticity of the image could not be verified by the tipster either, which casts some shadows over its credibility. However, rumors say that the design of the second generation Galaxy Note will be heavily inspired by Galaxy S III, thus gaining some credence to the image.

The post said that the tipster also provided data about the specifications of the yet-to-be-launched Note II. In line with speculations, these include a 5.5-inch Super AMOLED touchscreen with regular RGB matrix. The tipster also informed GSMArena that the device was subjected for Full HD videos, but that put pressure on the battery of the device, and is likely to be shelved.

Another speculation reinforced by the post was the inclusion of a 1.5GHz Exynos 4 quad-core processor and 8MP rear camera. Samsung Galaxy Note is likely to be launched with Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich), since the Jelly Bean update for the same is still under development, the post stated.

Collected from: Techgig News.

Indian IT powers face big growth challenges

 Size matters when it comes to Indian IT services companies.
Sales and profits of both smaller tier two Indian IT players — those with less than $500 million in annual revenue — and tier one giants like Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Wipro — are both way up over the past 18 months. But, the valuations of tier two companies were off sharply compared to the big guys, according to new research from Martin Wolf M&A Advisors, a company that consults with tech companies about their merger and acquisition options.

For the period from January 1, 2011 till August 1, 2012, the valuation for the big Indian IT providers fell 15.6 percent compared to a 24.9 percent fall-off in valuations for the tier two companies, according to the MW IT Index India Edition which looks at 36 Indian IT service providers — which make money  implementing businesses — in both camps.For that same period, sales for tier one players were up 33.5 percent compared to 38.4 percent for the tier two players. Profit for the top-tier IT providers was up a healthy 43.4 percent compared to a healthier 78 percent for their tier two counterparts.

For Indian IT players, safety in size

Those sales and profit numbers, recounted in a Times of India story last week, are deceiving, said consultancy founder Martin Wolf.  In his view, the tier two players have their work cut out for them if they want to stay relevant in a tough economy because the slower-growing-but-bigger tier one providers are better positioned because they have deeper management, bigger IP portfolios and sport more expertise across vertical industries.

The smaller players are running out of runway for easy growth — it’s easier to grow off a small base. They will be increasingly challenged by the slowing Indian economy while the bigger players work more outside India. TCS, for example, got 53 percent of its revenue from the U.S. compared to 7.1 percent from India for its first quarter. The smaller players are more focused and dependent on the flagging domestic market, Wolf said.

In Wolf’s opinion — and remember he’s in the M&A business —  is that the Indian IT giants will have to do dramatic deals — along the lines of IBM’s $3.5 billion buyout of PwC Consulting a decade ago,  in order to keep competitive with companies like, well like IBM Global Services.

The big get bigger, as the small struggle to do the same

These “big buys” will be necessary for the tier one companies to boost their skills further in vertical markets and to accumulate important intellectual property. An example of a smart tier 1 buyout Wipro’s buyout of U.S.-based InfoCrossing and its managed IT and hosted infrastructure expertise for about $600 million five years ago.

Another factor to consider is that smaller companies are not necessarily more vertically focused. “The assumption is that because the tier two companies are smaller, they have more niche-y vertical domain experience, but that is not the case,” Wolf said. For these companies it will be a major challenge to grow enough to stay relevant, Wolf said.

Wolf cited iGATE’s $291 million purchase of Patni Computer Systems early last year as a smart tier two acquisition. According to the MW India IT Index:

This is a synergistic combination: Patni was a high-growth innovator while iGATE was bigger yet slower moving. Together, they broke the US billion dollar revenue mark, giving the new company clout in a market where size matters.

The growing acceptance of cloud computing poses a another problem for IT services companies across the board. “These companies can help clients move to the cloud, but in most cases, that’s a one-time engagement,” Wolf said.

Still, tier one players have an advantage over smaller competitors due not only to their size, but their expertise across domains, geographic coverage and management strength.

“We think the larger guys will make it they’re very well run companies run by very tough guys who focus on the client. You should expect much larger, higher-end acquisitions and see these companies buying up meaningful IP,” Wolf said.

 As for tier two, watch for consolidation to ramp up.

Collected from Techgig News.

5 facts About New Virus Hacking Bank Accounts

A new computer virus, dubbed Gauss, has been discovered in the Middle East. Researchers say can it steal banking credentials and hijack login information for social networking sites, email and instant messaging accounts.

Cyber security firm Kaspersky Lab said Gauss is the work of the same "factory" or "factories" that built the Stuxnet worm, which attacked Iran's nuclear program. Here are some key facts about Gauss, according to Kaspersky Lab.

What is its purpose? Gauss is a surveillance tool. It steals credentials for hacking online banking systems, social networking sites and email accounts; it also gathers information about infected PCs, including web browsing history, system passwords and the contents of disk drives.

Can it do anything else? There is a mysterious module, known as Godel, that copies malicious code onto USB drives when they are plugged into infected PCs. Godel's purpose is unknown because some of its code is compressed and scrambled using a sophisticated encryption method. It only activates when it infects a predetermined target. Researchers have not identified the target or figured out its mission. Kaspersky Lab senior researcher Roel Schouwenberg said he believes it may be a "warhead" designed to damage industrial control systems.

How many victims are there? Kaspersky Lab has uncovered more than 2,500 computers infected with Gauss since late May. It estimates the total number of victims is in the tens of thousands. The largest number of infections were found were in Lebanon, followed by Israel and the Palestinian Territories.

Is Gauss still a threat? Yes. Infected USB drives could still launch attacks. Servers that controlled infected machines were shut down in July, so it is unlikely that any more information will be stolen from the surveillance part of the operation.

Why is it called Gauss?The virus is built using modules with internal names that appear to be inspired by famous mathematicians and philosophers, including Kurt Godel, Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss and Joseph-Louis Lagrange. Kaspersky named the entire operation after the Gauss component as it implements the data-stealing capabilitie.

Collected from: Techgig News.

Top 3 Questions New Professionals Ask About Building A Successful Career

This week, I received a thought-provoking email from a young female HR professional — xxxx — from Bangalore, India, hoping for some career mentor-ship as well as answers to several burning career questions.  Neha’s correspondence marks over 1,000 emails I’ve received this year alone from new professionals with questions all around “How do I build a successful career?” xxx has very big dreams for her professional life, and wants to make sure that she gets on a positive and productive path now to achieving her compelling visions.

As I thought about her questions, I realized that I’ve addressed these queries literally hundreds of times in the past eight years as a career and executive coach and leadership trainer.  The questions come in different forms and focus on varying fields, functions and roles, but at the heart of it, they are universal and represent what thousands of new professionals really want to know.

As I thought about her questions, I realized that I’ve addressed these queries literally hundreds of times in the past eight years as a career and executive coach and leadership trainer.  The questions come in different forms and focus on varying fields, functions and roles, but at the heart of it, they are universal and represent what thousands of new professionals really want to know.

Below are the top three questions of burning interest to new professionals, and my responses:

XXX:, I’m in the workforce one and a half years now in human resources in India, and I aspire to become a successful HR head and leader in 10 years or so.  Can you please share with me the key preparations I need to make and steps I need to take today?

YYYY: Whatever field you aspire to make your mark in, I recommend that you define concretely the role you wish to assume and the impact you wish to make.  Then research, research, research what it takes to get there – the credentials, experience, training, education, and the connections necessary for you to be highly competitive and competent at the level you aspire to.  Identify the leaders who can be your role models, and understand their professional trajectory and what they’ve done to become stand-out contributors.
Fully utilize LinkedIn and other social networks to build your support community now.

Reach out to colleagues in other companies and follow those companies that inspire you.  Join associations in HR and attend events, training, classes, workshops, etc. all designed to help you build the skills, expertise and community necessary to launch you to the level you dream of.  Develop both a mentor and a sponsor at your organization, and build a S.M.A.R.T.  (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely) plan with concrete goals and steps to ensure that you are on the path to

1) understanding what you really want,
2) overcoming the obstacles in the way of your success (and there are some),
3) building your career with as much success and fulfillment as you can.  And before you do any of this, take my Career Path Self-Assessment to learn more about who you are and what you stand for, in an intimate way.

XXX: Being in the industry for just one and a half years I am curious about what people do to become successful.  My definition of success includes achieving short team and long term goals.  Are enthusiasm and passion enough?

YYYY: Great question, and no, enthusiasm and passion are most definitely not enough.  Nor is a “Build It and They Will Come” mentality a successful career or business strategy.  To build a successful and fulfilling career, you need five essential ingredients – clarity, confidence, courage, vision and commitment.

Further, you need a great deal of expertise — knowledge, skill, a dedication to continual learning, as well as leadership ability.  You’ll need the right kind of training, a great network and community, mastery of core business skills, sponsorship, S.M.A.R.T. planning, and more.  Read my Forbes “Career Bliss” blog posts and my newsletter for ongoing support and information, including The Top 8 Skills You Need to Master.

The reality is that an amazing and exciting career won’t fall in your lap.  It’s a tremendous amount of work.  But if you’ve chosen an area that you are passionate about, and you care deeply about making a difference in it, it won’t feel like work (most of the time).

XXX: I also aspire to become an author and blogger.  Presently I am just an amateur blogger and am wondering what preparation I need to make to become a well-known and respected writer/blogger.

YYYY: Becoming known and respected as a blogger or writer is a long-term process that takes time, commitment, perseverance and putting yourself out there non-stop and being open to constructive critique.  The key is to determine how you want to be of service and what your core areas of expertise will be.  If you are truly committed to this journey, begin to write your blog and your articles on a continuous basis around topics you know well and are passionate about.  Get the editing and writing help you need (even great writers need a strong editor), and create a following of interested, loyal fans using Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.  Build a sizable subscriber list as well of folks who find your perspective of great benefit.

Is Your Leadership Showing?

 You're the CEO of your company. But do you look and act like a leader? Here are five ways to get started.

Most members of a team know when they’re doing their work well. They often have a particular area of expertise, and they have deadlines and deliverables.
For leaders, it’s a bit different. How do you show that you’re leading? Here are five competencies that good leaders demonstrate. They are related to one another, and each is framed with a question to help you think about opportunities to display leadership.

Visibility
We know that leaders need to be seen by followers--from formal presentations and announcements, to a crisis, to simple “managing by walking around.”  The less-obvious occasions, however, are easily overlooked. They can be lost opportunities, or powerful expressions of leadership.
As a leader, when do you feel out of your comfort zone? Maybe it’s when you have to deliver bad or unpopular news, or mediate a conflict between direct reports, or perform a necessary task that you just don’t like. One CEO client told me that he found it hard to celebrate the “small to medium wins” that his team wanted acknowledged. He considered these victories just part of doing business. His solution was to ask his executives to publicize accomplishments up to a certain level, allowing him to save his praise for the really big achievements.

Ask yourself, “How am I visible to others when I don’t want to be?” The answer is not to pretend to like being visible--far from it. Instead, ask yourself this question prior to an uncomfortable event, and use it to help you prepare. Consider some behavioral options, and put yourself in a different mental space. Then you’ll be able to be visible in a more productive, less stressful manner.

Preparation
Many leaders are great at preparing the logistics of leadership (the facts and figures in a plan, or the pitch for a presentation). Too many leaders, however, don’t prepare regularly for the deeper daily requirements of leadership. This is a shame, because most leaders face complex challenges, relentless claims on their time, and increasing pressures to deliver on goals over which they don’t have direct control. A bit of regular preparation goes a long way.
Just as athletic activities involve physical, mental, and emotional energies, leadership is a “whole-body practice” and requires preparation of the whole person. The next time you are running through your checklist prior to a leadership event, ask yourself, “How have I prepared my whole self for this?”

Comfort
This is closely related to preparation, because leadership discomfort is greatly enhanced by a lack of preparation. In order to be more comfortable as a leader and to appear that way to other people, you need to practice (which is simple preparation repeated).  By “comfortable,” I don’t mean perpetually happy or even relaxed--I mean grounded in your complete embodiment of leadership.
Ask yourself, “How do I display that I am comfortable with the responsibilities and demands of leadership?” Look for nagging doubts in the back of your mind; or instincts that need to be surfaced around what you feel should be happening instead of what is happening, or that feeling of dread in the pit of your stomach about an issue not faced. This is valuable data, and if you do not address your lack of grounding and comfort, others will certainly sense it for you.

Listening
One reason that modern leadership is hard is because an effective modern leader must listen to others. Though few people manage to do it, this may be one of the easiest competencies to demonstrate--provided you can resist the urge to talk.
Ask yourself, “What one thing can I tell myself as a reminder to listen more?” It’s vitally important that you think up an effective cue. If you can’t come up with one, that in itself could indicate a deeper internal misalignment.

Blend
This list started with visibility. When the opposite is required, a leader must blend in. Otherwise, he or she risks drawing attention away from the people and issues at hand. When you pull back, it makes it easier for other people to bring you hard problems, bad news, and perspectives that challenge the status quo.
As a leader, it’s not all about you. The clearest way to demonstrate this is to find the right moments to step out of the spotlight so that other people get the attention they need. Ask yourself, “When necessary, how do I lower the volume of my leadership presence?”
Though leadership can be hard to demonstrate at times, regularly questioning how you embody your role will serve your leadership well.

Largest 3D map of Universe Unveiled

 Astronomers have unveiled the largest ever 3D map of the sky, encompassing massive galaxies and distant black holes, based on Sloan Digital Sky SurveyIII (SDSS-III).

The new map pinpoints the locations and distances of over a million galaxies. It covers a total volume equivalent to that of a cube four billion light-years on one side.

"We want to map the largest volume of theuniverse yet, and use that map to understand how the expansion of the universe is accelerating," said Daniel Eisenstein from the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics, the director of SDSS-III.

The map is the centre piece of Data Release 9 (DR9), which publicly releases the data from the first two years of a six-year survey project.

The release includes images of 200 million galaxies and spectra of 1.35 million galaxies, according to a Harvard-Smithsonian statement with SDSS-III.

Spectra take more time to collect than photographs, but provide the crucial third dimension by letting astronomers measure galaxy distances.

"Our goal is to create a catalogue that will be used long after we are done," said Michael Blanton of New York University, who led the team that prepared Data Release 9.

The release includes new data from the ongoing SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS), which will measure the positions of massive galaxies up to six billion light-years away, as well as quasars -- giant black holes actively feeding on stars and gas -- up to 12 billion light-years from earth.

BOSS is targeting these big, bright galaxies because they live in the same places as other galaxies and they are easy to spot.

Mapping these big galaxies thus provides an effective way to make a map of the rest of the galaxies in the universe. With such a map, scientists can retrace the history of the universe over the last six billion years. With that history, they can get better estimates for how much of the universe is made up of "dark matter" -- matter that we cannot directly see because it does not emit or absorb light -- and "dark energy", the even more mysterious force that drives the accelerating expansion of the universe.

"Dark matter and dark energy are two of the greatest mysteries of our time," said David Schlegel of Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, the principal investigator of BOSS. "We hope that our new map of the universe can help someone solve the mystery."

Collected From: Techgig News

Average Internet Speed Grows 18% in India

 The average internet connection speed in India was 1Mbps in the Jan-March quarter, a growth of 18% quarter-over-quarter. Though the country has registered an increase in average speed, it still ranks 110th globally, says a report by Akamai.

India's year-over-year growth in average internet speed grew more than 20%, but lagged far behind other Asia Pacific countries like South Korea (15.7Mbps) and Japan (10.9). The peak internet speed in the country stood at 6.9Mbps, far behind global leader Hong Kong's 49.3Mbps. Only 1.2% of connections in India have a speed of over 4Mbps, the new standard for broadband. This, however, represents an 85% increase in adoption rate in broadband speed.

The global average internet speed has increase 14% over the previous quarter and 25% over the same period last year. Average global internet connection speed in the Jan-March quarter of 2012 stood at 2.6Mbps, the report released by Akamai says.

It also states that the average peak internet connection speed in Q1 2012 was 13.5Mbps. Asian countries led the growth charts in internet speeds, with Hong Kong recording a speed of 49.3Mbps for a standard downlink.

The primary factor in the growth of internet speed, according to Akamai, is the spurt in number of 'high broadband' connections in countries where 10Mbps speed is the minimum. Nations that have registered around twofold growth in the adoption rate for extra-fast internet access over the past year include Denmark, Finland, South Korea, Switzerland and the US.

However, mobile internet is still lagging in terms of speed, even though HSPA+ and LTEnetworks have expanded. A German that was not named in the Akamai report delivered the maximum speed for mobile internet - 6Mbps. On the other hand, the highest mobile internet connection in the US recorded speed of 2.5Mbps, thus pointing towards the scope of growth in the mobile internet infrastructure even in developed nations.

Collected from: Techgig News. 

The 5 Traits of High-Potential Employees

As your company grows too big for you to do everything--the way you do now--you're going to give over some of the leadership. (Relax. This is a good thing!) For reasons of staff morale, economy, and your own precious peace of mind, it’s better to find your new generation of leaders inside the company. But there’s a rub. Not every longtime loyal employee is really suited to be a leader.

Some have reached their potential and are quite comfortable where they are. This doesn’t imply mediocrity. It simply means that their role at the company and their ambition have converged, and a degree of leveling has set in. Others on your staff might be the “me-me” type--utterly convinced of their own limitless potential and blind to the overwhelming evidence that they’ve gone as far as they're going to get.

How do you decide who among your longtime lieutenants have what it takes? I point to five criteria:

1. They know the business. Your high-potential employees are the ones who have true expertise and keep learning. Their knowledge may be technical or it may be institutional, but it’s invaluable for the organization. More important, they understand how their activities, their sector, and their realm of knowledge is related to the company’s goals.

2. Others respect them. Your staff members, not just you, also have to appreciate how much your high-potentials know. It’s not enough that your top people know their stuff. Everyone else has to know they know it.

3. They are ambitious. High-potential employees aren’t just career-minded; they’re ambitious in a focused way. The best way to get a sense of this is to evaluate their commitment to career progression. Look for signs that they long to accumulate new responsibilities, new successes, additional knowledge, and, for better or worse, additional recognition.

4. They work well with others. Though your leaders need to be driven, they also must be able to form partnerships with others besides you. This attitude goes beyond amiability; it's a pragmatic, tactical skill that allows them to make better, more informed decisions. Lone rangers may be creative and ambitious, but they make lousy leaders.

5. They have guts. Your next generation of leaders must understand that no matter how much research they do, no matter how many cost-benefit analyses they conduct, no matter how many market surveys they complete, they will always be deciding under conditions of uncertainty. The information at hand will always be less than the information you wish you had. Leaders need to have the courage to take risks.

Though you don’t want your next generation of leaders to be clones of you, you do want them to have the traits that drove you to build a growing company. You want them to know their stuff. You want them to have a good reputation on your team. You want them to be driven but able to give and accept help. Finally, you want them to have the courage to make tough decisions, even if there’s a chance they’ll fail. Because that’s how entrepreneurship works.

if-the-iphone-5-really-looks-like-this-apple-may-be-screwed

 Over the past few days, the latest round of purported pictures of Apple's forthcoming iPhone 5 have hit the web.

And I can't be the only potential customer who is deflated by what they see.
In fact, I'll go far enough to say that, if the iPhone 5 looks like the pictures that have recently appeared, Apple may be screwed. Why?

 Because the "iPhone 5" looks pretty much like the iPhone 4S. Which looked exactly like the iPhone 4, a phone that is now two years old.

In the meantime, Samsung and other manufacturers have come out with phones that make people's jaws drop, such as the Galaxy S3, which has a (relatively) humongous screen. Although the Apple faithful may start hyperventilating about things like the movement or elimination of a button, most phone buyers couldn't care less. Now that most phones do the same things and work pretty much the same way, the most obvious (and, arguably, important) difference between them is the screen.

In short, the Galaxy feels like a next-generation phone. The iPhone, meanwhile, looks small and old. And the pictures that purport to be of the iPhone 5 show a phone that is pretty much the same small, old phone.
(Yes, they've moved the camera an inch. And it's longer. And it has a metal back. Whoop-de-do.)

(And, yes, apparently the screen is a little taller. Somehow that isn't the same. Check out the size difference in the photo below between the current iPhone and the Galaxy: A bit taller won't cut it.)

To be sure, regardless of what the iPhone 5 ends up looking like, the Apple faithful will scarf up tens of millions of them. They'll line up around the block and sleep outside the stores. They'll rave about the amazing slickness and geniosity and sophistication of Apple, especially as compared to the plebeian "bigness" of Samsung (the Galaxy will no doubt be dismissed as the McMansion of phones). But, secretly, a lot of those faithful will be disappointed.

 And, more importantly, so will tens of millions of other customers and potential customers. As they should be. Because it will make it clear that one observation that many Apple skeptics make is dead-on correct--namely that each new generation of the iPhone offers less and less improvement over the prior generation, and, thus, gives customers less reason to upgrade. This, combined with carriers increasingly making moves to discourage customers from upgrading frequently (see AT&T's stealthy changes, which may have helped hurt Apple's iPhone sales in the June quarter), will stretch out the upgrade cycles. And that will mean fewer sales--and less growth--for Apple.

Apple's competitors, meanwhile, are on a tear. In the past year, as Apple moved back its iPhone release schedule and then released a phone that seemed like only a modest refresh of the prior version, Apple's competitors have been gaining ground. Samsung sold 52 million smartphones in Q2, twice as many as Apple, and is now the clear worldwide smartphone leader. Samsung's Galaxy S3, which some reviewers say is better than the iPhone, has sold very well in its first couple of months on the market.

(Our gadget god, Steve Kovach, who is a huge Apple fan, is one of those who concluded that the Galaxy is better than the iPhone. He'd still buy an iPhone over the Galaxy, but only because of the "ecosystem"--the app store, the apps, etc. And although that ecosystem is obviously a big competitive advantage for Apple, it's safe to say if people feel forced to use an inferior phone just because of the "ecosystem," they're going to be disappointed.)

Despite the amazing success of the iPad (which will soon face serious, low-priced competition of its own), the iPhone is still by far and away Apple's most important product. The iPhone generates about half of Apple's revenue, and, likely, a lot more than half of Apple's profits.

If Apple's stock is to power its way to the the $1,000 that most analysts and investors now expect, the iPhone has to keep going gangbusters. And releasing a phone that looks pretty much like the same old iPhone--with a screen that now seems small--probably won't get the job done.

So here's hoping those pictures aren't actually of the iPhone 5.

Collected from LinkedIn News.

Narayana Murthy hopeful of Infosys‘ Kolkata centre

Founder of software giant Infosys,NR Narayana Murthy today said he was positive that the company's first centre would come up in the metropolis. 

"I am certainly positive about the Kolkata centre. There is no doubt about it," Murthy said when asked about the future of the city unit for which the West Bengal government has allotted 50 acre at Rajarhat near here. 

"There are solutions to all the problems. Therefore, there is a solution to everything which we think is unsolvable," Murthy, now Chairman Emeritus of Infosys, told reporters on the sidelines of an event here. 

While Infosys has been seeking SEZ status for the Kolkata centre, the state government has said that it was in-principle opposed to the idea. 

Instead, the Mamata Banerjee led government has suggested that the Centre should extend the tax benefits given under the erstwhile Software Technology Park scheme. 

Alternatively, the government is also toying with the idea of relocating the Infosys unit into any one of the existing SEZs in the state. 

The Kolkata centre is likely to create 5,000 jobs.

Collected from: Techgig.

Indian IT companies to tweak hiring strategy

 
India's IT companies, which hired approximately 1.5 lakh students from campuses last year, will be hiring much less during this placement season starting August-September. 

Country's third-largest software exporter Wipro, which had planned to keep the ratio of on-campus and off-campus hiring at 90:10 in the beginning of the year, has now changed it to 70:30, a senior executive from the Bangalore-based company said. "We will hire in a measured way till we get more (demand) visibility and increase off-campus numbers," the executive added. 

In campus hires, companies have to make offers and wait for at least six months till the student finishes his degree. But it can hire off-campus as and when there is demand for more hands. Off-campus recruitments include freshers who had opted out of placements and some with very little work-experience and are picked by companies through hiring drives and job fairs. 

"Off-campus hiring is gaining traction, especially among large IT firms that are cautious and are not able to take long-term business decisions," says Nasscom President Som Mittal said. "It helps them to take hiring decisions based on their needs." 

Nasscom has cut IT-BPO industry's growth forecast to 11-14% this year, down from 16% last year. Some companies like Infosys have given a revised projection of 5%. IT companies are looking to calibrate hiring to the slowdown. 

Last month, country's second-largest IT exporter Infosys said it could delay the joining dates of over 25,000 freshers it had hired from campuses in the 2011 placement season. Its mid-tier rival iGate, too, has delayed joining dates of close to 1,000 fresh engineers by a month or two. 

TCS, India's largest IT firm which will hire 50,000 people this year, plans to maintain its campus hiring. 

Companies say that quality is not an issue in off-campus hiring - despite many of the applicants being rejects from previous placement processes - if one is prepared to search harder for the right hires. "If 3 out of 10 people are suitable on-campus, that ratio will be much lower off-campus. You have to drudge a lot more to get the right people," says Naveen Narayanan, Global Head -Talent Acquisition, HCL Technologies. 

HCL is willing to take the extra effort and will maintain its 70:30 ratio of on-campus to off-campus this year. It makes economic sense to spread hiring across all months, instead doing the bulk during placement season. 

Mid-tier firms are following suit, but to break the monopoly enjoyed by the IT mammoths during placements. "Off-campus increases our chance of finding the right talent," Parthasarathy NS, COO of MindTree, said. "Large companies often visit campuses and recruit 95% of the best students on day one. Smaller firms, which typically visit on day 3 and 4, are left with a very small number," he added. 

MindTree has therefore decided to increase its off-campus quota from 10% of total hires to 30% this year. This strategy is expected to give the Bangalore-based firm wider reach in tier-III and -IV colleges. 

"Given the uncertain economic scenario, I would assume that on-campus placement numbers are going to come down this year," says Bhaskar Chavli, Chief Delivery Officer at NIIT Technologies. "Companies may want to see how business turns out and then decide on hiring targets." 

Gurgoan-based start-up CoCubes.com - it connects companies and colleges through an online recruitment platform - has seen on-campus hiring over the past one year drop by 30-40%. The start-up, which works with companies like Capgemini and UST Global, had experienced a rush for off-campus demand in 2010. Back then Accenture placed urgent orders for 1,500 freshers off-campus in eight weeks and feels sudden demand will come their way again. 

"A similar trend seems to be coming back this year as more companies wait for the economic environment to stabilise and then finalise their hiring plans," says Harpreet Singh Grover, co-founder and CEO of CoCubes.com. 

Collected from: Techgig. 

How to Become the IT Specialist

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You will find help desk expert jobs across the world, and the interest in well-trained experts with this field is high. If you have what it takes to perform the training, receive the practice several hours in and acquire the required certifications, you could be on your journey to a challenging, satisfying and high paying job.

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Collected from: Jobcarrermanagment 

Facebook Re-Designs Photos Section

 In a move to make photo viewing more enjoyable on Facebook, the social networking giant has announced launching a re-designed version of its photos section. 

"We are announcing improvements to the photos section that make viewing photos more enjoyable,"Facebook Product Manager Emily Grewal announced on the company's website yesterday. 

With this move, users would be able to access photos all at one place above the timeline. Earlier Facebook's users could view photos segregated into albums. 

"Now when you click photos at the top of your timeline, you'll see larger pictures that fill up the page. You can use the menu to find shots you are tagged in, pictures you have shared and albums you have created...With your Facebook photos all in one section, it's simple to show friends your favourites. Click the star button to make important photos stand out," she added. 

Facebook, which has over 900 million users across the world, said upgradation of its photo gallery would be rolled out across the globe. 

"We'll continue to improve the (photo view) experience and then begin rolling out globally," Grewal added.

Collected from: Techgig.