Proposed spectrum prices get a mixed response

The telecom industry has given a mixed reaction to the Telecom Commission's decision to augment the supply of airwaves in the 900MHz band as well as increasing the reserve price of both the 900 and the 800MHz airwaves.

The GSM industry body, COAI, welcomed the decision to expand the supply of 900MHz airwaves for commercial use by private operators but added a word of concern.

"It is critical that the telecom department increases the quantum of 900MHz to be auctioned in the upcoming February auctions," Rajan Mathews, director-general of COAI, told ET. He reiterated that the government must also auction 3G airwaves (2100MHz) along with the 800, 900 and 1800MHz in the upcoming auctions.

However, in its meeting on December 8, the Telecom Commission had specifically said while the supply of 900MHz must be increased by exploring various measures as suggested by the telecom regulator, it must be delinked from the issue of the upcoming spectrum auctions.

The government has scheduled a sale of airwaves in the 800, 900 and the 1800MHz in February . It hopes to mop up at least Rs 9,355 crore from these auctions. The Telecom Commission on Monday suggested a hike of 23% in the reserve price of 900MHz band and another 17% in the price of the 800MHz band over the Trai's recommendations.

A wristband that turns your arm into a smartphone

A tiny new wristband can project a tablet interface onto your arm, effectively turning it into a smartphone every time you twist your wrist.

The Cicret Bracelet, designed over the course of 6 months, comprises a pico projector and a row of eight proximity sensors that point towards the user's forearm.

It operates as a standalone device and, when activated with a twist of the wrist, projects an Android interface onto the user's arm. The proximity sensors detect where the user's finger or fingers are and allow them to interact with the interface as they would any other Android device,'Gizmag' reported.

The device will also allow the users to send and receive emails, browse the web and play games.

It will also be possible for users to pair it with an existing smartphone, answer incoming phone calls and activate the speakerphone functionality on their smartphone.

The Cicret Bracelet features an accelerometer and a vibration module, along with an LED for notifications.

Fake impressions cost online ad firms $6.3 billion annually: Study

Almost one-fourth of video ads and 11% of display ads are viewed by fake consumers created by cybercrime networks seeking to take a chunk of the billions of dollars spent on digital advertising, according to a new research report released on Tuesday.

The study, by digital security firm White Ops and the Association of National Advertisers, is one of the most comprehensive looks to date at the persistent criminal activity involving online advertising. Specifically, it addresses "bots," automated entities that mimic the behaviour of humans by clicking on ads and watching videos.

These bots siphon money away from brands by setting up fake websites or delivering fake audiences to websites that make use of third-party traffic. The report estimates that advertisers will lose $6.3 billion to bots next year.

"We have long suspected and have long known there was fraud in our industry," said Bob Liodice, the president and chief executive of the ANA, an organization that represents thousands of brands. "We didn't know the exact amount or the reasons why it was happening."

The study included 36 ANA member companies, including Anheuser-Busch InBev SA, Ford Motor, Verizon Communications and Pfizer.

White Ops monitored 181 online advertising campaigns by the brands from August to October to determine fraud activity.

Bot fraud has long been part of the ecosystem of low-price ads that cost a few dollars or less. This study revealed, however, that many premium websites and publishers, which charge roughly 10 times more for an ad, are just as vulnerable.

"We found a lot of bots suddenly inflating the audience of websites we recognize that are clearly not being run by international organized crime," said Michael Tiffany, the CEO and co-founder of White Ops.

In one instance, White Ops found that 98% of video ads at a premium lifestyle site were viewed by bots. The report does not name the websites where the fraud was found.

"The ad industry was treating the bots as a faceless swarm," said Tiffany. "What no one was anticipating is that the bots are extremely effective of looking like a high value consumer."

Liodice said the report will help the industry develop an action plan to combat fraud.

"We have been less than fully active largely because we didn't understand the problem and because we were enamored by the success of digital to the marketing industry," he said. "We want to ensure that everyone has accountability."

Great Google mystery: The missing Nexus

This tale from a technology sector CEO illustrates an unusual thing about an iconic global technology giant. Vijay Shekhar Sharma, CEO of Paytm, is a devoted fan of Google's Nexus smartphone. Sharma is waiting to upgrade to Nexus 6 and has to wait patiently till it's available online on Flipkart, which is the only Indian outlet, online or offline, for the phone.

The Paytm CEO's frustrating experience is shared by many, many Nexus smartphone fans. Google, as formidable a marketing machine as any globally, has put its weight behind low-cost Android One phones in India, spending Rs 100 crore in the project. Nexus, on the other hand, is not marketed by Google and is rarely marketed by its hardware partners LG, Motorola and HTC either.

Even as Android One had a tepid start, market analysts and retailers say Google is missing a trick by not promoting the pricier Nexus phone more. "Instead of focusing on Android One, it would be a good call for Google to sell Nexus offline as it is a flagship product that has a good pull," says Satish Babu, founder of Chennai-based retail store chain UniverCell Mobiles, one of several large format chains willing to stock Nexus 6.

"There are takers for Nexus even at the high price," Babu said. He compared this with cheaper Android One phones, which have had a not-so-impressive run since their launch a few weeks back.

Other mobile brick and mortar retailers — for example, Himangshu Chakravarti of MobileStore — agree with UniverCell Mobiles' Babu. They say there's a lot of latent demand for the high performing Nexus phone but supply is a problem, and Google can tap that by selling offline.

Some Nexus fans are switching loyalty, not wanting to wait long for an upgrade to arrive. Paytm CEO Sharma says Xiaomi is one of the favourite options of those abandoning Nexus. "I've been waiting for it for some time now, but many Nexus 5 users waiting to upgrade to Nexus 6 have moved to Xiaomi's Mi 3 which offers almost the same specifications at roughly half the cost," Sharma says.

Xiaomi's Mi 3 was launched in July at Rs 14,999. Nexus phones are in the Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000 price band. The LG-made 4.95-inch Nexus 5 was launched in November last year, the fifth successor to Nexus 1 introduced in 2010. Nexus 5 is priced between Rs 22,000 and Rs 33,000 on e-commerce sites. Nexus 6, powered by Google's Android Lollipop operating system, has been made by Motorola.

Nexus 6 was listed for pre-orders in the US late in October and all variants were reported to be sold out within a few hours.

The story was the same in the UK. In India, initial stocks were pre-booked within a day or two. When asked by ET, Flipkart did not share the number of pre-orders. Nexus 6 may be available in Google's 3-day online sale beginning December 10.

Hong Kong-based research firm Counterpoint Technologies estimates that around 2,00,000 Nexus 5 phones were shipped to India this year. Compare that with the 1.6-1.8 million Android-based smartphones that were sold in India this year in the same Rs 20,000-Rs 30,000 price band. Clearly, say analysts and retail traders, Google can sell far more Nexus phones than it is selling now — if it wants to.

On the other hand, in just two and a half months since mid-September, a little under 500,000 Android One phones have been shipped to India, more than double the year-long total for Nexus 5 phones.

But despite this, Android One hasn't quite taken off. In all 7 million smartphones in the Rs 6,000-Rs 8,000 price band, the range in which Android One phones are available, were sold in four months till October. With less than a half a million shipments, Google's low-cost smartphone was obviously a slow seller in this category.

That Nexus is a story of untapped potential in India is also clear from the fact that India accounts for just 3,00,000 of the 9.9 million Nexus phones sold globally since 2010, according to data from Counterpoint Technologies.

Android, both technology and mobile retail experts say, is a hugely popular operating system in India and Google's Nexus phones are ideally situated to exploit that popularity. Nexus, experts say, is the benchmark setting Android-based smartphone.

Just a showpiece?

Google responded to ET's query on undermarketing Nexus by saying: "We always introduce Nexus devices alongside our platform releases (such as Lollipop), as advances in computing are always driven at the intersection of hardware and software."

Other explanations from analysts and experts were more detailed. Google works with hardware partners to build Nexus devices, and the idea is to help push boundaries of what's possible, say analysts tracking the sector. Nexus serves as a reference for the Android ecosystem.

"Ideally, it would have been a good business case had Google entered into devices," said a Bangalore-based analyst who did not want to be named. He added that Google perhaps wants Nexus to simply serve as a reference point, a showcase for the power of hardware.

Counterpoint's telecom analyst Tarun Pathak says Google may not want to scale up Nexus distribution to "avoid stepping into its manufacturing partners' toes" and that Nexus phones "may be mostly a showcase that's meant for developers first and then consumers."

Capgemini eyes Bengaluru to house all India operations

French IT giant Capgemini, with over 40% of its workforce in India, is looking to consolidate its Indian entities into a single holding company. Its consolidated operations are likely to be largely based in Bengaluru where the company is looking for a one-million-sqft office space.

Capgemini operates four entities in India - Capgemini Business Services, Capgemini Consulting India, Capgemini India, Capgemini Consulting India - which are headquartered in Mumbai. When TOI contacted Capgemini on its consolidation drive, the company said: "At this point in time, we've no comments on the legal structure."

The 11-billion-euro technology company has floated a request for proposal for over 1 million sqft of office space in Bengaluru. This is part of the company's consolidation and growth strategy here, said one of the sources privy to the development. The company's annual report last year said that approximately one-third of the office space absorbed by the company globally was located in India.

TOI could not ascertain how much of the new space being leased was creation of fresh capacity and how much was part of consolidation of some existing facilities.

"As part of our expansion, we're looking at expanding in several cities in India as well as in Bengaluru. We've increased our campus recruitment and we will continue to do so this year too," the company spokesperson said. Earlier this year, the company said its headcount in India had crossed 50,000. Company CEO Paul Hermelin had said on a visit to Bengaluru that the French IT firm was reporting robust growth figures of 15%-16% in India, compared with 3% in France.

Capgemini has employees in nine cities - Mumbai, Pune, Gurgaon, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Trichy, Salem and Kolkata.

The company, which provides technology and outsourcing services across government and public sectors, energy and utilities, telecom and financial services sectors, has been one of the most aggressive among IT MNCs in using India as an offshoring location. As of the September quarter, the company had 1.41 lakh employees. The India headcount is expected to rise to 70,000 by 2016.

Flipkart’s Bansals pump Rs 6 cr in e-bike startup Ather

Flipkart founders Sachin and Binny Bansal have made an angel investment of Rs 6.1 crore in electric vehicle start-up Ather.

Incubated and supported by IIT Madras, Ather was started by Tarun Mehta and Swapnil Jain in 2013 with an aim to design high-speed electric two-wheelers for India. The funding will be a boost for Ather's product development efforts.

This marks the second round of funding for Ather and also includes investment from Raju Venkatraman, serial entrepreneur and CEO of Medall.

The start-up had raised its first round of capital in February this year from V Srinivas (founder of Aerospike) and the Technology Development Board of the government of India.

Ather currently employs a team of 15 engineers and designers.

Its founders are keen to develop technology to manufacture the "best electric vehicles for India".

Indian startup CEOs who have raised large funding are now turning angel investors and mentors to young entrepreneurs.

Bangalore-based Sachin, Mukesh and Binny Bansal have already invested in startups such as Zopnow and NewsInShorts in recent past.

Snapdeal co-founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal have invested in Ola Cabs while Eka CEO Manav Garg is an investor in startups such as StayZilla, social media newspaper Frrole and enterprise software maker OrangeScape.

"We are very excited about this fresh round of funding. Sachin and Binny Bansal are leaders who have put India's e-commerce industry on the global map through disruptive use of technology. Their focus on technology and reinvention aligns with that of Ather," said Tarun Mehta.

Apple shares plunge over 6%, cause unclear

Apple shares tumbled shortly after the start of trading on Monday, briefly suffering their largest price drop in at least three months on an unusual spike in volume.

Selling accelerated just before 9:51 am EST, with more than 6.7 million shares trading in a one-minute stretch, the heaviest minute of trading in Apple since October 29, according to Thomson Reuters data.

The stock lost over 3% in that minute, falling as much as 6.4% to $111.27. At mid-afternoon, it was down 3% to $115.45.

The cause of the decline was not yet clear, though traders pointed to institutions using selling programs across a wide swath of stocks. Steve Hammer, a trading educator and founder of HFT Alert in Santa Barbara, California, which monitors algorithmic trading, said about 300 different stocks showed elevated price traffic beginning about 9:50 am EST, a sign of institutions putting on sell programs.

"When you see that kind of price action that is simply algos running stocks," he said.

As of 2:05 pm EST, more than 64 million Apple shares had traded, making it the most active issue in US markets.

A sharp price move coupled with high volume often prompts speculation about the influence of high frequency trading (HFT), when computer algorithms are used to trade stocks at an extremely rapid pace. HFT has been criticized for affecting the trading of stocks by sending in numerous trade quotes that slow quote activity — without filling the trades when shares fall.

"What that is called is evaporation of liquidity, liquidity that was never there in the first place and it's a typical maneuver that goes on in the fragmented stock market we have now," said Joseph Saluzzi, co-manager of trading at Themis Trading in Chatham, New Jersey.

However, determining the cause of the decline wasn't so simple. "The fact is we don't yet know what caused the drop, and blaming it on HFT is misleading," said Bill Harts, chief executive officer of Modern Markets Initiative, an advocate of high-speed electronic markets.

Similar declines on heavy volume, though not as dramatic, were seen in other stocks, including Alibaba Group Holding, which fell 1.4% in one minute, and the S&P 500 tracking, which had its busiest minute of trading on Monday at 9:51 am, when nearly 1.5 million shares traded.

At the day's low, Apple lost more than $40 billion in market value.

The recent ructions in the oil market were also cited as a potential catalyst for the selling in Apple. Traders said the need to free liquidity as oil and energy shares fell could have had an effect on other markets.

"Funds that suffered losses on their oil investments have to get out of their liquid securities in other sectors," said Sam Ginzburg, head of trading at First New York Securities in New York.

Morgan Stanley strategists dropped Apple's weighting in their strategic portfolio to 3% from 4% in an equity outlook note released Monday, but traders said the swiftness of the decline was too dramatic to be attributed solely to the note, which was released before trading opened.

Saluzzi said "maybe it was the Morgan Stanley news that kind of stimulated the event," but not enough to cause such a decline.