Bhuvan... life explore win!

reasonable disposable income…

2008-08-27T04:14:00.000-07:00

The important thing is you should come out with such products and services that people with a reasonable disposable income in India should be able to use it. It cannot be the disposable income in the US. That cannot be the benchmark. It has to be Indian.

It is well documented that you had a very small capital base to start with. You went on to build one of the biggest brands in global IT. For somebody starting today, can they do something similar and what is the key to building of that big brand?

First of all, the market is difficult for a general expertise company – a startup company which focuses on some kind of a generalized expertise like project management, software development, etc. On the other hand, if a startup was to focus on a niche area like embedded systems for automobiles, or let us say, systems for improving the quality of water, or designing software for handling risks in derivatives… any of these. In other words, it has to be a focused niche area. There they will be able to perform better than an Infosys. Because they have something tangible that we did not have, they can establish credibility with customers more easily than we could. In addition, they can provide other services. The name of the game is to create a niche market, in a specialized area.

Second, my belief is that brands are created by doing unusual things. . For example, when Pradeep created Dataquest, there was no such magazine in India. And he became the leader. Everybody noticed him, everybody wrote about him. The way you build brands is to do something unusual and get written by other people, get noticed by other people easily – because you are doing unusual stuff. Then you sustain them with some advertising.

Threats that can close down your startup & how to handle them

2008-08-27T04:05:00.000-07:00

As they prepare to start out, all entrepreneurs are sure that they are on to the next big thing since sliced bread. They are also equally sure that their venture would become really huge in no time and that they themselves would be the next Warren Buffet (in case you did not notice, investment guru Buffet has replaced Bill Gates at the top of the list of the wealthy).

Unfortunately, nine out of ten startups fail to make it big. They close down, get bought out, or remain really small forever. Getting bought out is okay in many cases, and remaining small is also not a bad deal. The real show-stopper, then, is the prospect of closing down. What are the most common reasons for startups closing down, and how can you circumvent them?

1 Your idea is stolen
Ask anyone wanting to start out and they are sure to tell you that the key to their success is their idea. All of them believe that their idea is so unique and so ground-breaking that many are afraid to discuss the idea with anyone, least it is stolen. In essence, they fear failure from someone stealing their idea.

You only need to look around to understand that this is one of the biggest misnomers about entrepreneurship. Let us, for the moment, accept that your idea is indeed ground-breaking. Assume that you have also kept it a grand secret and have come out with your product or service. What next? How much time will it take for a competitor to come up with a better product, learning from the mistakes you made? If your product is hot, how much time will it take for someone in China to mass-produce it? If you product is a medicine, how many months before someone right here in India comes out with a generic?DARE/

It is not the idea, but the execution that makes the difference

Being a first-mover is not always the best. Learning from others who went before you helps

If you look around, you will find enough evidence that the first-mover or original inventor advantage does not always work out the way it has been advertised. Consider the GUI for today’s computer. It was created at Xerox Corporation’s Palo Alto Research Centre, but was made popular by Apple in their Lisas and Macs. But who really made money out of the GUI? Microsoft, many years later with Windows, and that too after many attempts! While on the topic of technology products, let us look at a few more examples. Who came up with the idea of a portable music player? Who created the first portable music player? Who cares? But who made the most money off portable music players? One of the last entrants in the field—Apple. Who came up with the first cellphone? Motorola. Who is lord of the cellphone business? Nokia. Or is that Apple? Where is Motorola now? Struggling.

The often held belief that letting your idea out is a stepping stone to failure is wrong. It is not the idea, but the execution that matters. And there, you need to learn from the successes and mistakes, particularly the mistakes of others who went before you. Nanos gigantium humeris insidentes (Successful ones are dwarfs standing on the shoulders of giants).

2 You got it wrong
This one is a serious issue and is faced by many startups. You start off with a wonderful idea and after turning your blood to sweat and vapor, realize that things did not quite work out as planned. The limitations could be simple, like you are not able to get components of the exact precision that you want, or staggering, if, for instance, you made a basic blunder in your calculations or assumptions that was revealed only in the later stages. I know of this Indian company that set up a huge manufacturing facility based on published figures of market size. They wanted a 10% market share. A year later, the publisher issued an erratum. There was a mistake in their figures; there was an extra zero! So, here was the company, saddled with a plant that virtually doubled the world’s production capacity! That plant could never produce good results. Luckily, the company has other product lines and has survived. You may not be so lucky.

There could also be market readiness issues or limitations in delivery mechanisms. The entire dotcom bust of the two thousands can be attributed to Internet technologies and bandwidth at the customer end not being ready.

Transporting fresh vegetables used to be a nightmare till a few years back. But with better roads, many businesses are now coming up around the concept of transporting fresh fruits and vegetables across the country.

What is the way out of getting trapped here? Stringent and frequent reality checks are the only answer. At the concept stage, do not make sweeping assumptions. Get your basic figures of market size, technology availability and costs right within reasonable limits (plus or minus fifteen to twenty percent). Cross-check these numbers thoroughly, and more importantly, recheck them frequently.

Remember the fable about the team that drowned because the person who estimated the depth of the river they had to cross measured only along the edges and not at the middle. If your business has come about as a result of some market feedback, like, for example, from a market survey, recheck to ensure that the sampling and the interpretation is correct.

3 Takes longer than planned
Yet another regular in the list of show-stoppers. This happens because of a number of reasons including that the complexities were not fully understood in the beginning. But an even bigger problem is when the founders fall in love with the product and tinker around for ages trying to add one more cool feature or trying to make it perfect.DARE/
Work with a clear road map
Budget for extra time right at the planning stage

Drop features that will throw the whole schedule out of sync

The first problem is easy to manage. First of all, budget for more time than you think it will take. But how much do you overbudget? Those who have been there and lived through that say that it would be wise to budget for anywhere from 25 to 50% more time than you originally thought it will take, depending on the scope and complexity.

The second part, of going on and on has a very difficult solution. Do not fall in Love with your idea or product. I know that this is easier said than done. But that is what happens. We get so enamored by our own idea that we refuse to let it go. We become its muse and forget the passage of time even as we contemplate ever-so-minor changes to it.

Perhaps we need to learn from Google, which releases its products for use with a beta tag. Google continues these beta runs for ages. For example, Gmail ran as beta for three years from 2004 to 2007! Think of what would have happened if the engineers and founders at Google had waited till all aspects of the product were final?

The way to handle this is to break down your project into clear activities and milestones and (particularly if you have some project management exposure) work out how much slack you can afford to take at each point. Having someone else (a co-founder or even an employee) sound alarm bells on slippages is a good idea.

4 Competitor releases free equivalent
Some time back I was talking to the CEO of a successful IT company. One thing led to the other and I asked him about his past. Suddenly, he went all nostalgic; turns out that this was not his first venture. The original effort died a brutal death when the large competitor he was going to take aim at released a software similar to his for free, just weeks before his planned launch. He was lucky in being able to pick up the threads and start afresh and make a success out of the second attempt.
This is a problem that many think is unique to the software industry. But it can happen in various forms in other industries also, where the competitor reduces prices to rock bottom just before you launch.

So, how do you handle this situation if it happens?

Frankly, this is a tough one. The best recommendation we came across was to cut your losses immediately and move on to a plan B, if you have one.
5 One-man-shows don’t work
The other day, a budding entrepreneur was discussing his project. He had his idea and product architecture ready. He even knew what components he needed. About a year back, he started working on it even as he kept his day job. Very soon he figured out that he could not do the full thing himself. So, he broke the components into different contracts and handed them out to various sub-contractors—other individuals like him.

Great way to get started off, but no way will he be able to sustain it. Very soon he will find out that managing these contractors is a full-time job in itself. Then he will find out that combining all these parts into the product; making them work with each other is yet another full- time job. And then he will have to go looking for more contractors, he will have to search for funding, he will have to work on marketing plans and so on and so forth.

There are very few businesses where a one-man-show can pull along and grow for long and they are either in the show business or in sports. If you are not an ace actor or a sportsman, and in most cases even if you are one, you will need a team that will help you to achieve your goals, and to grow big.

One-man-shows usually collapse from sheer exhaustion. So the faster you get a team in place, the better it is for your dreams.

Another version of the one-man-show is where the team is kept too small, because the founder does not want to give up control or because of fears of quality being compromised. While this does not lead to the business closing down, it does curtail its ability to scale.

6 Co-founders fail to get along
This one is deadly. You have a brilliant idea, you have a solid business plan, you even have a brilliant team. The only problem is that the top team can’t get along. Too many ego clashes, too many instances of my-way-or-the-highway!

Some differences of opinion are bound to happen as people come together to work. An occasional spat is also not a bad thing, as long as all of you can put it behind you once the steam has been let out and you get back to work. But if these get too frequent or irreparable, then it is better to part ways than to continue. Before things get too bad, maybe you can even opt for professional help to get the interpersonal issues sorted out. A clear exit plan for the co-founders is a good thing to have as part of your agreement so that such an exit, where unavoidable, is as painless as possible.

Worst of the worst is when the leader—you—are the cause for all the trouble. Like in the kids’ teams, where the owner of the cricket bat gets away with tantrums, you may get away with a few extra ones, but it is best if you do not push your luck all that hard.

7 Can’t afford key skills
Misery. You need a specific niche skill without which your offering is incomplete and that particular skill is not available to you or is too costly to afford.

In 1983, Apple, which was looking for someone with a good marketing background, made an offer to John Scully, who was then the President of Pepsi-Cola USA. The legendary offer had two parts—the first and the often-quoted one is the challenge from Steve Jobs, the co-founder—“Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water or do you want a chance to change the world?” The not-so-famous part is the pay package that was on offer. A million dollars a year—in 1983—plus a million dollar joining bonus, plus a million dollar golden parachute option (benefits if employment is terminated) plus 3.5 lakh shares in the company, plus the difference in cost to buy a house in California.

Depending on how critical the skill you are looking for is, and how the demand for that skill in the market is, you need to offer a challenging deal to the candidate. And as was the case with Apple, it is not just the money or just the challenge that did the trick. It was the combination.

8 Markets do not accept your product
The idea was yours, the passion was yours, the belief was yours and the execution was yours. What if nobody has any use for it? Sounds crazy? Seriously, more products and companies fail because they have no relevance to the market than for all the other reasons. Another reason is that they are overpriced for what the market can bear.

All that I can say here is that you would be foolish not to adapt to market realities and to create a product in the confines of an ivory tower. One of the reasons startups (and most others) shy away from market research is because of the high costs. Market research need not be all that costly. There are methods that are fairly cheap or even cost less. Methods like Delphi (asking a few experts) or dipstick surveys are fairly quick and easy to execute, while remaining easy on the pocket.

9 Markets change
How many of you remember the medical transcription business? It was the forefather of the current BPO business. In the not-too-distant past, it was growing faster than anything around. And then, one fine morning, poof! It collapsed. What happened? Technology changed. Voice recognition systems became more accurate. Compliance issues changed. New rules like the HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of the USA) came into being, market dynamics changed and all these together pulled the plug on the entire business.

Many companies just wound up. And the few that survived today bear no resemblance to the original medical transcription agencies that they once were.

Market changes and technology changes are part of the business cycle and like the buggy whip company immortalized in marketing folklore, you need to change your business to be able to survive and prosper.

The Tabulating Machine Company became Computing Tabulating Recording Corporation in 1911. CTR became International Business Machines and that is now IBM. The PC drove the typewriter companies out of business. Remember Remington Rand that had a 75% market share for typewriters in the country? Remember the song Video Killed The Radio Star?

The lesson is simple. Those who change with times survive and prosper. Those who don’t, become a footnote to history.

10 Money runs out
Money running out is another standard reason for many startups to shut down even before their products have seen the light of the day. Ninety-nine out of every hundred startups get their financial estimates wrong. They usually go conservative in estimating the costs (particularly the marketing and market development costs) and get too aggressive on income figures. As a result, moneys run out way too fast.

Once a business plan is made and approved (by the funding agency) most entrepreneurs would like to forget its very existence and are reluctant to make any changes to it. The business plan is not the Ten Commandments written on stone. As the business environment changes and as you get a better understanding of the business, change the business plan, at least for yourself.

Along with making realistic or even conservative estimates, one should bear in mind Narayana Murthy’s advice in the very first issue of DARE. “In services, two principles are very important. Have an idea which is so good that the customer is willing to pay advances. Secondly, create milestones every month so that there is a steady cash flow. If it is a product idea, then obviously you need venture capital.”

One variant of this is the economy going bad and the promised money not coming in. This is what we are going through right now. Many a startup has had its funding plans deferred or cut down significantly. Good old belt-tightening is the medicine that the doctor ordered.

11 You give up
We started off with the sobering thought that nine out of ten startups will not make it big. What if yours is one of the nine? Do you give up?

It might be worth our while to remind ourselves of those immortal words from the Bhagawad Gita:

Yada yada hi dharmasya, glanir bhavati bharatah
Abhyutthanam adharmasya tadatmanam srijamyaham
Paritranaya saadhunam vinshayacha dushkritam
Dharma sansthapanarthaya sambhavami yuge yuge

(Whenever and wherever righteousness is in danger; and the unjust rises its head; I manifest myself

To protect the right and to destroy the wrong; to reestablish righteousness, I happen millennium after millennium)

If God has to take rebirth again and again to successfully complete his objective, who are we, mere mortals, to give up after one try, or two for that matter? If you happen to fall in the nine that do not make it big, there is no need to lose heart. Try again.

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2008-01-16T04:41:00.000-08:00

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2007-10-01T06:46:00.000-07:00

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“Mobile” is today’s buzzword

2007-10-01T06:43:00.000-07:00

“Mobile” is today’s buzzword. The global cellular subscribers have reached
to 2.5 billons with a growth of 32% in the year 2005. The cellular market is
expected to add an average of 450 millions new subscribers each year
resulting in a total population of more than 3 billion by 2007. In India,
cellular service is the fastest growing industry, having a subscriber base of
more than 100 millions in the last quarter of 2006. The cellular market in
India is expected to grow at a compound average growth rate (CAGR) of
39.8% until 2007.
“Mobile” meant for voice communication. But with the change of times the
utility of the device is gradually changing. Besides voice communication,
today “Mobile” is rapidly used as a medium of data-communication. The
industry has realised that it is difficult to sustain long, only through offering
of conventional voice based applications. Non-voice based applications like
SMS, MMS, Browsing etc are the future of cellular service and it will
contribute significant revenue to the cellular business. GARTNER projection
reflects that “Mobile” data service will account for 20.5% of total Indian
Cellular Service Revenues in 2008, which equivalent to Rs. 147.6 billion. In
2003 data service accounted 5.4% of cellular service while in 2006 it is 12%
registering a growth of 80% last year (2006).
Responding to that changed scenario, device manufacturers and network
operators have made revolutionary changes in “Mobile” handset as well as
communication technology. This advancement of wireless technology has
opened up various avenues to benefit other quarters of industry like healthcare,
tourism etc, which have maximum people’s participation. Intelligent
and powerful application in those spheres will surely create symbiotic
relation in users, cellular industry and allied industries.
Tourism industry is, within India, one of the largest economic sectors and
maximum people’s participation. An average of 365 millions of domestic
tourists traveled within India in each & every year.

The latest wireless innovation

2007-05-14T23:14:00.000-07:00

The latest wireless innovation from QUALCOMM is here. The MediaFLO™ System, a comprehensive end-to-end solution, simultaneously and cost-effectively delivers unprecedented volumes of high-quality, streaming or clipped, audio and video multimedia to wireless subscribers.

MediaFLO transforms multimedia delivery and opens market opportunities for the entire mobile value chain including wireless operators, device manufacturers, and content providers. The MediaFLO System complements existing networks and drastically expands the ability to deliver the multimedia customers desire without impacting the voice and data services they expect.

The MediaFLO™ System is a comprehensive, end-to-end solution designed specifically to address the inherent challenges of efficiently and cost-effectively distributing mass volumes of high-quality mobile multimedia to wireless subscribers. The MediaFLO System, comprised of the MediaFLO Media Distribution System and FLO Technology, addresses the usability, network capacity, and device constraints typical of video delivery to a mobile handset. Designed from the ground up with mobility in mind, the MediaFLO System delivers a compelling user experience for the mobile masses.

Operators can leverage the MediaFLO System to increase ARPU and reduce churn by offering enhanced multimedia services. Content providers can take advantage of a new distribution channel to extend their brand to mobile users. Device manufacturers will benefit from increased demand for multimedia-enabled handsets as consumer appetite grows for rich content provided through MediaFLO.

The MediaFLO™ Community is a convergence of people, products, and technologies that connect, cooperate and unify to address inherent technology challenges and make possible the delivery of rich multimedia. A benefit of this union and goal of the initial concept is a nearly unlimited array of opportunities for operators, application developers, content providers, and device manufacturers.

At the core, QUALCOMM Incorporated brings the experience and expertise that has consistently driven wireless technology to the benefit of the wireless industry. Streamlining entry to the marketplace is MediaFLO USA, a QUALCOMM subsidiary that will deploy and operate a nationwide "mediacast" network using the MediaFLO System.

The FLO Forum includes global companies that represent the entire wireless value chain. It unites network operators, content providers, and device and equipment manufacturers around the common objective of developing FLO-based networks, products, and services capable of delivering advanced mobile broadcast multimedia services. With four published TIA® standards while pursuing additional standards, the FLO Forum is helping any market participant gain access to the MediaFLO System and create MediaFLO-compliant products and services.

Transforming multimedia delivery

The MediaFLO™ System is an end-to-end solution that enables multicasting of high-quality video, audio streams, clipcast media, and IP data-casting. The foundation of the MediaFLO System is comprised of the MediaFLO Media Distribution System (MDS) and FLO™ Technology. A manageable, scalable subscription-based distribution system and an efficient over-the-air network pair to give wireless operators a way to cost-effectively deliver the high-quality audio and video content mobile users desire.

The MediaFLO System provides the flexibility to bundle programming packages for specific market segments while still maximizing the aggregate delivery of content to numerous subscribers at once. Collections of services bundled in packages such as a Basic or Premium can be designed to appeal to specific audience utilization profiles. These subscribed program packages make up the custom view of the available content for each user and represent the main tool the user has for personalizing their MediaFLO experience.

Fully scalable as mobile networks mature and new ones are introduced, the MediaFLO System will be able to use all networks in concert or independently to deliver services. For example, the MediaFLO System is able to provide some services via a point-to-point or unicast connection, and other more popular services via new multicast networks (one to many). This approach allows for the most efficient delivery of a wide variety of content. The MediaFLO System is designed to take subscriber numbers, network traffic information, and network characteristics into account to provide an optimized delivery schedule for the entire set of services being offered.

But the MediaFLO System enables much more than passive viewing. Because the wireless device that plays the content is also a node on the Internet, the MediaFLO System supports interactivity, such as launching an application that is used in conjunction with the viewing experience or going to a Web site for more information on a subject of interest.

The MediaFLO System is designed to enable revolutionary new wireless services, provide opportunities to differentiate, and deliver high-quality multimedia to the mobile masses.

Dedicated multimedia network advantage

For mobile mass media, there are substantial challenges in delivering bandwidth hungry multimedia. Cellular networks are optimized for bi-directional communication streams and each incremental user impacts the network capacity. The expected demand for video services will significantly impact existing network capacity and could negatively impact core voice and data services. In addition streaming video services may be subject to the ebb and flow of coverage and capacity - issues that can affect the user's perception of the quality of a real-time service.

The MediaFLO™ network is a multi-casting network specifically designed for mass delivery of multimedia content. The one-to-many relationship created by the MediaFLO System allows for the economical delivery of media to the masses. The MediaFLO System delivers a compelling user experience by completely separating the delivery of the media and the presentation itself. The result: recovery from delivery problems are invisible to the user.

The MediaFLO™ Media Distribution System (MDS) enables the efficient delivery of high-quality network-scheduled video content for viewing by masses of mobile subscribers. The MDS seamlessly handles multiple content streams from multiple sources and plays them on client software in the most popular video and audio formats. Because MDS is air-interface independent it can be deployed on any IP packet data network or current point-to-point 3G wireless networks, and will scale easily for tomorrow's multicast networks.

With the MDS, network operators control when content is sent to maximize and monetize off-peak network capacity. Content is delivered in the background and encrypted on the handset until the user selects what to watch based on the program schedule. The least time-sensitive content can be sent at very low load times, leaving only the most time-sensitive content for delivery when the network is being used mostly for voice and data services. This intelligent delivery method gives operators the management control to cost effectively provide a high-value wireless multimedia solution to subscribers, while effectively shaping the utilization of their network.

The end result? The MDS's intelligent use of network capacity to deliver high-quality video and audio content capitalizes on the higher processing power, higher screen resolutions, significantly improved sound, and much larger memory size of wireless handsets coming to market in 2005.

At the handset, the MediaFLO™ experience includes elements key to user satisfaction. Mobile users enjoy immediate access to high-quality, full-motion video content at the time and place of their choosing. To ensure optimal viewing, the MDS eliminates the typical down-load-and-play process, so there are no progress bars, no waiting - just a crisp, interactive, mobile multimedia experience.

How does it happen? Users subscribe to content channels, navigate the service, and immediately play available programming on the device at network-scheduled times. The combination of a simple interface, myriad content services, and an interactive program guide makes the MDS easy to use and easy to adopt.

At the focal point of the consumer experience is the MediaFLO™ Program Guide (MPG). The MPG serves as a program listing guide and "channel surfing," or navigation, tool. Presented in a format similar to a cable or satellite TV menu, users view a screen that clearly lists what content is available when. They have the ability to channel surf blocks of compelling content and choose what they want to watch at the moment: the latest in news, weather, entertainment, finance.

Similar to traditional media where a program director schedules the flow of content, the MediaFLO MDS delivers programming from external content providers to Operators with the MPG - a complete set: content and its accompanying guide. Because the content arrives on the device prior to its scheduled viewing time, users experience the immediacy and quality similar to what they would get at home watching television.

The ability to protect wireless content rights shares many of the same obstacles as protecting those distributed over the wired Internet. The MediaFLO™ Digital Rights Management (DRM) system addresses this challenge with a conditional access feature utilizing cryptography to protect content and ensure the right service offering is distributed only to authorized subscribers.

The MediaFLO DRM allows usage rights to be specified and managed while still delivering a seamless, flexible experience to viewers on their mobile handsets. Another benefit, the DRM was developed in tandem with standards organizations to integrate the best possible approaches, making it a robust and scaleable solution capable of evolving with the developing needs of content providers and network operators.

The MediaFLO™ MDS provides service management features to simplify the pricing and bundling of an array of service offerings. The billing feature supports numerous pricing methods that can be tailored to meet an operator's unique consumer purchasing expectations. MediaFLO MDS billing may be integrated directly with an operator's existing billing systems or BREW® Distribution System (BDS).

As an essential part of the end-to-end media distribution system, MediaFLO includes multi-party payout functionality to control the organization and allocation of payments to content providers supplying media for various service offerings.

A distinguishing feature of the MediaFLO™ MDS is its ability to deliver IP data packets on mobile devices to enable unlimited options for interactivity. As a result, viewers get not just a high-quality multimedia experience but the additional dynamic of Internet-like interactivity, all on their mobile handset.

The MediaFLO System is architected to allow local extensions to the MediaFLO client to enhance the experience further, for example: while viewing a shopping program, a user could jump to an e-commerce site and initiate a purchase. Taking this functionality another step, because the MediaFLO client can reference other local applications and remote services, operators have the opportunity to generate greater revenues with expanded service offerings.

Additional interactivity may be provided by specialized media types like Macromedia Flash™ or SMIL-based content with interactive media types limited only by the capabilities of the wireless device.

FLO™ technology is a new air interface with multicasting capabilities designed to increase capacity and reduce content delivery costs to mobile handsets. FLO Technology enables mobile users to see and hear high quality video and audio, browse and buy merchandise, or watch the stock ticker - wherever they are, anytime, and without delays.

Designed from the ground up specifically to multicast significant volumes of rich multimedia content, FLO™ enables wireless operators to cost-effectively deliver news, entertainment, and informational programming in clips and streaming video to millions of mobile users at once. FLO provides the technology for distributing multimedia content efficiently and economically without impacting current networks.

Unencumbered by legacy or terrestrial system constraints, FLO™ applies the latest advances in coding and interleaving to deliver exceptional multimedia reception whether the user is walking down the street or commuting to work by bus or train.

FLO also employs layered modulation to deliver both a base and enhanced layer of content ensuring a quality viewing experience regardless of the coverage area.

FLO™ technology addresses the challenge of prolonged connection delays to deliver a robust experience worthy of rapid consumer adoption. While optimally balancing spectral efficiency, coverage, and power consumption, FLO cuts channel acquisition time to less than 2 seconds rivaling digital television.

By using the low frequency 700-MHz band, the FLO network requires only two or three broadcast towers per metropolitan area, or 30 to 50 times fewer towers than required by traditional cellular systems. To further enhance efficiency FLO requires only a single RF channel to support both wide and local area content.

Built from the ground up for mobility, FLO™ conserves battery power and maximizes "watch time." Understanding that mobile phones are multipurpose devices that also serve as address books, Internet portals, and gaming devices, the FLO technology design distinguishes the primary function as the ability to make and receive phone calls and ensures the conservative use of shared resources such as battery power. FLO optimizes power consumption through intelligent encoding and encapsulation to optimize the delivery of content over the FLO network. As a result, a MediaFLO-enabled phone can achieve battery life comparable to a conventional cellular phone while also providing an exciting new rich multimedia viewing experience.

Bhuvan's Photo

2007-05-14T22:35:00.000-07:00