The whole idea is about ’sharing the space on wedding invite cards to advertise’. Though idea seems innovative but i still have my doubts on its acceptability….(well who’s gonna take such risk that too with his wedding card)….but they are not ME…

so as One of the bright minds at TeamLease came up with idea of placing the recruitment ads on wedding invites so as to reach mass audience…..they agreed to do a pilot and luckily got someone who was getting married and was ready to experiment with his invite card. so his card looked something like this:

in lieu of this the company sponsored the invite card expenses and as mint reports..the experiment was pretty successful as it sounded to be….TeamLease got 40+ inquiries out of which 20+ people actually got placed.

So this what i call WIN-WIN-WIN situation…

Advertising company: happy- they got business

Wedding parties: Happy – invitation expenses FREE

Guests: Happy – Good fun..Good Food…Good Job !!

So Planning to get married…Contact TeamLease…Details in the pic above !!

1. Why DesiMartini??

2. Why $10 Million for that anyway??

i got to know about DesiMartini.com after meeting vivek pahwa at some conference and believe me after looking at the homepage i dint’ even feel like registering at the first place ( credit goes to its design) and started wondering who all are registering here and why (i am still wondering )…c’mon we already have facebook, orkut and they serve the purpose.

but as the news says desimartini is boasting of a decent user base of 2.5 lakh people with more than 2.5 million page views a month. good if its true but still i dont see these social networks going anywhere without adding any value to the concept. For HT i dont know how good this deal was (hope they know) but big congrats to vivek and his team. !!

Now i can understand why MingleBox.com received a funding of $7 Million or bigadda.com flowing mindless money on boom advertising or MIH funding ibibo.com but all in all as a web 2.0 entrepreneur the whole idea of creating another social network doesn’t excite me at all…ahh…but when i think about creating ‘close-to’ $10 million this seems the easiest path..what say Nikhil ??

Prashant just now showed me the financials of the complete plan which MTNL is going to offer to its Delhi and Mumbai subscribers. major change is that PC is not going to be of 4,500 but will be yours for 4,999. Details are as follows…

Tariff for the service is given below :-

1. Initially 500 customers will be provided in selected Areas only.

2. Booking will be done at Call Centre Numbers 22221500 / 1500 from 26.09.2007. Help line number is 1800- 115522.

The Best part is Subscriber has Nothing-to-Loose in case they dont like netPC , there is a Provision for BuyBack as well !! Read on:

• If the subscriber surrenders the netPC within first 3 Months then only Rs. 1,000 will be deducted and amount of 3,999 will refunded (provided no damage to the equipment)
• after 3 months the depreciation will be calculated @ Rs 200/month.

Dats amazing…even if you use it for 1 year by paying 4,999 then too if you surrender it back….Rs. 1,999 will be refunded…!!

for more details do have a look at MTNL netPC

with the recent introduction of NDNC (National-Do-Not-Call) Registry the irritation levels of the mobile subscribers were supposed to go down drastically BUT my experience says its happenening the other way round.

As a victim of telemarketing companies i used to receive more than “20 calls” (just imagine !!) a day for things ranging from credit cards to personal loans to insurance etc..etc..  and on some days even more than 20. i started feeling like a Call Center employee (an in-bound one ) whose job was to pick up the call, provide the calling ladies with the info they are asking for and try to solve their problems (read: help complete their targets).

yes , it happened to me on occassions when the sweet calling voices  asked me to add one more credit card to my wallet so that she will be able to compelete her target for this week.

Huh!!…finally the launch of NDNC was a relief (atleast i thought so..). but as per the current scene the things are getting worse. sample this convo:

Phone: Tringgg…Trinnngg !! (a gurgaon number)

Me: Hello?

Ms. X: Hello sir, i m calling on behalf of XYZ Bank and our bank is offering you a lifetime free credit card.

Me: [a bit Irritated] Thank you, i dont need it but tell me one thing HOW THE HELL YOU DARED TO CALL ME…dont you know about Do-Not-Call list??

Ms. X: [smiling..probably] yes sir i know and your number was not on NDNC..dats y i called !!!

and i was knocked out at the first question only….this really came as a surprise to me. Instead of this she could have told me DIRECTLY saying : “i called you because you are a fool who dint care to get registered on NDNC and we are going to harress all those people like you till they get their numbers registered”

suddenly she was sounding so wise and i was so Dumb & Stupid. so i kept the call at once and got my number registered with DNC for Hutch, but surprise was waiting for me the other day as well.

sample another convo the very next day:

Phone: Tringgg…Trinnngg !! (again a Gurgaon number)

Me: Hello?

Ms. X: Hello sir, i m calling on behalf of XYZ Bank (same bank) and our bank is offering you a lifetime free credit card.

Me: [Irritated like Helll..] HOW THE HELL YOU DARED TO CALL ME…I am already registered with NDNC Registry and i can screw you people for calling me like this. yestereday also i received a call from your bank….Grrr…Grrr…..

Ms. X: [smiling (again)....probably] yes sir, you might be on that list but your number has not been updated with the list yet and …dats y i called !!

Me: [furious] What the hell not updated…so that means you will keep bugging me like this till its not updated?????

Ms. X: Maybe Yes…[and...Disconnected]

She kept the phone and left me wondering

Has NDNC Registry given the telemarketeers a new excuse to bug mobile subscribers who have not registered??

Why is anybody (TRAI) not asking Tele-Marketing companies from where did they manage that database for calling ??

Shouldnt they be screwed for calling anyone only??

Let me have your views on it…..

MTNL in association with Chennai-based Novatium, is launching its Rs 4,500 PC, which will be there with an Internet connection for just a small monthly fee.

But how are they cutting the costs so low?? :O
That is where the Innovation lies…Computer to be called “netPC” will be a similar looking BOX which we call a PC but its a no-frills attached device that is not going to have a regular CPU or any storage hardware but it will be connected to a Centralized Local Server which is going to perform all the functions like Processing, data storage, running applications etc and will provide the Internet Access as well.

The best part is that according to Novatium the user will be free to choose between the Linux and windows as the operating systems..

now that’s what i call a Complete Package !!

so its going to be as simple as getting a Cable connection to your TV Set or a Broadband connection to your computer….and what i feel is that with this they can sell alott of other content based subscriptions to the netPC customers like Games, softwares, educational packages and even Cable TV connection (Why Not !!).

offer sounds greatt…so now lets see how good it turns out to be.

and yes….as of now netPC will be available to the MTNL Delhi and Mumbai customers only..so guyz Watch-out…