Star TV!

Star TV, a division of News Corp, signed up with Position2 for search engine marketing and SEO services. Star is Asia's leading media and entertainment company, serving more than 300 million viewers across 53 Asian countries with over 60 television services in nine languages. Every 100 million viewers watch Star.

Congrats to the team to putting this together! Now it's up to the Delivery team to show how well we can do.

Yahoo: Glad I Sold at $30

Tech acquisitions are difficult to do. Microsoft was hoping it could compel Yahoo to sell when it's stock fell to an incredible low of $18.58 a share. Offering $31 a share, Microsoft hoped that Yahoo management would agree to an acquisition. They threatened to go hostile by taking it to a shareholder vote, but as announced on Friday, they will not prevail.

After hearing about the acquisition, I immediately put in a sell order at $30. I figured the stock would not go to $31 unless Yahoo took the offer. If not, maybe Microsoft would raise, but there really not other bidders in a recessionary environment. Then we got lucky.... On one of the days, it a rumor came out that News Corp may counter. My sell order went through for the high of the day. Since then, the stock has remained in the $26-29 range.

Clearly, Yahoo's management and key shareholders did not want to sell. They felt the firm was undervalued. They have significant assets around the world and are #1 for traffic with a use base of Mail users. Yahoo's time on site numbers are amazingly high. Once a highflier, Yahoo is valued low because of Google's success in search. This is true, however, Yahoo's management was discounting the value of its other assets.

Technology acquisitions are notoriously difficult to pull off. Differing cultures cause all sorts of problems. The best people look to leave before the inevitable period of consolidation and rationalization. While integration is occurring, people take their eye off the ball, giving the competition an advantage. Meanwhile pursuing a hostile takeover is distracting to the acquirer. Microsoft's management realized this. They may have some properties, but nothing close to Yahoo's. Imagine the Pyrrhic victory of winning a hostile takeover while your new assets declines in value.

So now Yahoo's stock is in line for a difficult fall. No one wants to buy it and it's going to be a long time before all of Jerry Yang's strategy takes roots. They may tie up with Google for advertising, so that may raise revenue in the short term, but they need a way to fire people's imagination. Right now, social networks are hot. However, the internet and media market goes through all sorts of waves. Can Yahoo lead the next one?

So I'll buy again after the fall...

exchange4media: Position2 demystifies SEM at its Search Marketing Roundtable

As you all know our effort is around the world in developed and developing countries. We are pleased to have the operational infrastructure to work with clients around the world. Thanks to Tuhina for writing an insightful and accurate article...

Position2 demystifies SEM at its Search Marketing Roundtable

Author: Tuhina Anand

May 01, 2008

Position2 held its Search Marketing Roundtable at Bangalore, where the speakers discussed and shared key tips and techniques on Search Engine Optimisation, Pay Per Click Advertising (PPC) and Social Media Marketing (SMM). The session covered a gamut of issues on search engine marketing (SEM), including how to gain maximum from search marketing, misconceptions and myths of SEM and SMM, among others.

Rajiv Parikh, CEO, Position2 began by giving an overview of the online advertising industry and key SEM aspects. Parikh, during his session, spoke on pay per click advertising. He also emphasised on the fact that search engine should be made part of a company’s marketing budget. He said, “When SEM works, it is like black gold, but don’t expect results to happen right away. It’s a detail-oriented process.”

He also spoke about the importance of determining SEM goals, be it in terms of branding, traffic, lead generation or sales. He added, “The power of SEM is such that some small players can appear much bigger than central players on the Net as they might show up above them. Also, sometimes bigger players don’t pay for brand visibility on the Net, which is a mistake in today’s times.”

Tushar Prabhu, Manager-SEO, Position2, began with the basic of how a search engine worked. He said, “We must think of what the end-user is looking for, read the minds of the user to gain maximum from search marketing.”

Echoing Parikh, Prabhu too said that it was necessary to be visible to the customers. He offered a few tips to gain from searches, stating, search today was not just text but video and rich media as well, the inclusion of which pushed up the ranking of the search result.

“Build the site for users and make the content persuasive and compelling to the readers. Use analytics to track user behaviour and then tweak your site to offer better user experience. Keep file names simple and don’t include alphanumeric, the search doesn’t recognise those. Avoid duplication, organise content thematically, update content, make long-term commitment and, most importantly, avoid black hats (or using illegal ways to enhance search result),” Prabhu advised.

The Roundtable also saw a discussion on Social Media Marketing, which in today’s time, every marketer and media planner is trying to find ways to leverage on. Rajesh Sule, Director Business Development, Position2, said, “Social Media Marketing is a great platform to express, exchange and interact, but the challenge is to grab the attention of users as their attention span is limited.”

He further said, “One needs to find a homogenous set among the heterogeneous sets and then use mass customisation to reach out on the web. Another point is to engage the target group on various touchpoints to be able to influence them.”

© exchange4media 2008

Position2 Invited to Google AdWords Advisory Council

We are pleased to announce that Position2 has been invited to join the Google AdWords Advisory Council. Our top PPC specialists have been working with the Google AdWords optimization staff on beta testing new techniques, so we appreciate the opportunity to work further.

The reason our name is Position2 is because we focus on client ROI vs. the highest position. This is not ROI on clicks or lead, but in many cases on actual sales closes. This recognition is a validation of our approach.

200 Mile Relay - Sponsor Me for India Literacy

Dear Friends & Family,

On April 18-20, I plan on running The Relay (http://therelay.com), a 200 mile marathon relay to raise money for the India Literacy Project. This run goes from Calistoga to Santa Cruz. It crosses 36 cities including the Golden Gate Bridge at midnight. Like a marathon, I plan on running about 24 miles for my team of 12 (we plan for people to have "issues"), however this one occurs over 30 hour period over real hills at all hours of the day.

I'll get the running done. I need your help with the fundraising part. The India Literacy Project (http://ilp.net) is committed to putting children in school and out of manual labor. That means there are millions of children that are locked in a cycle of exploitation & poverty. Many have no choice but to work to support their families. The ILP takes a regional approach to establishing/strengthening schools, child care centers and libraries to get children out of the workforce and into schools. An important part of this is working closely with the community to build a culture of education. The results are impressive. A project in Ajmer, Rajesthan took 1000 children in 22 villages and got them out of the labor force and into school. This one program cost a modest $5,500 in 2007. ILP is incredibly efficient with admin costs less than 5%.

Please help make my run the difference maker. There are 2 ways to give. One is to write a check out to the India Literacy Project and send it to me (3910 Duncan Place, Palo Alto CA). The other is to make a donation online (see below). Either way, please let me know (need trash talk fodder for the van ride).

Thank you so much for your support!

-Rajiv

Here are the instructions for an online donation:

1. Visit http://www.ilpnet.org/donatenow.html

2. Click on "Donate Now" button

3. Enter Amount to Donate

4. Under "Designation (Optional)" Form Field, Type "ILP Relay Team"

5. Under "Dedication (Optional)" Form Field, Enter "Rajiv Parikh" (for tracking)

6. Enter email address and login

7. Once logged in, provide required credit card information to complete the donation

WebGuild Blog about Google Sale Performics

It was great to hear that Google decided to sell Performics, an SEM agency. Check out my quote. If ever there was a violation of the "Do not evil" mantra of Google, it would have been maintaining ownership of the firm. Google would have had a hard time telling people that no one has a special advantage in winning on organic and paid search rankings while owning an SEM firm.

On top of that, it would have disrupted relationships with firms that help grow advertiser search engine ad spend. It would have been like an automaker owning a large dealer group - not good.

Smart move Google!

PPC: When Position Matters

In PPC, you are typically looking for the lowest cost of conversion or CPL (cost per lead). Then you apply the sales conversion rate and voila!, you have optimized for cost of acquisition. Position only matter to the extent that you get the appropriate volume.

What if you have a premium product? What if it's an emotional purchase?

Then top position will matter.

We have a client that sells a consumer emergency service. It's an emotional purchase where the buyer can go one of 2 ways: buy right away with a "high quality" service or price compare to get the basic set of functionality.

The focus was on getting the appropriate lead volume at the right cost given the sales close rate. However, given that the price of the product was higher, the sales close rate was low. If the client's ad appeared as position 5 in a list of similar competitors, they would lose out as those purchasers are making decisions based on price.

So we ran an experiment. Take the most relevant keywords, bid high to gain top position and see what happened.

The result: Close rates went up 150%, CPLs went up over 30%, cost of acquisition fell by greater than 50%.

The upshot: Customers perceived high quality by high position. Though the cost of the client solution was 100% higher than the competition, they increased sales to the right target customer.

More Apieron Articles

The articles on the breakthrough Apieron eNO product are starting to come out. One is on the front page of the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal. The other is the Medical Device Daily Newsletter.

First the Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal:

Better Insight on asthma

Apieron develops a simple-to-use monitor that helps individuals manage the disease

by Lisa Shelby

Dr. Bhairavi Parikh doesn't let her 10-year-old daughter Shivani go outside if it's cold without wrapping her head in scarves.

Shivani was diagnosed three years ago with asthma, and the cold weather can set off the chronic disease that causes inflammation and constriction of the airways and lungs. Parikh describes the feeling "like being a fish out of water." It's a disease that can result in shortness of breath, wheezing and, in extreme cases, death.

Asthma accounts for one-quarter of all emergency room visits in the United States annually, with two million emergency room visits in 2001, according to the American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology. Approximately 44 percent of all asthma hospitalizations are children.

Menlo Park-based Apieron Inc. -- a private, venture-backed company -- was formed in early 2001 to develop a simple-to-use monitor to help manage the disease. The device, called Insight eNO, measures exhaled nitric oxide (NO). NO is a marker for inflammation and offers a means of monitoring a patient's response to anti-inflammatory treatment. Asthmatics are treated primarily by inhaling a type of steroid hormone called corticosteroids to help fight infection and reduce inflammation, and the Insight eNO system assists physicians in determining the proper medication.

The rest of the article is available for paid subscribers. I will post the rest once Apieron gets access to the full article.


The second is the Medical Device Daily newsletter:

'A glucometer for asthmatics'

FDA clears Apieron's Insight to personalize asthma therapy

By LYNN YOFFEE
Medical Device Daily Staff Writer

The competition is heating up to corner the market on personalized care for 20 million asthmatics in the U.S. with new technology that allows physicians to test fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FENO), a measurement for assessing asthma-related airway inflammation.

Earlier this month, Aerocrine (New Providence, New Jersey) received FDA 510(k) clearance of Niox Mino, a hand-held point-of-care device for the measurement of airway inflammation (Medical Device Daily, March 7, 2008). Now, Apieron (Menlo Park, California) reports its Insight eNO system also was cleared for marketing. Both devices are intended to be used in a physician's office and provide instant readouts of a patient's inflammatory process and predict response to therapy.

"Inflammation is currently treated by inhaled corticosteroids," Rich Lotti, Apieron president/CEO, told Medical Device Daily. "Our Insight eNO is designed to measure the amount of exhaled nitric oxide in the breath. It's the primary biomarker for inflammation of the lungs. Physicians prescribing corticosteroids will want our device to help them decide to increase or decrease dosages."

The Insight eNO includes a small desktop monitor with a display, trend analysis capabilities and a user-friendly interface. The system uses disposable, single-use sensors to measure nitric oxide accurately and non-invasively.

Since this is a subscriber-only journal, I will post the article when it is available on Apieron's website.

Fanenomics

My 12 year old son has just set up his own blog, Fanenomics. He comments on his assessments of major league players and sports. Arjun is the kind of kid who considers Bill James and Billy Beane cool. In ProTrade, a sports trading site, he's making huge profits. He actually prefer general manager mode in all sports video games and is running a number of sports sim league - scary, I know. Arjun's a real fan, combining opinion with data. So, if you are a sports stat junkie, check out Fanenomics.

The Guild Wins YouTube Best Video Series Award

YouTube announced that The Guild won for YouTube Best Video 2007 Series Award! They also won the Yahoo 2007 Best Web Series Award! Our very own Effinfunny creator, Sandeep Parikh, co-stars with Guild creator Felicia Day. Sandeep plays the hyper-compulsive lovestruck Zaboo in the "real life" multi-player series game obsessed Codex (Felicia).

Even for non-gamers, the series becomes addictive. I love how Sandeep improvs a lot of his lines. Please see my favorite episide at Effinfunny.com, "Cheesybeards."

Check out all the news on this amazing series.

Congrats to Felicia and The Guild writers, cast and crew!

Social Media Presentation at Web 2.0 Conference

I recently spoke on a Social Media panel at the Web 2.0 Conference. During this session we discussed how Social Media and Advertising techniques can be used to gain visibility and increase traffic.

I discussed case studies of how social media sites like Facebook, YouTube and others can be used to increase traffic for 2 B2C firms: Effinfunny and ResponseLINK. As an online comedy video site, Effinfunny could directly target interested groups with engaging videos. They monetize via advertising, so what matters to them is traffic and time on site. For ResponseLINK, they monetize using a monthly subscription service for their medical alarm systems for home-based seniors.

Effinfunny was able to see a 200% increase in traffic over a 2 month period last year. That increase has been durable and growing since them. In their case, they use tools like TubeMogul to periodically place videos at a number of video sharing sites. They also have a group in Facebook and MySpace. Efforts like these are optimized to focus on time on site, bounceback rates and registrations. In their case, it's important to get in front of the passionate audience of stand-up comedy fanatics. A side benefit of this has been excellent search rank in Google for the keywords that matter.

ResponseLINK saw a 200% increase in non-PPC traffic by engaging with discussion sites, forums, and yes, even social media sites. People are very passionate about taking care of their parents. Because ResponseLINK offers a high quality approach, they need to engage with their audience to alert them on the things they should care about when using these types of products. This includes a self-monitoring system (for uptime), medication reminders, and when something happens, a well-trained agent who will stay on the line with the senior until help arrives. There's a great set of ResponseLINK videos that discuss why adult children bought the system as an aid for their previously strong and independent parents. This video actually ranks higher than others that employ a fear based approach.

Thanks to Daya from WebGuild for inviting us to speak. Barbara Coll of WebMama did an excellent job of moderating with Cam Blazer and Kent Lindstrom and myself as panelist. She has a nice writeup on her blog about the session.

If you want a copy of my presentation - please let me know.

AAAAI Apieron Booth Picture

Here's a picture taken by Bryan Flaherty, Apieron VP of R&D on Sunday morning (3/16/2008). You can see some of our top players, Sal (sales) and Vivek (Marketing, previously Engineering). Of course, there's the Apieron Insight and the main heading: Now FDA Cleared!

Breakthrough Asthma Management Device

Apieron, Inc. Announces FDA Clearance of the Insight™ eNO System to Assist Physicians with Patient Asthma Management

Physician’s office system for measuring airway inflammation poised to transform asthma management for improved control.

MENLO PARK, CA, MARCH 17, 2008, Apieron, Inc. Apieron, Inc. (www.apieron.com) announced today that the Insight eNO system has received clearance to market by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The Insight eNO system measures exhaled nitric oxide (eNO) which is a well established indicator of airway inflammation and asthma control. The Insight system is a highly accurate device, expressly designed for the physician’s office. It is non-invasive, safe, easy to use, and provides results in less than a minute. Apieron’s unique biosensor detects trace amounts of nitric oxide molecules in a single human breath utilizing a proprietary technology. Current methods and techniques used to diagnose, monitor and treat asthma are costly, time-consuming and cumbersome. Physician office measurement of eNO is a much awaited breakthrough in medical technology that provides physicians with a reliable tool to measure their patient’s respiratory inflammation better than ever before. Measurement of eNO has also been shown to optimize medication therapy and improve compliance among patients with asthma.

William Berger, MD, Clinical Professor of Pediatrics, University of California, Irvine, and Mission Viejo Medical Center, Mission Viejo, California, stated, “In clinical studies with the Apieron Insight eNO monitor, I found the ability to easily and accurately measure eNO in the physician’s office to be a major advancement in my care for patients with persistent asthma.”

It is estimated that more than 20 million people in the U.S. suffer from asthma, making it one of the most common and costly of all diseases. In fact, every day in America 40,000 people miss school or work due to asthma and 5,000 people go to the emergency room due to an asthma attack. One-quarter of all emergency room visits are asthma related and asthma is the most common chronic childhood disease.

“We are pleased to offer physicians and their patients a reliable, accurate and affordable asthma measurement and management device,” said Rich Lotti, President and CEO of Apieron, Inc., “We believe this product will improve the standard of care for patients with asthma enabling physicians to optimize medical therapy for each patient.

"The availability of simple to use, accurate, and economically feasible eNO measurement devices now enables physicians to intelligently assess and manage the key pathologic feature of asthma, airway inflammation", said Peter B. Boggs, M.D., Clinical Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine, LSU School of Medicine, Shreveport, Louisiana. "Prior to the availability to measure eNO, assessing and managing airway inflammation was, for all practical purposes, little more than a guess! The ability to measure eNO in the physician's office is "one giant step" in the care of adults and children with asthma."

The Insight eNO system includes a small desktop monitor with an easy-to-read display, trend analysis capabilities and a user-friendly interface. The system uses disposable, single-use sensors to measure nitric oxide accurately and non-invasively in less than a minute. Disposable, single-use breath tubes make it hygienic and convenient for the user to exhale into the device. Patient data can be stored and maintained in unique patient cards for trend analysis or downloaded to a printer for insurers’ and patients’ files.

About Apieron Inc.
Apieron Inc. is a private, venture-backed medical device company based in Menlo Park, CA that was formed in early 2001 to develop a simple-to-use, non-invasive monitor for the measurement of exhaled nitric oxide (eNO) for the management of asthma. The Apieron biosensor technology platform utilizes a patented platform technology that allows for the highly sensitive detection of selected analytes like eNO. Apieron is committed to collaborating with physicians and patients to develop innovative medical solutions to improve quality of life and standards of care.

Refer Questions to:
Holly McGarraugh Apieron, Inc.
650-454-8101 (ph)
650-454-8190 (fax)

Apieron Receives FDA Approval

Today Apieron received notification of FDA approval for the new Apieron Insight eNO System. This was the result of a long journey for Bhairavi and myself. We were absolutely thrilled to hear the official word the day before AAAI in Philadephia. That means we can take orders for this product. We first started this quest in 2001 and are thrilled to get to this point. Finally, physicians can truly understand and manage asthma for the millions of people in the US and around the world that suffer from this disease.

We thank all those at Apieron who worked so hard to develop and commercialize the technology. You believed in us and put your heart into your work, spending countless hours in every phase of process: R&D, product & process development, clinical, regulatory, marketing, legal, reimbursement, finance, and manufacturing. So many partners worked with us on every phase - some for little more than the promise of a great dream. Our initial and current investors helped not only with money, but with time, commitment and expertise. We appreciate all your help and are excited about getting this in the hands of allergists, pulmonologists, pediatrians, GPs, nurses and technicians can make a huge difference for the 20 million asthma sufferers in the US.

Imagine the opportunity to create a brand new market with a revolutionary product. The Apieron Insight is the first step in turning the art of asthma management into a science.

So many people supported us that it will take 3 days of calls to thank everyone. This an amazing point because it removes the one risk that we could not control.

Now it's execution time - hit the the pedal to the metal!

Interesting Recession Chart

The stock market keeps dropping. This is a leading, though in this case belated sign of recession. This has been coming for some time as commodity prices and demand became overheated. Keeping interest rates so low for so long created a tremendous housing bubble that is affecting many. Overseas, globalization has resulted in rising wages, especially for skilled labor.

Check out this graph published in NYT's Freakonomics blog:


The graph indicates growth or decline in non-farm payroll. Down is bad, up is generally good. The gray bars are recession periods as defined by the National Bureau of Economic Research. I'm hoping that this does not last long, but we are crossing 0.1%.

What to do if you are in search marketing? As stated in a previous blog, I believe that those who are in the game will spend more here, because the results can be tracked at every stage. Most businesses need to invest in new customer acquisition, regardless of the economy. We have the people, process and technology to get them there.

Luckily for us, we have clients that help those in heavy debt like Bills.com or those concerned about foreclosure like Home Assure. We are also expanding in Southeast Asia, an area that is absolutely booming, and Europe, where the euro and pound are super strong. We also have some really cool ideas under wraps for tools and business concepts.

Security Gone Silly

Here's an interesting one. Yesterday, I went to check out Effinfunny and could not view some of the videos. After checking with a friend, it turned out that he (Sam) could run them just fine. However, Sam was outside my office. He said to check Revver.com and then MySpace. I got this error:

This site is blocked by the SonicWall Content Filter Service.

URL: http://www.myspace.com/

Reason for restriction: Forbidden Category "Adult/Mature Content"

Turns out that the guys at SonicWALL way overdid their firewall software. It's one thing if I was checking some bondage site - "research" in the Internet Marketing business - but c'mon. This is way over the top.

It's one thing to get searched three times while walking between terminals at Frankfurt or Heathrow and having to discombobulate yourself for all sorts of random fears. But this restricts hurts legimate businesses. Someone creates a site about Internet Marketing, posts videos in Revver and uses them as they video player, but finds out that many of his target audience can't see the video. Now people can always complain to IT, they aren't necessarily going to call their network admins and tell them to enable MySpace traffic.

So we've sent this to the SonicWALL folks. Hope they fix this. Hope other firms don't go security-silly.

Marketing During a Recession

John Quelch, Marketing Professor at Harvard Business School discussed how to market during a recession in his HBS Working Knowledge blog. He generally takes the point of view that this is a time to strengthen your advantage rather than cut back as it pays tremendous dividends in market share, customer and employee loyalty when the market turns around.

Amongst his points, the following reasonated with me:

Research your customer: since customers will be redefining their value equation, you need to learn more about which features are considered must-haves and the price elasticity curve.

Maintain marketing spending: this is a time where an advertiser can greater value for their marketing dollar. Customers are looking for reassurance during this time and the company that markets will appear even more solid before. In industries where brand value is high, this is a time to increase durable market share. If marketing spend must be cut, substitute less expensive forms of marketing - radio vs. TV, direct marketing over pure branding.

Adjust pricing tactics: rather than cutting list prices which create a new threshold that is difficult to raise during an upturn have more temporary price promotions, reduce thresholds for quantity discounts, extend credit to long-standing customers, and price smaller pack sizes more aggressively.

Emphasize core values: rather than cutting back on employees or services, this is a time to focus more energy on existing customers and retaining the best employees. This buys incredible loyalty for when the economy turns around.

Quelch also discussed finding ways to add the distribution channel, adjusting product portfolios and focusing on market shares. Most of these are strategies when you have a strong cash balances and favorable profit margins. It would be interesting to hear what he would cut if it was necessary, but I suspect it has a lot of do with researching the products value proposition and adjusting accordingly.

Idol Projection: David Archuleta Wins

Since I'm nearing 40, I can admit that I watch American Idol with the kids. I gotta tell you the winner is going to be.... David Archuleta. He's simply the best of a very good field of men - a group for the first time that is stronger than the women. The way he did the Lennon song, "Imagine" could have been a disaster because it is heartfelt and powerful in its simplicity. It does not, however, stretch a person vocally. David did it all. He has that connection with the audience. It was unbelievable. He's gotta win.

Reflections from India and Singapore

I just returned to the US after a whirlwind 1 week trip in India and Singapore. This time we accomplished quite a bit - reviews of progress with the Client Management, Delivery, Tech and Administrative Team along with some focused business development activity. Rather than recounting each aspect of the trip, here are some random observations...

- Singapore Airlines great, Euro/US airlines so-so to suck. I fly coach, it's shareholder money y'know, but nothing beats the service of Singapore. You are treated like a real person as opposed to cattle. Friendly stewardesses that get you whatever you want whenever you want. I'm not saying that because they choose so well or dress attractively. It's all the other stuff too: a menu with drinks to order and well-presented meals (silverware, no plastic) with ice cream desert, a 10 inch personal screen with a massive on-demand selection, little care packet and just a generally good attitude. Everything they give you is just a little better than other airlines. They don't make you feel bad that you went coach vs. business class. The price was similar to Lufthansa and United, but the aircraft was newer and fresher. Rather than previewing the latest chick flicks for my wife on old burned out cathode ray screens, I took advantage of 6 movies, 3 TV shows, 4 book summaries and 1 Hindi course in the 40 hours of travel.

- Mumbai airport super fast and low on hassle, Bangalore needs lots of help. Bangalore can't get a new international airport soon enough. I don't know how many deals have not happened as a result of a terrible airport experience. Bangalore, now the mouthful Bangaluru, is overcrowded to get your bags. It's like warfare as people create gridlock with baggage carts and pushy people trying to box out for their spot. Then you are accosted by taxi guys as you walk out. It's hard to find to the driver sent for you while these guys are in your face. Finally, there's a mess of a drive off spot where the accosting behavior continue. Normally, people from Bangalore are fairly shy and very service-oriented. This stuff just puts prospective deal makers off. In Mumbai this is not the case. People wait behind the line and you can sign up for a prepaid taxi before you leave the quieter confines of the airport. To get in, you don't have to endure long lines to get security-checked in. Or watch as self-important Europeans pay off baggage handlers to get them in front of the line. None of them actually carry bags, they just remind Indians of that Raj mentality - just needs to end. As you can tell, it burns me because I see the potential of a great country.

- Prices rising everywhere. It's not just gas prices in the US, it's salaries in India and costs in Singapore. The age of globalization has brought on an age of demand for skills and products - across the board. The cost of a movie ticket is about $5 in Mumbai - hey that's not far off. Though the seats were sold out, they were not filled. A lot of people can afford to blow off the movies. In Singapore, a lunch entree at a mid-level restaurant cost $10-15. It still costs less in India, though our night of drinks and snacks (no entree) at the posh Pause in Mumbai cost $300. Shots of Jagermeister costs just as much as the US.

- Salaries will meet the US slowdown...er recession. There are young adults in Bangalore that have known nothing but 20-100% salary increases year after year. With companies laying off 1000s in India due to a slowdown in growth and a rising rupee, harsh reality will set in. If you want to do better, do better work. Employers will not consider 4 months in the job as anything resembling real experience.

- Quality is rising. The level of foreign investment in India and Asia has raised quality expectations. In Japan, this took time before cars went from poor quality in the 60's to high quality in the 80's. In India, I've seen people respond very quickly. People are so eager to do well, I've seen turnarounds in as little as 2 months. As the quality expectation gets built in, competitiveness will need to rise in developed counties.

- US retail still the most efficient. I thought that prices for electronics in Singapore would be low due to its proximity to China. I thought that brand name clothing would be cheaper in India due to lower salaries. Same thing for hotel prices. A room at the Intercontinental in Mumbai goes for $500/night (and there's no pool), Dockers in Bangalore costs $40, a Canon HD video camcorder goes for $1200 vs. $660 on Amazon.com in Singapore. Except for groceries and souveniers, US retail is king.

- Cranes everywhere. I saw at least 20 cranes in the Mumbai skyline and at least a dozen in Singapore. I hope they've figured how to get people to all those places. I'm sure Singapore has - it's the model of hyperefficiency.

- Pollution...argh. It's a big deal in India. People really need to get involved and do something about it. Even with the price advantage of CNG and LPG, not enough people have converted. There are still too many rickshaws, scooters, cars, buses and trucks spewing all kinds of toxic stuff out of those tailpipes. I've stopped running in India - walking is enough indoors. I feel for all those kids. It took the US 30 years to turn it around. I hope India finds a way to do it as well. It's an amazing country that has progressed in so many ways. The people just have to want it.

- Singapore... an expat heaven. There are a lot US expats in Singapore. It's understandable why. Everything is first class - the dining, shopping, clubs, infrastructure. Singapore has an unbelievable airport with direct connections to everywhere in Asia. It's a super clean city where as long as you play by the rules you can do anything you want. There's are even government sanctioned brothels, something that the cab drivers are happy to tell you about. Take that, Thailand! I've seen the super-efficient business side. I hope in my next trip I see some of the soul.

- Happy to be home. My family let me sleep this weekend. Ready to hit the ground running.

Microsoft: Why is Quality So Hard?

You would think that with Microsoft bidding for Yahoo, I would be writing about my opinion of it (it's good if they can execute extremely well). Instead, I want to reflect on how we deal with such lower quality expectations with Microsoft dominated products. Today, at the San Jose Tech Museum, a number of exhibits were down due to application freezes, execution errors, or just the blue screen of death. This combines with my daily battle with Outlook - every time I don't clean out my Inbox, my whole computer freezes. Applications endlessly need to be restarted.

Why is this so difficult? You would think that a company that has been in business for 23 years would have found a way to make it's product bulletproof. If you talk to people in the company, there is a preponderance of brilliant people. Yet, after multiple iterations of the OS and Office application set, there are continuous quality and performance issues. Microsoft could tell the hardware folks exactly what they want. They could tell the peripheral and component makers exactly how they want products to interface with the OS. Yet, for whatever reason they don't do it well. Here's one example: my son has an XBox which we recently threw away because it crashed and will not start up again. Microsoft controls every aspect of that box. Yet his old (and new) Playstation keep motoring on.

Even upgrades confuse people. Our CFO is an Excel expert yet he has lost functionality with Excel 2007. On Outlook 2007, I still can't find the Picture toolbar to crop images. You'd think an upgrade would give you more multimedia functionality.

Now as an SEM agency, we love Microsoft because they provide an alternative network for search and advertising content, even though we suffer highly functional, low reliability interface (everyone in SEM knows what I'm talking about). However, I'd ask the good smart folks at Microsoft to spend their energy on 2 things - reliability and performance. That would be good for all of us and truly cement their hold on computing.