Leaving aside the debate on vegetarians vs. non-vegetarians, a sumptuous meal usually has chicken as one of the ingredients. But we seldom pay attention to the mechanics behind producing that chicken (broiler chicken as it is popularly called).

The broiler production flow starts from the receipt of imported Grand Parent (GP) chicks at Grand Parent Farms. The life cycle of Grand Parent Chick is:

0 – 4 Weeks – Brooding Stage

5 – 23 Weeks – Growing Stage

24 – 64 Weeks – Egg Laying Stage

Note: – The laying may continue after 64 Weeks till culling

The feed for the Grand Parents is dispatched by Feed Mills based on the indent from Grand Parent Units. The Premix and Health Care items are received from Premix & Health Care Units. The other medicines and vaccines are purchased either locally or through centralized purchase and are issued to the farms on need basis. The eggs collected from Grand Parent Breeder Farms are sent to Grand Parent Breeder Cool Rooms. After grading of eggs in the Grand Parent Breeder Cool Room the eggs are sent to Grand Parent Hatchery Cool Room. The graded eggs are sent from Hatchery Cool Room to Setter for egg setting. After 18 days the eggs are moved from Setter to Hatcher. The Parent Stock (PS) chicks come out on 21st day and are sent to PS Farms. After laying period the GP Cull Birds are sold in the outside Market.

The PS chicks received from GP Hatchery are placed in PS Farms. PS Chick life cycle is similar to that of a GP chick:

0 – 4 Weeks – Brooding Stage

5 – 23 Weeks – Growing Stage

24 – 64 Weeks – Egg Laying Stage

Note: – The laying may continue after 64 Weeks till culling.

The feed for PS Chick is dispatched by Feed Mills based on the indent from PS Units. The Premix and Health Care items are received from Premix & Health Care Units. The other medicines and vaccines are purchased either locally or through centralized purchase and are issued to the farms on need basis. The eggs collected from PS Breeder Farms are sent to PS Breeder Cool Rooms. After grading of eggs in the Breeder Cool Room the eggs are sent to Ps Hatchery Cool Room. The graded eggs are sent from Hatchery Cool Room to Setter for egg setting. After 18 days the eggs are moved from Setter to Hatcher. The Broiler chicks come out on 21st day and are either transferred to Broiler Farms or sold to external Traders. After the laying period the PS Cull Birds are sold to the external Traders.

The Day Old Broiler Chicks (BR DOC) received from PS Hatchery are placed in Broiler Farms. Based on feed indent from broiler branches the feed is dispatched from the Feed Unit either to the respective Broiler Farms or to the common delivery point directed by the broiler branch. The Premix and Health Care items are received from the respective units based on the indent. The other medicines and vaccines are purchased either locally or through centralized purchase and are issued to the farms on need basis. One Broiler Branch may have 60-75 farms and these farms are grouped under “Lines” and one Line Supervisor is responsible for the line. The Line Supervisor visits the farms daily and records the mortality, feed in-take, feed stock, etc and gives necessary instruction to the farmer. The 6 weeks old broiler birds are either sold to the external traders or transferred to the consumer products division.

And these integrated world class companies actually have ERP systems in place to manage the complexities. So next time while having chicken burger at KFC, give a thought to the origin of the chicken.

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According to Smith, the value in exchange is the power of a commodity to purchase other goods and whose objective measure is expressed in the market. A virtual adaptation of this want-based value in exchange now exists, also called – “Bitcoins” (Currency: B). Ever heard of it before? Perhaps you have not been labeled as one of those into-the-digital world technology geeks whose life revolves around the digital space and virtual worlds. Not that I am one either, but hey, then we all know that curiosity killed the cat. I came to know of Bitcoin’s existence while with a media and entertainment start-up, previously in my career, with which I was engaged with, devising and supporting partnership strategy for payment gateways. That’s how I foremost got introduced to Bitcoins; that’s how the inquisitiveness built-up.

So what is a Bitcoin? – It is world’s first digital currency that was devised in 2009 by a programmer called, or atleast he/ she is believed to be called, Satoshi Nakomoto. Bitcoins are digital currencies (coins) that are earned by solving real-time networking security problems. These coins then can be traded for real currencies on exchanges (where Bitcoin’s are traded), or for goods from certain businesses that accept them. Now read this: Bitcoin is a concept run by internet users and not by any business or bank. The concept of exchanging Bitcoins needs only a computer, an internet network, and a flash drive, which also acts as your locker. Since the concept has been devised on open source, anyone can view the code and hence you must have basic computer security knowledge to ensure that there is no digital theft or hacks. Still confused on how it works? Ok so try this analogy – ever heard of peer-to-peer music sharing – hello Napster: the bane to the media and entertainment industry, and a boon to the pirates. If you haven’t heard about Napster, then it is about time to you get your basics right. Coming back to the point, the Bitcoins work like peer-to-peer music sharing networks, except that they are a decentralized internet society. The demand for the same grows as long as the internet users use Bitcoins and circulate it.

Bitcoin has no banks to report to, nor it is associated with one (remember I mentioned, the concept is driven by users and users alone), so you just end up saving extra $$$ that you always wanted to in order to avoid paying those extra commissions and fees to set-up and maintain an account. In other words, it has no central monetary authority to monitor the transactions online, which only means that is unlikely to expand beyond a few niche segments such as the online gamblers, hackers and other ill repute behind the screen underground characters. Some good things about the use of this digital currency are that transactions across the globe become easier – and moreover it is free. Also your account is never frozen or kept inactive – so you can now plan on an epic timeless expedition across the globe without stressing about what happened to your account. It also forms a great way of conducting easy transactions for petite and freelance businesses. Wouldn’t you want to have such a thing when you aren’t investing that much? And yes, you need not worry about the inflation, since the supply of the digital coins is done at a predetermined rate. At the time the concept began the value of one Bitcoin was approximately about 60 US cents, and at the time of this blog post, it is already trading at approximately US $15. You may want to check the website ‘Mt.Gox’, that allows trading of US Dollars (USD) for Bitcoins or Bitcoins for USD, 24/7 – now wouldn’t you want such a hassle-free, round-the-clock control on your money?

Upshot: Stock markets interest me in general, and I found the concept of Bitcoin quite fascinating and interesting especially looking at the two year currency valuation. As per Reuters, approximately $130 million worth of Bitcoins are now in existence, but the number is not expected to explode enormously. But like any other currency, a Bitcoin’s worth also fluctuates with demand. Since Bitcoin is a system run by users, the understanding is that it will either see an extensive recognition or it will not. It will by no means go away until people decide to bring it to an end. It will keep running as long as the users have the will and ability to keep it going. Bitcoins, a very good concept, is probably attracting large number of eyeballs in the digital space, but because of the lack of a central monetary authority they are probably disaster-prone. It is all but a giant digital ponzi scheme ready to burst soon.

p.s: the views disseminated by the author remains his own or based on his understanding over the content widely discussed in the digital world. The author has also taken into account some information which are publicly available. Image source: from varied sources on the internet.

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The number one barrier which is holding most people back from achieving their company’s or even their own full potential is their inability to make decisions. Decision making is not only a science but also an art which must be practiced and improvised continuously. Here are the seven commandments that would help in nurturing good decision making ability…

Good decision making comes from complete clarity and rightful confidence. For this one has to step back from his or her current portfolio of work and take a look at bigger picture on a regular basis. The number one barrier which is holding most people back from achieving their companies (or even their own) full potential is their inability to make decisions. Here are the seven commandments that would help in nurturing good decision making ability…

1. Take it !

The first and foremost important commandment in good decision making is – to take decision ! Lack of decision or procrastination lead you to failure. On the contrary, taking a prompt decision and then navigating through it while fine tuning can be better option. And therefore the first important commandment is – take the decision rather than hanging in.

2. Consensus is not always good

Yes – you heard me correctly. There are tough times when consensus is useless. If everyone in the organization is on the same page then usually there is no need for having separate consensus. However, when there are different views about making the final decision; someone has to take the lead – and this someone is always the leader.

3. Be strong and tenacious

Solutions are always simple; just that they might difficult to execute and follow-through. But again, rewards are better too. All one has to do is – be strong, remain so and persuage the decision until its end to see fruitful results. Tenacity pays off !

4. Use primary and quality information

Information is critical input for every decision making process and therefore it is imperative that information is of the best quality. Whenever you face any burning issue, make sure that you get all the information – first hand. If it involves more number people to provide so; have them all together – present at once. Secondhand information may come with some vital omission or some vital yet divergent insertion. In either case it is too dangerous to use it diretly; esp. when decision is critical one.

5. Decide for vision

There are a very few exceptions when some decisions are made by keeping titles, emotions or egos aside. Keeping vision and greater goal in mind helps. This not only makes decision making easy but also keeps focus steady which can lead to better and faster decisions.

6. Prefer quality over quantity

There is always a laundry list of issues to be tackled. Handling them all may not be a good option. Prioritize all and take them one by one. Early you do the prioritization, better it goes. If the issues are not mutually exclusive; you will often see that solving bigger one removes many smaller ones.

7. Eliminate it, change it or bear with it !

I always follow this fundamental principle in my daily life – business as well as personal. Whenever faced with some problem, there are just three options. First and the most preferred option is to eliminate the problem, forever from the root. Second acceptable choice is to conquer and change the situation to your favour. And if both fail, then accept it as-is and bear with it forever. This may not be sweet enough, but there is no option left anyway.

Keep these points in mind always and see amazing results. Decision making is not only a science but also an art which must be practiced and improvised continuously. Above commandments are just the beginning to it.

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Following is a guest post by Satej Salvi

The much expected Uniform Code for Pharma Marketing Practices (UCPMP) was finally released by the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) on June 2^nd, 2011. It curbs any kind of gifts to doctors, restricts hospitality and meetings, prescribes guidelines around promotional material including drug samples and expects detailed accounting of expenditures on all marketing related activities. Currently the implementation would be monitored through empowered committees at each association. Being rolled out as a code of conduct for the first six months, what is much needed is eventual evolvement into a law which will not just regulate marketing practices but will also lay down parameters for a healthy relationship between the Pharma companies and the physician community.

Resistance is expected for any such regulation clamping down on the way the Pharma companies attract business, considering that the challenges faced by the industry are many fold. Firstly, the industry is fragmented with around 30000 drug manufacturers and atleast 200 mainstream marketing companies – both big and small and with different marketing strategies. The marketing budgets would differ and also their perspective when it comes to building relationship with doctors. Secondly, the Drug Price Control order (DPCO) covers roughly 20% of all drugs sold in the country. This leaves the consumers vulnerable to expensive brands pushed through doctors as a result of aggressive marketing by few companies.  Thirdly, with Indian economy and companies going global, it is required that the ethics and practices of the industry match up to international standards. For example in the US, the Department of Health and Human Service serves as a watchdog for any unfair or illegitimate practices. Moreover, there is non-tolerance to any reported corrupt practice by the Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC). Companies found guilty are forced to cough up hefty fines and their stocks take a beating on the Wall Street. It is interesting to note that until this day, there is no regulation on marketing practices of the Pharma companies in India, a market that is globally the third largest in terms of volume of production. What existed were guidelines issued by MCI (Medical Council of India) which were binding on the physicians and threatened them with stiff consequences (like cancellation of registration if found guilty of non-compliance). It has also been observed that some physicians have started declining any gifts/benefits from the companies. Irony is in the fact that the beneficiary is liable for action, while the benefactor isn’t.

The companies, in their race to get a larger pie of ‘Rx’ were indulging in practices almost bordering the unethical, because of which the DoP took a firm stand and initiated a process to evolve a mechanism to prevent companies from ‘bribing’ doctors. Industry sources cite that many firms spend on expensive gifts, in certain cases even distribute cheques and cash, not just to the doctors but also their kin. Those with a financial muscle have splurged on foreign trips to exotic locales (along with families) under the pretext of CME events (Continuous Medical Education). Spends on doctors are huge, considering that creating awareness about your brand among the doctors is the one and only way to market them for a non-OTC industry of this nature.

Going forward, the DoP would definitely be under pressure to legalize the regime. The industry will need to proactively embrace the provisions and work more innovatively towards designing their marketing strategies. At the same time they will need to strengthen internal controls for their promotional activities. MNC’s generally have well drafted internal policies which are compliant to Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and Sarbanes Oxley (SOX) Act and operate in a relatively sound ethical environment. General feeling is that most companies tend to bow down to the high-handedness of their sales teams, naturally so, considering that the cash inflow is dependent on them. They would now need to focus on building a robust internal control system revolving around various compliances to the DoP’s guidelines which sooner or later will take shape of a law. Companies would need to relook at their policies which would need significant alignment with the regulations subsequently introduced. They would need to define limits on the spends and lay down responsibilities of process owners involved in execution of promotional activities, procurement of materials and services required for them and also monitor compliance for all these activities. It will involve checks and balances to track how much, how well and how frequently the company spends on each physician and each marketing activity undertaken by multiple departments/specialties within the same organization and across different geographical locations. A sustainable framework needs to be structured and well designed reporting and monitoring mechanism to be developed to provide the management (and regulatory authorities if the need be) with reasonable assurance regarding the promotional practices of their company. Also a no-nonsense feedback and redressal mechanism with independent members would need to be setup to collect and handle any grievances or complaints that may prop up. An environment like this would also need good amount of support from the data systems which will need alignment to the risk control mechanisms as designed by the management. Most importantly, the sales teams would need training and sensitization to the risks of non-compliance.

All this would require a lot of intervention from the top management and the outcome surely will benefit the industry as a whole. Hopefully the multi-crore budgets for foreign holidays would be re-allocated to more fruitful but neglected endeavors like product innovation, drug discovery and patient safety.

About the author: The author is currently associated with the Risk Advisory practice with a leading consulting firm and specializes in consulting solutions for the pharmaceutical industry.

Disclaimer: The contents of this article are solely personal opinions of the author not intended to reflect the opinion or position of any person (other than the author) or any firm or organization.

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Time and Activity Based Costing, also known as TABC is one of the better ways to identify cost of your employee’s every minute in the office including yourself. There is simple math that can be applied to calculate this cost for any individual.

Let us assume that the monthly salary of an employee is ‘M’ and there are 25 working days in a month. Apart from salary to the employee, there is additional cost of infrastructure, fringe benefits to employees and others; these add approximately 30% additional overheads per employee thus making his monthly cost = 1.3 x M. It is also a fair assumption as per industry standards that there are 540 minutes = 9 Hrs (i.e. 09:00AM to 06:00PM) available for work every day including breaks; which means 450 minutes (at the rate of 80% efficiency) of productive minutes per day.

This means per day cost of an employee is = 1.3 x M / 25 and that of per minute is = 1.3 x M / (25 * 450). This tells you how much one minute costs to you. Take-up any activity or process and figure out how much time it takes to perform for everyone involved. With the use of abovementioned formula, total cost for the process or activity can be calculated. This will not only help to understand costs involved but also put solid measurements for time and resource wastage.

It also can help in deciding billing rates more finely. By knowing how much every minute costs, consciousness about wastage of time is expected to increase. Just have everyone’s per minute cost calculated and put it in front of the desk. So that whenever one sees that the time is being wasted money-meter should start ticking in the mind to alarm level of money being wasted. Another interesting way of reducing wastage and improving productivity, isn’t it?

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The presence of 15 operators scattered around 22 circles, competing for the pie of the customer market share (CMS) and revenue market share (RMS), is currently driving continual change in the telecom industry. The market is already experiencing high pressure on profit margins and slower revenue growth. In addition to this, the market is already battering major issues in regulation and policy stemming from a possible probe into the 2G spectrum scam that a government audit says was awarded too cheaply losing out a mind boggling figure of Rs. 1.76 lakh crore. While the Public Accounts Committee takes care of the spectrum scam, one can only hope that justice prevails and those found guilty are dragged to the court.

In the meanwhile, operator must continue to focus on new business models and bringing radical changes to the products to improve profitability. Given the nature of the competition, mergers and acquisitions in this industry is inevitable. As market penetration reaches a saturation point, competition for existing customer increases. Further the introduction of the mobile number portability (MNP) and 3G services creates challenges for the operators to retain existing customer, while simultaneously focus on bring on new customers. While the 3G service roll outs would depend on the handset penetration, quality of service and network performances in each of the 22 circles, MNP is here to stay and play a huge part in driving the business operations and services of the operators.

Telecom analytics will continue to play a major driver in understanding the customer base. Understanding prior customer behavior helps a company provide offers that are more personalized and attractive, thus increasing customer loyalty. As the market evolves and new products are launched, analysis becomes critical to understand the tariffs, product and service migrations, customer profitability and loyalty. Telecom data is complex. Companies sweat it out to make sense of data from legacy systems, customer service applications, and thousands of product and activity codes. Further, the complexity is added when drilling down to features, add-on tariffs, bundles and packages. Operators, who are focused on analyzing these trends either through self-managed teams or through outsourced analytics group, would benefit the most in understanding the trends in the market.

The foundation for performing complex analysis is thus based on accurate subscriber metrics. Statistical and predictive behavior modeling form the cornerstone for these data analysis. And the factors that one needs to focus to ensure continuous analysis during the new business launch, joint ventures or acquisitions are flexibility to adjust market changes, scalability to handle large volumes and accommodate growth, compatibility to integrate seamlessly, audit ability and vendor knowledge. The proper understanding of these factors and the appropriate means of addressing them will be critical in determining the winners and losers in the marketplace.

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• March 24, 2009 -- Impact of Economic Crisis on Telecom (0)
• February 27, 2009 -- Emerging Trends in Telecom – by Ashutosh Madan (0)
• February 22, 2009 -- My Predictions for Telecom Industry in 2009 & 2010 by Mohit Agrawal (1)

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Frankly, I don’t think these are really related. And therefore, there is no real point to compare or choose one of the two. Basically, I believe, these are two mutually exclusive traits such that – loyal person need not be skilled or skilled person may not be necessarily loyal or disloyal. They simply don’t co-relate. Then why is this question asked all the time?

It is quite surprising that in corporate world, this comparison keeps happening. Many organizations prefer people who may not be so skilled but yet work so hard as to follow orders and don’t go beyond that. Albeit, these employees are often given a feedback that they should  keep on improving their skill. However, the fact is that management enjoys their loyal behavior so neglects lack of skills. On contrary, skilled and smart people are usually (not always) seen as potential weakness for an organization since there is greater chance that they will leave anytime. So while corporates appreciate their work, there is a small fear-element existing in management about this employee. So where does this lead to?

Usually, we find that organization weighs both these types of employees equally. With no surprise, these employees usually receive relatively equal remuneration which further aggravates the situation in some cases. Let me tell you one story which is supposedly told by Birbal to Akbar while chatting on similar topic.

This story is about a Sahukar (small-town money-lender) and his servant. One day Sahukar ordered his servant to fetch water from the river in earthen pot. While servant takes a pot and starts walking, Sahukar suddenly stops him and asks him to come back. When asked, Sahukar tells servant that he is worried about the earthen pot. What if servant breaks the pot while fetching water and then flees away? If servant flees away Sahukar will not have chance to punish him. So…Sahukar slaps the servant as an advance punishment. Then, what do you expect to happen? I am sure you have guessed what is going to happen then.

It is corporate myth that skilled and/or smart employees are not loyal. This often puts such employees in trouble in many circumstances. Corporates often use tools like rewards and compensation to control (!) these employees. I feel this is grave ignorance of some basic intellectual needs of such people. Usually, smart and skilled people don’t get satisfied easily. They not only do what has been told but go beyond to extend their ability and own thoughts to achieve excellence. However, this puts them into unique position of experts – which means, a few people know about some stuff and if these employees leave, this tacit knowledge can’t be recovered. Though the hypothesis is valid, it is not necessarily acceptable. However, organizations often behave like the Sahukar in story and slap these employees by way of restraining their intellectual movements and bureaucratic hurdles in fear that employees may learn and leave the organization. And this creates obvious situation that these employees no longer remain loyal to the organization and start looking for someone better. This is one side of the story.

Many a times a business by its nature is such that it thrives on collective and stockpiled knowledge. In this case, employees who have been into system for more time prove to be more useful than the ones who have average employment life of around 2-3 years. Here obviously loyal employees play major role than the skillful ones. This is another side of story.

But as I said earlier, corporates often assume this as a standardized condition rather than exception and so create problems which could have been easily avoided. Perhaps, this thing starts when one hires an employee. Right from the beginning, if you don’t choose loyal and skillful (both balanced) guy, you are actually choosing a trouble.

I think the solution to this dilemma lies in effective hiring. I personally go by three key aspects of any person while hiring: A-S-K. It stands for Attitude, Skills and Knowledge in respective order. Rightly so because, attitude is inbuilt thing for every person – you can not control or change it. Skill can be built over a time by training and hands-on experience while the knowledge is function of time and hands-on experience. So, when one is selected over these three filters, I am less immune to loyalty problems while skill already taken care of. Now, if this good attitude person is treated fairly and respected for his skill set and knowledge it is going to be asset for the team and organization.

With good attitude, no matter how far skills and knowledge improve, one will not kick-back any organization or prove to be dis-loyal; as long as one’s intellectual needs are met. If you are thinking about loyalty-or-skill for an employee – perhaps his appointment was a wrong decision. It is not loyalty-or-skill thing but loyalty-and-skill.

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“A business plan is a formal statement of a set of business goals, the reasons why they are believed attainable, and the plan for reaching those goals. It may also contain background information about the organization or team attempting to reach those goals. Business plans are decision-making tools. There is no fixed content for a business plan. Rather the content and format of the business plan is determined by the goals and audience. A business plan should contain whatever information is needed to decide whether or not to pursue a goal.”

Advantages of having a comprehensive Business Plan?

• Analyze the feasibility of your Idea: Helps You Decide to Proceed or Stop
• Planning Improves Your Odds of Success
• Valuable Insights: Helps you Improve your Business Concept
• Helps You Keep on Track
• Communicate your idea

A business plan is a formal document which works best when following a definitive structure. The methodology followed by us at Array enables us to enforce a structured approach to business planning. The following structure talk s about how we handle the various phases of a business planning exercise.

Hope you guys found the process interesting. To know more about the business planning process check out the slide show on Business Planning & Startup Strategies here.

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The smartphones has been the fastest growing category within the mobile phone space for the last couple of years. In 2009, a total of 172 million smartphones were sold which was a growth of 24% over 2008 (source: Gartner) whereas the mobile phone category was more or less flat in 2009 in the backdrop of severe recession. Analysts expect over 240 million Smartphones to be sold in 2010.

What is a Smartphone?

Unfortunately, there is no one universal definition of Smartphones. Some analysts have defined it as phones using open operating system which means that Symbian, Windows and Android based phones qualify as Smartphones but then what about Apple iPhone and RIM that run on proprietary operating system? Some define it as phone that gives PC like functionality and for some, it is the one with most advanced mobile phone features and hence the feature set of smartphones keep changing. A few industry analysts define it at mobile phones running on operating system with standardized interface and that provide easy access to developers for application development.

Whatever is the definition, it is commonly accepted that Smartphones have strong email clients, third party applications of some kind, QWERTY hardware or software keyboard support, high-speed internet, powerful calendar, contact and organizational features and support for powerful processors and touch screens. The operating systems that can support the above feature requirements are Symbian, Windows, Android, iPhone OS, RIM, Maemo (Meego going forward with Maemo’s merger with Moblin) and Palm OS.

Why does everybody want to win the Smartphone battle?

Smartphones are not even 10% of the total mobile phones but still all the handset players want to win this battle for the following reasons:

1. High ASP - The average selling price of a smart phone is almost 3 times that of a non-smartphone which means it has a higher impact on not only the value share but also on the profitability. Apple and RIM though have just 3% market share in the mobile devices but have over 50% share in industry profits which reflects the high profitability of the smartphones.
2. Thought leadership - Success in the smartphone business gives the device vendor the status of “Thought Leadership”. Any vendor having the “Though Leadership” benefits in the non-smartphone devices as well as the consumers want to buy the devices from the leading brands (in terms of “Thought Leadership”) even if they are not buying the devices that gave the vendor this status. This status is like the quality assurance certificate.
3. Future of mobile phones – The smartphone market is expected to expand significantly in future to almost 40% of the total device market by 2013 which means that no vendor can afford to ignore this market.
4. Operators prefer Smartphones – The increasing popularity of iPhones has led to increased data usage on the mobile. This has enabled the carriers to maintain their ARPUs despite fall in voice tariffs. The data usage on smartphones is almost 3 times higher than a normal phone. 55% of iPhone users use mobile social networking and 80% use it for surfing web daily. The high data usage has led to the situation of data scarcity from data abundance and carriers love this situation.

Who will win the battle?

Anybody who wins in the smartphone business has to win it on back of the operating system.

Symbian has been the market leader in the Smartphone segment of the market with 47% market share in 2009. However, Symbian is facing a stiff challenge from iPhone OS, Android and RIM OS and has lost market share in the recent few quarters. The figure alongside gives Smartphone market shares in 2009. Android though has only 3.9% market share in 2009 but is making the most noise in the smartphone segment.

Each operating system has its own positives and negatives and before we attempt to answer the question that who is going to win the battle, it is important to evaluate the pros and cons of top operating systems:

Andriod:

This operating system has been developed by Google with the aim of not only to get a foothold in the lucrative mobile industry but also to change the way the mobile owners consume data on the net.

Pros – Open, free and supporting many devices. Great experience of Google’s web properties on the mobile like messaging

Cons- Fear of excessive fragmentation due to its open architecture and is also more susceptible to security threats

iPhone OS:

This operating system has been developed by Apple and is a closed, proprietary operating system and is only for Apple devices, iPhone and iPod Touch. iPhones have been so popular that they are now being blamed for the increasing data congestion on the networks.

Pros - Single unified platform and its biggest asset is the application store

Cons- Proprietary and hence its dependence on one vendor is a risk. Application submission process is a cumbersome and Apple keeps a tight control on the 3rd party applications.

Blackberry OS:

Blackberry OS is owned by Research in Motion (RIM) and is a proprietary operating system.

Pros - Strong in enterprise mobility segment and has created a perception amongst IT managers of being a much secured OS. Strong messaging service

Cons- Proprietary and hence its dependence on one vendor is a risk. Aged operating system and requires the special BES server. Lack of focus on consumer segment in the past limits the lure to potential developers. This operating system also suffers from lack of optimization on touchscreen devices and a bad web browser.

Symbian:

Symbian is owned by Nokia  and used by many other vendors like Samsung, LG and Sony Ericsson. It is market leader but is seen as an archaic operating system. However, it is still holding out with promise to launch Symbian 3 and 4 by the end of the year.

Pros - Largest installed base and hence the economies of scale. Backing of Nokia, the market leader helps Symbian maintain its market leadership.

Cons- Aged OS and not really optimized for touchscreen devices. It is virtually absent in the North American markets and is facing huge competition from Android, iPhone OS and Blackberry OS. Dependence on Nokia is a risk as many of the other vendors are shifting to Android.

Windows Mobile:

This operating system has been developed by Microsoft and promises to mirror the PC experience on the smartphone. After continuous decline in market share in the past many quarters, Microsoft recently announced Windows Mobile Version 7 which has got rave reviews from analysts and handset vendors.

Pros - Backing of Microsoft which has virtual monopoly on personal computers. Microsoft’s ability to provide resources and its possible integration with its other hot properties like X-Box, Zune can ignite developer interest in this operating system.

Cons- Past failures to haunt version 7. Heavy operating system and hence requires higher hardware specifications. Last version had a bad user interface (UI) and web browser. I hope the new version has targeted the UI for improvement

There are many other operating systems like Maemo, LiMo, Samsung’s Bada that are trying to get a foothold in the lucrative smartphone business but only time will tell if they can manage to break into the top five operating systems.

I am not going to pass a verdict on which operating system will win but I will publish the results of the poll that I conducted on this site and no prizes for guessing the winner (refer to the image on the left). The winner was Android with over 40% of votes. In the backdrop of its popularity and the confidence that the ecosystem players are putting in Android, it is not at all surprising that it is going to be the fastest growing operating system for next five years. In the recently concluded Mobile World Congress, Android managed to get the highest number of handset announcements. Though even iPhone OS is a wonderful operating system but its proprietary nature would limit its expansion.

The author writes regularly on Telecom Circle. Other similar articles by Mohit can be read at Telecom Circle

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