Not Being Sarkari

When iMac was launched, prediction was it will not work.

When iPod was launched, prediction was nobody will pay for this toy. It does too little and too costly.

When iPhone was launched, prediction was nobody will pay for this expensive shit.

When iPad is launched, prediction is it does too little. I have iPhone and I don't need iPad. I have smartphone and I have MacBook and I don't want this.

Well, history surely repeats itself!!!

• Seth apparently became first person to launch an App for this upcoming tablet (if it is coming at all).
• NY Times reports that publishing industry to make some bucks and Businessweek carried report on how App developers are gearing up for this upcoming product.
• Ken on his Observatory blog has mentioned it as T-Day (after presuming that Apple will unveil its tablet).
• Ramesh has blogged about Apple results and its marketing strategies.
• Fast Company has posted an infographic timeline of Apple's journey and efforts to develop tablet.
• Matt is gung-ho about new product from Apple because whenever Apple realses new product, volume to his site grows exponentially. BTW he is the guy behind WordPress.
• George has some different takes here and here. He uses lot of 'fucks' and 'shits', so please check his blog at your own risk.

     

Just saying...

It is a Pizza joint in which, Pizza's are made by hand, ingredients are checked personally by owners, ingredients are bought from local farmers and it is opened only for 4 days.

Customers are loving their pizzas so much that they stand and wait in long queues, as seating capacity in the eatery is very small. Owners of this place do not give much importance to customer experience and do not beleive in getting customer feedback. They know what they are doing, why they are doing and intend to be excellent in making hand made Pizza. Rest everything is secondary for them. Owners work for themselves and continue to focus on things they are excellent at. 

A lot of consultants are offering their advice on how to manage customer flow, how to increase customer experience, and stuff like that. And as expected, owners have said 'no' to all their suggestions because of their approach towards excellence on one thing and let other things revolve around that 'hinge of excellence'.

Well, ubiquity has its own advantages and in case you want to own the whole world, ubiquity should work for you. In case you want to change one corner of the world, focusing on doing one thing with excellence should help more.

Truly, Zappos is selling their customer culture like, like, like, like (just thinking of word)...like porn.

Anyways, I thoroughly enjoyed a life away from hustle and bustle. Apart from exploring various aspects of village life, I did what I am good at - looking for running tracks and exploring standard of customer service. There are few things which left me in awe most of the time while staying with my extended family in village.   Relationship building - People working in farms do not know me but they were always ready to help me with anything. Ready to give things smilingly. Ready to go to any lengths to make me feel at home. I was demanding at times but nothing was big enough to make them frown. Everyone knew everyone. Everyone knew my grandfather and people preferred to address me as his grandson and not by my name. I think all MBA students should spend one semester in village so that they can learn some basics in relationship building which holds a prominent place in any business.

Resilience - Apart from doing physical hard-work, they are extremely resilient. Once my professor told me that an Indian farmer is probably the biggest risk taker in the world. He invests everything he has in his farming when he knows that the end result depends on a lot of other factors like monsoon, some crop disease etc which are beyond his control. But his spirits are never down. He is resilient enough to rise above all obstacles and still able to keep a smiling face. Simplicity - Everything they use, everything they do, every transaction they make has only one thing common - simplicity. If it is simple to use and fits into their need, it will be adopted without any effort. From ploughing fields to kitchen, from kids to oldies, simplicity is one common thread which binds them.   
 These points I just thought of and this is definitely not the comprehensive list. I am glad that I
started my decade in this kind of ecosystem. As this new decade has come, I hope to inculcate few things in my life style as well.