Mobile Commerce Moves the Minnows

The developing world is rapidly becoming viable in many facets of commerce. Thanks to technology, such realizations are coming to fruition. One major area of new business growth is within mobile commerce.

Yes, it's due to the cell phone that the emerging economies are having a huge impact on their domestic economy. The exponential type growth of cell phone users in Asia and Africa have set a new trend in people's day to day business and personal transactions.

According to McKinsey & Co., a 10% growth of wireless users in India, China, and the Philippines can increase the GDP by about 0.5 percent, which is about $12 billion for a country like China.

Hi-tech end use such as ordering your food, tickets (transportation, movie, etc.), stock trades, or even reservations for dinner are some examples taking place in these emerging markets.

While this fact remains true, countries like India have had a substantial growth in cell phone use in day to day businesses on the lower economic end. People in banking, finance, hi-tech, and other major industries have had these units since the mid/late 90's. As it was known then, commodities such as cell phones were only available for the rich. In the past 5 years that fact is not there anymore. The Bhaajiwaalas (vegetable vendor), who normally would go around the city shouting to the masses trying to market his fresh produce, nowadays carries a cell phone calling his regular customers or vice versa to make his daily sale. Even the fishmongers are using these tactics nowadays.

Better yet, you have the cleaning ladies telling their clients that if they are needed for any specific time or task, then they are to call ahead on their cell phone to make a reservation. It might seem odd to our culture here in the USA about such requests, but in reality such were never made by cleaning ladies in India. Thanks to the cell phone, the social strata has been impacted too.

Due to the telecommunication infrastructure in such countries not being so great, the integration of mobile networks has been the main spark. Some people do wonder why the USA has fallen behind on cell phone usability, and that is one main reason. SMS has been a long standard way of communication in Europe and Asia for sometime now, since it was cheaper and a quicker means of communication.

Of course these burgeoning economies can't only rely on the cell phone to make their economies more viable, but it is a start. I feel that some well established economies like the US need to get more of a 'mobile culture' built in to the day-to-day life, which could help in reducing certain cost factors. Right now as I see it, we're still far behind.

Future of the World......INDIA.

Mira Kamdar, a senior fellow at the World Policy Institute, has recently released her book, "Planet India, How the Fastest-Growing Democracy is Transforming America and the World".

The book talks about the way India is transforming itself rapidly and becoming a force within the world market. The transformation of India at the current pace is unprecedented, and surpassing the way China became a world economic power. India's impact on the global economy especially America's, has not only been in the IT sector, but also medical records management, animated graphics generation for Hollywood movie houses, and call centers. Even Indian businessmen and firms have been buying up controlling interests in many American and European based companies.

But Kamdar's book doesn't laud about the "boom" only, but rather mentions other factors which she feels need to improve in order to make India a viable democracy, and possibly an example for other countries. Things such as reducing poverty, HIV/AIDS cases, social inequalities, and protecting the environment are also key to India's progress. The one I would add to that is population control and corruption.

Even though these negatives dominate Indian society, there are certain parallels to the USA. Kamdar believes that since the gap between the rich and poor seems to be growing in the USA, India itself can tackle its own issue and use it to demonstrate the ability to bridge these gaps.

If India succeeds Kamdar feels that it will challenge everyone, especially multiethnic and multireligious countries to be genuine democracies. It will prove then democracy is not a luxury just for rich societies.

"The increasingly fractious and polar world then will learn from India valuable lessons," she asserts. "That is why I argue that India's gambit is truly the venture of this century."

I think I'm going to go pick this book up pretty soon. Should be a nice read.

Jacko Is Back!

The day we all waited for is here.....Michael Jackson is back from his self-imposed exile in the Middle East and Europe. What a day! Can you believe it, but his return was somewhat low-key, and having a conference call to announce his return and his future tour of Japan. The odd thing is that Michael has been back for sometime now according to some sources, but I guess no one really cared. So he had to tell the media that he was indeed back in the country. That's sad, especially when this guy was one of the most sought after entertainers in the world, and somewhat still is.

One cool thing however is that he's working with will.i.am from the Black Eyed Peas on his next album. Hopefully it's going be better than the last garbage studio album he released, "Invincible" (which practically made him go "Invisible"). I wouldn't mind Jacko singing with Fergie on one of the tracks. Let's just hope there's less yelping and screaming and grunting on this album.

In the meantime some Jackson family updates:


Brother Jermaine, who I didn't know converted to Islam, is also known as "Muhammad Abdul Aziz" nowadays, and is on the racially controversial Celebrity Big Brother UK. He could be a winner this weekend if Shilpa Shetty doesn't come away with the prize as predicted.


Sister LaToya is also a reality-based TV participant as she is going around a police squad car and training to be a Muncie, Indiana police officer on the show, Armed and Famous. Pretty cool.....but I just can't get past the fact that she and Michael look TOO ALIKE!


Sister Janet, is still going good with her music career and has been nominated for a Grammy Award for 2006's Best Contemporary R&B Album. And she is looking fine....real fine. The most normal one of the Jacksons....or I think so....other than that 'nip slip'...but who cares?????

Racist Abuse on Celebrity Big Brother UK

The current Celebrity Big Brother in the UK has a unique twist to it. An Indian actress has been brought in to the fold. Actress Shilpa Shetty was a surprise inclusion into the show that even the British viewers were in awe. But some of the housemates don't like the idea of sharing their space with a brown person.

Racial attacks by the fellow contestants haven't just cause a national stir in the UK, but in India as well. The matter has also been brought to the floor of both Indian and British Parliments.

I don't know what the deal is, but why is it that racism still exists in today's society when there is 'mixing' of cultures in many magnitudes, especially in the UK. I do understand that in the UK that the economy and a lot of everyday life industries have gone into the hands of immigrants namely from South Asia and the Middle East. This of course causes a discord between races, as seen throughout history, but the realization that the native Brits have fallen behind due to their lack of zeal to do the basics being the real culprit. The other culprit are the seeds you sow yourself.

"Ruling" the world for your gains have brought a reverse "colonization" pattern, and hence the influence of many former Commonwealth cultures in the UK. The inside 'anger' that the native Brits feel about this influence is evident, and being on this show is no surprise.

Racism exists, wherever humans exist. It isn't easy to remove, and it seems every culture has a certain degree of it no matter what. But when your face is being shown across the nation, such thoughts should be kept to yourself instead of expressing them.

Becks in the USA

Soccer super star is coming to the USA to energize soccer. Yes! His move from a world class club like Real Madrid to the Los Angeles Galaxy of the MLS is a move that will make people in the USA stop watching other sports and enjoy soccer. It will pump in more money into the league and Beckham will become God here as well.

Ahem.....don't get me wrong....I love soccer. In fact it is my favorite sport. But whatever some analysts have been saying about Beck's arrival into the USA Soccer scene, I don't think it will have any huge impact other than ticket sales. In fact in LA the Galaxy season ticket sales have gone up. It even makes me want to go to Columbus to watch the Crew play the Galaxy.

But in reality Beckham is past his prime. I think this move is related to a celeb status deal for him and his wife. Posh is trying to become an actress, and what a good lead-in especially when you live in Los Angeles. Although I may be wrong. Another report claims the move is due to the couple's son having epilipsy problems.

Whatever the case, the buzz around LA is huge. Rod Stewart, Steven Spielberg and JLo have gotten tickets for the Galaxy. I would hope that this new found interest brings in more quality players into the MLS, and thus more interest. I don't think David Beckham can do it alone. I wish him Good Luck!

Welcome to the USA!

Tom Brady's a Lucky Man!

New England QB Tom Brady is really a lucky man. Not being a star player in college, and becoming one of the best players in the NFL is a great accomplishment. Leading his team to 3 Super Bowl titles in the last 4 years is even greater. But GREATER than that is his choice of women.

First he had dated actress Bridget Moynahan. This couple also known as TomKat lasted for about 2 years. Now get ready for Gisom!!!! What is Gisom you ask? Gisom is the name of the 'coupling' (if you can call it that) of Mr. Brady and Superbabe and Victoria Secret model, Gisele Bundchen. And she's not German....she's BRAZILIAN!!!!

But wait.....now I'm realizing something here......is it me, or is Tom becoming the David Beckham of US Sports? Well of course Becks is married to another celeb and has kids, but during his time before that he was the most sought after sports personality in the UK and Europe. Forget of those who don't even know soccer, they know him too. And of course he had his women too. The King of Metrosexuals indeed.

Since Tom is into "Super" things, Gisele is no real surprise. But the question is, will this 'coupling' gonna work? Will this cause Tom to lose his concentration with his game-time activities with the Pats? Will the other Pats like Corey, Lawrence, and Teddy lose it? Or worse, will Bill Bellicheck start making the wrong calls with his game plan? Well time will tell.

With Tommy having many more (possibly) years to play, he might have to follow the lead of Becks and go to a league that might bring him unneeded popularity and money to the league. That leaves me to the question of which professional football league exists that would suffice for that? The CFL perhaps????

Hopefully for the Pats, this 'newcomer' in Tom's life shouldn't cause problems for this weekend's AFC Championship game. Who knows, if Tommy Boy fancies Gisele to the point of marriage (yes I'm getting too ahead of myself), he might become a super soccer player in Brazil!

It's still FOOTBALL, you know!

Saddam has created a trend....

Ever since Saddam Hussein got what he deserved, it seems others have been trying to follow in his footsteps, and no I'm not talking about being a ruthless dictator. I'm talking about people trying to copy Saddam's final moments leading to the gallows.

It seems a lot of kids who saw the final moments of the former Iraqi leader have decided to test out if hanging does really work. Unfortunately, it does. A recent immigrant Guatemalan living in Texas was one of the first reports of the copycat hangings. There have been reports of more people, especially teenagers, who have decided to kill themselves by watching the video of the hanging.

My take is, why in the first place should the media be showing the execution of Saddam at all? I mean a brief snippet which was initially shown was enough. The bad part was that one of the witnesses took the video from his mobile and voila it's all over the internet.

On a seperate topic Brazilian top model Daniella Cicarelli (ex-fiance of soccer star Ronaldo) and her current boyfriend were filmed on a phone cam having an intimate moment (very intimate I might add) at the beach. And that was on the 'net within no time. Unfortunately, it might not spark copycat acts like the Saddam one is doing currently.

Today's Special on the Menu: Nuked Food

Recent discoveries in Londontown are coming out to be very very disturbing. If you had heard about the Russian spy, Alexander Litvinenko who was killed by radioactive poisoning late last year, you might as well be careful when you go out to eat over there.

The Pescatori Restaurant in London has been found to have the radioactive element Polonium-210, the same which had killed Alexander Litvinenko. What's even worse is that traces of this element has been found in several hotel and dining places around London. With Litvinenko's murder, it seems that the agents who killed him either were messy with their handling of the element, or are still going around London and are trying to cause some havoc.

Well I'm not going to the UK anytime soon, but if you are, go eat at the Indian/Pakistani joints. Highly unlikely they would be poisoned as the spices would be highly toxic as well. Hehehehe.....

BCS: The Bull Crap System

Yes, I am back after a long, long layoff. I was being lazy and being just not into writing for some days....but I'm ready to write for his New Year.

First off, the topic which really is annoying to say the least, and one reason that keeps me from becoming a true college football fan, and that is the BCS.

Recently it seems that a lot of people, the public and the media in general, have been pushing for a playoff system that would settle any controversies based on the BCS Championship game. For the last 8 years we have had a system that only puts in the top conference schools into these bowl games, leaving out the mid-majors and other smaller conferences who have had teams go undefeated in the regular season.

This year's case, Boise State, went undefeated and beat a major conference school, Oklahoma. They got into a BCS bowl, BUT not the championship game. In the meantime, Florida is in with one loss, and as in many people's eyes, do not deserve that second seed. Many excuses are being put into place for negating a playoff system. I'm sure sponsors and the major conferences are crying foul, because the Bowls are very lucrative. These one off games are cash cows for these conferences. The too many games argument is a joke. So NCAA basketball playing a playoff system for the national championship is too many games when you have played almost 30 games by the season's end?

Granted that football is a different sport, but I can't understand why football is being treated differently from the other NCAA sports which pretty much have a playoff system for determining a champion.

What's even more so unfair is the system in which the BCS determines who goes into the bowl games. Automatic bids for the top conference champions is a joke within itself. What's even worse is that with the BCS having 5 bowls, you would think the top 10 BCS ranked teams would make the Bowls. Not so. Auburn and Wisconsin were left out, and in were Wake Forest and Notre Dame. Reading through the procedures on who and how, it's a pity to understand that the top conference schools are basically rewarding themselves these bowl games, and ignoring the lesser teams. A non-conference school, yet classical powerhouse Notre Dame, has been given some leeway into the BCS Bowls.

I do agree that Ohio State does deserve to be in the championship game this year, but they should not be playing Florida. If a playoff system was in place, I would think you could at least take the top 4-8 teams from the BCS rankings (although the ranking points are controversial) and go from there.

Knowing that Big Ten boss Jim Delaney is the mastermind of current BCS politics, the playoff systems seems to be a remote possibility.