Brief

Revolutionizing the Internet space

Steve Ballmer

Booking tickets online by connecting places and visualizing routes; watching multiple videos in the same screen and shifting between them seamlessly; checking appointments; analyzing the stock market portfolio by using 3D animation, graphs and charts, doctors monitoring patients’ records and current health status via live monitors, all these will be made possible in the near future announced Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer, on his recent visit to India.

The event started off with users of Microsoft’s recently launched Silverlight 1.0, HDFC Bank and ICL, showcasing the benefits of adopting and implementing the platform, which provides users with interactive and high quality experiences. ICL President, Kapil Dev suggested that apart from the widely utilized facilities like scorecards, statistics, live broadcasts and replays, the new software is all set to revolutionize the online medium by enabling player and team rating and voting, formation of fan clubs, giving different camera angles of the play and many more interactive tools, thereby enhancing user experience. The surge in Internet connections and more so, of mobile connections, have called for enabling these facilities not only in Internet but also in mobile phones.

Prasoon Joshi, Executive Chairman, McCann Erickson India and Regional Creative Director South and South East Asia, was of the view that Indians were averse to indulgence and one needed to keep surprising them, yet give them what they wanted. He went on to add that multimedia is a multi-sensorial experience which needs to arrest one’s senses. He also thought that digital world which is participatory in nature is creating a huge platform among people but not evoking the desires within them.

This session was followed by a panel discussion of industry stalwarts Ajay Vidyasagar, President, Content and New Media, Star India and Murugavel Janakiraman, Chief Executive Officer, BharatMatrimony Group, moderated by Vir Sanghvi, Editorial Director, Hindustan Times. In these times of convergence, Janakiraman is taking matrimony beyond PC and browser, and introducing it on mobile phones through SMS and voice profiles. His user group consists of 50% from the top 15 metros, while the rest comes from the smaller towns, revealing the penetration of the PC and Internet market in the country. Vidyasagar has changed the fabric of manufacturing content by creating a compelling user experience, making access possible through all mediums. For enabling mass scale user base in the future, they all agreed that it is necessary to make PC and Internet more affordable, which will be possible through reduction of hardware and software prices.