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Just having a look around, one realizes that there is a lot of stuff lying
strewn on this desk. There are some picture prints, an unopened courier, a few
bills, an unmarked calendar and a few website addresses scribbled on a sheet of
paper. And before you mistake this for a blog on office life in Dataquest, lets
divulge the rationale behind this insight into our professional world.
The picture prints were ordered from an online photo printing site, and they
have just arrived through courier (yes, the quality is good too). The unopened
courier is a book that was ordered from an online shopping portal. The bills
lying around are waiting to be paid, online. The calendar is pristine precisely
because of the discovery of a web application that helps people organize their
dates better. And lastly, the list of websites contains the names that have to
be visited and explored with the aim of making life yet more simple. Names like
these, spread randomly across the World Wide Web are getting all sorts of things
done for us while we sit comfortably on our desks and write our stories.
And deliberating about the convenience that has seeped into life, one cant
help but delve on the power that web in its interactive mode holds. The power is
enormous and amorphous at the same time. And perhaps this is what makes web 2.0
such an exhaustive debate, almost five years after Tim OReilly popularized the
term rather casually in a web 2.0 conference in San Francisco.
In India as such, though the term is vastly debated and is considered
extremely hip, the essence of web 2.0 hasnt yet penetrated in. While there
are ventures which belong to web 2.0 in the real sense, there are too many which
claim to be so and yet are not really web 2.0. A clear understanding of the term
is not only lacking, but also lagging behind in India, in the sense, that even
though we are a country of web-developers, we are still miles away from the
western web 2.0 landscape.
However, a few characteristics of web 2.0 are universally agreed upon. It is
interactive in nature, encompasses collaboration and is high on user generated
content. It is keeping these characteristics in mind that we try to map the
Indian web 2.0, with all its desi flavors.
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Web-framed Moments |
| This one is for online photo
printing. We didnt include it as a category in our list, but this domain is
something that cant be left unnoticed, not any longer. Although they dont
fit the bill as far as our definition of web 2.0 is concerned, since they
compete on other grounds than user participation, they have become a visible
part of the big web revolution. About a couple of years back, online photo
printing was a nascent concept in India. Its only since a last couple of
years or so that it has become a house-hold name.
The trend gained limelight perhaps with Snapfish,
since someone as big as HP entered into the domain. Then came Indian
ventures like MeraSnap (acquired by Snapfish in May 2008), and now there are
about a dozen names in this arena. The most prominent ones include ZoomIn,
PicSquare and Itasveer. Although these sites boast of impressive number of
registered users, and many of them are new kids on the block, what really
gets it going for them is the delivery time, quality and the price points
that they are offering.
Almost all sites start from close to Rs 2 for
a standard print (postcard size on glossy paper) and move up the ladder,
depending on the specifications. Customization and innovation is the flavor
of these sites as they compete in the urban and niche market. PicSquare, for
instance, will offer you customized albums, key-chains, cups , calenders and
almost anything that you might want with your special moments pasted on it.
ZoomIn has also recently added the canvas offering to their basket and
though it comes with a big price tag (can go upto Rs 2,000), it sure seems
tempting.
These ventures are trying to gain the edge
based on their branding and marketing, but delivery remains a critical area.
For instance, prints from PicSquare take approximately 4-6 business days to
reach, ZoomIn is slightly faster, and as far as my personal experience goes,
it gives better quality too. ZoomIn also allows its users to cut and
obliterate the unwanted bit in pictures, a feature that is missing in other
sites.
However, there is still need for a little
hand-holding for the online printing industry. The economics of it is still
under the hammer and it is far from being as profitable as it is in the
West.
But thanks to convincing price points, online
photo printing is seeing a lot of users who like to capture every little
moment and keep it in print too! Another thing to note is that as far as
online printing goes, in India it is it broadly restricted to pictures
alone. JustPrint (a part of Overnite express) is perhaps the first venture
that offers a range of printing services, from presentations to business
cards.
We are yet to see any fireworks in that area
as of now. Meanwhile, we can always gift momentsonline! |
The Seeds
The web 2.0 crop hit our nation somewhere around 2004-05. But experts and
industry veterans agree that 2006 is perhaps a good year to quote as far as its
adoption is concerned. And there is little debate on the observation that web
2.0 made a rather late entry in India when compared to the rest of the globe.
 |
| Movement from one
network to another is also very seamless. India is the perfect example of
this Shivanandan Pare,
COO, BigAdda |
While the vibes were being felt since 2004, it caught the pulse only around
2007. The reasons behind these are multilayered, and low Internet penetration
happens to be the primary one. Other reasons include the limited penetration of
access devices and low adoption of hardware devices like web-cams, recorders,
high end phones, which facilitate web 2.0. Then there are the cultural issues.
Indians as a group have never been comfortable with mass platforms, and this
factor has restricted their participation on the web. The fact that on sites
like YouTube, 99% of Indians are viewers and non contributors support this
claim.
Cynicism of e-commerce, which again is spread across the society, is another
factor that has hindered an independent web 2.0 landscape to take shape. Under
these circumstances, a lot of startups have found the Indian audience a hard nut
to crack and have receded into oblivion trying to gain inroads into the Indian
mind. Maybe they started too early, or maybe they were too futuristic. We will
never know. What we do know is that the ones that survived the storm are the
ones that are painting the picture now. They are evolving, defining and
developing the web 2.0 space.
According to Shivanandan Pare, COO, BigAdda, Web 2.0 still hasnt arrived in
India because the access mediums and the physical devices for delivering content
have really low penetration. We are where the mobile was in 1999. Adds Dhruv
Gupta, business head of DesiMartini, A lot of web 2.0 ventures have come and
gone because there was no awareness and thus no adoption. Awareness is a big
limiting factor in generating adoption.
So how is it then that we have graduated from first generation web to second
generation tool, or have we? Yes, says the industry. While the earlier web was
informative and simply published information, 2.0 is interactive and looking to
create information. The difference, says Gupta lies in the customization2.0 is
informative but customized to specific needs. User generated content (UCG) plays
a big part here. It is not publishing, but participation.
Web 1.0 was static; web 2.0 is vibrant and ever evolving. And its all
positioned to be yet more alive and kicking in the years to come. Page(s) 1 2 3
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