Blackberry may not be banned in UAE

This is what we all would like to hear, don’t we? To put things in perspective, UAE and Saudi Arabia are not banning the BlackBerry device produced by Research in Motion Limited (RIM). But instead it is the BlackBerry mobile services like e-mail and text messaging by October 11, 2010.

The reason for this ban is a dispute between the UAE and RIM concerning RIM's encrypted data system. The system makes government monitoring of data more difficult. The problem for RIM is that the other GCC countries may follow suit, which will have a major business impact for the company. India has also been negotiating with RIM to access the encrypted information being exchanged on Blackberry devices.

Many countries including India claim that such moves are driven by national security. Many will suggest that this is simply an excuse to block data, but others suggest that this is a viable excuse to limit data. There can be a business reason to block the service, citing the possibility that service providers in UAE may come out with a similar service for the subscribers.

UAE's Telecommunications Regulatory Authority noted that "certain BlackBerry services allow users to act without any legal accountability, causing judicial, social and national security concerns for the U.A.E." Countries like Qatar have come forward and have announced that the service providers will not block the Blackberry service. Don't know if they also feel the security threat or not?

RIM will have to rethink its position on not sharing the data information, as potential business may be lost. UAE and Saudi Arabia has around 500,000 and 400,000 blackberry users respectively. Assuming the remaining GCC countries may comprise of another million users; RIM can’t afford to lose so many users while they are expected to unveil the new BlackBerry 9800 at a press event on 03 Aug 2010. U.S.-listed shares of Research in Motion (RIMM.O) fell 1.6 percent in early trading on Monday as the ban news spread across the world.

When discussing UAE’s adamancy with RIM to provide access to the data, it’s worth highlighting the fact that it had unsuccessfully attempted to install a application, rumored to be a spyware, on the devices of Etisalat users in 2009, informing the user’s that the patch would enhance the performance. The region has always attempted to block websites, which pose threat to the existing regimes.

Could this ban impact RIM’s business? The rumors are that RIM is already in talks with the Middle East governments to have a work around. There are more than a million Blackberry users in GCC and if even half of them change mobile devices, there could be major loss for RIM.

Zaraa Hatke Quotes on Facebook

English Translation - 'Awesome Quotes on Facebook'. More often than not many of us write hilarious, thought provoking, opinioned quotes and share with our friends. I decided to keep a track of these quotes, by my friends, over the past few weeks on Facebook and below is the outcome. Every quote has been credited with its respective source and are selected on the basis of being hilarious and thought provoking..(ps. the original source of the quote "may" be different)

Agar duniya main Mehnat ki Qadar hoti To Gadha sub se zayada izzatdar hota....! - Boski G

Call me Miss Flintstone, i can make your bedrock - Mansi S

Vaadon Aur Yaadon Me Kya Fark Hai?
Insaan Vaadon Ko Tod Deta Hai,

Aur Yaaden Inshaan Ko Tod Deti Hai - Aashish B

life is : leaving the house in morning dressed in clothes , that u brought with credit card for work ,driving through traffic in car that u still paying for ,putting in fuel that u cant afford,in order to get to the job u hate but need so badly so that u can pay for the clothes,car fuel and the house that u leave empty the whole day , in order to live in it - Kamal A

kutte. CONGRATS BUDDY!!!! Who is the lucky girl? when did you get engaged - Rishi S (The Dharmendra Style but for a different reason)

Khatta Meetha - ahem, I m allergic to Bullshit - Sapna R

Can you get Drunk without Drinking??? - Seema KB

A man who smiles when things go wrong.... has already thought of someone to blame it on :D - Rohit

Well when we Indians goto a baba who has a Parrot who picks up a card and predicts future ..... World goes OMG look at "dot heads" for everything they goto an "Animal"....... Join the gang u Focktupusians ..... :) - Anil A

Beware its gonna get 'MESSI' - ARGENTINA!! - Sandeep B

The entire German team will be arrested outside the stadium for publically raping not only a team but d entire nation (In context of Germany v/s England Fifa World Cup 2010)- Atul B

Life is like a coin. Pleasure and Pain are the two sides. Only one side is visible at a time. But remember other side is also waiting for it's turn. - Varsha S

Reality is more interesting than fiction - Varun B

Nothing is personal if you don't take it personally - Khushboo B

Dubai sheher ka saara, Meena Bazar Leke - Vishal M

Conclusion - clothes are supposed to fit us - we are not supposed to fit into the clothes ! -Satyen C

Facebook is for people you went to school with. Twitter is for people u wished u went to school with - inspiration 4 ppl wanna b on twitter - Source Unkown

World's Cheapest Laptop @ $35 - The Indian iPad

The Indian Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) announced the launch of $35 laptops; cheapest in the world.

The Linux based device will also have provisions for running on solar power besides the usual battery operated systems. A student at VIT, Vellore came up with a mother board design, and the PCB of the same was later fabricated in IIT, Kanpur. The Rs 1,700/$35 computing device is expected to first target hit higher education institutions starting 2011.

Features

• 5/7/9 inch touch screen gadget
• Internet browsers
• PDF reader
• Open Office
• Touchscreen
• Remote device management capability
• Multimedia input-output interface option

Is this India’s answer to the iPad even though the customer target varies?

Twitter's New Revenue Model

Twitter looks set to unveil another revenue raising model with launch of @earlybird account, that will carry special offers with brands paying to feature on the channel.

The development was first reported on Read Write Web, but there is no official statement from Twitter. The company’s spokeswoman told Read Write Web: “There are interesting things in store for @earlybird. Keep waking up early and you might be the first to find out what they are.”

As they say "Early Bird gets the worm".. looks like Twitter is seeking various option to generate dollars. The account is currently protected and is followed by 258 people.  

Twitter has been experimenting with its advertising initiative "sponsored trending topics" which is truly innovative. Twitter announced its first paid-for service, Promoted Tweets, in April 2010.

Are Banks Monitoring Conversations Online?

On 17th June @ sandeepgeetla tweeted the below rumour which led to a slide in the ICICI shares by

3.5 % in the intra day trading hours, however within hours the stock price recovered due to prompt action by the bank. This info was published in Business Standard on 24th June.

ICICI bank is known to monitor 3-5k tweets per day via its Twitter handler @icici_care. The bank also monitors online conversations on Facebook, Blogs and other social mediums, to help stop rumors.

The bank responded to the user on twitter as follows:-

@sandeepgeetla These r baseless rumours abt ICICI Bank, request u to not pay heed to them & also not spread them further…”

ICICI has gone ahead and filed a complaint against the person with the cyber crime cell of the police and market watchdog SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India)

How about the banks in GCC – do they monitor conversations online? Some of the banks that are active on Twitter in GCC are: -

• @DubaiBankAE
• @arabbankgroup
• @rakbanklive
• @ithmaarbank – Bahrain
• @Gulf_bank - Kuwait

@Rakbanklive is interactive and they do listen to customer complaints/feedback. But, how many banks in GCC monitor Social Media Conversations?

Check the screen shot below taken from a popular forum in UAE, where a customer is complaining about a bad experience with a bank : -

The person may have had a bad experience with the bank but may be was never heard. However, he has found the web to share his experience with people. 

What is the Impact of such online posts.....

• One bad customer experience would cost the bank many others
• Does the bank know about this post?
• Is it a competitor bank spreading the rumor?

There are many groups on Facebook, where customers share their experiences with other potential bank customers, which does influence choices to an extent. Many people resort to share their personal experience about anything on the web as it is a feasible medium to voice their opinion. This makes many bank's vulnerable to online abuse, as some of these opinions may be rumors, proving that bank's need to have online monitoring tools.

Many banks have Internal Communication Departments who monitor print media for news but discount online conversations. What can a bank do to minimize the impact?

• Have a communications team to monitor online conversations and tackle rumors/complaints
• Hire a PR agency that can monitor the web 24x7
• Have a strong e-Marketing team that can create a positive perception of your brand online

Having an online presence is a must but tackling rumors/complaints is a challenge. The banks will have to bear the brunt of online conversations if they continue to ignore this medium. Online conversations will make or break customer relations in the future as more and more people seek feedback from peers on the web.

Twitter Hits the Limit

To fix the "whaling" issues on Twitter and avoid frequent outages, Twitter team has placed restrictions on various functionalities. Below is a list of restrictions placed by the technical team to ensure maximum availability of the websites: -

•Direct Messages: 250 per day.

•API Requests: 150 per hour.

•Updates: 1,000 per day. The daily update limit is further broken down into smaller limits for semi-hourly intervals. Retweets are counted as updates.

•Changes to Account Email: 4 per hour.

•Following (daily): Please note that this is a technical account limit only, and there are additional rules prohibiting aggressive following behavior. You can find detailed page describing following limits and prohibited behavior on the Follow Limits and Best Practices Page. The technical follow limit is 1,000 per day.

•Following (account-based): Once an account is following 2,000 other users, additional follow attempts are limited by account-specific ratios. The Follow Limits and Best Practices Page has more information.

 

The above information is sourced directly from the Twitter Help Centre which you click to read for more info. The above restrictions may impact few avid twitter users and keep spammers on the bay. Hope twitter is able to fix these issues at the earliest.

Twitter has experienced several incidences of poor site performance and the site has reported being used above capacity for almost two weeks now.  Click here to read more on the technical glitches that are being fixed by the tech Twitter team.