Google Maps is back to rescue Apple's iOS6

Google Maps for iPhone is back!

For those of you who are joined at the hip to your iPhone, there is good news to report. Google Maps is back on Apple's iOS. The Google designed Google Maps for iPhone, now available on Apple App Store, rescues the iPhone's from its self imposed irrelevance in mapping after the debacle that was Apple Maps. I encourage you to download Google Maps if you have not already done so. The New York Times review of the new app can be viewed by clicking here.

Sorry, Apple Maps.

Star Micronics vs. Epson: Sometimes better to stick with the market leader

I have always been one to support companies that herald innovation even if they are not market sales leaders. That would explain my avid support for Audi in the 80s, despite lackluster sales in the US, support for Saab in the 90s, and innovative software and computer hardware solutions from smaller vendors. Often, my decisions lead me to interesting and positive.

Sadly, sometimes they don't. Today, I was reminded why sticking with the market leader has value.  As Boston East India Hotels re-engineers The Sol hotel, which is part of our portfolio, I decided to leave the point-of-sale solution we had been using for years and adopt another solution made by a small company in Belgium. We have an event at The Sol that requires faster food and bar ordering, and we decided that the POSiOS system would be right fit. The only drawback was that the software that comes with the POSiOS solution requires printers made by a small Japanese company called Star Micronics, which has very little presence in India. The clear market leader is Epson, another Japanese company, which is supported by several other software packages I was evaluating.

The Sol currently uses Epson.  Against the advice of my food and beverage director and senior advisor, I placed my faith on the sales and support team of Star Micronics to deliver what they promised. I ordered a Star Micronics TSP-743LAN (which I was told is compatible with a Star Micronics TSP-143LAN), paid by immediate wire transfer as was urged by the Star sales team, and was promised delivery the next morning. Alas, the morning came and went, and the printer hadn't arrived. When it did finally arrive, it came without the LAN port, which enables the printer to connect to a network to receive print signals. In short, the printer can't print. The distributor for Star Micronics in India, POS Solutions Pvt. Ltd. lied to me and advised me that the LAN port had been shipped and would arrive later in the day. Alas, it hadn't. Upon further review and only after several hours of trying to locate support, I learned that the LAN port might arrive an entire day after the event for which we had adopted the new POS solution.

So, I'd like to publicly thank Star Micronics and POS Solutions for reminding me why some companies become market leaders and why some don't. If you are considering Star Micronics or POS Solutions in India, I'd highly recommend reconsidering. Stick with Epson and thank me later. 

Steve Jobs, 1955 - 2011

RIP Steve. You lived a truly inspired and inspirational life. Reading the account of your life -- and its healthy dose of both adversity and triumph -- gave me and I'm quite sure millions of others, motivation to think and do as if this day is our last.

Click here for the NY Times article on the passing of Steve Jobs.

The Observer and the Observed

In his interesting blog post, The Producers: Are Pictures Detaching Us From Life?, UC Berkeley Prof. Alva Noë writes of the creeping wedding-ization of experience. The proliferation of technology, especially digital imaging technology, is making us all detached producers rather than active participants in everyday life, he suggests. While the point is well taken, I wonder if we can't make a broader point about observation and the observer. In quantum physics, the observer and the observed are linked; the observed is affected by the observer. The video of Osama watching himself on TV, remote in hand, offers a stark recursive example of this phenomenon. The technology that is available today has no doubt democratized the producer function and with that created a new need for composers and editors as well as a realization that participatory detachment from the activity has its own impact. Yet, with or without technology, observation has the power to alter the observed. Our awareness of this law of nature and our knowledge thereof offers us our only real method to control how and to what extent we observer-participants impact that which we seek to merely observe.

Indian Customer Service -- the Tata Indicom Way

Tata Indicom
Tata Teleservices (M) Ltd
Ispat House, B G Kher Marg
Worli, Mumbai

F

Those of you who have never done business in India may enjoy this quick story. Those of you who have or are doing business in India will empathize. We recently ordered telephone service from Tata Indicom, an Indian provider of wireless telephones. We needed the number quickly since we had people waiting to receive and utilize the phones. We were promised 48 hour turnaround.

Our orders were considered complete over two weeks ago, during the third week of July, and since that time we have been calling several times a day to inquire as to their whereabouts. Every day we are told, in essence, that the phones are to arrive, and every day, there is some reason the phones have not. Last Friday, we were told the phones did not arrive "because the rains were heavy," a few days prior to that we were told that the "go down" (the common Indian term for warehouse or distribution center) was flooded, while today were were informed that additional paperwork needed to be completed. Amitava Das, MK's Vice President for India, Amitabh Devendra, MK's Strategic Advisor for India, and Jacob Purackal, MK's Senior Manager for India have all been involved in the hunt for the Tata phones, consuming nearly a hundred hours of corporate time. As of today, August 6, 2007, no phones.

Earlier today, we were told by Dinesh Yadav, the "Sales Executive" at Tata Indicom that someone needed to be at my residential address to sign and deliver additional paperwork. Having had people waiting at my apartment for Tata in the past, we offered to travel from the office to the apartment on the condition that the phones be ready and waiting for us. Mr. Yadav refused, stating that surely the phones would be delivered after this latest round of document requests and wondering why we doubted his assertions. We decided to speak with Mr. Yadav's supervisor, Sachin Kulekar a "Manager" at Tata Indicom, who informed us that he did not care that we very dissatisfied with Tata and needed help. In effect, we were informed that customer satisfaction and prompt delivery of promised products was no longer part of Tata Indicom's mission.

So, if you are considering telephone service in the Mumbai area, and receiving a phone number and phone equipment is important to you, consider avoiding Tata Indicom. While Tata products and services are still considering reliable in India, Tata Indicom and its Mumbai sales and service operation failed more completely than any other service provider I have dealt with in recent memory. Timely and reliable service remains a scarce commodity here in India -- Tata Indicom's failures, coming from a well respected Indian conglomerate, while perhaps not unexpected, were truly disappointing nonetheless.

We are off to Reliance, a competitor, to see if we fare any better. Stay tuned.