An ex-employee explains top challenges facing Google India – and how to tackle them

Despite having over 90% smartphone market share in India, Google is lacking a big consumer app in the country.Facebook has WhatsApp (and Messenger), both of which are massive in India, and Google is getting anxious that it could lose out.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai made his first official trip to India in mid-December as the company looks to expand in the country. Pichai announced a partnership with the Indian government to bring more of India's 1.2 billion population online.Business Insider spoke to Keval Desai, an ex-Google employee turned investor, about the problems Google is having in one of the fastest growing markets on Earth. (He was keen to stress that his views are not based on inside knowledge, but an understanding of Google's culture and businesses.)

Problem 1: India is a mobile-first country

Unlike the US or Europe, the majority of internet users' first experiences of technology and the internet are on a mobile device (most likely a smartphone) rather than a PC.

"Google has to re-architect its product [and] business model to this new mobile era," Desai said. "Google faces a completely new ecosystem in mobile that is similar to the old PC era of the '80s-'90s and not the web era of 2000s when Google was born."

This change is not specific to India but the whole of Google's business and the company has been working hard on creating mobile apps for all platforms while expanding beyond search and advertising, which make up 90% of Google's revenues.

Problem 2: Facebook

Desai makes the distinction between "desktop social networking" -- which, he says, is Facebook and LinkedIn -- and mobile messaging. According to Facebook, more than 890 million people use the Facebook app every month.

"Google has no chance [with desktop social] and I think trying to compete here is like fighting the last war," he said. "It is pointless and I believe Google recognizes that."

"Messaging apps have become the entry point for most of the tasks on a smartphone [in India]," he said. "Google owns the [operating system] in Android, but it doesn't own the entry point on a smartphone."

Facebook bought WhatsApp, the online messaging service, for $19 billion (£12.7 billion) last year for precisely this reason: The company wanted to own the portal through which people visit the internet.

"Google saw this coming and tried to buy WhatsApp but [Facebook] beat it," he said. "So now Google does have a problem and it is very evident in 'mobile first' countries like India where hundreds of millions of first time internet users are using WhatsApp as their entry point."

Problem 3: Becoming a destination site

Becoming a destination website will be difficult for Google in India, according to Desai.

"[Internet users in India] do all of their communication, commerce, social activities within the walled garden of WhatsApp," he said. "Many of these users don't even have a [Gmail] account because they were not even online until they got their first mobile phone so they are not in the Google universe and they don't search much on their phone either so Google truly never sees them."

Desai pointed towards an article which details how a street vendor in India has increased sales dramatically by using the group messaging feature in WhatsApp. This, he said, "perfectly captures Google's challenge in India."

How to fix the problem? According to Desai, Google has three options:

Leverage its other mobile apps:

Google has YouTube and Maps at its disposal, both of which are used heavily on mobile devices. Neither are messaging apps, but both give Google the opportunity to grab consumer mindshare.

Build, or acquire, other messaging apps.Highly popular regional apps exist in almost every market -- such as Line in Asia -- and Google could acquire one of these, re-brand it, and reap the rewards. Finding the apps is the hard part, however.

Rebrand Chrome

Google's web browser could, according to Desai, be leveraged and turned into a messaging client. Deals with phone hardware partners, such as Huawei, could be used to distribute the software.

"I think the key to winning in India in mobile is going to be slightly different than winning the desktop web in the US," said Desai. "In India, Google will have to win by having top apps and [win] by ensuring that it can be the first point of access for millions of Indians who are still not yet online."

Source : The Times Of India- Tech

Image Source : techgignews.com

TOI asked top-notch investors, founders & influencers in the startup world to pick their startup, entrepreneur and investor of the year. They also polled for the best new startup, a company founded in 2015. Here are the winners:

1.Startup for the year: Ola and Oyo Rooms

Both Ola and Oyo Rooms took the top spot in their respective categories in a year when they grew exceptionally in size and scale. Having scooped up millions of dollars in capital, the two startups will have to execute with precision from here on to steer execute with precision from here on to steer themselves through their next stage of growth in markets as deep as transportation and hotels.

2.TOI's pick for startup for the year: Grofers

The hyperlocal delivery startup led by Albinder Dhindsa and Saurabh Kumar was unknown at the beginning of the year. From being a business-to-business platform, Grofers pivoted to becoming a consumer facing venture and then the funding floodgates opened.

Its valuation zoomed from $33 million in February to more than $300 million in its latest $120 million fund-raise led by Softbank. Grofers' test will come in 2016 when it'll have to build a robust merchantled supply chain and fufill demand at a much larger scale.

3.Investor of the year: Nikesh Arora, president, Softbank

SoftBank's Nikesh Arora emerged as a clear winner in a year when the Japanese internet & telecoms giant doubled down on the Indian market with fresh investments in Oyo and Grofers.

Having entered the consumer internet space last year with bets on Snapdeal, Ola and Housing, Softbank became a sought after, fat cat mid-to late stage investor along with DST Global and Tiger Global.

4.TOI's pick for investor of the year: Lee Fixil, Tiger Global

Fixel has been the most fervent believer in the Indian consumer internet story for a few years now. For the first time since his early bets in Flipkart and Ola, Fixel made a string of series A investments at high valuations, heating up the startup market locally.

Fixel's unique investment theory stems from Tiger's hedge fund roots and his deep pockets, which make the firm a preferred investor for most Indian founders who are on a route to fast-paced growth which requires gobs of capital.

5.Entrepreneur of the year: Bhavish Aggarwal

Bhavish Aggarwal's year has been remarkable from having raised $900 million in funds to reaching 100 cities and diversifying into food and grocery delivery. This year catapulted his Ola into the unicorn club, comprising billion-dollar privately held startups, and saw him consolidate his leadership position with the TaxiForSure acquisition. His go-for-broke nature has won him plaudits as he fights it out with arch rival Uber.

6.TOI's pick for entrepreneur of the year: Ritesh Agarwal

Ritesh Agarwal, founder of Oyo Rooms, has a set of skeptics who have doubted his ability to steer a company which may have outgrown him. But this year, Agarwal has been able to hire and build an experienced senior team which will hold the key going forward for Oyo.

Everyone has been talking about how the 22-year-old may have come of age as a founder who can lead from the front.

7.Best new startup: Roadrunnr

Roadrunnr emerged as disrupting the logistics space with an asset-light model wherein they don't use warehouses like other logistics players.The hyperlocal delivery startup works with merchants, restaurants and e-commerce firms to deliver their orders to customers. Its backers include Nexus, Sequoia and Apolleto, Yuri Milner's personal investment vehicle.

Source : The Times Of India - tech

Startup India trends that made 2015 a landmark year  

Startup boom continued in India with more rigour than ever before in 2015. The past year has seen a makeover of the ecosystem with more players coming in and some major ones disintegrating. It also witnessed the birth of major deals and more inflow of investment.

For some startups, it was the best of times, and for some others, it was definitely the worst.

YourStory finds out the top trends which ruled the scene in 2015.

Hyperlocal revolution

Your local grocer became tech savvy this year; so did your plumber and your local food delivery boys. Biggies like Amazon, Ola, Flipkart, Snapdeal, and Paytm entered the hyperlocal grocery services in 2015. Food delivery service Yumist raised $2 million for expansion while Swiggy ventured to Chennai, covering all tier I cities. Home services provider Housejoy went from 40 orders a day to 4,000 in 10 months since its launch in January, while its competitor Urbanclap – backed by Ratan Tata among others — got 3000 vendors in Mumbai alone. Even offline shopping was made easier by Shopsity, a discovery platform, and digital payment provider Momoe ventured beyond restaurants, into grocery stores, spas and salons, and apparel stores.

Indian languages come online

It seems like at least a few entrepreneurs realised that the country does have a huge non-English speaking population – about 70-80%. If Snapdeal led the way in e-commerce by launching itself (powered by Reverie) in Telugu and Hindi, local e-commerce startup Storeking, which functions exclusively with local languages, partnered with wallet services provider MobiKwik to enable expansion. Classifieds platform Quikr is also now available in seven languages. In news media, YourStory set a record by launching in 10 Indian languages, and InShort quickly followed suit.  The trend is sure to grow – Process Nine Technologies Pvt Ltd., which partnered with Snapdeal for translating English into different Indian languages, is already working with players in travel and retail.

Tier II cities not so secondary anymore

Startups looked beyond the metros this year, and found untapped markets full of opportunities! Faaso’s went to tier II cities such as Baroda and Ahmedabad, thus making their presence in total 10 cities while online grocery service Grofers went to 17 tier II cities making their presence in a total of 27 cities. Auto rickshaw aggregator and on-demand grocery provider Jugnoo even announced launch in tier III city Udaipur. Taxi aggregator Ola made it to total 102 cities this year by entering tier II cities, including Kochi and Trivandrum, while rival Uber also took on seven tier II and Udaipur cities making a total of 18. Meru cabs also went on to cover 23 cities altogether. Even pre-owned fashion platforms have seen a majority of their orders coming in from tier II and tier III cities, leading more logistics firms to launch in those cities.

Pooling is a virtue

It was probably the entry of French company BlaBla cars, a long distance ride-sharing service connecting private drivers, into the country in January that ignited the idea of carpooling among cab aggregators in India. Eight-year-old Meru Cabs launched carpooling in September. Around the same time, US-based Uber launched the service in Bengaluru, which was followed by Ola in a month. The trend is sure to grow, with the recent decision by the Delhi government to implement odd-even rule – in which odd numbered cars run on odd dates, and even numbered cars on even dates — provides the perfect platform for these companies to encourage pooling for their passengers in 2016.

Sacking of the masses

Hundreds of startup employees got the sack this year, which questioned the structure, functioning and viability of those businesses. After the firing of Co-founder and CEO Rahul Yadav in July, real estate platform Housing fired 600 employees in August and another 200 in November “to control cash burn”. Soon, food delivery player Tinyowl fired 100 employees and shut down its Pune office – leading to Co-founder Gaurav Choudhary being held hostage allegedly by the employees for settlements. Tinyowl’s rival Zomato, which joined the Unicorn club this year, also laid off 10 percent of its workforce in November, followed by its CEO Deepinder Goyal sending an email to the remaining employees indirectly warning them to perform well or leave. Grabhouse joined this list a week ago, when it fired more than 150 employees.

App-commerce comes forward

E-commerce went “handy” this year when biggies like Flipkart and Snapdeal focused more on their rising mobile phone traffic. India is increasingly becoming a mobile-first country, and even startups like Elanic are going app-only for their business. Myntra made headlines when it went app-only in May. Although Flipkart was rumoured to go app-only after shutting down its mobile website, they later settled for a new mobile site — Flipkart lite, which is claimed to be 99 percent similar to the native app but is only 10kb. Rival Snapdeal followed suit with Snap-lite, which is claimed to be 85 percent faster than the original mobile site and is available across all mobile browsers. With almost 70 percent of transactions coming from their apps, Amazon and Flipkart provided some offers exclusively on apps during the festive season sales this year.

Omni channel is born

Online commerce hooked up with offline players this year, and omni channel was born. Taking hyperlocal services to the next level, omni channel strategies brought offline players into e-commerce spectrum. Omni channel retail give more inclusivity — the customers can discover online and get the products from the brick and mortar stores. Some players like Fashalot provide incentives through their app too. Snapdeal’s omni channel platform, launched in October, integrated offline platforms to their business so that the customers can get the ordered product picked up from or delivered from a nearby offline store. Retail giants like Tata, Reliance, Unilever, and Aditya Birla Group etc. also took to online commerce and some of them started selling on Flipkart and Amazon.

Rise and fall of food startups

Food startups ate too much money in the first half of the year, but later it starved to death. Food delivery startups saw a substantial boom in the first half of the year, with $74 million invested in the sector in April alone. However, things deteriorated by August — Zomato and Tinyowl made news for their mass firings, and FoodPanda seemed to have been in trouble too. Lack of funding killed Spoonjoy and Dazo in October, and Eatlo is believed to have shut down too. Inefficiencies in delivery time and poor revenue model have made the food-tech startups sit up and ponder over better strategies for the future.

Startups get Ratan Tata

After retiring from his position as Chairman of Tata Group in 2012, Ratan Tata became pro-active in funding startups as well as tech-based companies. He made news last year when he invested in Snapdeal, Urban Ladder, and Blue Stone. But in 2015, Ratan Tata made 11 investments, including Ola, Paytm, Urban ladder, Xaiomi, Kaaryah, Holachef, CarDekho, and Lybrate. His counterpart from Wipro, AzimPremji, had also invested in Myntra and Snapdeal in 2014, while Infosys Founder Narayana Murthy has invested in Amazon. It looks like corporates have joined the startup game finally, and the younger generation is at an advantage – getting to learn from the most successful entrepreneurs the country has seen.

‘GharWapsi’ of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs

The loss of Google, Yahoo, Facebook, and many other majors in Silicon Valley was India’s gain in e-commerce. Punit Soni, the man behind the revival of Motorola and earlier product manager at Google, left the Bay Area to come and live in India for the first time when he joined Flipkart as the Chief Product Officer in March 2015. Flipkart was also quick in snatching California-based Niket Desai from Google to be its Chief of Staff in April, while Snapdeal hired Silicon Valley veteran Gaurav Gupta as its Vice-President of Engineering. Furthermore, quite a handful of Indian “techies” settled abroad came back to India and launched their own entrepreneurial ventures this year – Vikram P Kumar of Explore, Mehul Sutaria of Transitpedia, SanketAvlani of Taxi Fabric to name a few.

Acquisition spree continues

Since Indian IPOs are not easy to come by, mergers and acquisitions have been the most preferred exit routes for early investors and entrepreneurs. In 2015, around 200 acquisitions and acqui-hires have taken place in the ecosystem – Snapdeal’s acquisition of FreeCharge, Ola’s acquisition of TaxiForSure, Mahindra’s Babyoye, Practo’s acquisition of Qikwell and Instahealth, and Housing’s acquisition of HomeBuy360, have been notable exits. This trend is not going to slow down as many startups have raised larger rounds this year to prepare their war chests. More acquisitions could be in the pipeline for 2016.

Startups do have a heart

In a year when this part of the world witnessed natural disasters which killed hundreds, some startups did their part to help. Proving that it is not just profit margins that they care about, Ola provided boats and Uber gave free rides during the Chennai floods. Paytm provided free recharge to help the public communicate, and Zomato delivered a meal free for every order placed in Chennai.  Data collection startup SocialCops was part of the relief efforts in Chennai floods as well as Nepal earthquake.

Source : yourstory.com

8 bold predictions for Android in 2016

It's that time of year, ladies and gents, when the pundits and predictors cast their d20 to chance a guess at what's in store for various and sundry sectors of nearly every market on the planet. That's right... it's a chance to take a stab at guessing what the future holds.

In being true to that tradition, these are my predictions for what's in store for Android in 2016. Find out why I think 2016 might be one of the biggest years yet for the platform.

1: Unlocked devices will rule

There's no way around this now. Unlocked devices are going to take command of the Android market, and they won't do this from the shadows. These devices will come out into the spotlight to show why they might be the most important development in the Android ecosystem.

2016 will see the first time an inexpensive unlocked device will usurp Samsung, HTC, Google, or Motorola as the flagship device to have. Either OnePlus, Xiaomi, or Huawei will release a flagship killer that will finally make its way to every market and take over as the "it" smartphone.

2: Bloat be gone

I believe that Android "N" (whatever it will be called) will include the ability for an end user to remove bloatware added by carriers. This will be a major win for Google and consumers.

Although Android "N" will be a massive Android upgrade, the ability to strip devices of dreaded bloatware will be the one feature to overshadow all others. That's how badly this feature is needed.

3: Android "N" will impress

I believe the major changes to Android "N" (Noughat? NomNom? Nonpareil?) will include a new, feature-rich power menu that will bring a reboot option to stock Android. Android "N" might also see a split screen feature that will allow users to run two apps simultaneously. You might also see the following features: a theme engine, a notification LED control, double-tap to wake, better wearable and auto integration, and much more.

Of course, all features will be overshadowed if "N" allows us to remove bloatware.

4: Android upgrade improvement

Android Marshmallow proved that the Android upgrade process is broken. Even those with Nexus phones (the platform that was supposed to get upgrades almost immediately upon release) have not seen upgrades months after the release of the latest iteration of the operating system.

There are many pieces to this puzzle, and I believe Google will finally solve the problem in 2016. Most of the solution will come at the expense of carriers and their testing (and addition of bloatware). Regardless of how, this has been an issue plaguing Android, and one that must be resolved in the coming year.

5: Better integration with Chromebooks

I do not think Google plans on retiring Chrome OS... it's just too important to the overall ecosystem. I do believe, however, that Google will make it easier for Chrome OS to run Android apps and make the integration between Android and Chrome OS seamless. Imagine plugging your Android device into a Chromebook to see them automatically sync with one another.

6: Massive growth for Android X

The X stands for "wear" and "auto."

I predict that Android-based wearables and the automotive take on the platform will see major growth in all markets. Wearables have struggled to make any major impact because the platform simply wasn't ready. With the release of Android "N," I believe wearables will see a massive surge in growth, as will Android Auto.

7: Android of Everything

It's time for the Internet of Things and Android to come together. Sure, you can control your Nest from Android and even manage to integrate the Amazon Echo, but that's using Android on the periphery. I believe the coming year will see the beginnings of serious Android in the home... front and center. I could see an Android "home base" appearing to herald in the Android of Everything.

8: Project Fi will take off

Google's Project Fi was launched in 2015 and has been a hit with the few users who have adopted the technology. I think 2016 will see a major growth in this Google project and future releases of Android (starting with "N") will have Fi fully integrated and ready to go with devices outside of the Nexus line.

Android is already one of the largest platforms across all markets. I believe 2016 will see another major swell in the rank and file, thanks to some serious improvements in the operating system and integration with other Google products and projects.

Source : techrepublic.com

When the Google CEO Turned Up In Our College | Sundar Pichai interacts with SRCC students.

Sundar Pichai interacting with the students from Delhi University.
On a lazy winter morning, I woke up to realize that it was the day that the man who grew up in my vicinity in Chennai, and made it big in life, big enough to become the CEO of Google, was coming to my college. Sundararajan Pichai, so was he named.

Although the winter vacation in Delhi University had already begun, there was an unusual crowd in front of SRCC when I entered. Google India had apparently hired a special squad from G4S to provide cover for their CEO. And so my favorite guard, the one who’d unfailingly greet us everyday was missing at the gate.

However, the Nooglers(a “new Googler,” or a new employee of Google) at the registration desk made up for his absence. The registration process was smooth and they were themselves equally excited to meet Sundar. They even gave me a media pass when I told them that I’d be blogging about the #AskSundar event. We had to enter the venue 90 minutes prior to the schedule for security concerns.

Google is intuitive, it understands us. I was hungry and they gave me a felicitous meal box InnerChef. There were a lot of digital screens put up across the campus to keep us edutained. On some screens, you could take selfies and they’d automatically get uploaded on social media, or if you were a non-narcissist like me, then you could watch Art & History videos at the other screens. In the Sports Complex, there were drums everywhere and they made a musical program out of it. I felt the innovative setup of the event itself was giving us a message as to what Google stood for.

Favorite Sports: Soccer, Cricket
Favorite Players: Lionel Messi, Sunil Gavaskar
Favorite Train: Coromandel Express (Chennai to Kharagpur)
First Phone: Motorola StarTAC
First Software: A rudimentary version of Chess
When he was still in college, the Internet didn’t even exist. There were no smartphones, only books. He was completely into reading. So when the Internet started happening, it took him a while to realize its power. He talked about the attitude towards failure in the Indian society and how in contrast, in the Silicon Valley, it was indeed considered us a badge of honor.

“India needs a culture of optimism and risk taking,” he said. He encouraged us to work with people who’d make us feel insecure. The Indian education system, according to him needs more experiential and project-based learning. He urged the Indian community to ensure that the system doesn’t penalize us for taking risks. Those were very valid points coming from someone who himself is a product of the system.

Then, he spent some time joking about how they should create an opinion poll for naming the next Android version & asked us to vote for an Indian name. He was also very optimistic about India. He said, “It’s happening in India. It’s just a matter of time. We’re a country of entrepreneurial culture. Whenever I go across India and find a tea stall in a random corner, I feel like ‘Well, there’s an entrepreneur here.’ India is very, very well positioned. Entrepreneurs here are just like the ones I find in the Valley.”

Someone asked him whether if it was true that he could memorize phone numbers hearing them just once. “Yes, I was good at them when I was in Chennai. Back then it used to be only six digits. But when I moved to the US and started using a smartphone, I stopped memorizing.” I wanted to ask him if technology has made our brains less efficient and the importance of memorization in a digital world.


There was another joke when Bhogle asked him how much he had scored in his Class 12. Sundar diplomatically answered that it wasn’t good enough for him to enter SRCC. Oh boy, I was so proud of myself. When I go back home, I’ll tell mom that I have achieved something the Google CEO couldn’t.

Source : letsintern.com

5 hacks for getting more out of Gmail

You may think you know all you need to know about Gmail to manage your account, but it’s always safe to assume the powerful service has more up its sleeve. In fact, many of its coolest features may slip by you if you don’t know where to look. Here are five tips for getting more out of what Gmail has to offer.

Easily unsubscribe to bulk emails

As good as Gmail’s spam filter is, it can’t catch everything, and bulk email messages will inevitably find their way into your inbox. Fortunately, there’s an easy way to weed them out.

Just type “unsubscribe” into Gmail’s search box and it will respond with a cascade of daily deals, newsletters, and other offers to which you’ve long since forgotten subscribing. To stop receiving a message, open it an either click the unsubscribe button Gmail places next to the sender’s address on promotional emails or look for an unsubscribe link at the bottom.

Take advantage of email “aliases”

If you just can’t help yourself and know you’re going to continue to subscribe to offers and email notifications, use this hack to keep the influx organized.

Gmail doesn’t use traditional aliases, but it does let you create alternate addresses by adding a plus sign followed by words or numbers after your email address. You can use this to your advantage to sort your subscriptions. For example, if you wanted to sign up for Groupon, enter your email address as John.Smith+groupon@gmail.com. Then set up a filter to apply a label or star to these messages, have them bypass your inbox, or otherwise redirect them.

Supercharge your stars

Gmail uses a yellow star to bookmark or prioritize messages. The problem is if you “star” a lot of email, you can quickly create another disorganized tier within your inbox.

But it’s a little-known fact that Gmail actually offers a range of colored stars and even other icons you can use to impose order on your important emails. For example, you can use different colored stars for different priority levels or use a red exclamation point for messages that need an urgent reply.

Just go to Settings > General and scroll down to Stars. Drag the stars or symbols you want to add from the “Not in use” category to “In use.” To apply one of the new icons to a message, click the star next to it repeatedly until you see the symbol you want to use.

Keep tabs on your account activity

They may not get the headlines like other types of security breaches, but email hacks do happen. You can monitor your own Gmail activity if you know where to look.

Scroll all the way to the bottom of your inbox and look for the “Details” link in the right corner. Click it to see information on the last 10 times your Gmail account was accessed. This log shows you the access type—browser, mobile, POP3, etc.—the location and IP address, and the time of activity. From here, you can also log out of Gmail from another computer by hitting the “Sign out all other web sessions” button.

Manage an inactive account

We can’t imagine you’d ever want to stop using Gmail, but nonetheless you should decide how you’d want your data handled if that day should come. You can do this with Google’s Inactive Account Manager.

This failsafe helps Google determine when your account should be treated as inactive, what to do with your data, and whom to notify. You just need to customize four settings:

Timeout period—you designate a lengthof time starting from your last login after which your account can be considered inactive.

Alert me—you provide a mobile number and additional email addresses by which Google can alert you. It will do so one month before your timeout period ends.

Notify contacts and share data—you can add up to 10 people to be notified when your account is inactive and elect whether or not to share data with them.

Optionally delete account—toggle this switch to “yes” if you want Google to delete your account and all data associated with it once all the previous steps have been completed.

These measures go into play if you don't access your account for a length of time for any reason, so it's worth taking the time to configure them.

Source : macworld.com

The secret to Microsoft's rising fortunes

As we near the close of 2015, the technology world has grown boring, largely because it's so mind-numbingly predictable: Apple dominates mobile, Amazon owns the cloud, and on and on.

That's why I'm grateful for Microsoft -- yes, Microsoft. While Redmond has been gazing into the abyss for the past decade or so and continues to stumble in mobile -- the truth is that Microsoft is getting its mojo back.

Microsoft's winning strategy? While RedMonk analyst James Governor points out, "Not sucking has been really key," the heart of that "not sucking" strategy has been a consistent, relentless focus on developers -- so much so, in fact, that Google has said of Microsoft: "We share the same soul."

Signs of life

But first, some numbers.

It should be clear by now that workloads are moving to the public cloud much faster than many expected. While traditional IT keeps trying to stave off the inevitable with data centers thinly disguised as "private cloud," there's no question that the market is Amazon Web Services' to lose.

Microsoft, however, isn't far behind, at least not when measured by perception. An IDG Enterprise survey found Microsoft (36 percent) to be second only to AWS (43 percent) in terms of cloud thought leadership. Google was next at 26 percent, but IBM (18 percent), Oracle (6 percent), and others were way behind.

This perception is translating into real revenues for both AWS and Microsoft, according to a recent Forrester report:

Pay attention to the cloud platform revenues, where AWS has a dramatic lead ($6 billion). But Microsoft, with roughly $1.6 billion, is at least doubling any of its enterprise competitors.

Part of this lead among the AWS-chasing pack comes down to Microsoft's strength with CIOs. Even in the bowels of its soul-searching, Microsoft never lost the affection of the C-suite. According to a 2013 CIO survey, 45 percent of CIOs picked Microsoft as their "most important vendor," roughly twice as many as the next nearest vendor (Oracle).

But the bigger reason Microsoft is a credible competitor to AWS is that the Redmond giant has rekindled its love affair with developers in a way that none of its peers have.

Speaking polyglot

It's easy for platform vendors like Microsoft to become fixated on the platform. Indeed, this is precisely what Microsoft did for decades, going so far as to use its dominance in one market to tie into other markets (operating systems, browsers, and so on).

But the Satya Nadella Microsoft is different. Perhaps the biggest offering Microsoft has thrown to developers in the last few years, according to Citrix CTO Christian Reilly, is "embracing different platforms (and providing tooling on them)."

This means, according to Nadella, that "every developer on every platform can build intelligent apps."

This isn't a Steve Ballmer developer dance. It's an earnest effort to speak the polyglot languages that today's modern developer must speak.

Of course, this is driven by self-interest, as is Microsoft's embrace of open source. Though roughly 50 percent of developers still use Windows as their desktop OS, according to a massive Stack Overflow developer survey, that number has been going down for years. Even those Microsoft Windows developers are building applications for other platforms (OS, database, and so on), many of them not invented in Redmond.

While Microsoft would love to have everyone using its proprietary software, the reality is that open source has become the lingua franca of developers. Microsoft isn't opening up out of any great love for freedom. But so what?

What it has managed to do is turn around a decade of waning developer affection and attention and convert it into an increasingly bright future for the company.

Microsoft hasn't needed to win on all fronts to resume its relevance. It has simply needed to regain developers' trust. Nadella has done that with a genuine willingness to color outside the Windows lines, giving Microsoft a key role to play in our developer-fueled cloud future.

Source : infoworld.com