At a stunning $100 (monitor extra) we are sure of hitting the sweet spot. But the point is that when we reach the home segment, the box will not be sold unit-wise. It will be bundled along with the network connection that you ask for. You might apply for a Wi-Fi connection or a broadband connection or a triple play connection (More about this later) alongwith which you will get a Nova NetPC as the end-device. Similar to how you get a telephone instrument on applying for a telephone connection.
But the similarity doesn’t end there. You use your phone under a particular scheme and you pay the corresponding rental and usage charges, right?! Well, Novatium intends to relay computing through the same model. You will pay a constant rental for the device at your end. And choose a scheme. The scheme might look very similar to your broadband schemes. Apart from that you will have a choose your application scheme. Based on the OS & applications you choose, you will be billed. A sample bill is shown below:
| Sl No. | Particulars | Units | Cost per unit | Sub – Total | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Monthly Rental |
|
|
|
350 |
|
|
CPE (Customer Premises Equipment) |
|
|
200 |
|
|
|
Broadband |
|
|
100 |
|
|
|
Application |
|
|
50 |
|
|
2 |
Usage Charges |
|
|
|
1805.5 |
|
|
Broadband (1 Unit = 1 MB) |
500 |
0.5 |
250 |
|
|
|
Applications used |
|
|
|
|
|
|
- Windows OS (1 Unit = 1 Hour) |
87.5 |
10 |
875 |
|
|
|
- MS Word (1 Unit = 30 minutes) |
40 |
1.5 |
60 |
|
|
|
- MS Excel (1 Unit = 30 minutes) |
20 |
1.5 |
30 |
|
|
|
- MS Powerpoint (1 Unit = 30 mins) |
15 |
1.5 |
22.5 |
|
|
|
Special applications used (if any) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
- Network games (1 Unit = 30 mins) |
40 |
10 |
400 |
|
|
|
- Programming shell (1 Unit = 2 hrs) |
15 |
10 |
150 |
|
|
|
- VoIP software (1 Unit = 1 min) |
60 |
0.3 |
18 |
|
|
3 |
Telephone charges |
|
|
|
90 |
|
|
Call charges (Itemized charges attached) (1 Unit = 1 min) |
300 |
0.3 |
90 |
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
TOTAL [(1) + (2) + (3)] |
|
|
|
2245.5 |
|
|
|||||
This is an absolute fantasy of a bill. When I include Windows as one of the applications being used, then the bill seems to shoot up. If Linux is adopted as the OS, then the bill would work out to be 2245.50 – [(875) + (60) + (30) + (22.50)] = Rs. 1258/- In this money, you have used your computer to download 500 MB worth of data from the net, played interesting network games for 1 hr a day (excluding weekends) and also talked on the telephone.
Actually, it’s not the money that’s important. It’s the mode of payment that should interest you. No more spending of thousands to acquire a computer and later spending more to maintain it. More than the money spent it’s the time and peace of mind that gets affected by running behind the dealers and the others of that ilk.
Let’s hope we are able to ring in the utlity model with success! :)
After reading this post ,I actually have no words to describe ! ,it is amazing to see such a combo being introduced in India .I wish that this should be a huge success and this is a wonderful enhancement to technology
-Veda
Question Time!!! :D
1. What is the market you are aiming at? Home users or Corporate users?
2. Now that Services like MS Live are up, where we pay Microsoft for using office applications on the web rather than buying it, how does it reflect on my bill?
I hope i’m not pestering too much… but i’m sure your Sales & Marketing guys might face such barrage of questions too. Ask them to take this as a practice ;)
On a Lighter note… PLEASE DONT CHARGE N/W GAMES :D
This post has been removed by the author.
Why not use openoffice instead of MS office and lower the prices. Most of the office users don’t use 90% of what MS office has to offer. Openoffice does a very decent job. And when you say MS office would be made available are you talking about installing the MS office application or is it customized in some way and is available through a browser.For example MS office is actually run on your servers and only the screen is sent to the remote user like an remote PC application. What about licensing ? Is making Office available remotely covered under the current licensing scheme ? Why pay for both telephone and VOIP. Why not do what vonage is doing ? Have a broadband connection develop hardware that uses the broadband to make voice calls. Household’s pay around 600-2000Rs anyway for telephone. If you can replace the traditional phone with PC cum telephone for around 1500-2500(based on usage) that would be killer.
Veda:
Thanks! :)
Sudhu:
1. What is the market you are aiming at? Home users or Corporate users?
We are aiming at both the Home users and the corporate users. The Utility model though, will be applicable only to the Home users. For the corporate users, it won’t be as relevant as it is for the home users.
2. Now that Services like MS Live are up, where we pay Microsoft for using office applications on the web rather than buying it, how does it reflect on my bill?
I hope i’m not pestering too much… but i’m sure your Sales & Marketing guys might face such barrage of questions too. Ask them to take this as a practice ;)
I am a Sales & Marketing guy! ;) Microsoft hasn’t launched the online versions for the emerging markets as yet. The broadband penetration doesn’t support their kind of applications as yet. Also, their pricing does not fit into the pockets of the common man as yet. Let’s hope and pray they too realise this and resort to a totally different structure of pricing that will be low and hence relevant to the emerging markets.
On a Lighter note… PLEASE DONT CHARGE N/W GAMES :D
Will consider your request Sudhu!! :))
Goddi:
Why not use openoffice instead of MS office and lower the prices. Most of the office users don’t use 90% of what MS office has to offer. Openoffice does a very decent job.
I agree with you Goddi. OpenOffice needs to be popularised further.
And when you say MS office would be made available are you talking about installing the MS office application or is it customized in some way and is available through a browser.
See, we have two products Nova NetPC 100 and Nova NetPC 1000. In 100, the applications will be run through a server-based computing kind of a concept. While in 1000, we have an embedded thin browser through which we may provide the applications as intended.
For example MS office is actually run on your servers and only the screen is sent to the remote user like an remote PC application.
Right. As I have already explained! ;)
What about licensing ? Is making Office available remotely covered under the current licensing scheme ?
Licensing. Good thing you brought this thing up. Lets hope Microsoft sees value in what we are doing and relaxes its licensing rules. Actually, it needs to relax and drastically change the way it distributes its licenses with a pricing structure that vendors like Novatium can afford to provide it to the end-users.
Yes. There is a licensing scheme available to provide Office remotely. They charge for 1 Server Version + No. of seats basis.
Why pay for both telephone and VOIP. Why not do what vonage is doing ? Have a broadband connection develop hardware that uses the broadband to make voice calls. Household’s pay around 600-2000Rs anyway for telephone. If you can replace the traditional phone with PC cum telephone for around 1500-2500(based on usage) that would be killer.
Goddi, I think you have a very good point here. It’s ahead of its times in India. I say that because VoIP is not yet legal out here. So, once those legislations come in, we will find these innovations happening on their own. Rather, somebody like vonage will enter India with strategic alliance partners like Novatium ;) We are more than ready to carry out such hardware innovations. We have a group company who provides VoIP equipment to customers abroad. We can just bundle the equipment alongwith ours for any such special orders though