Comments on: Yulop Launches Mobile WAP Site - How is Local Search and Location Mapping Shaping up in India?

By: naman

naman — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 08:59:32 +0000

ALL THIS FEATURES WERE INCORPORATED BY ONYOMO.COM WAY BACK…. ITS INTEERESTING TO NOTICE IF THEY CAN REALLY DELIVER QUALITY INFO THE WAY ONYOMO DOES.. TAKE A LOOK AT THE SEXY INTERFACE AND FIND OUT FOR YOURSELF

By: Harshil Karia

Harshil Karia — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 15:46:18 +0000

you guys said it all

By: Maneesh

Maneesh — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 10:45:33 +0000

@manuscrypts
I am taking the liberty to comment on this..I am sure Harshil will add on it as well later..

it leads to what Harshil said in his earlier comment.. “Primarily, the lines between content which is useful and ‘advertising’ is dwindling. Advertising is becoming ‘content that is useful’.”

you won’t need to crack a revenue model.. companies will begin using custom solutions made available by the technology and the service will pay for itself for the company in the long run..while keeping the service free..

as an example think of it as a feedburner which only gives google’s updates.. what companies will then focus on is to make their brand indispensable…

In fact I was just talking to Harshil on how this is similar to the post I made today of media becoming a solution provider- http://tinyurl.com/3sp6vn

By: manuscrypts

manuscrypts — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 10:28:06 +0000

harshil, i also see it more as a problem.. between mediums, classifieds for newspapers is still a huge source of revenue, on the net its free and ‘useful content’… on the net, many ex- value adds are now commodities, and new services are still struggling to figure out revenue streams… in the meanwhile, tech keeps getting upgraded, the shelf lives of products/services are decreasing, and by the time you crack a revenue model, the technology might have become redundant.. so where does it lead to? …..and i’m really not sure if i am exaggerating

By: Harshil Karia

Harshil Karia — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 10:14:16 +0000

@ Saunik - i think the Yulop product is replicable. Its not Google! However if they can extend that lead beyond Big Maps + Whrrl et al - then they might be worth watching out for. If not then they their product will be replicated by a larger player. TOI is content based product. Thats a lot more subjective. With a technology based product, things can be easily replicated right. Not saying that your example does not apply, just saying that opportunities and threats for Yulop are more extreme.

By: Harshil Karia

Harshil Karia — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 10:08:37 +0000

Citysense is pretty cool - something that BigMaps aspires to be. I think scaling up to other cities is important primarily because i dont see revenues that are large enough to support a single city wide network. So there can be location based ads, suggestions built into searches, purchase while searching (for services especially) — Im sure you could add more to this list. Primarily, the lines between content which is useful and ‘advertising’ is dwindling. Advertising is becoming ‘content that is useful’. I see this as a huge problem (or opportunity - but more of a problem) for content aggregation service providers. But then again - this is just speculation. What do you think?

By: Saunik

Saunik — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 10:02:18 +0000

Good post - Does product and UI always translate to distribution and Scale. I think the jury is out on that.

TOI for instance is the largest English Daily in the country- is it the best product?

Contrastingly for a site like Google, the product was its prime mover. Would be interesting to see how Yulop does.

By: manuscrypts

manuscrypts — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 09:58:20 +0000

hmm, how imp would scaling up (to other cities) be for revenue streams, whatever those might be (and what would those be is also a question), you think?
meanwhile, on a different level, check this one out - http://www.citysense.com/home.php