Interview Questions

Full Interview with Ponnapa P.G.

Ponnapa P.G.:

You have to look at this question from the perspective of the market. Today, we have roughly between 30 and 35 million people on the Internet.

Now, if we expect mobile penetration to be close to 200 million, then we are talking about a growth that will ensure at least 100 million users in the next three to five years. I would say more than twothirds of the market's potential is still to come.

I don't think the game is over; in fact growth has just started. We are here at the right time: the market is about to open and we are ready for it. And it is true that the competition has been here much longer. But look at the US market, we are in the top-four there. We don't see any reason why we can't achieve that in the Indian market, too, in about three to fours years.

 

Ponnapa P.G.:

There are two or three aspects to this. First, if you look at the way content is laid out on the portal and the associated experience people have because of this arrangement, it is all of a significantly higher order. People can find content easily, navigate easily and not just on the main page but even the story pages. Then there is the whole user experience on mail. It's great. Users can change the entire look of their mail, its color and appearance with just one click. People can integrate mail and messenger, which means that they can chat with other people and mail at the same time. And then there are the small things, the details. For example, if you forget to attach a mail, you get a message that will prompt you to do so. Interesting things like these are what make us distinct, it is what people love, and they make a difference.

 

Ponnapa P.G.:

We already have a lot of video and rich media content. We have a large amount of original video content, which we believe is a unique proposition. We will strategize and leverage that. But rich media does not work at 256 kbps. Which is the way connectivity works in India, it's there but it is of no use. This year was supposed to be the year of the broadband. Plans are still on, but expectations for the exponential growth of broadband in India have shifted - broadly - to the next year. This delay was due to the procurement of materials like optic fiber, but I think it's definitely happening next year. I think the whole equation is about to change. It's like suddenly finding highways which make it that much easier. We need to prepare ourselves to where the market is going, rather than where it is today.

 

Ponnapa P.G.:

At a certain junction, when products reach a particular level, there are no distinct USPs that stand out as killer applications. Take for example user experience across a variety of things. You could say everybody has this, but the way ours is done is different. It's at a click. It's easy. It's like changing from first gear straight to the third.

These things matter - users like it. It's not just about getting the right product; it's also about reaching to the right people. Truveo is our video search product. It is on our portal. Essentially it is a significant technology piece. It has an embedded visual crawler technology, which enables it to search videos anywhere in the world and serve it contextually. For example, at in.truveo.com you have Indian references. Everybody else uses text based stuff to try and do video-based search.

This doesn't solve the problem; it needs a separate technology totally. Truveo is a big differentiator. We have also launched channels quickly. We are already present in that space because we didn't wait for five years to decide if the market needed it, we know the market is going there.

 

Ponnapa P.G.:

We already have two strong distribution deals in place. One is with MTNL in Mumbai and Delhi. And, going forward, we plan to expand to all MTNL customers. Second, from January this year, we started a program wherein all HP computers are being shipped with AOL as their default homepages.

Suddenly, we will have a large number of people for whom the AOL homepage is just a click away. This will make us available to a few million people. Additionally, MTNL-AOL and HP-AOL will be joint portals, with joint ownership, so both will strategize to succeed. If you look at what people like to consume where Indian media is concerned, it's entertainment, for a large part. The Internet is just a medium through which people consume entertainment. Until now it has been limited, but the moment bandwidth grows, there will be a lot to be explored. So, we have to get the product, the distribution and the screen right.

 

Ponnapa P.G.:

For our first six months, we have been extremely happy with the response we'vegot. The next year will be even more interesting with a lot of new initiatives and products coming in. It will be better because that's when we will be able to add more value to the portal.

 

Ponnapa P.G.:

We plan to leverage mobile connectivity. Today, consumers do not differentiate between a laptop and a mobile and if I can get the mobile market in, that'll be great.

These days, the average consumer who comes on the Internet is typically between 16 and 17-years-old. Very often, they start from a cybercafé, they register and get a
few email IDs. Most of them get mobile phones around the same time.

Suddenly their life changes, they get into SMS. This device is with them 24 hours a day and it's important to be able to offer services that matter. We need to be able to leverage this. And, more importantly, the question is: how can we get innovative around it? How can we leverage, say, the camera feature? People take hundreds of photos. How can we integrate this with the desktop? How can a photo taken on a mobile phone be shared with a friend, be stored on a desktop or somewhere on the Web - and all be integrated seamlessly. These are battles we are planning for over the next 24 months. We already have a strong mobile platform, we have a short code, and we've got a bunch of innovative products aimed at youngsters right now. We want to add more product features. This is a consumer space and a large number of technological innovations have happened. But, other companies catch up quickly. It's a game of packaging, of understanding the needs of the consumer, of communicating better with the consumer, of serving the consumer better. This is where we are doing a very good job with the mobile.

 

Ponnapa P.G.:

As far as AOL is concerned, we launched in urban India. The first 12 to 18 months we will focus on this. Then, we will start looking at semi-urban and rural areas. We have done some work to figure out what we need to do in that space. We haven't launched an initiative yet because we need to get our basic foundation right. But we have the advantage of knowing what they need. I believe that AOL will do something in that space in roughly two years.

 

Ponnapa P.G.:

It will be a challenge. Connectivity has been an issue in rural areas. However, with all the noise that people have been making, something will be done soon enough. We are going to connect. Three years ago, mobile phone connectivity was abysmal in villages. Today, at least 25 percent of villages are connected - something that nobody would have expected three years ago. I am optimistic that connectivity will improve significantly over the next two to three years.

 

Ponnapa P.G.:

We act from the consumer's perspective and then work backwards to the tech end.

We believe that technology will very rarely tell us what to do. The CIO doesn't head strategy, the market need does. It is more prudent to be this way, to ensure that we keep our finger on the pulse of the customer. Technology is not the driver, the market is. There are millions of technologies out there but they are worthless if the consumer doesn't want them.

 

Ponnapa P.G.:

Our biggest challenge in the short-term is to build a brand. We are doing work here, with ads on television, to create that hype and excitement. Once that is done, then distribution and user experience all fall in place.