Arattai V. WhatsApp: Network Effects Don’t Grow On Trees

The mainstream media has already started writing the obituary of Zoho’s Arattai messaging app. Take, for example, Economic Times. In its oped entitled Why Arattai Isn’t A WhatsApp by Akshat Khandelwal, ET writes:  Arattai will join the long list of ‘dead’ Indian apps such as Koo, Hike and Chingari that tried to punch above their … Read more

How China Primed Its R&D Pump With IP Theft

When some rando shills China’s R&D playbook for India on social media, it’s funny. But if a leading columnist does the same in the world’s second largest business daily (see footnote 1), it’s no laughing matter. When that happens, it must be rebutted. Consider it done. —– In his op-ed entitled Commercial, Not Tech-Savvy in … Read more

Five Reasons Why UPI Has Not Disrupted Credit Card

(This post is a slightly edited version of my answer to the above Quora question.) Question: Has UPI Disrupted Credit Card? Short Answer: No. UPI has boosted credit card. Long Answer: According to the theory of Disruptive Innovation by Late Professor Clayton M. Christensen of Harvard Business School, many giant incumbents face The Innovator’s Dilemma and … Read more

Unpacking The Credit Card Boom In India

I got my first credit card in 1988. I’ve been using credit card as my go-to method of payment since then. I also headed up the retail payments line of business at an old company. Safe to say that I’ve been tracking the credit card industry for close to four decades. I’m fascinated by the … Read more

Inventing A Strategic Enemy To Create Revolutionary Brands

In his oped entitled Abey, Get a Strategic Enemy! in the Economic Times dated 2 October 2025, M Muneer proposes what I call the Strategic Enemy playbook to create revolutionary brands. Strategic Enemy Playbook Brands seeking improvement often disappear. Brand growth needs differentiation by enemy. The human mind recognizes opposition, not superiority. American brands Liquid … Read more

Why Foreign Exporters And American Importers Are Paying Trump Tariffs

“When President Trump announced sweeping tariffs in April, economists predicted surging inflation and raised the odds of a recession. Those worries now seem overblown.” ~ How the U.S. Economy Has Defied Doomsday Predictions on Tariffs, Wall Street Journal. I’d predicted this in my previous blog posts on Trump Tariffs (see RELATED READING at the end). … Read more

Early Sightings Of AI Voice Agent Technology

In a recent article in the mainstream media, Mitesh Agarwal, director, customer engineering at Google Cloud, declared: Unlike other countries, India is a voice first market. I found his observation a bit strange. Because it’s exactly the opposite of my observations on multiple occasions: People make heavy use of voicemail in USA, Germany, and UK. … Read more

Trump Tariffs: Who Is Paying How Much?

Ever since Donald Trump started talking about tariffs (1988) and first imposed tariffs (2018), the mainstream media has been parroting the pedantic economics theory that tariffs is a form of tax on US consumers. When Trump reiterated his intention last year to impose tariffs if he was elected the President of the United States, MSM … Read more

Overcoming The Top 5 Challenges Of Selling AI To Enterprises

AI vendors report that they’re facing many challenges in selling AI to enterprises in USA and other markets. According to the Economic Times article entitled Scoring with AI not Enough to Crack US Enterprise Code, they’re learning that merely having an AI solution is not enough. Surprise surprise said no one! The cardinal principle in … Read more