Rediff Vs Indiatimes Vs Web18 : Indian Internet War

We have seen several internet wars in the past:

1. Netscape Vs Internet Explorer

2. MSN Vs Yahoo Vs Google

3. Facebook Vs My Space

4. Google Vs Bing

5. Facebook Vs Google [Which still continues]

But they all were in USA and we have never seen this to happen in India till now.

Today when i saw an advertisement in Times Of India showing Indiatimes getting more unique visitors than Rediff and Web18, smell like a new war will start soon. Actually this all happens because of report of Comscore showing Indiatimes over Rediff and Web18 in unique visitors and Web18 over Indiatimes and Rediff in terms of traffic.

Lets see on what front can they fight and who will emerge winner:

1. NEWS: News the most important service given by them. Indiatimes has an advantage that they have the leading newspaper Times Of India, Economic Times and Financial Times so people will prefer reading its online news. Web18 has leading news network woth CNBC and IBN so they may also lead over Rediff. With Rediff we have the advantage that its famous in US so they will be prefered in US which contributes most of the advertising revenues. My rank Indiatimes>>Web18>>Rediff.

2. Mail: Rediff is quite famous and their Rediffmail NG has proved to be one of the best mail service on Mobile at Rs 50. In.com Mail is also good enough and people will like it after they use but it needs to gain market. In.com Mail has done quite an advertising so may be we see it growing. Indiatimes Mail is below standard and even they pay no attention to it. My rank Rediff>>Web18>>Indiatimes.

3. Search: Rediff is light so a preferred home page of many and will go under a seach deal. While other two: Web18 and Indiatimes, have a partnership with google. My rank Rediff>>Web18>>Indiatimes.

4. Social: Rediff has “My Page” which needs revamp. Inditimes has Itimes which has integrated mail service but lacks chat. Web18 has no presence in this area. My rank Indiatimes>>Rediff>>Web18.

According to me its going to be tough fight among them and Rediff seems to be emerging as a winner.

My Rank:

1. Rediff (which may be Google of India)

2. Indiatimes (which may be MSN of India)

3. Web18 (Which may be Yahoo of India)

United States VS Indian Internet Companies

I thought of comparing the US internet companies with Indian internet companies. There is no comparison between them as US companies earn lots more and are more innovative where as Indian companies are lazy and less innovative. The comparison is done by selecting a US internet company and comparing it with the Indian internet company having similar traits.

1. MSN VS SIFY: Both company consider they internet business as secondary and most of the revenue comes from other business. Still MSN takes lots of effort in making internet business profitable with its product like Windows Live, Hotmail and Bing. Where as Sify has a deal with google for Mail and Search, hence focus only on news. Since there are better news sites so Sify will not survive long where as Microsoft's MSN will emerge as one of the leader in Internet industry and profit making business with its aggressive product line up.

2. YAHOO VS INDIATIMES: Both of them are more of a portal with news, local content and services, Indiatimes runs on its news content and Yahoo has popular mail service. Both are a brand and has a high reach to the consumer. Yahoo is searching for a partner that brings some more value to the site so that they can enter and dominate in different areas of online services. Whereas Indiatimes is happy with there business are in no mood to do experiment that might make them less innovative and may lose the market share.

3. GOOGLE VS REDIFF: Both were the startups. Google started when internet was penetrating US and Rediff when internet started its penetration in India. Google turn out to be the biggest global internet company where as Rediff became popular in India but from last four years losing its market. Rediff lost its market share not only because Google's Gmail and Orkut were gaining popularity but also Rediff kept on sleeping and did not brought innovation at the right time. Rediff was lazy and did not brought Chat within Inbox and a social network. If Rediff has done that they must have beaten Google.

4. AOL VS IN: Both the companies work as the subsidy. Both have a good mail service which may turn out there strongest point. IN has one of the best news network where as AOL has bought many startups like tech blog TechCrunch. IN has the potential to be one of the global internet company if it continue to put innovations.

5. FACEBOOK VS IBIBO: There are several social network but lets compare the US company Facebook which is global number one (and also number one in India) and Indian (JV of China and Brazil) Ibibo which is most popular Indian social networking site in India. Both of them give several apps and has chat features. Ibibo has integrates mail, so Facebook has better seach technology to connect the people to friends, brands and adds. Facebook is more innovative and owner is 25 years old so you can understand the aggressive nature of this site. Facebook has given Google and Yahoo a run for their money and market. Whereas Ibibo has not made such a big impact. Facebook connect and integration is used by several sites including Yahoo and Windows Live and even Ibibo whereas Ibibo so not have any such integrations and popularity.

Rediff and Sify are you listening, its the time to get listed

Usually it is said that company get listed when they need money but more money is never a bad (Info-edge knows it best). So Indian web companies should get listed on Stock Exchanges in India. This will not only give them money but also make them sounding familiar company. It has been seen that the listed company become more popular in consumer segment and its easy for them to expand. Enterprises also prefer the solutions and services from the listed company as they can trust more on them.

Hence its the perfect time for Rediff and Sify to get listed like other Indian web companies like Info-edge, 123greetings.com, etc. This will not only give them cash but will make them popular among the Indian Enterprises.

Rediff should utilize cash gain from IPO in:

1. Improving "Rediffmail" service

2. Building a good search engine (or having a tie-up in search which can earn them more cash)

3. Improve "Rediff Page" and make it more social.

4. Utilize in services like Blog, Song Buzz, Maps, etc.

Indian Internet Industry needs to be social and mobile to make a global impact

We talk about broadband, 3G, 4G for better speed and internet in rural for better communication so that may also become a part of Indian growth but we do not talk about Indian internet industry. We are the best in IT sector but we do not have that place when it comes to internet companies. We have Banglore, Pune, Chennai, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, etc as the IT city but these cities do not have much internet startups.

We have internet companies like Rediff, Web18, Indiatimes, Sify, Infoedge, 160by2, freshersworld and few more which are major Indian Internet companies but none of them had that global presence as US internet companies do like Google, Yahoo, AOL, Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, LinkedIn and many more. Government should now work in this sector also as there is a huge scope for new startups in this field. This field also has a huge potential to give jobs and also help in growth of the nation.

I still remember that four years back Rediff use to be popular and compete with Yahoo and Google to get the unique visitors. But with the launch of Orkut, Gmail and GTalk, Rediff start losing its users. Rediff never realize the importance of social networking and now do no stand in front of Yahoo and Google, even Indian web company Web18’s in.com giving a huge competition to Rediff. Rediff and all other Indian companies still needs to understand that mail service is important to add new users who visit them regularly and social networking is important to make them spend time on your site and get the user visit your website several times a day.

Indian Internet Industry needs to understand that now mail and social both are very important to stand in the market and also they have to be innovative. Mobile apps are also very important as youth prefer mobile apps more than surfing through browser.

Revamps: Trend among most of the email services

These days most of the popular email services are getting their service revamps to attract the users and also move with the latest and current technology.

G Mail: It is the mail service that gets regular update. Every week a new feature is added. Latest is the Priority Inbox where the mails are sorted in real time as of importance or not. It is the first of its kind and very innovative idea.

Yahoo Mail: Its getting revamp soon to "minty" and will integrate twitter and facebook so that you can access such service from your inbox. Yahoo tried Pulse and Meme which were not so popular and do not have anything to attract the user. So finally yahoo has decided to use its popular mail service which is on the decline to attract user and hold them by giving facebook and twitter facility from their mail boxes.

Hotmail: Microsoft had a search deal with Yahoo to fight against the search giant-Google. Also MS has plan to stop the growing GMail by revamping hotmail this year. MSN has revamp hotmail to provide better facility and a faster email service. Earlier its use to have two version Full and Light. Now it has combined both together to give mix of speed and facility to its users. Hotmail being the world most used email service needs to be more advanced and provide regular update else Gmail like android will gain the market share.

Rediff Mail: Indian biggest internet company and its very popular email service Rediffmail was also revamp but i was unsatisfied as its really lack features and needs to be better to compete with other email services. Once its use to compete with Google and Yahoo in India but now its even struggle in front of indiatimes, sify and in(web18). Rediffmail needs a big revamp to attract new users and hold the existing.

Sify Mail: Sify had a deal with Google to power its mail service so it had all the facility that gmail has except the recent priority inbox but will soon get that also.

In.com: World shortest email id @in.com is becoming very popular in India as its has a different design and got revamp this year. Its fast and easy to use. Has a feature of Gmail, Ymail and Hotmail Preview. Also has a facility of providing the future date and time to the mail for delivery, this way your mail will be sent even if you are offline that time. This is call as "future mail".

India Mail: India Mail is the new to the market but is getting revamp and has stopped any new registration.

In the end i will say that it is always great to get revamp as its provide freshness to the users and also match up with the latest technology.