Mother's Day Special

Eve of Mother's Day, had to go to a jobs fair at KL Convention Centre. Let's face it: Jobs fairs are for amateurs, veterans who had made a name in the industry would have also made the head- hunters' lists. Companies don't really hope to find a gem at jobs fairs, they are merely there for show and publicity.

You'd find all sorts of young, wondering eyes, a fleeting unrest upon their faces, sweaty palms grasping what I believed the folder holding their years of accademic achievements, possibly awards and other certifications of the sort. I sure hope they found what they are looking for, or at least found out what it takes to find it.

Of all the jobs booths, one offered to teach 'how to' do your own business, hmm. The same speeches followed, listing how pathetic it is to not having your own business, to '95% of businesses folded within the first 5 years'. Of course there weren't time to deliver the whole sermon, bystanders were asked to register for a one- day- course for like, RM30 only, whereas normal courses go for RM800 plus. I'd bet if a person would pay RM30 to attend such courses, they would as well pay RM800 when the speaker announced another power- packed course due the following month. Get it? There's no free lunch.

I was there solely for Digi's seminar, to uncover what's beneath their website which offer no job application segment. How the heck they recruit? Well I found my answer. No surprises, they did it by recommendations, sometimes through coffee chats. I didn't feel pity that my resume ended up in a recycling bin at the first filter.

Came the Q & A session. The MC is a nice guy, he shoved the mic at me with an encouraging smile. I enquired about the saturating mobile service market, and complimented Digi's effort to incorporate creativity in their adverts. The speaker seemed impressed, I hope the impression lasted till she got my email with my revised resume.

Though somewhat saturated, she mentioned mobile services operators still have about 30% room for expansion, which I think is rather optimistic. Audio calls and SMS are still the bread and butter, whereas data offered a mere 20% to their revenue. Implicitly, the government's protectionism is quite hindering to business, but judging from how 3G's taking off, Digi hasn't loose out big time. They are focusing on India's vastly untapped market as I write.

The question remains: how to increase mobile usage? People would rather use a lot of web apps on the internet and laptops than mobile phones. It is true there's more mobile phone owners than laptop owners, but digital contents wise, static internet users dwarf mobile internet users by billions, maybe trillions.

Since Necessity is the Mother of all Inventions, it's only a matter of time, a 'killer apps' being developed that'll take the world by storm, completely alter people's habit of using mobile phones. Here's a hint: Japanese resellers are having a hard time, housewifes are comparing prices of everyday groceries down to the yens. They are sharing these info with frens and strangers alike, pushing resellers into the red ocean of price wars. Of course they are using mobile phone for this purpose, because anything cheap is in limited supply, speed is king.

Mother alone cannot give birth, so, the Father of Invention has to be technology, ideas, and maybe some luck. Necessity is the need to increase mobile usage, the technology is readily available, the idea is data that needed access to urgently. Urgency would drive mobile usage. With any luck, anyone could go down history with the title: Father of 'Next Gen Phone', alongside Alexander Graham Bell, Father of Telephone. Just remember to patern it.

Speaking of mother and father, Happy Mother's Day to everyone!