In early 2007, we made a commitment to open our office in New Delhi, India and begin building a platform to help connect India’s unskilled labor force with the Indian middle and upper class that had a requirement for unskilled labor like nannies, cooks, maids, drivers and other domestic services. We finally opened our office in January 2008, cutting through lots of red tape, hiring and firing a few unproductive legal and accounting “consultants”, borrowing office space and hiring a few college students as interns.
Some of the ups and downs that Teknatus faced have been documented on the Teknatus blog. However, the blog has been fairly silent for quite some time. I’ve finally been able to look back in a rear view mirror and talk about the journey, that eventually led to the closing of Teknatus’ New Delhi office, and my return to New York City.
This is the intro in a series of posts I’ll be doing on Teknatus’ journey in India and my decision to ultimately shut down Teknatus Solutions Private Limited. I hope other entrepreneurs in India and those considering a move to India get some valuable information from thus series of posts.
UPDATE: All Items are sold and no longer available. Thanks for your interest.
We are moving so we’re selling the following items before we leave Delhi. All of the items will be available at the end of March or by April 5th at the latest, though a few items could be made available sooner if there’s enough interest. Most items have been priced at less than half price of what we bought them for.
Please email me at 4sale (a t) linosx (d o t) com in the next few days if you are interested in any of the items listed below. If you know of anyone that may be interested in some of the items below, please feel free to forward this post to them as well. In the email, please include what item(s) you’re interested in, what date you would like them by and possible bid you’d like to make.
Serious buyers only, please. Update: Prices on some items have been reduced.
Thanks very much!
Pankaj
Car
SX4 2008 top of the line ZXi model.
Approx 30,000 kms driven
Fitted with Maruti seat covers and gear lock, regularly serviced
Insurance paid thru end of January 2011
Please post a message if you’re interested.
Computers
Like New 24″ iMac with
2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor at 2.4GHz
320GB Hard Drive
Built-in speakers,
iSight Camera
Dual Layer DVD Burner
RAM upgraded to 4GB.
Warranty till end of February 2011
1kV APC Back-UPS RS-1000 Commercial grade surge suppressor and UPS for use with iMac.
Factory installed Mac OS X Operating System and Software
iMac + APC UPS – Rs. 75,000
Update: I’m accepting the best offer over Rs. 65,000 or if you prefer to pay in US Dollars, $1,200 for both the UPS and 24″ iMac
Like New HP Desktop Model DX2280 and 19″ Flat Screen Monitors (2 1 available)
Intel Core 2 Duo running at 2.20Ghz
2MB L2 Cache
1 GB RAM
Intel 945G Graphics
Gigabit LAN Card
160GB Hard Drive
Sound card for sound output and sound input
Warranty expires in January 2011
HP w19 19inch Flatscreen LCD Monitor with DVI and VGA Connectors
No keyboard or mouse included
There is no CD or DVD drive so these are perfect for office computers. They come installed with Linux Fedora 12 and MS Office compatible version of OpenOffice
Rs.20,000Update: Accepting the best offer over Rs. 15,000 or USD 300 total for each system and 19″ monitor.
White Apple Macbook for Sale in New Delhi Rs. 20,000MacBook for Sale in New Delhi
White Macbook
2.0GHz Intel Core Duo
60GB Hard Drive
RAM upgraded to max of 2GB
Built-in speakers and Mic
iSight Camera
DVD Burner
New original MacBook Keyboard, Apple Battery and new original Apple 85W charger (charger alone is Rs. 4,500 and new battery is over Rs. 7,000) Will come with factory installed Mac OS X Operating System and Software. A Mickey Mouse sticker was stuck to the top of the MacBook which we removed (partially, as visible in the picture above)
Rs. 20,000
Update: The MacBook is sold!
Computer equipment
Netgear wireless-g routers Rs. 1,000
Lightly used HP OfficeJet 5600 series Photocopier, Fax, and Scanner – Rs. 6,000 or USD $125
Laptop PCMCIA WiFi cards (3 available) – Rs. 1,000 for all 3
Mobile phones
Sony Ericsson T610 – Rs. 2,000
Nokia E61 – Rs. 8,000 Rs. 6,000 or USD $125
Appliances and Furniture
Osterizer Blender – Rs. 1,500
Morphy Richards Toaster for Sale in New Delhi Rs. 2,000
AquaGuard Integra7 RO Water Filter for Sale in New Delhi - Rs. 10,000
I am writing (most of) this post on my iPhone 3G[S] using Airtel in New Delhi. The 3G[S] is not available in India yet and there is no information publicly available about a pending release or pricing.
I suspect, that Apple is terribly disappointed with iPhone 3G sales through its Indian partners, Airtel and Vodafone. On the flipside, Apple provides no support for the iPhones they sell in India. The only support available is through the carriers, who, from experience and from what others have said, can’t even properly activate an iPhone. Apple really can’t blame them.
In India, why has Apple abandoned their philosophy of controlling every aspect of their customers’ experience with their products? The 3G sells through official channels for anywhere between Rs. 30k and Rs. 35k. It’s not cheap by any standard. Blackberry, on the other hand is selling all their models in India like hotcakes. A few people I have met who bought iPhones through official channels in India have exhibited an incredible amount of frustration at the device and the (lack of) support behind it. One person said it took Vodafone almost a month to get data working on his iPhone and they had no answer for his dropped calls. Not exactly another notch in Apple’s customer service utility belt.
Those in India who bought the phone through unofficial or grey market channels have paid a premium for the device. They face extreme frustration when dealing with the carriers and they knew they would get no support from Apple (unless they were lied to by the vendor and told that they would get support from Apple – yes, vendors in India do lie). For the moment, Apple has lost the Indian high-end mobile phone market to Blackberry and Nokia. Until the carriers offer better service, true unlimited data plans, and better speeds, only gadget freaks like me and those trying to be seen with the sexiest phone on the market will be paying the massive premiums for an iPhone in India. Currently, an unlocked (not sure if it’s factory or hacktivated) iPhone 3G[S] sells for anything between Rs. 45,000 (USD 980) and Rs. 55,000 (USD 1,200) in places like Khan Market in New Delhi.
My bet is that India will see an iPhone 3G[S] sometime in the late Spring at which point, Apple will be getting ready to roll out the next version of the iPhone just a few months later in the US and other countries. Come on Apple, haven’t you figured out that Indians will gladly pay a premium for great hardware. It’s the software they will never pay for.
Delhi’s first installment of Startup Saturday is scheduled for the 13th of December 2008. The event will be held from 2pm till 6pm at the American Center, New Delhi.
We’re very excited to be working with the gracious team at the American Center to help add a little something to the burgeoning entrepreneurial community in the Delhi/NCR region.
BarCamp Delhi is set for October 11th and 12th. IIT Delhi is playing host to this two day event. The location will be the Bharti building on the IIT campus. There are two rooms on the first floor, two rooms on the second floor and one room on the third floor available for campers. There will also be plenty of space available inside and outside for ad-hoc meets and networking.
Remember, everyone attending BarCamp must should participate in some capacity, whether it is presenting, taking pictures or videos, live blogging, or just volunteering for various tasks in organizing a BarCamp. Please take a look at the BCD5 Sessions page and add yourself to the list of presenters.
Looking forward to meeting you at BarCamp Delhi, the 5th edition on October 11th and 12th.
Update 2008-09-21: Some of the volunteers for BarCamp Delhi had our first face to face meeting today at the Teknatus office. We discussed quite a few items, settled on some open issues, and handed out various tasks. In the immortal words of Col. John “Hannibal” Smith, “I love it when a plan comes together.”
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