Mark Andreessen gave a presentation at Stanford recently. He detailed the three requirements for a successful startup:

1. Enormous market (either existing, or new)

2. A fundamental technological or economic change (the product must be “10 times” better/faster/cheaper than what’s on the market now)

3. A kick-ass founding team (tech and sales “superstars” are most important)

Well, the mobile market is gigantic, the biNu mobile internet platform is 3-5 times faster than the typical browsing experience on low-end feature phones and we have a kick-ass tech team!

Facebook recently launched Fast and Free Facebook Mobile Access with 0.facebook.com in partnership with over 50 mobile carriers.

An article in TechCrunch noted “This mobile site could play a big role in Facebook’s growth going forward, especially given the predictions that browser-equipped mobile phones will be more abundant than PCs in the not-too-distant future. For some people, 0.facebook.com will probably be their only Facebook experience — it may even be the only mobile site they’re accessing from their cell phones.”

Recent media reports speculated that Facebook recently reached 500 million registered users and I’m sure 1 billion uses is within their planning horizon. Most of FB’s new users are going to be mobile subscribers and this move highlights the importance of mobile to their future growth.

we soon hope to release a FB application on the biNu platform that will be 2-3x faster than the current Facebook mobile or 0.facebook browser websites.

Watch this space!

Mobile phone helps reshape Indian politics and the poor

“Because mobiles do not require literacy they have become a powerful tool for poor, self-employed people such as small traders, farmers, fishermen and rickshaw drivers to get information that helps save time and boost earnings.”

“They describe the mobile as the ”most disruptive device to come to India in modern times” and argue consumer and communication capitalism is posing new challenges for established structures of authority and power.”!

The launch of the advanced mobile-based information system last week will boost the local farmers income, by helping them find the right place to sell their farm produce in Bhutan.

From The Age newspaper in Melbourne: Australians take to mobile internet

Nearly half of all Australian mobile phone users now own an internet-capable phone, but only a third accesses the web regularly on them, according to new research by The Nielsen Company.

Australians’ ownership of internet phones now sits at 43 per cent, with 29 per cent regularly using it to search, email, find maps and to share their lives on Facebook, Twitter and MySpace.

Even though people have an internet-enabled handset, some people aren’t necessarily using it. According to Nielsen’s online business managing director Matt Bruce some still own older 2G smartphone models, while others are afraid of bill shock.

“The older models are not as easy to use. You have to find your way through the phone to find the browser, then go from there. The iPhone makes it easier,” he said.

Internet searches are the most popular online activity on the phones. Some 73 per cent of users conduct online searches by mobile now, compared with 30 per cent a year ago.

Other common uses include checking news and weather (59 per cent, up 18 points), email (58 per cent, up 20 points), maps and directions (56 per cent, up 24 points) and social networking (39 per cent, up 25 points).

The adoption of internet phones has been growing steadily since the introduction of mobile data cap plans in Australia, which go some way to reducing the risk of bill shock for users. People’s infatuation with the iPhone has also driven mobile internet adoption worldwide.

Nokia still maintains a solid lead on internet phones in Australia with a 35 per cent market share, however, the iPhone has made significant gains in the past year, more than doubling from just 13 per cent to 28 per cent market share. Intention to purchase an iPhone also remains high, with Apple set to triple its share this year, Bruce said.

With an overwhelming majority of the share of mobile social networking, Facebook is by far the most common social networking site accessed via mobile (98 per cent), followed by Twitter (20 per cent) and MySpace (17 per cent), the report said.

According to Nielsen, Telstra has seen mobile data traffic on its Next G™ network double every eight months for the past two years.