Cooperative Principles

The co-operative principles are guidelines by which co-operatives put their values into practice.

1st Principle: Voluntary and Open Membership

Co-operatives are voluntary organisations, open to all persons able to use their services and willing to accept the responsibilities of membership, without gender, social, racial, political or religious discrimination.

2nd Principle: Democratic Member Control

Co-operatives are democratic organisations controlled by their members, who actively participate in setting their policies and making decisions. Men and women serving as elected representatives are accountable to the membership. In primary co-operatives members have equal voting rights (one member, one vote) and co-operatives at other levels are also organised in a democratic manner.

3rd Principle: Member Economic Participation

Members contribute equitably to, and democratically control, the capital of their co-operative. At least part of that capital is usually the common property of the co-operative. Members usually receive limited compensation, if any, on capital subscribed as a condition of membership. Members allocate surpluses for any or all of the following purposes: developing their co-operative, possibly by setting up reserves, part of which at least would be indivisible; benefiting members in proportion to their transactions with the co-operative; and supporting other activities approved by the membership.

4th Principle: Autonomy and Independence

Co-operatives are autonomous, self-help organisations controlled by their members. If they enter to agreements with other organisations, including governments, or raise capital from external sources, they do so on terms that ensure democratic control by their members and maintain their co-operative autonomy.

5th Principle: Education, Training and Information

Co-operatives provide education and training for their members, elected representatives, managers, and employees so they can contribute effectively to the development of their co-operatives. They inform the general public – particularly young people and opinion leaders – about the nature and benefits of co-operation.

6th Principle: Co-operation among Co-operatives

Co-operatives serve their members most effectively and strengthen the co-operative movement by working together through local, national, regional and international structures.

7th Principle: Concern for Community

Co-operatives work for the sustainable development of their communities through policies approved by their members.

Consulting Information Model

Making sense from information & providing meaning
/ specific / expensive/ niche -> information

- what works
- what's important / only important
- real usage / use
- identify alternatives
- assess risks
- give solutions
- identify trends / patterns
- key performance indicators
- ratios
- available raw statistics
- market making
- market research
- costs & prices
- information sources
- bibliography

Interview with Ivan Kalaica, croatian iPhone developer, about iPhone Apps

iPhone gold rush

OSIJEK, Croatia - I had a opportunity to talk with Ivan Kalaica, croatian iPhone developer at Osijek's Inchoo startup about various aspects of making and releasing iPhone apps for this magical phone.


One of the most interesting software sales environments on the planet is iPhone. Why programs on the phone ? Do these small programs/apps on the phone make our World better place ? Is this a secret for success ? Why now and not before few years ?

Answer is fairly simple. It’s simple and it is Apple’s. You can make very good money programming software for iPhone and have fun at the same time. Just like I do now. Apple makes world better place. :-) Just kidding but there is still some small amount of true in that sentence.

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Why iPhone mobile platform is your choice and since when you are developing apps for iPhone ?

Inchoo company gave me a chance to work along with Surgeworks company on iPhone development in October last year. I accepted the offer and I’m satisfied now I made that decision then. In beginning it was maybe little hard but now I can say I am happy I have then decided to work along with these great people.

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How many iPhone app developers are in Croatia according to your knowledge ?

I have heard that there are few guys but newer met them.

How long it takes to learn iPhone programming and what are your basic tools ? You do it alone or as a team play ?

It is really quick thing to learn it if you are determined. At inchoo.net and inchoo.hr you can find a few of the posts I have written about this topic. Well, in the beginning I have been learning alone but when I became sufficiently independent I started to work with Surgeworks iPhone dev team.

How many apps have you made to this date and how long it takes to develop an app? Is it expensive ?

As a part of Surgeworks I participate on few projects like DivineOffice, Prayer, projects that we do for many clients and for now only one app I have finished alone and that one is Dose.

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How do you find projects or ideas for iPhone development ?

We have two approach on this topic and those two are our internal projects and client projects. For example we have two internal projects: DivineOffice and Prayer application that is part of DivineOffice Ministry (you can check it out on divineoffice.org ) and rest are projects for client.

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Do you think we are right now in the middle of an iPhone gold rush just like it was in 1999 with dot.com projects ? How to stand out from the crowd ?

Don't be silent. There are many of great developers everywhere, but most of them work in busy environments and do not present themselves. I write about the things I work on and this helps me build a business network. Some of my readers are comrades developers and some of them are potentials clients who send inquiries.

Apple established marketplace for these apps with App store. What kind of apps are the most popular ( genres ) in Apple store and what's the quality of most apps ?

I don’t know much about this but I think that games have a big lead in App Store.

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After you make an app, how long it takes for an app to be approved by Apple and ready to go on sale ?

We had a really good experience with approving app issue. Longest time we had to wait was 7 days.

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Is there any marketing push needed when selling your app ? Marketing strategy ? Promotion ?

Some of the applications sell themselves by word of mouth and some need a promotion. We are mainly using online promotional methods like Google Adwords or other PPC marketing methods. In some cases, client had an established business network where spreading the word was much easier.

Great thing is that you can decide how much you would charge for your program ? Can an individual programmer live just from developing apps for iPhone, I mean make a living ?

That is the best thing about iPhone dev story. Yes, man can make an iphone app and live of it. Even better - Man can get rich. But I think it is better to form a team then be just an, how you say, individual programmer.

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Free app or app for a small fee ? When it is justified to ask for money for your app ?

This is the question you need to ask yourself before the development. If we plan to invest a lot of time and energy, we'll create a free app only if it will create promotional result. In other case, small fee is just fine.
There is one interesting fact. Free apps get much lower rates from visitors than $0.99 ones. Some people download and try just to give the lowest rate.

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Good thing is that you as a developer don't have to worry about billing . Is Apple good or evil when taking its cut ( 30 % ) for selling apps through Apple store ?

They are good guys because they do all of comercial job for you so you don’t need to bother with that. I think they deserve it.

There are more than 25.000 apps in the App Store. How do you think average user will find relevant apps in the future? How to solve discovery of apps on the iPhone ?

It depends on users interests. There are few of app’s that help average user to find an app for them. Actually, one app of that kind we have made for a client.

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What do you think about iPhone as mass market platform ( new editions of mass market phones coming maybe ) ? Is it doable in the future ? It seems iPhone is getting first mover advantage and gains tremendouse market share all around the world in the smartphone arena ?

iPhone is first of that kind and that is a big advantage ahead of all other. However, like similar devices, it will not last forever. In a few years, we will speak about it in the same way we are speaking about Commodore 64 now.

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What are the things you would like to be better in this whole Apple iPhone ecosystem ? What are shortcomings and stumble blocks for the platform ?

I think there is space for improvement in Apple's appy sales reports. The reports are not very user friendly.

Should web publishers optimize their websites for iPhone ? What's the relation between iPhone optimized web ( WebKit browsers ) and mobile web in general ? Iphone web pages are more usable then mobile web in general , IMHO.

Of course they should. For example, there are many plugins and themes for the Wordpress that can converted site to fit iPhone web browser which one can implement in his website.

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Is there correlation between iPhone on-device apps and iPhone web apps? Which one is more usable and is there any overlapping ?


It depends what you need. Pure logic. I think that in general both of them are winning combination.

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What's the future for Inchoo, a startup company from Osijek, in regard to iPhone development ? What's your target market ?

I hope that number of iPhone developers in Croatia will grow up and when that happens I honestly hope that there will be few brave ones that will try to work as a part of Inchoo iphone dev team. We are waiting. Our target market are a good business in all the world. We do not have any localized promotional activities.

Should croatian companies ( media companies, publishers, software firms ) pay attention to this booming market and how ? For marketing purpose perhaps ?

I think that the answer to this question must or will be found out by every preferable company owner soon.

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What do you expect from future iPhone releases ? Do you think there will be more access to device capabilities which will lead to new breath of amazing apps ?

Well, 3.0 SDK has came out and I've seen enough. I will be atrocious and will say no more then just amazing. If guy’s from Apple continue to develop things like they did so far, iPhone might become something like tricoder from Star Trek. :-)

Do you see Google Android project as a serious competion to iPhone ? Google Android Market / RIM AppWorld /Nokia Ovi / Windows Mobile vs. Apple store ?

Nope.

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What would you do differently when looking back at your released apps ?

Good job. :-)
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How do you keep up with developer news ? Where to look on the Web for staying up to date with iPhone development ?

There are many sources on the web where you can find fresh news but the main source is the Apple’s iPhone Dev Center.


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Describe iPhone in one sentence as an iPhone owner ? What it means to you ?

Great thing and everything - tricoder!

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Ivan, thanks for your time and great insight !

GOOGLE BELIVES IN WEB APPS

Different aproach. Not the AppStore




Technology review: Gmail sidesteps the AppStore

Google took advantage of features of the browsers running on both platforms to create a Web application that looks and feels like one that has been downloaded onto the device.

It's even possible that more-powerful mobile Web apps could undercut some of the business of Apple's App Store

The user won't care whether the app is running out of a browser or is running directly on the phone, Sharma says, "as long as you get the same sort of experience." A developer also has much more control over the distribution of the software, and she can keep the revenue it generates instead of splitting it with a third-party distributor like Apple.

FASTER STARTUP

Holy grail: to start with good people, to make something customers actually want, and to spend as little money as possible

The Lean Startup at Web 2.0 Expo

View more presentations from Venture hacks .

Agrokor, T-Mobile And EPH In MVNO Croatian Adventure

Croatian business games with telecom flavor

Are they nuts ? Spring 2008 ?

Croatian consortium is preparing to launch KMOBILE brand next spring. I suppose MVNO but it's not clear yet.
''In order to expand mobile telecommunications offer on Croatian market.''So they say.

The members are: Agrokor Group, the largest privately owned company in Croatia and leading retail company, EPH - the leading Croatian Publishing House and T-Mobile Croatia the leading mobile communications company on Croatian market.

At the end of a day. It could be success.
Still, wise concept and execution is the key. I belive they have researched the market extremelly well. It's their modus operandi.
I'll be watching this unusual mobile move in Croatia and report back ;)
I have my opinion on this one, but won't tell ;))

But you know what ?
I read Ivica Todoric's interview given last week to Jutarnji list. Eventually, they ( or he has that big dream about ''global'' Agrokor ) could try to become global company with mobile business in the new ''new'' telecom business , but not in a Kmobile-way. No, no. ( yes, I forgot that's not their core business )
The strategy should be different.

MVNO is usually about simplifying mobile products and service ( overcomplexed businesses, like telecoms are ) with simple message- proposition and tailored marketing push.

Pop-Corn :)

Mobile operator's cool shoulders

Party line

As much as iPhone didn't impress myself on the very first day it was showcased, another strong voice from mobile carrier community ( Australian Telstra Senior Executive Greg Winn ) thinks along the same line.

Sydney Morning Herald and The Age quoted Greg Winn:

“I think people overreacted to it”,

“There’s an old saying - stick to your knitting - and Apple is not a mobile phone manufacturer, that’s not their knitting”

“Cingular is not a global company,”

"You can pretty much be assured that Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and ZTE and others will be coming out with devices that have similar functionality."

However, Winn did say that the iPhone would probably be a successful initially.
We shall see.

Influencing your party jukebox

Save the last SMS dance for me

PartyStrands is interactive music service for bars, clubs and private parties.
Business model is interesting :

PartyStrands’ business model makes it easy for venues to take part. There is no cost for bar or club owners, but they must have a digital music system in order for the music selection to work. Partygoers pay a USD 0.50 or EUR 0.30 surcharge per SMS sent to the partyStrands system. The Ericsson Internet Payment eXchange (IPX) charging system distributes the revenues between myStrands, the venue, an affiliate when relevant, and Ericsson.

Still, it incurs charges. I wonder could such a service be made to support bluetooth.
In that case, you wouldn't have any business model at all for service.
Power to the partygoers, repeal those evil DJ ;))
Spanish Belchica Bar offers beers and SMS dances.

Emerging wireless players for 2007.

Emerging wireless players to watch in 2007. , according to IDC.
Document at a glance.

Vikendi.net to locate your weekends in Croatia

Find me escape I just might need, you portal :)

Before I go on weekend, few quick infos to add about Vikendi.net
Vikendi.net is a new croatian tourism site that immediatly appealed to me.
It is a nice user-generated portal for tourism providers ( users ) and related fields, still in its infancy.
The beuaty is in short distance traveling and the site provides infos for recreation, places and tourism offers. I think the audience will come and the base will grow ( if properly executed ).
The service Vikendi.net is very simple and works fast.

I can see it's done with PHP and has great SEO structure of links which will make them high with search engines.
The catalogue of information is structured naturally, and information are vertically and horizontally alligned ( geo information, type of service, offers ).
Yes, Google Maps is mashed up as well.

Finally something creative ( solves the problem ) on croatian web and decent idea for web site.
If I'm venture capitalist, you know what my words would be... ;))
To add my two cents, if possible, make it in english as well. There's huge expat community in Croatia and looks for weekends as well.

MVNO for success or failure ?

MVNO stands for mobile virtual network operator.
Currently, according to some estimates, there are about 230 MVNOs in the world.
Some of them are success, but some of them are failure.

The main characteristics of such an operator are:
- does not own licences frequency spectrum ,
- resells wireless/mobile phone services ( phones, calls, ''stuff'') ,
- strong brand,
- utilisation of the network of other mobile operator ( owned by big corporate groups and major telecom players in the country )

Speaking about success, Virgin Mobile is considered success and speaking about failures , ESPN Mobile and easyMobile could be mentioned as a flop.

According to some research I read , successful MVNOs do these things:
- Distribution – shelf space and access to audience
- Churn/loyalty programs – new phones every xy months, goodies, minutes
- Technology aligment with ''host'' operator – roadmap to future compatible products


Other things successful MVNOs do:
- management gets ''wireless'' tech,
- target segment is wisely choosed,
- asset-light investment strategy,
- win-win contracts
- understand content and wireless economics
- they are different
- keep things simle

MVNOs are ventures with great focus. They are either ''discount'' or ''lifestyle'' operators.
Virgin Mobile is discount MVNO, and Helio and Amp d' Mobile are lifestyle MVNO.

When I first taught about MVNOs back when they were first grabbing headlines ( in 2005 ) , there was allways question poppping in my mind about motivations of major mobile operators to lease their networks .
They were competitors indeed, but it has logical calculation.

Main motivations for T-Mobile, Vodafone or Verizon Wireless are these three and explain everything:
- Segmentation-Driven Strategies –it can help them attack specific, targeted segments.
- Network Utilisation-Driven Strategies – it can help them create economies of scale for better network utilisation.
- Product-Driven Strategies – specialised service requirements and get to customer niches that mobile operators cannot get to.

MVNOs have operational cost much lower but must invest very wisely into marketing.
It's a myth that MVNOs appeal only to consumer segment. Wireless Maingate is a company that targets enterprise customers.

At the first glance and with little opservation of MVNOs web sites, there could be reached easy conclusion on how they present their offer to potential customers which is their modus operandi and purpose of existence ( better business model in the end ) :

- offer shiny/new/fresh/exciting branded phones ( better cool phones ) ,
- simple plans ( prepaid dominates, post-paid is by minute and tailored to usage ) ,
- cheap talk ( is cool ) ,
- added value that appeals to targeted demographics – music, social network, multimedia ( you, that's cool ) ,
- superior customer service and loyalty ( cool ! )
- granular distribution deals with shopping chains and local stores ( for kits and prepaid minutes)

It's not all that shiny for them, though. Profitability is hard to achive. Management must be smart and explore every opportunity, scale their business, maintain good partnership deals and retain creative marketing people and must make plans for evolution into possible new products and services ( sometimes it is paradox, but what gives ).

As of December 2006, in Croatia are operating two MVNOs: Tele2 which is using Vipnet infrastructure, and the other is Tomato , which is Vipnet's branded MVNO for simple wireless services.

But let's go back to business model. These MVNO sharks are fast to the market, know their customers and are highly focused, but most of them will have to evolve into something convergent and triple-play ( laugh ) – I meant data and messaging ( paradox ).
Yet, I am skeptical for much of this risky business and I will watch this space more closely over the upcoming years.

You know , I heard somewhere on the net Apple will try next year become MVNO ( US only ) which is not so smart move if he does try, IMHO.
Europeans won't give up their Nokias or Motorolas in favour of
Apple phone , I think.

( still to do outside linking later on )