Can Nija beat Apple in the smartphone war ? When we started Nija, it was written off as a non question. That was September 2019. Apple was ruling supreme. Rob Jamoff had made the logo. Lord Norman Foster designed the store and some of the worlds best UI UX experts did the digital user interface.
We decided to explore hiring both Rob Janoff and Lord Norman Foster for Nija. Both obviously had ethical issues so we shifted the discussion with them to Ayushca – the worlds first Hospotel brand focused on luxury ayurveda. But two questions came up. First, “Has India produced even one homegrown product or brand that can be considered world class, forget world best.” Second, “India has not published even one world class coffee table book to date, forget Apple beating phone”.
As an Indian and more so as a very passionate photographer I was devastated. My black and white photos were exhibited at the Agfa Gavaert Hall of Fame library when I was in Class 8. My first attempt at video during IIT made it to Cannes. And I did have a role to play in creation of Life of Pi – the worlds first movie with a ai created tiger.
Yesterday the first coffee table book under the VishwaGuru series by IIT Alumni Council was released. It is on the rather boring topic of Digital Public Infrastructure and the role of Ashish Chauhan’s VSAT network of 1994 which made “geography into history”. The book was shared with select book critics at the launch yesterday.
As the photographer for the agency who did the curation and design, I waited with hope and fear. It was a 👍
What was most interesting is the comment from one of the worlds top art investment bankers from London, “If you can do this to DPI, we want to see u decimate Apple. Europe wants America + 1, not China + 1.”
Nija, the IIT Alumni Councils Apple challenger goes to Alpha testing on 23.8.26. The core brand proposition is “Truly your own” – whether it is your data or photos or messages.
An Apple phone you pay for. But it is not yours. It is remotely controlled. Your private moments uploaded for monetisation. Your gmails read for selling your attention.
But back to some photos from the DPI coffee table book.
My favourite is my interpretation of the IITB infinite corridor on the cover. Subtle and understated. But unmistable for anyone who walked that door. Many congrats to Christina W. and Mrinalini Gupta and Geetika Saigal for India’s first world class Coffee Table Book.
Now to beat the Apple iPhone.
My thoughts on Apple are widely posted on my LinkedIn posts. Steve Jobs was my neighbour in a monastery in Chengdu and the first iPod was made in a plant set up by an Indian venture fund I was part of. I liked what Steve did. But I don’t think I like what his successors did.
Surely we can do better.
Apple has too many legacy and migration issues. Nija is ground up for ai. A ai native. A new architecture.
