13 Feb The chicken and egg story comes to an end
TVB Subrahmanyam (Analog Devices) explains how this well-known fable and the development of DRM Receivers are linked.
A few months back researches declared that they have been able to discover the first one to arrive in the famous chicken and egg story. For many (including me), this would be a loss of commonly used jargon in their daily lives. I have used this very often for availability of DRM Radio Receivers in India where availability of transmitters and transmissions was always considered essential to kindle the after burners of receiver manufacturers. Whereas the broadcasters always felt that non-availability of receivers at low prices is sending wrong signals to higher echelons in the Government. Hence, I had to use this chicken and egg story very often.
It is probably a coincidence, while biologists figured out which one came first and thus reducing one from my list of analogies, I realized that I may not have to use this much longer for DRM radio receivers. The recent meetings during BES2013 convention prove this with immense amount of interest and enthusiasm expressed by the manufacturers as the best evidence. The convention was a good ground for a lot of open discussions and many new companies came forward with the intention to produce these receivers in various forms. One possible reason for such enthusiasm is probably because every discussion that took place on the dais during the convention, from Honourable Minister to all concerned speakers, or the coffee break gossips or the small roundtable discussions during lunch or dinner did echo conversations related to digitization. One could hear excitement on this subject with a few shades of concern and at times frustration over the pace at which things are moving. The sensitive ears of these business people were sensitive enough to catch all these discussions and come forward with expression of interest to manufacture these radios.
Form some the starting price of the radio receivers was of a concern. For others, who looked at margins as a percentage of the end sell price, it was an opportunity and were looking at features that will enable them to sell at higher price. I then felt that there could be many more Steve Jobs or people with such thinking. This also means that the receivers will come in the market along with the transmitters that are being installed. Then there will be no need to quote the famous fable.