For our fourth meeting last March 08, 2018, opposite to what happened on our third meeting where the time is consumed with only lectures, this time, half of the time there were presenters who were ready to pitch their ideas. There were actually three of them who presented their ideas in front of the class. The first one was called, “Pahatod”. The idea was more likely inspired by GrabTaxi and Uber but instead of driving for a person to their specified destination(s) it would be documents that will be delivered by different kinds of vehicles depending on the document(s) that an individual might want to be delivered. The first presenter’s problem is below:
The need of your goods to be delivered but you have NO TIME, NO VEHICLE, and LIMITED BUDGET.
The presenter wanted to have the service of delivering documents or goods without the hassle of going to a courier and wait for how many days before it would be delivered. This idea is kind of convenient especially when a document is to be delivered nearby. Rather than sending it via couriers (LBS, 2Go, etc.) which would take days before it would be delivered at your doorsteps.
“Pahatod” is describe as a mobile application that simply help you deliver or pick up your goods by the means of searching for a vehicle that matches your needs.
So how does “Pahatod” works?
- To make a booking, they have to indicate their location or the location of the goods that needs to be picked up, their intended destination and what kind of goods is going to be delivered, after which the app will provide an estimated cost based on the factors provided.
- Vehicles on the Pahatod platform will be visible to the senders.
- By tapping on the “Book Now” icon, these drivers will be contacted and when a driver accepts the booking, the sender will receive notification. The app will then track the vehicle as it approaches the sender.
- It has a tracking system where the sender can track the driver’s location in real time. And if the items/goods was successfully delivered it gives notification to the sender.
- At the end of the journey, the sender can opt to rate the driver and write a review.
Though it was a good concept, my classmates had thrown a lot of questions at her. Especially on the goods or documetns to be delivered. the security. Drivers wouldn’t know if the document is legitly a document and vice versa. The app could be used to send “drugs” and “marijuanas”. The presenter had a hard time answering all of the questions but she really tried to. She insisted that documents and goods should only be delivered or sent. But my classmates weren’t satisfied with her answers because she is not giving a solution or a way of knowing if the documents or goods to be delivered are legit or not. The issue wasn’t resolved until one of my classmates had clarified where she got the idea and straightforwardly told her that there is an existing app already that is used nationally and it is called GrabExpress. The idea was more likely the same. Not just likely the same but very the same. The presenter argued that she didn’t know that such app exists. Our instructor then joined the discussion, telling us that it was a good question but there was a catch in that GrabExpress except for the issue of drugs and marijuana. We weren’t able to answer at the end so our instructor told us that it was the issue of having a bomb being delivered to a certain place and when it is delivered in that certain place it will then explode. After that, our instructor asked the presenter on what will be her solution on that issue. The presenter wasn’t able to answer that certain question but our instructor gave her a chance and marked her idea as “hanging.” It was a actually a good remark than being rejected. We clapped after her presentation because of her determination and passion in delivering her idea knowing that all of us are listening especially our instructor. It was kind of a pressure tho.
Her idea or app will generate income through advertisements and premium subscription. She was also asked on what will the customers gained from paying or having the premium subscription. She answered that in having the premium subscription, users can see all the list of vehicles that are part of the app or the services given.
Bus2Go
For the second presenter, his idea was not really that fascinating and can’t catch our attention at first because it was more likely the same to the other presenter who had presented his idea weeks before. It was about knowing whether a certain bus already is fully seated or are there still seats left. Though there are features that were not the same, the gist is that about helping the travelers in their travels. The second presenter named his app “BUS2GO”.
“BUS2GO” is an app that helps solve the problems of travelers being stucked at bus terminals because of the high demands of travels at that time, so seats are easily taken. As a traveler, you wouldn’t really know or you wouldn’t have any idea if the bus you are going to ride still has seats available or how many especially when you’re travelling with friends and decided to travel on land through buses. Also, it aims to solve the problem of letting the first time travelers know on which bus to ride and where is the route of each buses.
The presenter also had supported his claims by citing an article based implementing the HPBS or High Priority Bus System in Davao City in 2019.
The article is as follows:
The Davao City government is working with the Asian Development Bank or ADB for a shift from the outdated and expensive public utility jeepneys to a more convenient, cleaner, and faster mode of transportation, the so called high priority system or HPBS.
In November 2017, the ADB will present the project to city officials. If approved, the following year preparation for the infrastructure needed for the project will commence nd then possibly in twenty nineteen the project will be implemented.
“Layo layo na ang naabtan ani nga plano, in fact naa nay mga ruta ang plan. Makita na jud ninyo na workable na ang plano.” Mayor Inday Sara Duterte-Carpio revealed during a brief press conference after her State of the City Address yesterday.
“We do not want our jeepney drivers to be poor and sickly, we want drivers to become entrepreneurs and invest in the HPBS project. In this way, they become our partners in a modernized transport system for the city”
(Angie Severson, 2017)
Specifically, the “BUS2GO” app solves the problem of getting stuck at Bus terminals during Holidays, parents who wants to know where their child are, you can’t determine how many available seats are there, you don’t know which bus you should take or ride for your destination and getting stuck at the streets at peak hours.
The presenter’s solution is his app, “BUS2GO”.
Bus2Go would be using buses rather than Jeep. You could also reserve tickets in advance, or use the camera of the phone to get the information, like knowing the available seats and the route the bus would take. In this way commuters wouldn’t be stuck at the roads. And travelers wouldn’t be lost even they are new in the city.
Also this app has a premium feature that tracks bus using GPS, so that parents can monitor where their child are. Also with the purchase of the premium version, there won’t be any advertisements displayed while using the app.
The presenter also included having a percentage in every reservations of seats, bus companies subscription and premium users as his revenue streams – ways for his app to generate income.
The presenter’s app will use the camera feature of the phone to capture or just the camera to the bus. It must be pointed to the bus’s plate number and it will show the passenger or the user how many seats were available and if the bus is already full.
Though this idea is quite amazing but there were some issues cited and asked after the presenter’s presentation or pitch. Personally, I really asked the presenter a theoretical question on what if the bus was fast and the response of the app was delayed and you end up knowing that there seats available but it was too late because the bus has already gone by. Of course, users cannot run and shout at the bus for her to ride. It was not mentioned or even answered by the presenter that there will be a feature wherein passengers or travelers can make “para” of the bus through the app. Like a button or what. Though they can only reserved a seat and the bus driver will know where your location is. Also it was suggested by our instructor that he should’ve used the technology of augmented reality where you’ll just hover your phone’s camera on the street and it will immediately see if there is a bus coming and scan the bus immediately without any hassle. Solving the issue that was stated.
Last but not the least, the last presenter presented her idea and it was called, “maDAMIT”. This name actually came from the two tagalog words, “marami” at “damit”. When combined together it means “maraming damit”.
For this presenter, she wanted to emphasize that attending costume parties, debut, halloween, etc. is quite hassle because number one, the ‘costume’. It would be costly to buy a dress that would only be worn once. She stated that there are events that we attend that requires costume. Some of the costumes that we should wear are not available in our homes so we tend to rent or buy it. But we do not know where to find a store that enables us to buy or rent the costume that we need.
So to solve this problem, she came up with an app wherein you can browse and search a certain ‘costume’ that is available nearby by you. And this app is called, “maDAMIT”.
“maDAMIT” is a mobile application that gives two options to the user, UPLOAD A PICTURE or INPUT THE NAME OF THE COSTUME.
How does this work?
- If the user chooses to upload a picture of the costume then all of the costume that has almost the same/exact design will be given to the user and the location of the stores or individuals that has it will also be given.
- Then if the name of the costume is inputted then all of the available costume designs will be shown to the user and give the location where he can rent or buy it.
In generating income, the presenter’s revenue streams are having a subscription of the app both in free and premium, companies that wants to showcase their products, and advertisements.
For the last presenter, she had quite a hard time answering the questions thrown at her. She was not really expecting it, I think because she wasn’t were fully prepared at that time. Though at the bright side she tried her best and gave us all a satisfying answer. It may be hard especially she had caught most of our interests, so there were many questions being asked including the payment in rent. Because in renting something, you are not actually paying it at once, you will be paying for the down payment and the rest can be paid after the dress has been returned. It is quite an issue because what if the one who borrowed it won’t return the dress he or she borrowed? Like how can the owner track his or her belongings and how sure can they gain something out of her app if there are those issues of scams.
All in all, out of the three presenters, only the first was not fully rejected. Though the tw haven’t been remaked as “hanging”, they still gained an experience on pitching in font of everyone else including our instructor. Next time, I believe they would eb able to deliver their pitch well and gain more confidence.
As I’ve said earlier, half of the time pitching and the other half for our instructor’s lecture. Since no one has volunteered anymore to pitch, he decided to have his lecture for the remaining time. Though the time was not really enough. HE was cut short but nevertheless, he had given us or shared with us another learning especially wisdom in life.
He had planned to let us watch a video but then there were no speakers so that’s why we couldn;t watch the video since we cannot really hear what the person in the video have been saying. But out instructor just told us that he will upload it in our facebook group and warned us not to share or even download it because it is only for education purposes only and should not be distributed.
Our instructor also discussed about the external analysis, and the trends and opportunities in convergence.
External analysis is investigating the outside circumstances and dangers for your web based business methodology. You should see that especially the outer open doors are also available for your restriction. In this way you should have or make outstanding and high grounds using your characteristics or improving your shortcomings. It also includes analyzing of the customers, their wants and needs. With this, you can execute quantitative or subjective measurable looking over in finding the necessities of your (potential) customers. Exactly when you have significant bits of learning in the online direct and needs of your customers you can make and execute an E-exchange system viably.
To start off, what is convergence and it’s trends and opportunities?
Convergence is the occasion of no less than two things meeting up. It is the converging of such headways to give development and settlement in the present world. Merging change the way we lived. Merging brings significance and headway. Merging is such a cool word, with bundle of showcasing regard attached to it. It looks awesome in ads and sounds amazing in trademarks. Framework, terminal end, telecom, data correspondence, broadcasting, Data Innovation, data, video, voice, PC correspondence and that’s only the tip of the iceberg, there are an indistinguishable number of definitions from there are accomplices. Without going into the specifics like what should be incorporated and what should not, we give a definition here which is extremely sweeping, exhaustive, thus ordinarily not uncommonly obliging for the people who need to jump to representations. Convergence implies the obscuring of partitioning lines among by and large particular things and organizations, developments, markets, ventures, and authoritative structures. There are heaps of changes convergence has brought which incorporate new developments, new organizations, new advances, new plans of action, and less genuine bearings. Meeting has acquired change the way we live, and in addition in the way we think. Regardless, by then, not everything about merging is beguiling. The truth, however is, the troubles are on the way. There is no fled decision. We have to beat these fights beforehand we can get the quintessence of convergence. Convergence can bring the effects of changing the way we create, we work, and how we do our business.
Journey As An IT Student 