Apple is the brand of the year

Apple's IPod rocked the world in 2004 and it was its success that propelled Apple to become nominated as the brand of the year. Google was second ranked, ahead of Ikea, which was ranked third.

Al Jazeera, the Arabic News Channel, was voted the world's fifth most influential brand in a poll of branding professionals. Ranked just before the media company is Starbucks.

2,000 ad executives, brand managers and academics were polled by by online magazine Brandchannel.

Well, Steve Jobs is still moving the world, shaking its gravity and axis. People are tired of viruses, and long for design. This explains a lot.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Bill Gates and the New Capitalism in China

Bill Gates, in Davos during the World Economic Forum , praised China's economic model as new capitalism.

"It is a brand-new form of capitalism, and as a consumer its the best thing that ever happened."

He appreciates the the scale economies of manufacturing. China contrasts Korea, that had to create more value add to its products after its wages moved up - may be Korea is too competitive in the same space as Microsoft?

He also likes that the current leaders in China are smart. "They have this mericratic way of picking people for these government posts where you rotate into the university and really think about state allocation of resources and the welfare of the country and then you rotate back into some bureaucratic position."

What do you think?

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Google enters Video search, hires Mozilla talent

Another one, the third this year, for Google. After getting the Mini-blues, folowed by a update to their Hello software, now Google enters the video business. Well, not really, they made their entry "into video search this week. Its offering has received mixed reviews, an atypical reaction, considering that the company's new services are normally greeted with enthusiasm", especially since other companies offer similar services already.

Whatever it is, the company covers spaces and is on its way to become an all-round shop on the web. Only different from the rest, or so let's hope.

Yeah - and the next one is that Google started to hired talent away from Mozilla, the creator of Firefox. Are they now on confrontation course with Microsoft? Microsoft was ignored by them earlier - it gave them more freedom to act. If one acts in cyberspace but always looks into the mirror, if Microsoft is turning up, well, this doesn't make for a good business model. It is daunting, and one might stop doing because it wouldn't make sense - they are stronger anyway, might be the thought of the day.

Google was different - they blasted their way, no matter what Microsoft was doing, and they did it well. Well, let's see. May be Google is building an Internet Explorer Killer?

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Siemens mobile division - pst pst

Siemens Mobile Division is losing money and they are not even amongst the leading mobile phone company, as just written in an earlier posting today. There were rumours before that Ningbo Bird of China is interested in its acquisition.

A leader mostly has clear plans and if the leader is very strong, they are able to reveal those plans in public. Knowing that the followers won't be able to catch up anyway, and that benchmarking wouldn't bring them much as well.

Siemens is quiet about the future of its division. Is this a good move? It depends. Internal communication is important to keep the workforce motivated. If leadership stays quiet, the internal rumour mill starts its workings and top talent might leave the company. In addition, shareholders might be unhappy, thinking, that the company is clueless and has lost its sense of direction. Again, communications proves its point.

Silence is such not always golden. Sometimes, communicating too much is simply better.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Global numbers on mobile sales

Apparently, the numbers keep still growing rapidly in the October to December 2004, but research company Strategy Analytics also sees a slow-down ahead.

The numbers differ a bit from global numbers provided earlier in our blog - here, Samsung displaced Motorola as the number 2 but this related to the total of the period under review. In adition, it shows the challenges companies face in a fluid market, many data providers and ongoing developments.

But basically, the article at hand states the following global market share numbers for the last quarter:

- Nokia - 33.1% (-1.5%)
- Motorola - 15.9% (+1.9%)
- Samsung - 10.6% (+0.9%)
- LG Electronics - 7% (+1.4%)
- Sony Ericsson -6.3% (+1.3%)

I sure think that this is interesting. It shows that there are a lot of smaller players still around in the mobile phone production and in fact, their number probably increased over the last couple of years with the expansion of China and its tremendous market potential. What will happen if India is coming up? Will we have some Indian market players entering the mobile phone market? Now this is interesting!

(By Asia Business Consulting)

China launches new generation Internet

Following its economic success (so admittedly, numbers can be doubtful, as pointed out in a comment!), its overall success in communications, it is just natural that China is trying to make its mark in Internet technology.

"With the launch of the first backbone network of the next-generation Internet in China, the country is expected to dramatically narrow its gap with the world's leaders."

""We were a learner and follower in the development of the first generation Internet, but we have caught up with world's leaders in the next-generation Internet, become a first mover, and won respect and attention from the international community," said Wu Jianping, director of the expert committee of the China Education and Research Network (CERNET) and a mastermind in the development of the next-generation Internet in China."

What do you think?

(By Asia Business Consulting)

China coming to Malaysia

Nope, I tricked you - the truth is that "China’s biggest listed telecommunications equipment maker ZTE Corporation is starting an operation in Malaysia by setting up ZTE (Malaysia) Corporation Sdn Bhd."

ZTE Malaysia was set up in collaboration with Pernec Corporation Bhd as a first step in its plan to work with all local telecommunications companies in future.

ZTE is a publicly listed Chinese telecom manufacturer with market capital over US$2 billion. ZTE has five product lines: hand-line switch, access network, GSM, CDMA and optical transmission.

The company also works with Portugal Telecom after signing an MOU in January this year to to identify and bring to market a range of new products and services.

An interesting market player, and apparently expanding rapidly - just like many other Chinese companies currently.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

3G coming in the Philippines

I wrote a coule of months back that it is hard to believe that there won't be 3G in the Philippines. This earlier rejection took place despite the fact that they are still called the global capital of SMS and that, naturally, they should progress upwards technologically.

Okay, the technology and its usefulness is in the discussion, but, nevertheless, its subscribtion base is growing. Basically, it is only a matter of time until it will take off - IDC estimates a total of 17 million 3G users in Asia in the end of 2005 (okay, this is one of the many numbers) - and special offers to entice consumers are all around us already.

Anyway, according to BusinessWorld (Jan 26, 2005), the National Telecommunication Commission (NTC) said "it will issue within the first half the final rules and regulations on 3G, the mobile technology for high-speed internet access, video streaming, and high-end data exchange." Its commissioner said that he brushed off objectiotions by "arguments of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) and Globe Telecom, Inc., which claim that licenses should not be issuedthis year due to lack of local demand for the service."

Rightly so - the world doesn't stop to turn, just because you don't want it to turn anymore.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Finally - Maxis Communications in Malaysia starts to move

Maxis is the market leader in mobile communications in Malaysia. Over the years, they unseat Telekom Malaysia as the incumbent in many areas, but well, Telekom at least managed to move overseas and out of Malaysia. Sometimes in somewhat failed missions, but recently, they moved quite aggressively.

Maxis, on the other hand, behaved differently. They were asked a lot of times by their shareholders to venture overseas, and even participated in bidding for stakes in foreign carriers. But it didn't work out.

May be it was the feeling that the chances in neighbouring markets start to disappear - if every company in such countries has a partner, may be they wouldn't need a Maxis as a partner - that made them move lastly. May be it were the moves of Telekom in recent weeks that set their spirit on fire.

Anyway, lastly they moved. And bought a stake in PT Natrindo Telepon Selular (NTS) - it was expensive on a price per subscriber, but may be that is the price one has to pay when you get late into the game. And Indonesia offers a lot of growth opportunities in contrast to the rapidly maturing communications market of Malaysia. They want to continue, apparently, and have set their side onto India next.

Good luck - let the games begin.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Camera phones and the beaten documentary filmmaker

There are a lot of things that happen because of the usage of camera phones. I had the story about the guy whose mobile phone was destroyed as punishment for taking pictures of naked women.

Another time there was the bride in Saudi Arabia who was beating up someone for taking her picture.

There are also stories of those who use cameras (not phones) to tape crimes. The case of Rodney King comes to mind.

A similar situation happened in India. A documentary filmmaker was filming a warden beating a taxi driver. But once the warden realised what was happening, his attention turned to the filmmaker and he started to beat that poor guy up. Worse, "an assistant inspector, a head constable and a constable were present but they did not interfere."

This can be bad, of course, if the situations where people are filmed, are somewhat worse (I mean, being beaten up is bad enough). But what about violent snatch thieves, bank robbers and so on. What do you think?

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Blog Business Summit

Just in case you are interested in reading about the recently organised Blog Business Summit, here is a website, specially featuring different highlights.

As usual (and sadly?), discussions about what is a blog and how is a blog different from journalism took place. They actually take place since the first blog was.

I liked this one by Stowe Boyd and Halley Suit - "The Art and Science of Blog Writing."

In their tips selection, they write:

"- Stories…good posts are good stories. Write a good story;
- Truth…you need to be truthful.
- Passion…if you don’t write with passion nobody will care. Take a stand.
- Things of this world…be real, pictures, no abstract language
- Brevity…Twelve posts over twelve paragraphs
- Freshness…the amount and frequency. More stuff each day.
- Voice…Have a voice. Halley “People joke that I sound like my blog” Right on! Be real."

And the next blog business summit is planned already.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Chinese economy grows rapidly

How fast is fast? I believe 9.5% growth is "pretty" fast for an economy.

Despite the curbs that the Chinese government applied to cool down the economy, its ongoing success cannot be denied.

There were major economic and political developments in 2004 that show that China cannot be underestimated. It surely is not the currency that causes problems for the continuously declining US-dollar, or the stagnant and recessionary European economy.

When do politicians (and some business leaders, however, they tend to get it earlier) elsewhere wake up and realise that in order to compete with China, one needs to develop clear strategies and not close doors, increase taxes, initiating accusations of dumping and so on. Instead, one needs to engage China with broader or more specific trade pacts (however good or bad they might be in the long run) or compete against it by upgrading ones own economy or integrating the rise into ones own business model. Because if one is not doing this, China's economic power might just overroll it. And if giants talk, they might just start to dance. I am talking about the recent and ongoing talks between China and India, two emerging, and complimentary powerhouses.

Surely, there are risks. Bubbles across the economy might lead to industry gluts, or over supply and a meltdown would be dramatic. However, the Chinese leader so far have managed well over the last two decades in terms of controlling and managing the economy by opening it up in a careful manner. Sure, there were and are hickups - smaller and bigger ones, but overall, there is a positive outlook on China.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Chinese companies active in overseas acquisitions?

This has been send to me a while ago by a dedicated reader, but I haven't included it in the write up until now.

After Lenova's acquisition of IBM's PC division, Siemens sale of its mobile division to Ningbo Bird (still denied), well, this move by CNOOC Ltd to acquire Unical would be another step forward.

However, Unical also is an attractive target for other Western petroleum companies as well, since they were pretty successful in penetrating the Asian market earlier. This target becomes more attractive considering the fact that global energy demand soaring and supplies ever harder to find. Unocal offers immediate access to oil and natural gas reserves, especially in Asia, Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico, but CNOOC is not the only hunter - Royal Dutch/Shell Group is also interested.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

SMS usage growing in China

It is China, once again.

Last week alone, I wrote about a couple of real big numbers in China. One was for the number of users of Internet that was estimated at 100 million.

Shortly before that I showed that mobile phone users in China topped an awesome 334 million. Those mobile phone users are also very active in SMS - they sent a "whopping 217.76 billion SMS messages in 2004, up 58.8% from the previous year." Think of this potential and you will see why all the companies active in this sphere just get crazy about the opportunities.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Samsung Obsessed With World-First Title

I wrote plenty of times about Samsung as a company that sets the pace in many areas. And the results actually speak for it in the sense that their profits are soaring to record highs.

It is dangerous, however, if a company falls in love with their own achievement. It is then when complacency can set in and failure dooms. This was the case with the old IBM, way back in the late 1980s, beginning 1990s, when the company didn't foresee the change in its business environment and the emergence of disruptive technology in their space. It was then when they tought that they were the Untouchables, so to speak.

Apparently, many companies challenge Samsung in their claim to be a first in many markets.

"During the first 19 days of this year, Korea’s electronics juggernaut issued 20 press releases including seven about new merchandise of chips, computers and mobile handsets.

Among the seven items, Samsung, the world’s largest memory-chip and liquid crystal display maker and runner-up handset vendor, asserted it unveiled five times faster than any other global competitor.

The five goodies include speech-to-text conversion phone (Jan.6), eight chip-stacked multi-chip package (Jan.10), motion-recognition phone (Jan.12), Sonoma-equipped notebook PC (Jan.18) and 512-megabit mobile memory (Jan.19).

The company also announced its digital TV receiver chip, named S5H1406, has the world’s highest TV broadcasting signal reception rate on Jan. 12.

Only its QWERTY phone disclosed on Jan. 7 with a computer-like keyboard failed to get a world-first title. Instead, Samsung labeled it as the first with such a unique user interface in Korea.

However, Samsung’s domestic rivals, which have been silent so far, started to challenge the market leader’s claims from late last year."

Apparently, inside pressure is also mounting. The newspaper reports that "when contacted, a Samsung insider confided that staff members are under great pressure to accelerate the roll-out ceremony of new products to keep the target of being the world’s first and the world’s best.

Experts point out that Samsung needs to change its strategy and give itself some leeway if the outfit wants to become a bona fide world leader."

This is dangerous for the company - internal pressure that is applied too strong might lead to failing products, or higher turnover. A great corporate culture is important to nurture innovation. Innovation specialists, let's me call them so, need their space to develop new products. They need to be able to fail, and they need to have time and the creative freedom to innovate products.

So let's take a step back and see how the juggernaut develops in the months to come. It would be sad if they fail because of a wrong obsession.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Yahoo to acquire Six Apart?

Is there some more blog consolidation? Does Yahoo recognise the importance of blogs, and wants to counter the growing cloud of Google?

Well, there are rumours that Yahoo has plans to acquire Six Apart, the makers of Movable Type, the company, which just acquired the Livejournals

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Shooting real animals online

Is this cruel? I am sure it is and animal activists denounce the website already. The site will offer a real-time link to a US game hunting ranch where online shooters can kill their targets.

"Video cameras will be connected to rifles with sensors that can be controlled by computer users anywhere in the world.

The rifle range overlooks a 145ha reserve in San Antonio, Texas, where deer, antelope and wild hogs roam.

Paying members will be able to take aim, shoot, then ship their kill to their home, stuffed and mounted as a trophy.

The site will even record footage of each kill and sell the grisly DVD to the user."

Tourism absurd, but where there is a demand, supply won't stop. Even if it is cruel. The animals have no chance, since they can't smell the hunters. They can only "learn" that video cameras are bad for them.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Crack down on online gambling in China

Last year, it was very much the crack-down on online pornography and cybercafes that kept Chinese authorities "busy", this year, it starts of with the announcement to crack down on online gambling.

"The Chinese government last week kicked off a "relentless" battle on gambling by government officials and executives at state-owned companies."

They are worried that governmental officers waste people's money in online gambling activities. Makes you worry where your tax money went to in China, last year and the years before?

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Phishing scams and worms plague tsunami aid effort

I wrote about it earlier that it is a challenge to be coped with in the aftermath of the Tsunami.

Over the last couple of days, some people have alrady been arrested.

Of course, this didn't stop further activities of spammers and phishers. Internet users are being targeted by scams using the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster as a ploy to obtain funds illegally or to spread damaging worms.

In another tsunami-related Internet fraud, Sophos warned of a new mass mailing worm that masquerades as an appeal for tsunami aid.

My opinion? These are the lowest kind of people.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Cheaper telephone services

A new study found that across the globe, "people shopping for mobile telephone services don't want expensive features, and low-cost providers are stepping in to get a sizable chunk of this growing market."

This trend is starting to become more prevalent amongst younger consumers. Basically, those users don't want to have a large variety of products and services, such as access to news and weather bulletins that are included by default in some standard contracts. They want basic services, that work.

McKinsey, who did the related study, interviewed 1,000 German mobile phone users to gauge the importance they attach to the services and applications that wireless companies typically offer. "Our analysis shows that a third of the market has limited interest in advanced features or personal interaction with mobile operators: these customers are content to make simple phone calls (and perhaps to use SMS) and would be happy to stick with handsets they already own or to pay for new ones."

Does this show once again that companies pack features into something that is not necessarily wanted, sell it as value-added and than wonder, why the uptake of their service is slow sluggish? When do companies realise that the experiments with high-end value added services, such as television over mobile phones might not necessarily be the expected killer application, and that users basically want a mobile service that works.

(Asia Business Consulting)

Google releases photo organising software

Google is doing it again, the second time this year, after they have got the mini-blues jsut about a week ago.

Now they release a new version of Picasa, that keeps a photo collection and editing pictures simple even for beginners.

"Rather than requiring users to import individual photos from their drives, the Picasa software automatically detects them as they are added — whether sent via e-mail or transferred from a digital camera. "

Let's see what they come up with next.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Mobile phone tracking

Maxis Communications in Malaysia is touting the value added service that allows spouses to track down the "better half's whereabout" down to the street level.

Is this a worhtwhile service? Well, I think that if a spouse needs to track his or her partner down than may be, a counselling session is more in order for the married partners. It just doesn't show the trust that is required for a marriage to last, doesn't it? How would it sound when she comes up to him and says "Darling, here is this service that helps me to know that you really are where you tell me you are at night." Or, imagine, you sit in a meeting and your phone is beeping to request a confirmation of your location? Doesn't give a good impression to your business partner, does it?

Okay - and what about child abduction? Serious child abductors would throw away the phone anyway, if they are clever, especially today with the increasing possibility of a Global Positioning System. So this doesn't help very much or, in fact, it might give a security feeling to parents and children that it helps and subsequently makes them more careless. Surely, there are better value added services than this one.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

China and the UK in hi-tech research

Its another show of China's might and potential future power.

"Energy, electronics, stem cell studies and space and aviation sciences are major fields for scientific co-operation between China and the United Kingdom. "

I could also add that it is a further step to accept China not only as the manufacturing base of the world, but also as increasingly sophisticated producer of high-tech and even future products. It is China, once again.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Number portability enforces proliferation of value added services

I wrote about two weeks back that number portability in general is forcing companies to increase their value added offering for consumers. If they fail to offer those new and enticing - and this is of course important - services, consumers might switch to the next provider in the blink of a moment. Basically, number portability turns the table on the companies.

Korea's mobile companies start to learn the lesson. As mentioned in the same post, number portability has just been introduced. Now, the offerings from companies begin to flourish.

SK Telecom is planning to introduce a "mobile health care phone". It is targeting at subscribers who are at least middle aged. The service is suppose to come with a battery that contains a sensor, can monitor the phone owners' blood sugar, stress and body fat levels, all by merely placing a finger on the sensor.

KTF, another Korean operator, plans to introduce a cellphone that it claims provides eyesight checkups, including color blindness tests. The phone owner only needs to look into the phone's monitor for the checkups, and a program can determine one's eye prescription.

KTF is also coming out with a phone where the customer can check his or her blood alcohol content. Through a simple game, a program determines how intoxicated the phone owner is by measuring how fast and accurate the phone owner reacts when the icon moves.

In addition, operators introduce dating assistance for romantically challenged users in their teens or in their 20s. "After a successful blind date, one party may send off a text message asking for another get-together. But he or she has no way of knowing whether the other person actually read the message. The anxious wait can end now. KTF has started a service where the text message sender can find out whether the other person has seen the message or not. "

And than, of course, there are the usual services, such as translation of text into different languages.

Exciting, isn't it? Let's wait for more.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Samsung shocks Japan

For those following this blog, it was clear that this was bound to happen. There are many more stories in this blog about Samsung, than about Sony. Sony was the great innovator in the 1980s, may be even in the early 1990. However, over time, they developed into a follower, and it wasn't even clear if the Walkman originated in the Sony labs.

Samsung, on the other hand, pumped out so many "firsts" in the product arena, that I had to state that this is not a Samsung blog.

Now, Japan is shocked, about the growing cloud of Samsung. They have made a solid US$10 billion net profit in 2004, even overtaking Microsoft as the biggest profit maker in the global IT industry.

Apparently "Samsung’s profits were double those of Japan’s top 10 electronics firms combined. Japan’s top 10 electronics firms, including Matsushita, Hitachi, NEC, Toshiba, Sony, Fujitsu, Mitsubishi and Oki made about half of Samsung's profit."

Keep watching the Koreans, this is my advice.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

How do you find a job?

Many people rely on their friends or family members to recommend a job, according to a new study. That makes a lot of sense. They are familiar with the company, with the company's value system, and with requirements that are expected of the new employee. Naturally, however, one doesn't recommend a "slacker" to a company to avoid being perceived more negatively by the employer, should a choice fail to work out. Also, one doesn't want to recommend a person to a company that is seen in itself as bad in the marktplace, or not fit for the specific employee.

What does this require from the company? They need to managetheir reputation, which would be the first call of the day. They might also want to think about providing incentives to employees who successfully recommend an employee. In order to do so, they need to do some internal employee branding. To "inculcate" the company's values into the employees. To provide a "nurturing" environment, which goes, by far, way beyond the annual salary increase or a bonus payment. Much more could be said about this.

The article in itself presents shows the different ways how young employees find their new job.

"One out of three young people in Korea, the U.S. and Russia said that they chose jobs at the recommendation of colleagues or acquaintances, it says. In the U.K., most young people trawled the classified sections of the print media for jobs, while in Germany and Sweden many picked their jobs after visiting companies. In Japan, one third of young people were referred by their schools’ career centers.

The report also found that young people in developing countries were more likely to inherit the family business than in developed countries. Some 17 to 29 percent of young people succeeded to the family business in the Philippines, Brazil, and Thailand, against only 2 to 5 percent in France, the U.K. and Japan.

Family influence on young people’s choice of work is strong all over the world, with 44 percent of Filipinos saying they got their jobs with the help of family members or relatives. Young Germans also relied more on families and relatives than on colleagues and acquaintances. In Korea, 30 percent of young people followed the opinion of their families in choosing jobs"

(By Asia Business Consulting)

The World in 2020

The National Intelligence Council of the CIA published a report about the world in the year 2020.

Its Chairman writes that "Mapping the Global Future: Report of the National Intelligence Council’s 2020 Project is the third unclassified report prepared by the National Intelligence Council (NIC) in recent years that takes a long-term view of the future. It offers a fresh look at how key global trends might develop over the next decade and a half to influence world events."

As frequently mentioned elsewhere already, the US, currently the predominant economic power in the world, will face more and more competition from Asia countries, especially India and China. It also talks to the risks that both countries face in their economic development.

They are publishing a positive picture - it is their forecast that the rise of the world's two most populous countries would have a positive impact on the world economy, causing it to be about 80 percent larger than in 2000. The world per capital income would also increase by 50 percent.

That is the nice news. If you want to download the report, click here or at the link in the header. Please be aware that its size is 6.69 MB. If you want to have a downloaded copy send to you from me, send me a mail (asiabusinessconsulting@gmail.com)

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Another massive number in China - Internet usage

It was just last week, when I wrote about the growth in the number of mobile phone users in China, a number that hit 334 million in 2004.

Now, the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) estimates that the number of Chinese Internet users is above 100 million. Another massive number.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

China tops 334 million mobile phone subscribers in 2004

The number of mobile phone users in China keeps growing - in 2004, it grew an amazing 65 million users. From 2002 to 2003, it already topped up 53 million. Imagine those numbers - they are huge and it is no wonder that mobile carriers and handset makers all over the globe are excited.

Apparently, I was wrong to assume somewhat earlier that saturation would set in already. It will set in, eventually, but currently doesn't show any sign of slowing down. For the time being, mobile carriers can just cash in, apparently.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Blog consolidation continuing?

Just a view days ago, I brought the news to you that SixApart is buying Livejournal. At that time, I suggested that this could be the beginning of a consolidation wave across the blogger industry.

Now, another acquisition is taking place but this time not in the US. Interfax reports that BlogChina.com, the largest blog portal in China, has acquired the country's third largest blogging service provider Blogdriver.com.

"Blogdriver's current blog system is able to host a total of 1 mln users. Furthermore, its upcoming Java-based 2.0 version will be able double capacity to 2 mln. BlogChina's current PHP-based system can support just 500,000 users."

Well clearly, it is the surging popularity of blogs that drives this acquisition.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

It surged earlier, now Infosys surges again!

This is an amazing company. It just keeps on growing and growing and growing at an amazing speed. Awesome, this juggernaut. Right now it says that its quarterly net profit jumped 51.5%, helped by strong outsourcing demand.

Don't tell me that this is because their revenue base is still small, or the economy is going well for them. It is because their business model is right and management keeps executing. They are a best employer in India already. They use their knowledge appropriately.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Convergence of business segments in Korea

Television companies in Korea are worried and they have a good reason to be.

"The looming Internet protocol (IP)-based television is making Korea’s cable TV operators scramble as the new-concept service squarely overlaps with their current offering. Hanaro Telecom, the nation’s runner-up broadband carrier, plans to kick-start IP TV services within this year and largest player KT is also mulling over jumping on the bandwagon."

"Internet broadcasting, or sometimes called Web-cast, is similar in intent to broadcast TV programs but is uniquely designed for Internet transmission.

In a nutshell, it is packet-based real-time broadcasting on the Internet, which provides a completely new range of possibilities for end-users.

Unlike traditional broadcasting, IP TVs have no channel limitations and enjoy global coverage, while satellite and terrestrial channels can also be received by encoding them into the IP network.

The broadband-powered broadcasting can be watched on various terminals from a PC monitor to even a TV display with the help of a set top box.

Many experts predict current broadcast TV will be replaced by the Internet-based video distribution and it is not a question if this will happen but when.

Hanaro Telecom looks to embark on Web TV services from the latter half of this year, mixing both fixed-charge streaming format and a video-on-demand (VoD) system like existing satellite TV Skylife.

Mirae Asset economist Kim Kyung-mo said Hanaro is targeting to improve its average revenue per user in the thin-margin local broadband market through the services.

Another upside potential of Web TV is that it is the most suitable platform for the envisioned killer applications under two-way data broadcasting.

``Because the full-blown takeoff of interactive data broadcasting is possible via the packet-based connection, Internet TV can accelerate the advent of such service,’’ said Han Ik-hee, an analyst from Hyundai Securities & Investment.

The next-generation broadcasting transmits a variety of data such as closed captioning, prices of products shown on TV programs or profiles of football players during an international match.

Internet broadcasting will also open the era of T-commerce, in which viewers will be able to purchase merchandise on the screen by simply pushing buttons on a remote control."

Great explanation. Thank you, Korea Times.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Pop-ups and overlays - I don't like them

Pop-up blocks are good business today. Why? Because Internet users don't like to be disturbed by what they intend to do. I believe that pop-ups are similar to the one guy that pops up in front of you to take away the scenic look at whatever you were looking at. You want to push him aside - to see the scenery. Subsequently, we get Pop-up blockers (I would love to have such blockers in a traffic jam!!).

Now we have more and more of this overlaying advertisements - companies seem to always learn ways to annoy users even more. Those ads, that are in front of you as well, when you open the webpage - but they come in smoothly, not as a pop-up. You get the picture. The difficulty with them is that sometimes, the famous cross to click them away is somewhat hidden. Light grey over a black frame is difficult to see, for example.

Well, a study has shown that I am not alone in the camp. OMD Digital found out in a poll of 2,500 people, that " overlays scored as highly as pop-ups in unpopularity."

There are examples of companies that created great advertisments for the web. Sadly, a majority still doesn't get it.

Premium service in broadband

You want faster speed? Than you pay for it! This seems to be the motto of BigAir, an Australian Internet service provider, which is offering 10Mbps broadband service to some of its residential customers. The catch 22 is that this service costs over "16 times as much as most basic ADSL services, priced at US$380 per month with downloads capped at 100GB."

Okay, who would like to download that much per month in the first place. However, while it is okay to pay more for premium service in a tiered-service, there is the question, how long can they sustain the offer. Sooner or later, competition will come in with a cheaper offer, trying to attract those premium customers.

Moreover, 10 Mbps is not that much. With the advancement of technology, this might be something pretty slow in the near future - what will happen than is that you have some customers that signed up for a longer contract and which are unhappy, since they cannot migrate to a faster and probably cheaper service with the competition. Would I say that this is a sustainable business model? Nope, I wouldn't. Short-term, yes, long-term - no.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Korea allows file-sharing

Somehow I have the feeling that Korea is getting it. Not only do they have handphones that allow MP3 songs to be played (admittedly, it took a while), but now, a "South Korean appeals court on acquitted the operators of a Korean-language Web site that allows users to share songs free of charge."

"The court said the Yang brothers should not be held responsible for copy right infringements that took place on Soribada, which means "Sea of Sound" in Korean."

Is there finally some movement here? I wonder how the record industry elsewhere reacts to this decision.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Bill Gates interviewed by blogger

Well sure, Bill has a lot of interest in blogs nowadays, especially since the launch of Spaces by Microsoft. Additionally, Microsoft has a lot of in-house bloggers, so it is not surprising to see him intervied by a blogger.

Still, let's be positive about it and say that this moves creates more credentials for bloggers. Something that they still struggle with, be it in the US or, especially, in Asia.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Google gets the mini blues

Well, sure not in strength, but in its application. The company, in a bid to diversify its business and enter a new market segment, will begin to sell the Google Mini - an economical-size hardware for corporate-intranet search.

Google "hopes to broaden its search-appliance business to cater to smaller businesses with fewer documents and tighter budgets. The blue box, which plugs into a corporate intranet and searches up to 50,000 documents, will go on sale Thursday at Google.com for about US$5,000."

Well, it appears that everything going for smaller sizes hits this market as well. We have handphones that become tiny, Apple launches a new IPod Mini, so why not Google, do I ask??

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Consumer Electronics Exhibition in Vegas

Tom Peters wrote about it and yes, following my recent entry, I want to follow up on the Consumer Electronics Exhibition.

The products are beautiful, and innovative (but also prohibitively high - Samsung's 80 inch plasma TV is advertised at US$40,000!!).

Anyway, the association's site also presents the keynotes of various famous personalities, such as Bill Gates (Microsoft), Craig Barrett (Intel), Ron Garriques (Motorola), Carly Fiorina (HP), and Rich Templeton (Texas Instruments).

I believe it is worth a read.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Wristwatch computer without Internet connection

At least not yet.

"Prototype products of Korean-made wristwatch computers will be unveiled this month by the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI)."

I thought Microsoft develops something similar or did already? Anyway, "the archetype gizmo will be equipped with a simple user interface, which will be operated by a pair of buttons for searching information and playing MP3 files, instead of onventional keyboards."

Its a standalone product, so far, without Internet connection. This will dampen its sales chances of course, but than, who needs a wristwatch computer anyway? Besides James Bond?

(By Asia Business Consulting)

This is not a Samsung blog

... but what can I do when this company develops products that are a first in the world here, and a first in the world there.

Let's hope that some country leaders or company leaders take a look at Samsung and say, "boy (they are boys, most of the time), let's do something similar. Let's try to be great. Let's be a company that is as innovative and develop products that are a first in the world."

Why do I say this? Well, after receiving accolades for reaping innovation awards, Samsung keeps blasting ahead. They "announced it has developed the world's first eight-die MCP technology. MCP packages various memory chips designed for efficient memory use in high-capacity mobile devices."

"The complex, rapidly gaining popularity due to the multifunction and downsizing trend in the mobile phone market, contains NAND, NOR flash, DRAM, SRAM, and UtRAM - in Samsung's case that means a couple of 1Gb NAND flashes, a set of 256Mb NOR flash, a pair of 256Mb mobile DRAM, a 128Mb UtRAM, and a 64Mb UtRAM, implementing a total capacity of 3.2Gb, the largest in the world. By developing the first eight-die MCP, as well as the last six-die MCP, Samsung has consolidated its position as the leading company in the field. "

Honestly, it is fun to see a company racing ahead and staying atop. This clearly is a company in the product leadership category. And according to what I know about those companies, they don't want to be second. They have pleasure of being the first. Competitors of Samsung - be aware!

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Google exposes web surveillance cams

Shoundn't we have known earlier? Seeing the world through the eye of a camera - ahhh through your computer - could be exciting. But it would have been unintentionally. "a pair of simple Google searches permits access to well over 1,000 unprotected surveillance cameras around the world - apparently without their owners' knowledge." "Video surfers are using this knowledge to peek in on office and restaurant interiors, a Japanese barnyard, women doing laundry, the interior of an Internet collocation facility, and a cage full of rodents, among other things, in locales scattered around the world."

Is Google becoming vulnerable? The next Microsoft in the making? You tell me, or, time will tell.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Matsushita intends to use eco-friendly vehicles

We are witnessing climate changes but the discussion of who or what is responsible is ongoing and ongoing and ongoing... Many companies argue that the implementation of eco-friendly systems would make their business operation inefficient or cost-intensive. Country leaders forward the position that causes and effects must be studied first to capture more data.

However, the eco-wave is catching on in the economy, and say what you want, the one country or company that is first might have the famous first-mover advantage, forcing other companies into the game.

Matsushita just announced that they want to "replace all 14,000 vehicles in its and its subsidiaries' fleets with low-emission or fuel-efficient vehicles by fiscal 2010." "Other large companies are expected to follow in Matsushita's footsteps, providing a shot in the arm to sales of hybrid and other fuel-efficient vehicles."

That is what I say, and what is great to see. Let's roll!

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Online shopping is in

It is the convenience of sitting behind the screen to order ones Christmas presents. There is no need to fight for limited parking spaces, after battling long traffic jams. The exposure to flu viruses is limited. Moreover, one doesn't have the stress of having to carry a large number of packages to the car, bumping against numerous people one encounters on the way out.

Do I exaggerate? You tell me, but the number of people shopping online rises fast. Sure, its share is still small compared to the overall retail market, but again, it is growing. In the US, online shopping grew by 25% to reach US$23.2 billion. In Korea, the numbers for November 2004 - thus before the Christmas season - grew by 16.2% compared to November 2003.

So what is your company's online strategy?

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Typepad unblocked in China?

China's blogger space exploded last year and there are now over ">600,000 bloggers in China. As such, the phenomena cannot be ignored, especially since blogging is also used as a tool to report incidences to the outside world.

However, the country is still trying to impede the information flow that goes into China and one famous victim was Google.

In an apparent turnaround, the reach of bloggers into China just became easier, according to the China Herald, since the Chinese government freed the access to 'typepad' weblogs. "But the domain names of blogger.com, internationally the largest host of weblogs and owned by Google, remains blocked. Because weblogs can be hosted easy on other servers and many Chinese users that would surf outside China use so-called proxies, the effect of the so-called IP-blocks is fairly limited."

Will it change, anytime soon? Or do Chinese bloggers need to think about ways to circumvent the Chinese Wall?

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Receiving New Year's Greetings in January

You know how it works. You send an SMS, and you are sure it has arrived. You have the "Send Confirmation", right? Following up on it with the receiver, a couple of hours later, may be, you realise that your message didn't go the way it was intended to.

Or, remember those evenings over Christmas, End of Ramadan, Chinese New Year of Deepavali, when you send SMS to friends and relatives. You send and send and send. Many fail, the first time around, since the wires are overloaded. So you go again. In the end, well, they went out and you are happy.

A different story emerged in Australia. Here, mobile phone users "have been complaining that text messages sent by friends and family based in Europe on New Year's Eve have taken up to five days to make the 17,000-kilometre journey."

Well, part of the reason is the popularity of SMS messages and the offers around them from companies. The surge in the number of SMS is just too much for the wires to carry. And oh well, at least the messages arrive.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Speech-to-text technology

Samsung is going to sweep 13 Innovation awards at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. One nice feast, I have to say, but it is a logical conclusion of the fantastic year that they had in 2004, and the fruit of their internal culture that simply supports such results.

Now they are coming out with their first innovative product in 2005. It is a "speech-to-text-phone" that "allows mobile phone users to convert word directly into text." Nice feature, useful in many situations.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Broadband adoption increases by 50 million across the globe

Its the time of the year, when reports are being published about growth in 2004 and forecasts are hammered out for 2005.

Consulting firm Point-Topic presents interesting number about the growth of broadband across the globe.

In total, 50 million lines have been added, an increase of 50% over 2003.

Asian countries stand out from the crowd with above-the-average growth. Thai broadband lines, for example, grew by 90%.

"Figures produced by the analyst for Q3 and Q4 of 2004 show the UK staying in eighth place worldwide for number of lines. Though three of the top four countries in the league are in the Asia/Pacific region - China, Japan and South Korea - the gap is narrowing.

But China added more lines in a single quarter than the UK did in the entire year, and growth is continuing to accelerate."

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Innovative companies sweep innovation awards

Well, I haven't mentioned them a lot recently, those Korean companies that one can simply fall in love with. But being nominated for awards and potentially sweeping a lot - how can I stay quiet?

"Korea’s leading electronics companies will showcase a slew of new consumer electronics products at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) that will kick off for a four-day run in Las Vegas on Thursday."

Here are those companies that receive innovation awards, according to the Consumer Electronics Association:

• LG: 16
• Samsung: 13
• Motorola: 12
• Panasonic: 11
• Philips Electronics: 11
• HP: 10
• Sony: 9
• Toshiba 6

There probably was a time, when Sony stood higher, but they are somewhat out of the picture.

Samsung and LG, they are clear winner, considering the product innovations they have delivered over the past year and before.

LG’s L1730S 17-inch LCD monitor will receive the CES Best of Innovations Award, the top innovation award given at the show.

I am looking forward to another year of product innovation.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

1.3 billion people in China

China is a world power already, bound to be the largest economy worldwide in just a couple of years.

Growth is also powered by its sheer number of population and yesterday morning, the country celebrated its 1.3 billionth inhabitant.

It is further expected that the country adds eight to 10 million to its population each year. A National Statistics Bureau (NSB) projection puts China's population at 1.47 billion around 2032.

However, this growth also creates challenges and to name just a few:

• Urbanisation and the evolution of the income disparity between urban and rural areas
• Creation of employment opportunities
• Health
• Aging - the so called greying of its population will hit China as well. The China Economic Net said that "The State Family Planning and Population Commission predicts that from 2000 to 2007, the number of residents 65 or older will grow throughout the nation from just under 100 million to more than 200 million. That means a jump in elders of more than 4 million per year, with their numbers making up as much as 14 per cent of the population by 2007. And the total is expected to grow by leaps and bounds in the coming decades. The commission forecasts that the likely proportion of the population 65 or older will surge to 24 per cent by 2050. "
• Education
  

Not the easiest tasks but great challenges for an emerging powerhouse

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Number portability hits Korea

Number portability allows mobile phone subscribers to carry their number from one mobile phone company to the next, basically free of charge. Some surcharges might apply, however, when one is than calling from the new operator since the call still runs on the old operator's network, at least for a while.

Nevertheless, it allows consumers to switch and that is the greatest benefit. The problem with telecommunications companies is that they lock in their subscribers in long-term contracts. However, a subscriber might realise, normally, that a better offer is on the card may be two months down the road, but he or she cannot change, because of the lock-in period. Basically, those contracts tend to "punish" longterm subscribers, instead of supporting them, since longterm subscribers normally get worse contracts than new subscribers.

Number portability turns the table somewhat around. It forces companies to provide value to their subscribers - they might ask themselves, why should they stay with a company that doesn't offer great service. Why shall they pay more, if they don't get great service - be it in form of customer service or value added content service that fits their need.

Frequently, when number portability is introduced, customers flock from one company with bad service to one that is known for better service. And also, as it happens now, companies that suffer from "outmigration" of customers like to blame the marketing strategies of the companies that gain subscribers. They don't realise that in order to win in this newly designed game, they simply need to push the limits. Customers don't come easy anymore. They have more choice and they use it. Without contracts that is easier.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Net fraud gang recruits students

That's a new one. Internet fraudster don't rely anymore on their own alone but in a sign of continuous learning, start adjusting their tactics. Before, we had the gang that went phishing after those that signed up for online education.

Now, even more daring, "Australian criminals with links to Russian and Malaysian crime figures had set up a network to lure students into accessing money illegally transferred from other people's accounts."

"The syndicates use Trojan virus programs delivered by spam email or through links on advertising pop-ups, to get people's internet banking details, the newspaper said.

Money is than transferred out of their accounts and into the money mule's account, who then withdraws it in sums of less than $10,000 from different bank branches."

But again, why do people click on spam? Spam nowadays can relatively easy, and most of the time be recognised as spam. There are campaigns to educate people not to reveal their account details online to "mysteriously" looking e-mails. Still, people fall for it! And that is what has to be questioned - why do they still fall for it?

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Indian state to build faster net

It is the home of India's outsourcing firms and it wants to improve its communications infrastructure.

"The Indian State of Andhra Pradesh has given the green light to a big state broadband network costing US$90 million designed to transfer data between the state's capital and its 23 districts at a speed of 10Gbps."

This is a nice speed to have and is necessary to compete in such kind of business. But it is not yet comparable with the Korean plans to have a speed of 100 GBpS by 2010.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Six Apart to buy Livejournal?

May be the year starts off with something of a blog consolidation? There are many companies that enter the blog market - Microsoft's Spaces was one of the last, but others, such as Yahoo or so might follow - why not? It is one of the fastest growing segments in the market, competition is hot and everybody talks about it.

Six Apart runs Movable Type, and they have teamed up with Mediatemple already - a sign that they are on the move.

The question is, of course, what happens to the different audiences. Movable Type costs money - if you host the service, while Lifejournal is free.

Well, the year starts exciting, at least in the blogger sphere.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Bloggers, bloggers everywhere

Bloggers are continuosly in the news currently, for their reporting about the Tsunami, the assistance that they provide to victims - basically, it is the simple up-to-date mechanism and the ongoing interactivity, that pushes them into the spotlight.

Blog was the word of the year in 2004 but over the last week, more and more public interest was directed towards blogs by the media.

I mentioned Fortune Magazine's article just a couple of days ago. Now, more is coming out celebrating the blog phenomena.

ABC News says that Bloggers are the People of the Year. Naturally, they come in from the normal angle - talking about the blogger's role in the Tsunami and the shadow that blogging threw on the elections in the US.

And now, to top it all, reputable Pew Institue of the US sheds more light on the State of Bloggers and Blogging in 2004. You can download the report here. A fascinating write-up, worthwhile the time spend. It shows that the readership of blogs grows faster than the creation of blogs. What means that the so-called credibility issue is being solved - at least in the US, since blogs become a reliable source of information.

So when do you start your own blog?

(By Asia Business Consulting)

More tech companies spend

Yesterday, I wrote about a couble of companies donating to assist the Tsunami victims and cleanups.

Today, more companies join:

• The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has pledged US$3 million to the relief effort, while another $US3.5 million will come directly from Microsoft.
• Dell chairman Michael Dell has pledged US$3 million through the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation.
• Networking vendor Cisco and its employees have raised a total of US$2.5 million
• Software vendor Computer Associates has pledged US$200,000 in addition to matching employee donations two-for-one.
• Canadian networking vendor Nortel will donate US$700,000
• Symbol Technologies has agreed to donate US$150,000. Its Indian employees will donate a day's pay to relief efforts.
• Telstra has donated AUD$100,000 as said yesterday, as well as providing some credits on phone calls to the affected areas.
• Optus will provide a similar credit, and parent company Singapore Telecom has made a S$200,000 donation.
• India's largest software company, Infosys, announced that it would donate 50 million rupees to the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund.

These are companies that give back to society, so to speak, and it is great.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

In Penang, tech sector escapes tsunami

Companies in Penang have started to take an inventory of their operations and how much damage has been caused by the Tsunami waves. To their surprise, damages are little and many report that "facilities and operations have not been affected by the tsunami", as stated by Intel. In the vein, Dell has reported business as usual.


As such, the big brands report they have escaped damage from the tsunami, with work unaffected by the huge waves. Following the disaster(s) of recent years, companies like Gartner advise companies to develop risk management systems.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

The ugly side of the Tsunami - crime, rape and spammers

It was bound to happen and the sad piece is that it happens so soon, when the world is still in shock and tries to get on its feet to help.

May be that is actually the reason why it happens so early, but the first reports come in about groups that try to criminalise the Tsunami.

There are reports about rapes and orphan traficking emerging.

We have those who have the sick fun of people who send hoax e-mails that informed people their missing loved ones died in the Asian tsunamis. Here, an arrest has been made already.

Others put websites up asking for donations. A Red Cross spokesman said the site, www.incybernet.com, had asked for donations on the basis they were going to the worldwide charity organisation - however, the group is unknown to the Red Cross.

Than there are those the wants to phish for account numbers and personal details by asking for donations.

And there is the unsubstantiated claim of thieves looking for IDs on victim's decomposing bodies.

Sick, isn't it?

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Parents are funny people

Would you call your kid .com? Well, in China, someone tried it, with the argument that the sound of com resembles kang, which apparently means healthy and safe.

Back in February 2004, in another case, an American named his son version 2.0.

Parents can be funny - or simply weird?

(By Asia Business Consulting)

When Fortune speaks of Blogs

A nice write-up about the blogging phenomena. A worthwhile and an entertaining read, that also pokes fun at Microsoft's effort to get a respectable blogging space called "Spaces" up and running.

But I also like the way the article describes how the influence of corporations wanes in the face of blogs. "23,000 new weblogs are created every day—or about one every three seconds. Each blog adds to an inescapable trend fueled by the Internet: the democratization of power and opinion. Blogs are just the latest tool that makes it harder for corporations and other institutions to control and dictate their message."

The challenge of this is also recognised in the article. While corporate communications need to address the blogging trend, the how is the challenge. There are a lot of blogs that "involve kids talking about their dates, people posting pictures of their cats, or lefties raging about the right (and vice versa)." But every once in a while, such a blog fires a salvo at a corporation and might spark a wildfire.

Let's just say that the time to be in corporate corporation departments is becoming more interesting with each newly created blog.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Tech Industry's Tsunami Relief Efforts Pick Up

The article shows how more and more companies in the tech world start offering aid or support the victims of the devastation.

Examples mentioned in the article are:

- Hong Kong-based ForgetMeNot Software, offering free SMS services

- Amazon.com, offering a one-click-donation to the American Red Cross

- Enterprise mobility software company Symbol in India offers US$150,000

- Telstra, in Australia, would donate its phone service to non-government, amongst other initiatives

- Google, has invested its Web search services to aggregate the latest Google mainstream news coverage on the tsunami and a page with links to Web sites where people can make donations.

The article also provides links to bloggers reporting about the catastrophe.

(By Asia Business Consulting)