P2P users hit with lawsuits

Catch them while you can. Not waiting for an appeal against the recent ruling, the "US record industry has filed a new series of complaints against American users of peer-to-peer software from Kazaa, Grokster and LimeWire."

"Some 784 users were targeted in the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) complaints, for violation of copyright."

How far will they go to sue their own consumers, instead of providing better music, or update business models?

(By Asia Business Consulting)

World must adapt to China and India

The World Bank's regional regional communications manager for East Asia and the Pacific Region, Peter Stephens, stated something really good. He said that the world needs to get to terms with the emerging powers of India and China, and that trade restrictions and new tariffs, as pushed on the agenda by the US and the EU, won't bring much.

I fully agree and have said so earlier already.

It also doesn't make sense that countries and unions impose something that they ask others to dismantle earlier, but this is my opinion.

Mr. Stephens also gets my applause for saying that "Attempting to manage the world's fastest growing economy and the country with the world's biggest population is preposterous. It's delusional." His comments came "a day after the World Bank's director for China, David Dollar, said Beijing's exchange rate policy that keeps the yuan valued between 8.276 and 8.28 per dollar was a "legitimate choice" and not a manipulation of the yuan currency."

I only hope that the US and the EU is listening, listening very closely!

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) - on to further expansion

Whatever I think of this company, I have to admire them in the style they are driving their business. It is a lot about execution, and getting the deal done, that I see here. It is not about whining about missed chances.

Okay, they didn't win the entry into Pakistan's telecommunication sector which was eclipsed by United ArabEmirates' Etisalat. Who cares? While they lost that bid, they moved on and are on the edge to shake up Bangladesh's market. It is said that their entry is a sign of upcoming price wars. They want to win.

SingTel also want to play a bigger role in the Thailand market, as underlined by their bid to buy 25% of TOT Corp Plc as part of a possible strategic partnership.

Last year, they made the entry into the fast growing Indian market as they purchased a third of India's top listed mobile phone company, Bharti Tele-Ventures.

Besides those moves, they have stakes in Optus, 21.46 percent in Thailand's Advanced Info Service Plc., 44.63 percent of the Philippines' Globe Telecom Inc. and 35 percent of Indonesia's PT Telkomsel. They are also active in Malaysia.

Sure, all those acquisitions cost money and as such, it is no wonder that net profits fall by close to a third with underlying profit actually rising by 22 percent . Still their gets 7 percent pay rise and it is my opinion that he deserved it.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Copyright issues in Korea

Does this fall into the same category as my entry this morning about the Cease And Desist Order by Visa for a Malaysian Blogger?

However, in Korea a crackdown "on the unauthorized posting of celebrities’ pictures in cyberspace" will start next month and is being criticised by the normal folks online.

What will happen if this goes through? After a crackdown on music and movies, are we now going to lose pictures? Back to the old, old Internet when only text existed? It is Korea only, and may be it is just a funny idea - I don't believe that Korea is shooting themselves out of the online game with such an idea.

It is a tough shot, honestly, because how should this ban be enforced. But the attempt and the idea only send shivers down my spine.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

China's Internet

Despite increasing controls of the Internet in China it continues to attract further users - the country now has over 100 million Internet users. Of those over 30.1 millionusers have broadband Internet services. These numbers are important.

This all happens in a time, when China's government increased its control over the Internet and continues to do so - a thorough write up of this and the participation of US firms in the whole situation is found here.

The growth momentum has been tremendous. "China's mobile telecommunications industry has seen rapid growth since 1988, when the country's first mobile telephone system was put into operation. At that time, China had only 3,000 mobile phone users. The number has increased 60 million each year over the past three years and has exceeded 358 million thus far." The question is - when will there be so many users with so many connections to the outside world that controls don't make sense anymore?

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Cease & desist letter from Visa

There is this blog in Malaysia that runs under the domain Visa.com.my. It is a nice blog, clearly not malicous with the intend to harm the "real thing." Additionally, it appears as if the subsidiary of Visa in Malaysia "forgot" to renew their domain, and this was the time, when the originator of the blog picked it up.

Now the giant has awaken - the blog writer received a letter from Visa's lawyer. Here is what the blog writer writes about the letter:

The letter was sent "by a legal firm which represents Visa International Service Association of 900 Metro Center Boulevard, Foster City, California 94404, United States of America this morning. In the email, the representative has ordered me to give up the domain www.visa.com.my within 7 days. In the email, the representative said the use of visa in the domain name has infringed Visa International's trademark. Besides, there was once a Visa credit card related advertisement found in the Google Ads section of my website, which was indeed chosen automatically by Google Ads, also infringes Visa International's trademark."

I have not too much experience in the domain area, but it is clear that companies go after "their domains" and what they think is an infringement on their name.

It is good not to give up too early and check for the basis of Visa's claim.

There is help available online today - check Chilling Effects and a related article - and it is positive to note that there are cases where people didn't barge and, after making the claims public, could keep their domain names. As long as they didn't have a maliceous intend, you always have a chance. But it might be time- and cost intensive.

Any thoughts, comments or further assistance is greatly appreciated either here or at the blogger's webpage.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Korean Telecom Operators Offer Novel Services

A story worth telling. Many operators try to find applications for their 3G services but fail to get the right idea. May be they should travel to Korea to get some ideas.

How about a service that allows pet owners to communicate with their pets, for example? SK Telecom launched the ``1-millimeter service,’’ new-concept offerings that enable people to interact with their mobile phones.

So how now? Which service would you like to have or use?

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Miniature phones unveiled in Korea

Samsung has this nick of developing a lot of products and flooding the market with useful or may be even not so useful mobile phones - it is their obsession with we are the first titles, but so what! The essence would be that they just take the space in shelves and that buyers get the impression that they are all over - creating awareness and identification with market domination. It is a good strategy, if you can affort it.

There are a lot of features in theminiature phones that weigh 92 grams and are 8.76 centimeters long:

MP3 player, electronic dictionary, megapixel built-in camera, video recording, text-to-voice conversion function and mobile printing. Does all work well? Don't know. Is all required? This is up you.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Work the treadmill while working your computer

We all know how it is - we are sitting at the office desk and just pounce the keyboard. Hour after hour, day after day. Not very healthy, indeed.

Suddeny, we decide to join the gym, but how long will the will last? We work longer again, and the will to actually work out, well, it simply vanishes. Sounds familiar?

So why not marrying the two activities? Work-out while you work? Can't see how this works? Researchers have now tricked up a walking machine to support a keyboard and a computer screen. team has redesigned the desk to be used standing, as a regular chair, or with a treadmill or exercise bike. "All keyboarding, phoning and thinking are done in motion, and meetings are held either on a walking track or hitting a ball against a wall with hockey sticks."

Can you foresee how this works? How the dynamics in a meeting will go? May be the one who is fittest and has the stronges stamina will prevail. What do you think?

(By Asia Business Consulting)

TV pilot thrives on P2P and the case MGM against Grokster

Grokster against MGM - and Grokster lost. Is this significant? The music industry surely declared victory and will continue to sue the networks that are build in a way that supports file-sharing over the Internet.

I have talked over and over again, that it doesn't make sense to stick to an old business model, especially since users don't see it as that bad. Basically, the case makes it also clear to them that them that the industry does not necessarlily has the interest of the user at heart. A vote at CNet.com already shows that out of 4,057 online voters, 76.8% don't agree with the Supreme Court's decision in the Grokster case. While Internet voting has its disadvantages, this number also speaks loud and clear.

But while the industry is celebrating, it is interesting to see that yet another success story develops via file-sharing.

"A sacked TV pilot about a large number of people who stay in touch through an underground data network has popped up on ... well, an underground data network." And: "file eventually found its way into the BitTorrent network.

Over the last couple of weeks, enough people have downloaded and viewed the pilot online to give producers hope that TV executives might take a second look at the show."

As such, there is the decision of some people that reject a song, a show, a movie for whatever reason. They don't see the commercial potential for it.

But the Long Tail of the Internet shows that there is potential and success even for material that has been rejected earlier by just a few executives - up to the Grammy Award, since here the consumers decide and vote with their feet. The writer and executive producer of the show, Rogers, says "Now I have an extra 10,000 hits a week on my website, and I've got to figure out what to do here."

Will file-sharing go away? That is what the music industry hoped for when they pushed the early Napster out of business and levelled the way for Kazaa and similar.

Hilary Rosen , former Chairwoman and CEO of the RIAA, is also not so certain of the success anymore. She says the law suit and its outcome doesn't matter because : "now SEVERAL HUNDRED MILLION copies of this software that the entertainment industry would like to vanquish have been downloaded to individual computers around the world. They go by names like Grokser, Morpheus, Limewire, eDonkey, Bit Torrent, Kazaa, etc.) And each time, there is a successful enforcement or a new way to catch the developers with copyright liability, they reinvent themselves and generate another two or three year court proceeding. And now, a majority of them are hosted outside the United States." She also states that the suit doesn't help innovation that much - in fact, the success of file-sharing networks shows that they are simply doing better. She sees the problem n non-combatibility of the different legal services available - speak ITunes, Napster (the legal version), Rhapsody etc. and their music selection is simply too small.

All consumers want is music and they risk being exposed by spyware and adware, in order to get what they want.

So it is obvious that the problem doesn't go away. There is a day after tomorrow and consumers will find a service that serves their need. Something that the music industry, and the movie industry still need to learn. If they still have the time to do so. Because may be one day they wake up and there are no consumers anymore that want to be served by them.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Is Sony doing something right?

Sony promised to "narrow the focus of its research and development to promising areas such as next-generation video equipment, mobile phones and flat panel TVs" in an effort to gain new momentum.

A right thing to do - Best Employers focus on some things that are crucial to their operations and don't dilude their resources. And to focus is actually something that most of the time is pretty successful in this world - may be something positive by its new management.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

When China comes to America

Well, there are the stories or facts that China discovered America before Christopher Columbus.

May be it is a sign of times that China returns to the US with a great appetite for business. Acquisitions, so to speak and if anything, the recent thirst of China for acquisitions of US companies also starst to spark concerns. It might not have started with the Lenova aquisition but this move catapulted the country into the spotlight.

Now came the bid for Unocal, a California oil and gas company with extensive fields in Asia. I wrote about it before, but now it seems to be for real.

The bid is surely related to the growing hunger of China for resources. , but it also shows the ongoing weakness of the US. As the New York Times writes: "For months, many lawmakers in both parties have become almost frantic about China's soaring trade surplus and its impact on American manufacturers", and,further in the article "China is also a leading creditor of the United States; it acquired more than US$200 billion of Treasury securities over the last year.

Moreover, China is already home to a growing number of American-owned factories, many of them exporting to the United States, and a large number of factories that are suppliers to American companies."

China still keeps running, despite all its problems and challenges, and it opens up to the world, more than the world has expected.

The next deals are in the making already - "Chinese appliance maker Haier Group would not comment on its plans after competitor Maytag Corp. of Iowa said it was reviewing a $1.28 billion buyout offer from Haier and two U.S. private equity firms, Bain Capital and Blackstone Group."

And this means that all of us - countries, individuals, companies, need to shift their mental maps because, believe it or not, China is not going away.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Software piracy not seen as that bad

A study in the UK found out that, while consumers are aware of the scale of the problem (is it one) and the cost (really?), they don't really care about it and download the material from the web, mainly because it is free.

The music industry as usual, is upset, and says that current campaigns need to continue on the scale that campaigns against drink-driving and smoking have been conducted and ultimately succeeded.

I think that there is something deeper behind the behaviour of people that just isn't recognised. But before I continue, I want to still highlight the point as done so often in my blog, that the music industry digs its own grave - they still simply don't realise that their traditional business model is dead, gone, and over and new models emerged successfully.

In addition to this - there was the value change in societies, something that I came to realise only recently, really. We, and I include me, have grown up in a time that values price discounts, shopping and free downloads.

So it doesn't matter, if Microsoft launches Avalanche 1, 2 or 3, o if the music industry tries to bog down downloaders- if there is no change in the music industry's "behaviour", it won't simply happen.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Heavy news in Japan: Nuclear plants material leaked leaked on Internet

That seriously is heavy news. Japan, already besettled with challenges in their ambitions to develop nuclear energy, after a couple of radioactive fallouts over the last couple of years, is now again in the spotlight after confidential material leaked on the Internet.

The information leaked contained data on several nuclear plants appeared online, including photographs of their interiors, details of regular inspections and repair work and names of workers, thus material that can be easily misused. In total 44 megabytes of data containing information collected over the past several years was leaked.

The data leaked from a computer used by a contractor - a personal, not a corporate computer - imagine, imagine - and this computer was virus infected - nothing unusual here. The data is thought to have been leaked via the peer-to-peer file-sharing software called Winny.

This ones again shows that nuclear power stations might (or might not) be safe, but that it is the human factor that tends to fail and threaten the safety. Considering that this is happening in tech-savvy Japan doesn't help to erase my concerns.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Speeding up video compression

This would help to make a dream come true for many mobile phone operators across the globe in their quest to develop fast enough picture transfer, bascially movies or similar applications, for mobile phones or over the Internet. So far, this is often handicapped by slower speed. "Existing technologies are unable to transmit images at speeds high enough for mobile phones and other receivers to replay without the image breaking up or looking jerky."

An Australian company now claims to have developed the necessary technology "to compress video for fast and picture-perfect transmission over the internet, mobile and fixed-line phone networks."

Wouldn't this be lovely?

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Optus faces second porn suit

The first one was last year, and now a second one.

"Optus has become embroiled in a second lawsuit over its role in a secretive deal to host pornography on its computers and share in profits made from its sale over international telephone lines."

Makes me wonder how successful the blocking of porn is, if telecommunication providers play a role in it anyway. I still wonder if Singapore Telecommunication is or was aware of this.

Even so it is a different country and a different place altogether.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Fight over control of Internet in China

Those who read this blog regularly know that there are increasing attempts of the Chinese government to control the Internet. They hire more thousands more web police in addition to their existing 50,000 agents . To be cynical, it must be one of the fastest growing job segments in the country.

China also tries to get a grip on the many thousand bloggers that have established their own footsteps in the country, even so not always in the ways hoped for.

Chinese hackers now fight back. They have now have defaced the website of a police-run security company leading a new effort to strengthen government control over the Internet. The attack against the website of Beijing General Security Service came amid its drive to recruit a corps of mentioned 4,000 'Internet security guards' to monitor the online activities of people in Beijing.

It shows that it is difficult to control the Internet, even in countries that try hardest. Imagination is unstoppable in the face of resistance, isn't it?

What will be the next move of the government?

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Camera Phones disrupting Digital Cameras

It was a clear thing to come and it is just one more way to disrupt an industry, and to converge different sectors.

"Samsung, the world's third-largest handset maker, has proved it is a cut above competitors by first unveiling a ">5-megapixel camera phone and upgraded its own technology unveiling by 7-megapixel camera phone at CeBIT 2005 (launched earlier). LG is also in the game, according to the quoted article. And clearly, the moment camera phones develop better zooms, well, they become even more interesting than digital cameras.

So phones and cameras become one market, just like PDAs and phones became one market already.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Young users using computers

Strange title, but interesting study. It relates to the US - sorry, but it shows that even in the US.

The "majority of students use computers and the Internet.2 Overall, 91 percent used computers and 59 percent used the Internet. The use of these technologies begins at young ages; 67 percent of children in nursery school were computer users, as were 80 percent of those in kindergarten. About one-quarter (23 percent) of children in nursery school used the Internet, and about one-third (32 percent) of kindergarteners did so. By high school, nearly all students (97 percent) used computers, and a majority (80 percent) used the Internet."

However, as seen in an earlier trend, Japanese are already on the train to translate baby talk and I have already seen reports that use mobile phones as entertainment stations for babies. There is more to come, I bet, but, this is just another sign of a cultural value shift.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Delete those SMS messages

Oh man, what would I do if I could get this damn SMS back. I am drunk and I wrote this message and now, more sober than before, I want it back, regret sending it, would never do it again.

Sounds familiar?

Well, it is possible now with a technology developed by Samsung (it's really been a while since I wrote about Samsung).

But that was the good news. The bad news is that "if the recipient had read the message, panicky people cannot send a delete message and hope the recipient puts the message down to their imagination." Gotta live with that one.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Microsoft's Avalanche - so what?

Microsoft probably doesn't like copyright infringements, so everybody might ask for the reason behind the launch of Avalanche, their first attempt at file-sharing. Their tools is an improvement over BitTorrent, in that it breaks data into small, easily transferable packets to accelerate downloading, but includes details on all the other data in the file. Does make it better, right?

Will they now be the one sued by the music industry for the promotion of illegal activities?

No way - Microsoft's Avalanche is described as an alternative "that works well with users and copyright holders. The researchers noted that users will be unable to redistribute content without approval by the publisher."

So not too worry - they are staying inside the law. Will they sway those that freely distribute music over the Internet? I don't think so.

And why should it matter? Artists understand anyway that they can make a living on the web without the industry.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

The bad, bad Internet

I wrote a couple of times about addiction, new cultural developments and the change of values through technology.

Now comes another rebuke of a study in Korea that claims that "Korean students under the age of 20 are spending more leisure time alone in front of computers than with friends or family." It adds that of the interviewed "28,000 elementary, middle and high school students in Korea, nearly 40 percent of the respondents said they play computer games or browse the Internet in their free time. The survey result also indicates 33 percent of Korean students play with friends when not studying, while only 15 percent spend time with family members."

What the study says is that you can either spend time with your family OR on the computer. But not both - a mutually exclusive question and thus, absolute rubbish. The study does not recognise that it is possible to do socialising on the web, such as using
Skype, IM or be active in chat rooms or write emails. Is this not socialising, but socialising on a new or different level?

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Check to whom you link

Legality or illegality took on a new twist in Australia. How often do people actually think about the one they are linking to? Linking to someone shows that you find something interesting, not more and not less. Is it promotion for a site? May be.

Law enforcement became a bit (a bit?) excessive in Australia. They are already excessive. In Ossie land, one can’t legally back up music CDs, or even rip a CD that one paid for to convert it into an iPod compatible format.

Police has now charged someone who had link on his website to another website that allowed illegal music downloads. Links!! So take care, where you link to - they are coming after you.

Sometimes, law enforcement really goes crazy.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Losing customer data

It becomes more frequent. Companies where huge security breaches happen. 2005 is not a good year, so far. Here is a partial list of companies:

ChoicePoint, of course, Bank of America, Wachovia Bank, PNC Bank, Commerce Bancorp, Lexis-Nexis, and T-Mobile. Some are more obscure: Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, SAIC, Polo Ralph Lauren, DSW Shoes and innumberable of universities.

Now, the Masterpiece with MasterCard. MasterCard "has admitted that 40 million accounts have been exposed to fraud, which could be the biggest data security breach ever, and includes 13.9 million MasterCard-branded cards and 20 million Visa-branded cards."

What will come next? After billions of US-Dollar spent on security, it seems that the doors to databanks are still wide open. Do companies wonder why consumers are not trusting them? Or anything that comes toward them and asks them, the famous consumer, to open up some more? Of course, consumers shut the door. And don't even allow the "innocent cookie" onto their computer. Who wonders why?


(By Asia Business Consulting)

Registering prepaid phone users

In Malaysia, the government is playing with the idea to make it obligatory for prepaid phone users to register their telephone number and name. Sounds similar to a proposal put forward by Thailand, a couple of weeks ago.

I would normally reject such idea, since I see it very much as a privacy and an educational issue. To ask for registration would also mean higher costs for mobile phone companies, bureaucracy and hassle.

However, there is an emerging culture of bullying via mobile phones, threats via mobile phones and others. So may be, when users are not mature enough to use available communication tools reasonably, well, may be, there needs to be a regulation. While I am still objecting the idea as an intrusion into my privacy, well, many users would have to live with higher inconvenience due to a few immature beings.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Website for disabled launched in Malaysia

The Internet made it possible for disabled to reach out to others - they can participate in online discussions and form friendships via blogs, Instant Messenging and so on. I cannot imagine any better function for the Internet and I believe that it really helped to open worlds - Peter Tan mentioned a similar notion in The Star article.

Now, Persatuan Mobiliti Selangor dan Kuala Lumpur, an organisation providing door-to-door transport service for wheelchair users developed a webpage where disabled in Malaysia can now access a dedicated website that features suppliers of equipment, employment opportunities and benefit entitlements.

Keep going, this is great!

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Google's banking plans

Google's ambitions are high, no wonder, considering their current shareprice of close to US$300. I wonder if they are actually still the nice guys company with the slogan: "Do no evil". May be I am just romantic, but anyway, they are helping me a lot with my work with offerings such as Desktop Search, or their Google Toolbar..

Over the years they exist, Google's products have expanded dramatically. Under their wings is GMail, News, Froogle, and not to be forgotten, Blogger, and Picasa.

To expand, Google has to be more ambiteous than ever before and it might become more difficult - the easy fruits have been taken already and their income is still 99% online advertising, something that can easily be disrupted by clever competitors. "The move signals Google's intention to become much more deeply involved in online commerce, writes the New York Times.


Their newest plan appears to be a rival to PayPal, which would then heighten the competition to eBay. "Rumors about a new Google payment service escalated following a panel discussion at a Piper Jaffray Internet conference on Thursday, the newspaper said.

At the conference, Scot Wingo, chief executive of ChannelAdvisor, a Morrisville, N.C. e-commerce consulting firm, said he believed the payment service would be launched soon, according to the newspaper."

So the question is also when and how. Will it be a free service? Will it be successful? "Google's vast reach and reputation with consumers may well be able to promote its service. Google could, for example, place an icon on advertisements, or listings on Froogle, indicating that certain stores accepted its payment system. This could be enough to get merchants to take part."

This could be it. It certainly offers more choice, which is something positive, and would make online businesses more competitive.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Global Malaysians Network - problems ahead?

A self styled ethical hacker site found some major problems with the Global Malaysians Network, which allowed hackers to steal members’ personal details at will.

The article sounds a bit confused in writing style, so allow me to copy the whole thing here:

"According to The Hack In The Box site which requires a password, the Global Malaysians Directory Network is an attempt to get Malaysians to network with each other.

So in other words the hack will reveal personal details of countless Malaysians working throughout the world. According to HITB, due to bad programming practices and unchecked variables in the script there are several SQL injection vulnerabilities in the web application that powers the whole thing.

Apparently it was a doddle for an attacker to manipulate the input strings a malicious attacker could potentially compromise the security of the database server and disclose any content within the database including private and sensitive information of the GMN members.

The site contacted the Network and its owner, the rag The Star, on Sunday 12th June 2005 and was ignored. On Tuesday they decided to give them a ring and they got a reply from the Secretariat of the GMN that these things were "being looked into".

The unnamed Secretariat has also decreed that only those who sign in as members will be able to access the Directory. This sign-in will use a secure server with 128-bit SSL encryption."

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Yahoo searches Deep Web

This would be a major in the search engine wars. What is currently available online is estimated to be not more than about 10-20% of the real content. The rest of the web lies be the so-called Deep Web, sites, protected by passwords or those requiring subscriptions.

Yahoo now launched a beta of Yahoo Search Subscriptions - it will currently be launched only in the US and the UK. The caveat? Users still need to have access rights. This means, you still need to subscribe to the site - well, otherwise, companies like Lexis-Nexis would go out of business. The biggest advantage thus would be that you have one website to start with - Yahoo. And that you don't need to go to each site in order to log in to your subscription. Nevertheless, those without subscriptions are still stuck outside the Deep Web.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Preferring online news

More and more people prefer to read the news online. A study by Internet audience measurement company Nielsen/NetRatings "found that 21 percent of those Web users now primarily use online versions of newspapers, while 72 percent still read print editions."

This relates to US users, but what happened there can happen in Asia (or the rest of the world) as well. The authors relate this finding to the declining general trend for offline newspapers. U.S. newspaper circulation has been falling as audiences increasingly turn to the Internet for news--both on newspaper-run sites and through companies such as Yahoo and Google, which display news gathered from various sources.

Okay - I see the same trend as well. However, the methodology of the study has not been made clear in the article. It would have been nice to know the composition of the response group. If they consist of Internet users only and they were asked via the web, a certain bias cannot be denied. Nevertheless, I still stand to the point that there is a correlation between declining traditional media and the growth of online media.

It needs to be taken into account for in Asia as well. An article in the Malaysian New Straits Times today about blogging states that traditional media does not see a conflict between the emergence of blogs and traditional journalism. However, blogs provide more insight from a variety of different sources vis-a-vis the fact that there is only a limited number of newspapers available - at least in Malaysia. The prevalence of blogs and other online media allows the Internet users to develop an own opinion of sort.

So clearly, traditional media needs to find new business models, something, that this blogger asked for a couple of times already. Otherwise, if they are too late, well, history opens a new chapter for them, or closes the books. Online ads are growing already - so may be this is another sign on the wall for the media, if nothing else?

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Follow up on "Call your President"

Just about 3 days ago, I wrote that Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's mobile phone crashed from calls and around 15,000 SMS after he revealed it to the public in an effort to offer a direct communications channel to him for compaints about services in governmental departments.

His promise to rectify the situation has been fulfilled. No, it is not that they try to get better at serving the public with better services by the governmental servants - but he has set up a new hotline.

So, call 9949 (probably with the Indonesia and Jakarta precode) to reach him - and since the number correspondents with his birthday, also mark a personal greeting in your calendar.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Okay, its final - Google to show up in China

It was just an administrative question of time, but it has been finalised now. Google enters China.

After all the hassle with Microsoft this week, well, the discussion is also on about how much "bowing" to the Chinese government needed to be done to get this through. Microsoft announced their decision to enter China a few days after Google, so let's see, how the next week looks like with regard to news from Google.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Seagates creates high-tech jobs

That is how life goes. One relocates their manufacturing jobs to China, while another company, Seagate, is able to produce 1,500 people with high-tech skills in Singapore.

However, in the same sentence, and probably similar to the mentioned Maxtor, Seagate will still continue to move low-cost jobs to China.

Upgrade your skills - this is, once again, the call for the day!

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Say good-bye to bulky speakers - welcome paper-thin speakers

Just for those who are really interested in getting rid of their bulky speakers at home. Apparently, a South Korean venture startup, called Plasma and Ion Beam Corp., recently succeeded in developing a technology to churn out the plastic film speakers after four years of research.

The firm still faces some challenges with the technology. "speakers still have difficulty reproducing sound frequencies lower than 50 hertz, sounds such as that of a huge drum, but its sounds are virtually the same as those produced by conventional speakers for frequencies above 300 hertz."

Time to change the speakers? May be not just yet.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Short stories presented on mobile phones

If it is possible, it is possible in Asia. First, we had a novel that was publicised via SMS, before it made it onto television.

Now it is the turn to produce a short story series for the upcoming 3G series.

Mediacorp, "a Singapore television station will air a drama series on third-generation mobile phones this month in what will be a first for Asia." The novel will also be distributed in other parts of Asia, including China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Malaysia.

Companies engaged in 3G are looking for success in this area, have heavy licensing and partially installation costs. I am still not that sure that mobile TV is a success.

I believe that people want to communicate with each other in the first place - this includes SMS. May be looking at a tiny screen is something to entertain while sitting at the doctor's place (can do?) or travelling in the LRT. But a constant exposure? I am not very certain about this. Even in tech-creazed Korea, sales of related handset are below expectations, mainly due to the price (which will drop over time). Anyway, I am curious to see the development.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

The dark side of capitalism: Selling charity items

Bob Geldof is upset that tickets for the Live 8 concert have been auctioned of through eBay. The concert was organized to highlight poverty in Africa, and the tickets are free.

More than 100 pairs of tickets, however, began appearing earlier Tuesday on the eBay auction site at high prices. Some attracted bids of up to US$1,800, prompting Geldof to call for a boycott of eBay.

He is quoted as saying that "the people who are selling these tickets on Web sites are miserable wretches who are capitalizing on people's misery."

In response, Geldorf asked bidders to pose impossibly high bids - in the range of millions of dollars. Some did follow suit, and well, eBay suspended their account under the presumption that they disrupted the orderly conduct of the side.

Whatever it is, they also took down the auction.

I am a bit split in my opinion. On the one hand, it is not the nicest gesture to auction of something that is meant to be charity. On the other side, well, couldn't it be that those sellers are just very business minded? Wouldn't it be possible as well that they donate part of their income to a charity? What about those who would really like to see the concert and took the chance to bid for the tickets? What, as well, would have happened, if eBay let the "counter-bid" happen, and those who bid for it would have been asked to pay up? Why didn't Geldof bid by himself, but in turn, asked others to bid for him in protest?

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Blocking porn

The cabinet in Malaysia wants mobile phone operators and Internet providers to install software to block porn from being accessible.

While it might seem like a good idea, it does not necessarily make much sense since it is nearly impossible to block porn. There are always ways around it - just ask spammers on how to get around firewalls or Microsoft, why they still have holes in their software security. May be the comparison is not that valid, but I hope it makes the point clear.

May be, what is needed, is better education - much above what is currently needed. To make porn a hush, hush affair raises curiosity. What is forbidden is tempting. To make sex a little less exciting and a secret by really, really explaining to children (and it starts here) is one way forward. Children are exposed to erotica and sex anyway - from the day they are born - and they talk about it openly and innocently. What do you prefer, hoenstly: Do you want them to learn "wrong things" from their friends with whom they talk, or do you want them to be knowledgeable about what is all around them anyway, in one way or another?

Only when a discussion, such as the one about this Singaporean blogger who exposed herself a bit on her blog won't raise much attention can we say that the goal of an open-minded society has been achieved. And by open-minded, I don't mean promiscuity, or sex that is all around us. By open-mindedness, I mean tolerance and the ability to talk about issues that so far are kicked under the table.

So do we need software to block porn? No, I don't think so. Where there is a will, there is a way anyway. One way or another, those that want to access porn, will find it.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Ericsson, Napster launch music service

Notwithstanding the fact that there are too many companies offering downloads of music for a fee (think Apple, Yahoo, Wal-Mart etc.) Napster (another one of those) now teams up with Ericcson to offer digital music service for mobile operators.

Nice for those who like it. The major question is, naturally, compatibility with other services and most likely, this download service will not work with other companies, only on specific MP3 players. This is the major hurdle and as long as this hasn't been solved, well, people will still download "illegally" from file-sharing companies.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Rating violence and revealing online identities

In Korea, the government plans to rate violent "video clips which are circulated over the Internet and cell phones as part of government efforts to crack down on violence." How they are planning to do this, I don't know.

The government sees this as a plan to Tgo against four types of violence, namely school gang violence, organized crime, online privacy infringement and libel. Honestly, I don't see too much relation to the rating scheme as well. I mean, there are cases where bullying is filmed with video cams and then, the video is circulated over the web or amongst friends, but how to rate it? Moreover, aren't there other laws that catch those activities? And those that film violent movies, well, okay, may be a rating is possible but then, how to catch the bad guys if they don't want to be rated? How about movies that are distributed and originate from overseas?

Another joke (sorry, but this sounds like a joke to me) is the attempt that in order to "to tackle online privacy infringement, the government is also considering making Internet users disclose their real names." Right !

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Call your president

We had leaders before that reached out to their population, when Chinese minister Li Zhaoxing, sat down for a remarkably candid online chat with Chinese Internet users.

President Susilo from Indonesia tried something else, but more unsuccessful. He provided his mobile phone number to "his people" and asked them to complain to him directly if something is amiss with governmental services. Apparently, a lot goes wrong in his government, since so many people complained, that the line jammed and is no longer usable. A promise has been made to install more lines. What about improving the service in governmental departments?

(By Asia Business Consulting)

China's blogs must register

Technically speaking, this even happened before my last entry about China's effort to tighten the control over the Internet. Wil from Blackjournal made me aware of this, and thus, I post about it, nevertheless.

Apparently, the Chinese authorities demanded already on June 10 that bloggers registered in China have to register their blogs or "or face criminal sanctions, and according to the ministry of information a web-based crawler program will monitor all weblogs within China and report unregistered sites".
This clearly can be seen as reaction to the recent upsurge in protests that used e-mail, SMS, chat rooms, or blogs to spread the news and organise.

Question is: Is this the safer Internet they set out to create? Then, well, thank you very much! Not sure if I would want this.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Hong Kong: Sometimes in the future, we gonna stop spam

Spam is an issue and Hong Kong wants to move against is. Sometimes in the future, or, to be somewhat specific, more towards the end of 2006. But only against the kind of automated spam. Not the one that has to be done via "hand", such as telemarketing, where a real person call you. This regulation will not interfere with business - business as usual is still the call of the day. This is the only thing really specific about their plans.

However, they still want to involve the public and that government plans to work with fixed-line and mobile operators to create a code of practice for telemarketing.

Are they unspecific, somehow, somewhat? You bet!

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Asia's mobile market: Growing or not?

This is really the interesting part of market research when one is able to compare numbers from different companies about the same issue or topic and those numbers contradict each other. It is even more interesting, when the contradicting news comes from the same company.

IDC says that "Asia's mobile industry is the fastest growing subscriber market in the world. "The momentum has been strong, up close to 26 percent. And mainly it has been due to India, which has a very fast-growing market last year," said Ms. Wong. "The subscribers there doubled to 48 million. But at the same time China, the Philippines and Thailand were very significant contributors to that growth."

Ms. Wong says that if trends continue, the Asian subscriber numbers could exceed nine hundred million by 2009, nearly double the number of subscribers in 2004."

Great - but wasn't it just a couple of weeks ago that they said that the mobile market is expected to slow down?

This is the thing with market research that interviews people, companies or retailers. Responding on the spot, many respondents don't actually respond the way they will then act when confronted with the real situation. Sure, I can say I am going to buy a phone in 6 months time, but if I do it or not doesn't bother me in the end - I might or might not buy one in 6 months. By then, the research company has moved on already. Okay - I admit, there are ways to rectify this but I am not going to discuss this here and now. I just look forward to the next set of numbers in another months or two.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

50,000 agents are not enough to control: Internet censorship tightened in China

So it is true. Microsoft joins Yahoo and Google in censoring their webpage. Apparently, 50,000 agents scouting Chinese websites and chatrooms are not enough for the Chinese government - they need to have the individual companies committed to exclude words, such as democracy or Taiwan independence from their search engines. Well, apparently, it is not enough to also have agents send SMS to those that appear to protest against something, anything.

I wrote earlier about the real extend of China's web control, but this appears to get worse. Is it time for another Internet villain award for the country?

(By Asia Business Consulting)

BenQ to acquire Siemens handset division

It has been in the news in the beginning of this year and it became confirmed last week – Siemens is selling its handset division – not to Ningbo Bird China but to Taiwanese handset maker.

The handset division of Siemens is struggling – the have lost a couple of good development opportunities over the past year or so, and thus missed great business. BenQ, the leading handset maker in Taiwan, on the other hand, sees this as a chance to enter big, global business – may be they see the Lenova/ IBM PC deal as their benchmark. The major difference is that IBM had something more to offer to Lenova – while Siemens is rapidly losing market share in the handset business, and BenQ is also not much of a household name outside of Taiwan, IBM had a great name and a better reputation.

(By Asia Business Consulting)