eDonkey takes over

I said it before - once the Music Industry would clamp down on any of those "nasty" download and filesharing programmes, others would come up and flourish.

After Grokster lost the lawsuit, eDonkey came into the game, stronger than before - and it is easy to predict that new services will emerge. We had the same case before, with Napster. It seems, that some companies like to repeat mistakes. If they do, they also have to live with their own results created by a lack of understanding.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Kids are beating tracking system

I mentioned it before, and here we have it from the mouth of the involved. A mother wanted to keep track of her kids and with a new service, she was able to just do this, since she received a text message, once her kids left school.

However, the kids didn't like it and one boy is quoted as saying: "Nobody wants their parents to know where they are at all times."

So basically, they will try to get around it. Tricks mentioned are to leave the cellphone at a friend's house so your parents think you are there; turn off the phone and tell your parents the batteries are dead.

So much for supervision and a false sense of supervision for the parents. Technology still can't beat communication and a great level of trust between parents and children.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Ringtones are patented

I am not sure how fond you are of ringtones, and if it is a great money generator for companies, or brings happiness to users and those that are exposed to your taste of music.

I am also not that fond of patents - there are too many patents that just don't make sense - and this is one.

A guy now "claimed in his lawsuit that he was the onwer of a registered patent in Israel, the United States, and Europe for recording and storing new tunes on cellular devices, and then playing them as ringtones."

So now, Siemens has paid one person an undisclosed amount of money to settle the lawsuit against them (must be from historical events, because, remember, their handset division was sold to BenQ).

So I guess that this patent is worth its money for that guy, but its overall worth is doubtful.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

We're in the army now

"Sydney: Recruiting officers in the short-staffed Australian Defence Force would bombard young people with cellphone text messages to try to get them to sign up. The force has 5 200 members but is losing the battle to recruit and keep staff."

In times, when people are annoyed with advertising, increasingly upset to get spam via their mobile phones, do they really wonder that this is the way to go? Mass-SMSing? Wouldn't it be better to make your service more attractive? To fully understand what drives young people to join the army? And the, finally, tailor-made a program to attract those to the army? Instead of annoying the rest of us?

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Internet Shopping in India

A new study has been published about Internet shopping in India. The study was conducted online, and could exposes it to some methodological issues, however.

Apparently, Indians like to shop online - "It turns out 40 per cent of urban net users are also on-line buyers. From these, nearly 4.2 million users qualify as consistent on-line shoppers. As little as 5 per cent of net consumers, contribute to as much as 42 per cent of the total sales on the net." This is fine, and promises a lot. I wonder why the author of the article wonders that females have such a small share in the online shopping world of India. They are writing that "not only do women constitute a meagre 15 per cent of the net users in India, but an even smaller percentage buys on-line."

This is the country, where you find large urban/ rural disparities, and huge disparities in gender issues. Where females are very disadvantaged. Is it then a wonder that you cannot find them online?

(By Asia Business Consulting)

The Idols in China

China has its own version of an Idol - following those countries that already followed the US with their American Idol show.

The main point of the show is to let the audience vote for their favourite singer and the one voted the least is out of the race. It is the writing of modern music industry and one way to get over one primary issue - the development of talents through traditional ways - which is much, much slower and frequently fails. Here, with the Idol movements, the music industry has its instant stars, the television industry its growing audience glued to the TV screen, the communications industry its ever growing SMS numbers (because voting goes via SMS), and the family an ever happy evening event. Where else is it nowdays possible to get young and old together and join the fun and the voting? Usually, the "youngster" want to be away from the older ones.

Anyway, it was clear that the show won't take off too long in China, not after their recent increase censorship and clamp-down on television, blogs, and other popular outlets.

the show in China was dubbed Super Girl. "For weeks before the final, fans crowded shopping centres across the country, carrying posters of their favourite contestants in an attempt to rally votes for them.

About eight million, mostly younger, Chinese sent 'text messages of support' for one of the three Super Girl finalists, each costing about 7 cents. And the eventual winner, Ms Li Yuchun (right), a music student who got 3.5 million votes, became the talk of China's chatrooms on the Internet."

Now, it was getting too demogratic for China and "The Times reported sources saying that Chinese censors were concerned that the democratic methods used to select the winner from 120,000 entrants could stir trouble."

Well, so they don't have the show anymore - I am not commenting for or against the show - my points are made in the entry to this entry. But it is clear that there are always ways around rules and regulations.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Gadgets - no more. But what about Asia?

We have handphones, we have handphones with cameras, we have PDAs, then, we have the Playstation, an MP3 Player, than we have a great surround system .... What else is needed?

Well, it is this "What else is needed" that worries the gadget or the electronics industry.

"Despite a forecast for US$125.7 billion in device sales this year by the Consumer Electronics Industry Association--that's up 11 percent from 2004-–brisk growth is unlikely to continue over the next 18 months."

This is the status in the US. In Asia, we have tech-crazy countries, such as Korea and the question is, will it cool off as well? And what about those Chinese and Indians that enter the middle class for the first time and are keen in buying gadgets? I guess, there is a lot of space for electronics industry in Asia, but in order to get this moving, expect a lot of ads and promotions.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Children and the mobile phone

I like the sentence that Ed Zander, the CEO of Motorola said: "Mobile phones today are more like television when I was a kid."

I still remember when my parents bought their first TV set and how amazed I was as a kid to sit and watch. Now, for kids, this is the same with a mobile phone, and it becomes more and more a part of their culture and upbringing.

Probably, this is also the reason why Motorola linked up with Apple to offer their iTunes on their phone.

However, what is not quite clear is the relation between the first sentence that I wrote and the new function that Motorola wants to include in their phone - namely a function to inform parents of their children's whereabouts and carry censorship software. Well, firstly, the child can still disappear, leaving the phone behind, and mavericks that kids are, they might just find a way around the software anyway.

Anyway, it goes into the direction of having more control over your kids, and to know where they are. I still believe in communication between parents and children, as the basic tool for understanding each other that then might make such supervisory tool unnecessary.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Entertainment and publishers going for co-creation

What is co-creation? Co-creation is when a company that produces a services or a product involves customers to get their feedback and incorporate their ideas into their offerings. It is the way to go, because it is involvement, creates loyalty and engagement from consumers.

"HarperCollins is testing the first program with Meg Cabot, author of The PrincessDiaries series, All American Girl, Teen Idol, the just-released Ready or Not and the upcoming Avalon High. The teen girl audience was chosen to test the program because cell phones are considered their main source of communication. Ads promoting the mobile club are running on teen sites such as thewb.com and begin this week at seventeen.com, cosmogirl.com and ellegirl.com.

Teens who sign up at megcabot.com receive recorded cell phone messages from Cabot and up to two text messages a week. The venture is part of a growing use of mobile technology in the entertainment industry."

"We believe that the mobile club will increase the exposure of the various series across Meg Cabot's entire fan base and promote upcoming titles," says HarperCollins."

"Random House might have been the first publisher to use cell phone marketing earlier this year while promoting Girls in Pants, the third book in Ann Brashares' The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series.

Linda Leonard of Random House says 8,000 fans signed up for the mobile campaign. She says monthly traffic to sisterhoodcentral.com is up 700% so far in 2005 compared with 2004, and she estimates that the site had about 80,000 hits a month around the time The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants movie came out in June, though she admits the film likely played a part."

Good move. So don't worry if your kids look busy and type like... whatever. They might be involved in the publishing business.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Where do you stand, now, that China rises

China is unstoppable and India is not very far behind. On the other hand, resources to invest are not necessarily unlimited and companies must make a choice where to put their money.

So the question is - how do you make your country attractive? What is happening to those countries in in the former Soviet Republic, not to forget Bangladesh, Pakistan, or even places like Singapore, or Malaysia? It is not easy to be small and it won't get easier, if you don't have anything that is special.

This is an article that highlights the growing importance of China. The heading is a bit misleading, since the article really talks in detail about China.

Its objective is to gauge the extend of China's influence: "China’s growing presence in South Asia is riding on its accelerated economic and strategic influence in the region. This article gauges the interplay between economic, particularly resource factors, and strategic factors in China's advance in the region and its relations with South Asian nations."

It provides a great background review and, while lengthy, is worthwhile a read.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

A different type of cinema

The movie business is under threat. Home theater systems, DVDs - pirated or real ones, now movies that can be played over an enabled mobile phone - so what to do?

Some Chinese theatres had figured it out earlier, and now, the US is following in a similar strategy.

Hamid Hashemi, the president of Muvico megaplexes, has figured it out. He says that ""So what makes someone pass up one location and go to another one? It's how you package the experience."

Gotta love tha, even so, this counts for the smaller players in the market, while the bigger ones say that their patrons basically want to see the movie together with a Coke and Popcorn.

The smaller movie theaters feature full bars and allow customers to take their drinks, even alcohol, if you are above 21 years of age, to their seats. They offer other amenities like a reading room, a concierge desk to help with post-movie dinner reservations and taxis, and live entertainment in the lobby. Some also have video arcades.

" Muvico may be the most ambitious of them all. Muvico theaters are huge and, melding the throwback idea of the glamorous movie palace to the contemporary fixation on theme parks, all designed according to grandiose themes; the 1950's, for example, or ancient Egypt. Between 50,000 and 60,000 moviegoers a week pass through the 4,600-seat Paradise 24, visible from I-75 in Davie, Fla., which was constructed to look like an ancient Egyptian temple, columns and decorative hieroglyphics included. The Palace is a homage to the faux-Mediterranean designs of the architect Addison Mizner, who more or less built Boca Raton."

Interesting experiences, great ones, since we live in the age of customer experience.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Flexible with a mobile phone

How do mobile phones affect our lifes? What is changing in our behaviour, and how we interact with each other, just because we are having a mobile phone. In this sense, is the way we are behaving with a mobile phone because of the mobile phone, a general cultural values shift or just an indicator that life is getting faster and faster, in part propelled by technology? Or is it that it is easy to point at mobile phones as the culprit, while actually, it is a sign of deeper shifts?

I don't know.

But a new study by Intels reports that "nearly one in five people admitted to being unreliable about timekeeping because they had the "safety net" of a mobile. Three quarters said mobiles had made them more "flexible" when meeting friends - allowing them to arrange or cancel social gatherings at the last minute."

Okay - so I can cancel in the last minute - but how flexible is that? How annoying for those at the receiving end?

"Seventy-five per cent of people said they were more "spontaneous" with their social lives thanks to mobiles and a similar number said they knew far more about what was going on in their friends' lives because of e-mails and text messages." Because we SMS more often with each other? Because we can call someone when we are waiting somewhere, something that I like to do? Interesting study, but again, the "Why" of something and the interpretation of the result leaves a lot to ask.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

The Chinese Internet bubble

Back in 2000, everybody, and I mean everybody, jumped onto the investment wagon in the US, trying to get hold onto one of those internet companies, that went public. The dream of Internet riches pervaded through the world - until it crashed.

Did it really crash? Every now and than, there is this outburst of enthusiasm for a new company that goes gang-ho. Google and its rise on Nasdaq is the best example. Actually, the bubble might have shifted - to China.

The Internet growth in China is phenomenal, and Yahoo's recent investment into Alibaba is just another indicator of the current state - and please don't forget earlier investments that took place. Who would be next in such investment rush? Will it be Google? Or Microsoft? Or someone totally different?

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Telekom Malaysia To Buy Into Singapore's M1

Interesting headline that Telekom Malaysia actually moves into Singapore, following their purchase of a minority share in Mobile One. Mobile One is a hip company, that frequently challenges the incumbent. Culturally, I don't see the fit to Telekom Malaysia, despite the fact that TM really tries hard to become different.

There is also not much of a gain for Telekom Malaysia, since they only acquire a minority share. However, it is a start and it is way overdue for them to move, since they lack Singapore Telecommunications quite a bit. But recently, they seem to wake up, and this deal follows its acquisition of a 27.3% stake in Indonesia's Excelcomindo and it also owns Sri Lanka's Dialog Telekom Ltd, the south Asian country's No. 1 mobile phone company.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Virtual band goes on cyberhighway

This is fun to know. Gorrilaz, "the virtual hip-hop band of rock and rap musicians fronted by 2D characters, will hit the road — or information superhighway, anyway — for a one-day online event."

Hello music industry - can you hear us. This is the beginning of the end of the music industry as we know it. Dinorsaurs, as they are, they still don't see the shift in their business model, sue and sue, until it probably is too late - remember the grammy award after websales only?.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

No scientific link between games and violence

Can video games make players violent?

It is always easy to play on the link and blame everything technology on changing behaviours, murders and whatever.

Sure, new technology is influencing the way we behave, it is altering our purchasing and decision-making processes. But this is a long way from saying that playing games, using technology is making users more violent. More breakdowns in the value system of an individual are needed before someone actually murders someone or simply becomes a bad person.

This is also exactly what a new study proclaims that there is no link between games and violence, even so longer term studies are needed. "According to the study, which looked at players who devoted an average of 56 hours over a month to the online game "Asheron's Call 2," there was no statistical difference in behavior between those who had played the game and those who didn't."

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Ring, ring - and let it ring

Mobile phones are part of our lifestyle, so much so that they compete with fashion items nowadays.

But it is clear that their prevalence changes our communication patterns, and there was the feeling that this could change to the worse. Think about your hair dresser. Before mobile phones came along, you actually talked to the hair dresser - she was something like a brain dump, like an advisor, marriage counsellor, anything. Nowadays, conversations like this don't happen that often anymore. Frequently, the one who gets the hair done, hangs on the phone.

The article describes the situation in restaurants, where you sit with your friend and enjoy a discussion or conversation. "Worse, if I'm having an in-person conversation with you, and you receive a call and smile me off while you talk on the phone, what am I, chopped liver?

And worse than that, if I'm having an in-person conversation with you, and I receive a call on my cell phone, and it distracts me from our conversation, I may lose even more — the crucial point I was just about to convey to you."

Actually, not much has changed. When fixed lines were still the thing to have, a caller had the chance to interrupt diner, television, or whatever was on in the family. However, it was possible to ignore the phone and just get on with your life.

When the mobile phone came along, people started to pick up the phone the moment it rang, or a text message came in. This is what we thought is happening. It seems that the old habits remain, nevertheless.

The article at hand shows that we are entitled to ignore the ringing of the mobile phone. The author says that "among people in their teens and 20s who use cell phones, that this is already coming to be. While not completely comfortable ignoring a ringing cell phone, kids seem much less concerned about offending an unwanted caller by not answering than do older adults. This is likely because, for someone born into the cell phone age, calls are as commonplace as talk and thoughts."

So, now, I lost my train of thought since my phone just rang. Thus, let me just hang up on this entry and get on with my work!

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Real language usage to inquire about movies

We all know how this goes in the normal, tech-savvy, customer-unfriendly, corporate world.

If you want to inquire about a product or a service, you need to press a number here, followed by another number, and so on. Frequently, your call might just be dropped along the way or, you still need to press the "0" to talk to a real life operator. Basically, the established systems are unfriendly and what is mostly needed is an easy way to get your message across with a satisfying response.

An Australian cinema chain is just trying this with a customer friendly SMS . What the user is doing is simply sending an inquiry in simple English. Following this, they can "receive the latest information on movie releases, session times and cinema information."

Service is easy, isn't it? The applications are also expandable. "The same technology can be easily deployed to book movie tickets, take pizza orders, make payments and take call-centre enquiries."

This makes sense, doesn't it?

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Ethiopia to invest 10% of GDP on broadband

The amount that Ethopia plans to spend on broadband development is probably peanuts compared to countries in Europe, the US or some in Asia.

Its GDP in 2003 reached US$6.3 billion and of this, it plans to spent 10%. Ethopia is one of the poorest countries in the world but it hopes that this investment will help it to propel the country into a better future.

The reason for this thinking is easy to see: "The aim is to use the technology to overcome some of the geographical disadvantages faced by this vast country. The remoter regions are beyond the reach of existing road and telephone networks, and connecting every village with Tarmac and copper wires would cost far more than the high-tech alternative."

And, if you look at countries, such as India, which were able to transform the local landscape with the Simputer, it is even clearer to understand, why Ethopia embarks on this road.

Moreover - it has not much to lose, and everything to win. It is a worthwhile undertaking.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Malaysia gets tough on mobiles

This has been reported yesterday, but allow me to still add some comments to it.

Malaysia, just like other countries, starts to register pre-paid users of mobile phones - other countries also push for the registration or usage of names in other electronic tools, while Japan actually planned to ban prepaid phones a while ago. The main reason here is that during election campaigns, but also at other times, SMS begin to circulate spreading unfounded rumours - the article mentions unsubstantiated SMS warning of a new Tsunami.

Communications minister Lim Keng Yaik however, plays the world's favourite card: "It's getting very dangerous. Prepaid cards pose a security threat because nowadays terrorists are using cell phones to detonate bombs."

Is spreading fear the way to go in order to get unruly users to get more ruly? If it relates to bombs and terrorism, there are different ways, even better ways. A package, a car, suicide bombers and so on are much more effective. A cell phone, especially one not totall destroyed, only leaves traces to the so-called Mastermind.

All in all, it is also a nuisance. How often do visitors - businesses or tourists - use a prepaid to contact their friends, colleagues, family? How would they handle the fact that they need to provide intimate details about their background? Especially, since they might have to wait to get the prepaid phonecard, while they might need the card urgently? Who is constantly carrying their passport around? The article also mentions foreign workers, for which the registration might be an additional hassle, especially since a registration might increase the price of prepaid phonecards. What happens to the data collected - I submit my passport details to the retailer, who passes it on to... whom?

Just some simple questions!

(By Asia Business Consulting)

7-11 goes e-savvy

All 3,000 7-11 in Thailand, the convenience store chain, goes e-savvy in Thailand. Here, customers will soon get an "electronic purse" incorporated into their ATM, credit or debit cards, as reported by The Nation (August 14, 2005 - no link available).

Time spent by the customer inside the store will be reduced since they only need to wave the card before an electronic reader, while the store itself would be able to reduce the amount of small changes in the store.

7-11 as a shop is an amazing personal tracker already. Anytime, someone buys something in the store, the cashier is suppose to quickly estimate the demographics of the person in conjunction with the purchase - this allows the company to track the purchase behaviour, estimate the turnover of products and finetune their promotions. With the e-store, this has just become cleverer.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

There is always a way to flirt

Saudi Arabia is the country where people, who take pictures with their camera phones during a wedding are beaten up, and police tries to segregate genders from contacting each others.

But where there is a will there is a way - and Bluetooth makes it possible. While restaurants are build in a way to separate the genders, men and women flirt and exchange phone numbers, photos and kisses. And they even have fun doing it. A girl named Mona says that "It's more fun coming to a restaurant these days."

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Dell to rock Asia

It's a simple statement, but has a lot of implication for a lot of companies. "Dell has plans up its sleeve to almost double its Asia-Pacific sales from 11 percent to 20 percent, in line with its global share." Growth is driven by servers, storage, services, printers and television are the categories that will drive most of the growth in the APAC market.

This is a warning signal to all those companies in these markets that Dell is serious. It is a stretch goal, that this extremely efficient company embarks on.

It also means, however, that they need to buckle up their customer service - I recently read a lot of blogs that described a general feeling of dissatisfaction with Dell.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Internet replaces parent's advice

Apparently, most people turn to the Internet for information, but many also give up quickly, if they don't find what they want or need.

As a result, parents or fathers are no longer the gurus of knowledge. Traditional roles change and the "kids" check the internet for the information they need. A nice addition for the parents, so to speak, since it makes their life easier as well. All those difficult questions. So next time, your father doesn't know the anser, he might just say - "don't ask me", google it. And on the way, they become smarter.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Yahoo's record investment into China

As a sign of times, Yahoo reports that it wants to purchase an approximately 35% stake in China's biggest homegrown e-commerce company Alibaba.com for almost US$1 billion, in what would be the biggest investment by a foreign company in China's Internet industry to date. This investment clearly underlines the tremendous potential that China has for e-commerce companies, but also hightlights the competitive forces at play.

Alibaba operates two online business sites--Taobao.com, an online auction site, and Alibaba.com, an online trading site.

"An agreement between Yahoo! and Alibaba would be a setback for eBay, which has been expanding its investments in China's online auction business and had been seen as interested in partnering with Alibaba."

(By Asia Business Consulting)

The Chinese blogging world

Technorati last week said that there is a new blog born every second of the day. This affects blogs in China, of course, and the growth there is just as fantastic. Currently, there are about 14.2 million blogs - an enourmeous number but considering the fact that there are many more Internet users, the potential is huge, considering that there are 100 million Internet users (even so not all will start blogging, of course).

Anyway, companies are interested to cash in - with Yahoo, Google and Microsoft in the game, but don't forget the local guys, such as Bokee, formerly BlogChina.

All this happens besides the increasing Chinese censorship that now reaches out to television - and this seems to be like two different worlds that move apart from each other. The old guard, trying to keep control and the new emerging class, which just uses, what is available, to connect to the outside world, or share their inside world.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

No more privacy in today's world

All across the world, privacy is being invaded, frequently under the presumption that it helps to prevent the planning of terror attacks. Might be true or not, but then, there is not much privacy in the age of the Internet anyway.

However, governmental agencies collect data and unfortunately, every now and then, something leaks.

Malaysia, on the other hand, takes another approach with privacy, a more entrepreneurial, so to speak (pun intented). Here, "salesmen, property agents, insurance agents and telemarketers can obtain your confidential particulars from master lists of clients held by companies." Price - dependent on the number of contacts, between US$55 and US$150.

A desparate act, because otherwise, they will have to face the challenge to obtain telephone numbers? Could I call this imaginative?

According to the article, they appear to be pushy. Someone buying an apartment "had been getting several calls daily from property agents saying that they could sell his house for a good price." "A woman executive said she often received calls from banks and hotels promoting insurance and vacation packages."

What I wonder is: Do those callers receive any training? Do they actually believe that they can make it to a sale through this? I am not sure about this, but I wouldn't place a bet on it.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

News Corp wants Skype - and what is their intention?

Skype is on the roll. Not in terms of revenues - those are minimal, but do we need those when we are heavily blowing up the bubble balloon?

Last week, I wrote that Google might be interested in Skype. However, this was, may be, thinking into the wrong direction, but it transpires now that Rupert Murdoch of Media giant News Corp made a US$3 billion acquisition bid - although talks reportedly broke down.

Nevertheless, this is high for a company with not much of a revenue flow - although News Corp can probably afford it. But it is clear that something is brewing since Rupert Murdoch recently embraced the internet in a big wave. He recently bought Intermix for their preferred MySpace Networking site and Scouts Media, for their 200 sports websites.

Can't say, he is not interested in the Web. Is this about expanding his media empire?

(By Asia Business Consulting)

No more laptops?

There was a time when people thought that laptops would replace desktops. Now they are in danger of being replaced. But not with desktops, or, well, somewhat.

The push comes from the lower ranks, so to speak. From PDAs, smartphones or other handhelds, such as Blackberry.

They are easier to carry, they frequently come with a phone, and the tear and wear is lower as well. Costs come down, and this is still an important factor in today's economy. "Corporate laptops generally run about US$1,000 to US$1,500, that's higher than a desktop (US$700) or a handheld (US$300 to US$500), particularly if the carrier subsidizes the handheld. Support and management costs can be less for laptops, but the notebooks get beat up a lot." "Because of the wear and tear laptops go through, the replacement cycle for notebooks can run about two years, more frequent than the three- to four-year replacement cycle of desktops."

And, at least, my shoulder doesn't hurt that much when I carry a handheld. It looks cool as well, to run a presentation with a handheld. Still, their screens are still too small to make working on them too comfortable, and I prefer to move around with laptop, sometimes sitting here and sometimes sitting there. So for me, it is still desktop, laptop and handheld - all have their respective places in my private and professional life.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

TV censorship in China

What could come after increased controls of the Internet, cybercafes, blogs and chatrooms?

If you read the headline, you guessed it right - television.

"China has greatly liberalized media markets over the past three years and satellite broadcasters such as News Corp. and Viacom have moved in." Now, the trend is reversed. "In a new attempt to reassert control over popular culture, China has barred new foreign television channels and plans to step up censorship of imported programs."

"It also banned programs about crime or violence in prime time in order to promote a "healthy environment" for children."

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Like in the old days: Baidu.com shares going through the roof

This is like in the old days. Be an internet company and go public - sure, your shareprice will grow dramatically.

I am talking about Baidu, the Chinese company which went public on Friday. Their shareprice grew a dramatic 354% from a initiatl price of US$27 to hit a high of US$151.21.

There is the relation to Google of course, whose shares keep rocking the boat - this excited investors who wish the good old days would come back.

The scary part for the small time investor is that Baidu is already been sued for their available downloads on their websites.

The pitiful part is that investment banks estimated the pricing wrongly - this means that a lot of money that rightfully belongs to Baidu (generated through the gap between the initial and the final price) doesn't end up in their account. But goes to those who were able to get the shares at the initial price - the investment bankers, for example.

I could make a guess of what might happen. I believe the price won't stay high. But I also believe that Google, who has a share in Baidu, will make a bit for it, not now, but later, when the market in China opens some more, and Baidu can be rebranded as Google. This is speculation, of course, and no investment advice.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

The merits of the web

This article is already a week old, but still, it deserves attention for two reasons.

Firstly, it highlights the advantages of the web for China, which, as known, is a country that grows its web by leaps but nevertheless keeps a tight lit on Internet users.

Secondly, it also shows that the author really understands the impact that the web has on more traditional media, even so he sees one of its advantages in the anonymous usage. It, however states the impact that the web has. Even so the number of users reach 100 million, the number of people directly or indirectly influenced by the Internet has hit at least 400 million in China. And this is huge, huge, huge, indicating the potential of this overall market - if you are big on the web in China, you can grow very big! This by far outpaces the readership of any individual media in China - consider the lifestyle change.

The other numbers mentioned are also staggering. Not only does the article mention that Internet users in China surpassed the 100 million mark, but also, that there are 53 million broadband users, outnumbering those of dial-up users. Which is a sign of the Internet savvy of the country as well as for things to come. Any country which cannot match this growth exposes itself to marginalisation!

(By Asia Business Consulting)

SingTel keeps growing, leaves competition behind

You have to love this company. Coming from the tiny marketplace in Singapore, this company is positioning itself to become the powerhouse of Asia.

Back in November last year, I wrote that SingTel's subscriber numbers keep growing, and they are able to do it again, and again, and again.

Now, they are reporting another record growth. "Singapore Telecommunications said its mobile subscriber numbers across Asia-Pacific were up 36% on year as of June 30 2005, as more customers signed up in emerging markets." "SingTel had about 71 million mobile customers in seven countries as of June 30, up from 52.2 million a year ago, the company said."

That is happening when you execute as a company, and when you look for alternative places, when your market gets too small.

Other companies, on the other hand, still look around, focus more on internal issues, get distracted and might lose out. Nothing wrong with cleaning up your house, but as a company, you have to move fast nowadays. Once a chance is gone, it is gone forever - and all the strategies won't work anymore. And complaining doesn't bring anything either.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Baidu gets sued

Baidu goes public in just a couple of days, public in the US.

Interestingly, they are already facing their first challenge. Since they offer stuff on their web for download, two Chinese companies take the chance to sue them over alleged copyright infringement. This is the "risk of listing in the US." Demands for corporate ethics, and scrutinity is what company can expect in the US and this drills down to this kind of level, of course.

So it was clear that this was coming, especially after all the sueing and crackdowns that currently happen to companies involved in this kind of business, even so, surprise, surprise, illegal downloads support legal purchases.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Mobile phones that change their behaviour

Now this is one interesting piece. SmartMobs writes that SonyEricsson is coming out with mobile phones that change their behaviour according to certain environmental conditions.

"Sony Ericsson’s latest idea is to sell phones which automatically change the way they behave, depending on the time,date and place.For example,the wallpaper display on the screen shows pumpkins when the phone’s calendar sees the date is Halloween, and Christmas puddings on December 25th. Network roaming,or GPS,can tell a phone what country it is in,so the ring-tone might change to a reggae tune as the plane touches down in Jamaica,for example.A restaurant could use short-range Bluetooth signals to deliver the specials menu direct to the phone's screen, and a cinema or church could use Bluetooth to switch it to silent mode.Stockbrokers could enable an option to display the latest share prices every 10 minutes and golfers could use continually updated weather forecasts for wallpaper"."

As such, it looks pretty flexible - and with growing capabilities it might adjust even more - clearly, we don't know too much yet about upcoming trends. It still is more an experimenting to see what works and this is fine, as long as the industry tries to understand the consumer - what seems to be difficult for the industry at times. What about a mobile phone that turns pink, when the owner is interviewed by a research agency? Or one, that starts to make funny noises aside of babies?

(By Asia Business Consulting)

File sharing - new weapons being tested

It was clear that after the trial verdict against file sharers, new ways would be explored to allow file sharing to become more private.

More private here means - anonymous, of course and the search is on.

"Internet rebels have begun preliminary testing of a new weapon that threatens to scuttle efforts to stop illicit online music swapping. Internet privacy activists at Freenet Project posted word on their website that they were looking for other users to test a refined version of "darknet" software designed to keep file swappers anonymous. The new software is being heralded as "scalable," which means it would enable large numbers of computer users to freely share files online without revealing their identities."

This is a logical step. It happened with Napster before - when Napster was declared illegal a couple of years ago, Kazaa and others popped up - multiplying the application and the number of users. Now, the industry won another case, and I can foresee the actual result of it.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

CNOOC - the end of the story

CNOOC, the Chinese company which planned to enter the US market for a strategic acquisition of Unocal and constantly hold on to their valued target gave finally up.

A resource industry is strategic and this made the bit vulnerable to opposition, especially in times of resource-scarcity, rising oil prices and tension between the US and China.

So clearly, it was highly likely that the opposition was political and in favour of the Chevron bid.

Times are changing, and old mental models hang behind. It will take time until the fear of each other subsides. May be then, we will see something similar again. Until then, well, sorry CNOOC.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

They are saying that

Every second a new blog is coming to life

This is heavy news - according to Technorati, a new blog is born every second. This means, 5 new blogs were thrown into cyberspace in the time you read the first sentence.

A total of 86,400 a day and the total number of blogs doubled to 14.2 million in August from March.

Will growth continue? Sure it will. However, only the good ones will flourish, those that grow about the rate. But then, it depends, what you define as a good blog, what is the intention of those creating and writing blogs, and how long they last. And even long lasting and successful ones stop blogging - just look at what happened at the Gwailo Diaries, as one good example. It was around for years with high readerships and left from one day to the next.

So, how great is your staying power?

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Would this help against computer illiteracy?

Would this work to improve computer illiteracy?

"Every adult in Scotland is being offered up to RM750 to develop and improve their computer skills."

Of course, money is needed to start understanding a computer and how to handle a computer, surfing the web and so on.

But is money everything? The article doesn't provide a lot of detail and background to the story, but besides improving computer skills, isn't it more important to provide an understanding of the opportunities, a computer and a connection to the Internet can provide?

Anyway, not much can be done nowadays without computer skills, and thus, it is a start - if it doesn't just drive the revenues of training schools.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Baidu goes public

"Chinese search engine Baidu.com Inc., which counts Google Inc. as an investor, plans to list its shares on the Nasdaq stock market this Thursday in its initial public offering (IPO)."

This is good news for investors of Google, and for the Chinese Internet industry. Baidu, however, apparently faces financial challenges, since their revenue is still very low with US$13.4 million in 2004, despite the fact that they are one of the most heavily used search engines in China.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

What I hate at webpages

There is one more study blowing the trumpet. TNS inquired with web surfers what they hate most at webpages, and, surprise, surprise, not much has changed, if anything.

Pop-ups, the requirement to register before "revealing the content", slow-loading pages (may be overloaded with ads, and graphics), and pages, that require you to install software before continuation (even so some like it).

At least I am not alone with my criticism, since consumers also state that they don't visit a website again, that annoyed them in the first place.

These are clear messages - for the user. Why is it often so difficult for the advertising industry and those that hire them to see that there is nothing worse than annoying a consumer? Consumers adjust, have to adjust, but companies wonder, why they don't get business.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

We Are the Web, we are the world, we are the future

We are the world:

It is the year 2015

The Web continues to evolve from a world ruled by mass media and mass audiences to one ruled by messy media and messy participation. How far can this frenzy of creativity go? Encouraged by Web-enabled sales, 175,000 books were published and more than 30,000 music albums were released in the US last year. At the same time, 14 million blogs launched worldwide. All these numbers are escalating. A simple extrapolation suggests that in the near future, everyone alive will (on average) write a song, author a book, make a video, craft a weblog, and code a program. This idea is less outrageous than the notion 150 years ago that someday everyone would write a letter or take a photograph."

We are the future! Do it now or do it never!

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Blogs in China under observation - a summary

BusinessWeek has prepared a wonderful summary of the situation of bloggers, and blogging in China.

The article provides individual stories, background to corporate initiatives such as Microsoft and how they react to the increasing pressure to selfcensorship.

Additional, it also shows efforts by bloggers and blogging companies to generate revenues from blogs.

So anyone, who wants to have a nice overview of the blogging environment in China should pay a visit to that article.

(By Asia Business Consulting)