Are blogs dying?

Gallup published a study that says that the number of blogs don't grow anymore.

Apparently, "only 9 percent of Internet users saying they frequently read blogs, with 11 percent reading them occasionally. Thirteen percent of Internet users rarely bother, and 66 percent never read blogs. Those numbers, essentially unchanged from a year earlier, put blog-reading dead last among Gallup's measures of 13 common Internet activities. E-mailing ranks first (with 87 percent of users doing so frequently or occasionally), followed by checking news and weather (72), shopping (52) and making travel plans (also 52). "

Rubbish!

More people than ever before are online, a fact that negates the numbers mentioned by Gallup. However, if the number of blogs only rose according to average growth of the number of Internet users, than one can still argue that the phenomenal growth of the haydays has lessened. Can be, but that doesn't mean that the significance of blogs has been reduced.

Moreover, how many can actually distinguish between a blog and a normal website nowadays? Sometimes, the borders are vanguishing and a blog is only apparent when, for example, the appreviation .blogspot.com is in the webaddress. Next, blogs are fast becoming just another online channel, just like another newsletter or publication vehicle. Partially commercialised, partially still free-wheeling, but nevertheless, still significant.

I believe it is still too early to say good-bye to the blog. In fact, the party has just begun.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Online music and emerging business models

Would you believe that there are associations that are more progressive than others? Sure - but what about the Hong Kong Digital Entertainment Association and its chairman Gino Yu?

He clearly sees the emergence of digital technology as an opportunity and calls on the music industry to take advantage of the blurring of industry borders, something that we always pointed out. This is especially so because you cannot download or recreate the creative process that goes into such production.

He points out the computer game industry as an example and notes "how game developers can make more money through using the same plot and characters for movie production, cartoon books, toys, music and the contents of the third-generation mobile (3G) service, besides the income through game software sales."

Interesting thinking, so to speak - but sadly, reality looks different.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Google illegal in China, after all what it has done?

Google is quite submissive to the rules of the Chinese government. Now they are also in the hot soup with the government as it has been accused to operating without the proper license.

Does this mean that all that they put in place was useless? Did they conform to governmental pressure with a non-conforming license? Just playing the words but it seems that obedience doesn't always play out to safe you from other challenges.

Google of course says that they are operating within the legal framework. Of course! Or have you ever seen a spokesperson honestly saying, sorry, we operated outside the legal framework?

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Anonymity on the web

Clearly, there is an ongoing development and discussion about anonymity online. Too many cases of misuse happened and as a consequence, countries asked online registration. Is this good? It can be good, in case of cyber-bullying, of course, even so it doesn't guarantee a solution to many problems.

Once some registration system is developed, a database is created. And, as everybody knows, databases have this certain appeal to hackers.

In Korea, it involves the popular game Lineage. In order to play the game, subscribers need to register.

Now apparently, "complaints piled up last week after hackers were found to have stolen private data, including resident registration numbers, of people subscribing online to the Lineage game." 200,000 identities were stolen.

Quite a lot. Is online registration important? In certain situations, certainly.

In others, no. What needs to be beafed uo - security. And the potential for human errors.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Internet computers - so yuggy. But so are other "public things"

It is clear that many public places are dirty but just how dirty are they?

The study quoted is derived from Korea, and it states that computer mouses found in Internet cafes are the second most bacteria-infested items in a list of commonly touched objects.

Shopping cart handles are the worst of the worst (so go shopping online in the space of your living room).

The Korea Consumer Protection Board, which conducted the study, found that shopping cart handles, Internet café computer mouse, bus hand straps, Public toilet handles and door knobs , lift buttons and train hand straps are the worst bacteria carriers.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Misvalued house causes budget woes, unemployment and other headache

Check your numbers. This is the advise that I would give everybody in the business of .... well, dealing with numbers.

A house was originally valued at US$121,000 but a computer glitch (always a favourite argument) increased the value to US$400 million.

This accident caused property tax to increase from a mere US$1,500 to US$8 million. The local council happily used the increased budget for their own planning purposes.

"Most local officials did not learn about the mistake until Tuesday, when 18 government taxing units were asked to return a total of US$3.1 million of tax money. The city of Valparaiso and the Valparaiso Community School Corp. were asked to return US$2.7 million. As a result, the school system has a US$200,000 budget shortfall, and the city loses US$900,000."

Quite heavy in a small city and interesting, that the discovery and correction of the mistake took that long.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

The bad news can be good news

As stated yesterday, mobile Internet might become more interesting with the entry of more companies into the market, and with the future development of technology also leading to more convergence.

"Research group Gartner and others estimate that about 20 different cell phone models will be available in 2006 that can connect to Wi-Fi, with about 20 million units expected to be sold this year alone."

"rollout of mid-priced cell phones that can make calls both over conventional mobile networks and over the Internet, using Wi-Fi wireless connections, will be good news for callers who want lower mobile phone bills.
It could be bad news, however, for mobile phone companies, which will lose revenue if people do more of their calling over inexpensive Internet broadband networks -- which they can do at home or at the office with Wi-Fi."

This is not much, of course, but it is a development. Will we wait for this development as long as we waited for 3G or will the development take off earlier? That's the mystical question, of course, but clearly, things are moving in the market. The next question relates to the reaction of the traditional mobile phone operators. Will they wait? Will they see the threat as opportunity and move in the space available? You answer that question!

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Nokia's handset for VoIP - are they changing the rules of the mobile game?

Just last week, I wrote about the growth potential of VoIP and that the numbers are developing rapidly.

Nokia heard the call (no, didn't they?) - and now comes up with a handset that enable users to make calls over the internet. So they are not the first one - a British company called DSG International started selling internet phone call starter kits at its Dixons, Currys, The Link and PC World stores, but it is a significant move.

Nokia has apparently realised the potential that an ongoing move towards one mobile set doing everything for the user presents. Yahoo is in the market, Google makes its first moves, Microsoft tries hard and then, don't forget the main player, such as Skype.

Combine this with the company's position in huge mobile markets, such as China and increasingly India, and the continuous trend in the growth of the Internet and you see, how important this can be. They found out earlier that users migrate from fixed lines to mobile phones and might have made the interpretation that the move will continue and involve the Internet as well.

What is the threat to other companies? Surely, I am awaiting the reaction of Motorola, Samsung and Sony Ericsson. However, it also presents a threat to other companies mentioned, such as Yahoo, Google and Microsoft, which want to make a mark in the Internet and the mobile business, but also to local operators. Is it possible that Nokia is soon being identified as local ISP by the subscriber? Will this threaten their relation to local telecommunication companies?

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Growth doesn't give time for dating

Does economic growth conflict with the ability of youngsters (and those not that young) to date? In China, it appears to be that way.

"The gateway to marital bliss has a frosted glass door emblazoned with two candy-apple red hearts and lots of computers. Introducing the Beijing Military and Civilian Matchmaking Service, one of a growing number of Chinese companies that are marrying high technology and low-tech tradition to spawn romantic unions.

Romance and marriage have changed drastically in China after 25 years of breakneck economic growth and looser social controls."

Interesting here that it is the Military and Civilian Matchmaking Service, that initiated the service. May be it follows the motto "Make Love, not war"?

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Being faster than the cyber-agents in China

I had a couple of those stories already - once you publish on the web in China and the Chinese cyberpolice doesn't like your postings too much or not at all, you are on the run.

This is what the newest BusinessWeek talks all about. It tells the story of a man called Bill Xia, who plays cat and mouth with the secret agents, from morning to the evening. He is "exploiting openings in Beijing's formidable Internet firewall and trying to keep ahead of the cybercops who patrol the Web 24-7 and have an uncanny ability to plug holes as quickly as Xia finds them."

His task? "Helping Web surfers back home get the information their government would rather they not see. Chinese citizens hoping to read about the latest crackdown on, say, Falun Gong or the most recent peasant rebellion in the provinces can use technology provided by Xia's Dynamic Internet Technology Inc. to mask their travels to forbidden Web sites."

It is a tough job, so to say, especially since international companies such as Google or Yahoo increasingly help the Chinese government to in turn get the door open for their own business. With their help, the Chinese government intends to get enough control to plug all the loopholes.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Stupid burglar

It is tough to handle technology. Seriously. Now, how stupid can you be when you are firstly smart enough (pun intended) to break into a house to do all kind of things, but then check your own e-mail and forget to log off again. Which, as it turns out, is the reason that the burglar was caught.

At least, the burglar had a good time. He brewed himself a coffee, ate something, picked out a change of clothes, watched television and took a shower. May be he was lonely doing all of this alone and wanted to check his mail?

Question of course is: How come the mail access stayed open?

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Yahoo charging for e-mail?

"A plan from Yahoo and America Online to adopt an e-mail certification system that charges mass mailers a per-message fee is stirring concern in the market."

And of cause it is. To a generation of users who grew up in a market where e-mail and many other things on the web was free, for sure, this is causing a stir.

Even arguments for a fee, such as the increasing number of spam and phishing, doesn't hold, because this is something that they already promise to beat - why else would they use filters? A filter for those who don't pay and thus deserve to be spammed and a better filter for those paying customers that need to be protected? And the argument that only those mass mailers are affected doesn't work as well - what about small businesses that send mails to their customers? Or real, existing online newspapers?

It wouldn't work for me but then, there is always a GMail. And this is surely not something that Yahoo wants to have - seeing users disappear to the market leader. How desparate Yahoo must be?

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Global VoIP subscription - for those who like the numbers

Is it rapid growth, some growth or is there still the talk about huge growth potential?

Anyway, the drums are beating: "global market for consumer VoIP services has arrived, with total VoIP subscribers worldwide reaching 16 million in 2005 and projected to grow to over 55 million by 2009.

Despite an impressive 62 per cent year-on-year subscriber growth rate in 2005, though, relatively few consumers have ever heard of the term 'VoIP'.

Providers, then, must continue to educate the public for VoIP to reach its full market potential. Some 73 per cent of all VoIP subscribers worldwide have migrated to VoIP without making a conscious buying decision to adopt the new technology. In North America and Canada, cable operators are aggressively expanding their VoIP footprint, but are marketing VoIP as a traditional telephone service. In Asia, South Korea has the highest VoIP growth rate, followed by Hong Kong and Singapore."

I agree - let's give it a better name. While a great name is in no way related to branding, it surely makes things easier.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

You cannot download the creative process

I love this quote, but before I get to it, let me tell you the story.

ArtistShare is a new venture in New York City with the objective of enlisting fans to fund an album in exchange for an insider's look at the creative process.

Its founder, Brian Camelio, says that "the business model focuses on creating new music, rather than the sale of music already made." If you listen to what is available in the market and even have only a vague understanding of how the music industry operates, you will realise that this is a great idea.

In fact, it is the new business model, that I promoted so frequently when criticising the music industry in their attempt to kill off internet downloads from companies such as Kazaa.

The new business model is build up on the premises that "fans who support ArtistShare musicians receive perks such as early samples of songs, signed CDs, online composition lessons, and even free concert tickets. Musicians get something too. ArtistShare helps them build their websites and develop their fan base online. When an artist wants to record an album and needs money to rent studio time or hire backup musicians, the ArtistShare team develops a menu of options for fans to support the project. For instance, US$20 or US$30 might get you an advance version of a new recording, US$400 could include an autographed copy of the score, and for US$3,000, an artist will compose a song for you."

One of the most successful ventures so far is Grammy-winning jazz composer Maria Schneider - as if this isn't evidence that the model works. Really, you can download anything, copy anything but in the end, it is just that - a copy. The creation of it is different and valued more than a loaf of bread - or, as the founder said: "You can't download the creative process."

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Google down? No way

Google missed its earnings forecast, but does it mean they are out? Going the way of other companies that suddenly lose track and never come back again, or only after long struggles?

No way.

Sure, they missed, but growth was nevertheless impressive.

Moreover, Google can shrug it off, because, remember, they said from the onset of their IPO, that they are not in the game of giving detailed forecasts or projections. This was, well, seen as too evil at that time.

So Google is not out - but remember, one day, they might be. Growth is not endless, only if you can constantly reinvent your business model - something Google is pretty good at.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Blogging at corporations

The article comes from the Poughkeepsiejournal, wherever that is - but it is a great, so unpronoucable and surely forgettable name.

However, they have a story about a guy working at IBM who started to blog 3 years back and soon realised that his boss started to read his blog - it surely happens, even at a Blue Chiup such as IBM.

The article points out, correctly, that big corporations, such as HP, IBM and Microsoft observe blogs wearily and carefully - partially joining the bandwagon as well. A web-consultant is quoted as saying that corporations "will be knocked over unprepared if the blogosphere starts talking about their brand, product or service and they're not listening to what's being said about them."

More corporations do so in the meantime but still not enough, at least not in Asia. A survey - methodology unknown, is quoted stating that the ranks of corporate bloggers are growing. A year ago, there were about 7,400, a number that doubled to 15,000 in June 2005.

What is important in a corporate blog is that it stays personal, gives it a personal touch and away from corporate press releases. It is also important that the corporate blogger has the freedom to react.

It must be emphasised that if the bloggersphere starts to talk about a company, the corporate blogger must be enabled, empowered, to respond directly. If he or she has to wait for the press department and the board of directors to get their act together, it is too late. If this is the case, if the blogger is so disempowered, it is most advisable for corporation to avoid blogging.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Pixar and Disney - married happily again

Walt Disney Studio has bought Steve Jobs Pixar. Disney, struggling over the last couple of years to produce really good movies, while Pixar was constantly on the roll.

They separated just a couple of months ago. Now, Disney makes the move for a good US$7.4 billion and the all-stock deal puts Steve Jobs into a powerful position as he becomes Disney’s largest shareholder.

This makes Steve the heir to Disney's new CEO Bob Iger and probably king soon - it gives him access to movies that, imagine that, might soon become available on the IPod, on the Macs, and, wait till the end of the year, on an Apple Phone, besides probably on an ITunes for movies. Steve Jobs, in his endless drive, is becoming the king of entertainment.

Just wait and see.

(By Asia Business Consulting)

Killing the goose that lays the golden eggs

Once again, publishers are angry with Google's success in driving traffic - to their side.

"Paris-based World Association of Newspapers, whose members include dozens of national newspaper trade bodies, said it is exploring ways to "challenge the exploitation of content by search engines without fair compensation to copyright owners.""

It is a similar case compared to last year, when AFP sued Google. AFP alleged that Google News carries its photos, news headlines and stories without permission. The case is still pending.

Isn't it true that it is much easier for users to go to a news aggregator, such as Google, check all the news at once and go to the one that seems the most reliable, the most extensive, having the best coverage to meet my needs? Doesn't this then challenge traditional newspapers to go beyond their current style of operating and become better? And if a newspaper really manages to meet the need of the visitors, they will keep this in mind and will come back. As simple as that - it is about serving the needs of your clientel. But I guess it is easier to sue - something that companies are used to, instead of changing business models and taking care of your customers. So yeah, it is easier to chase the golden goose instead of cooperating with them to get into a better business mode.

You tell me, but I prefer news aggregators.

(By Asia Business Consulting)