iOS Download Stats for China Show the Importance of App Localization [INFOGRAPHIC]

The Infographic of the Day series visually expresses important stories from Asia and the world of technology.

New statistics showing the popularity of various free and paid iOS apps in China show the great importance of localization. And now that China is the second-biggest downloader of free – or freemium – iPhone and iPad apps, it’s even more critical to a game’s success that it comes with Chinese language translations throughout the app and download page.

These stats from AppAnnie also highlight a strong desire in Asia for apps that have a local language name – particularly so in mainland China, Taiwan, and South Korea.

Before we look at the infographics, remember that Apple rolled out easier RMB payments in China this month (these stats are from September, prior to that new development), and so Mandarin-language paid apps should be considered more of a priority from now on.

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Global Free iOS Downloads, Revenue

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Although China now accounts for 12 percent of all the world’s free iOS app downloads, it accounts for only 2 percent of revenue for developers. But, as I said with the new payments system, this will now slowly change, and freemium might become less of a trend on Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) smartphone platform in China.

Of course, that two percent figure accounts only for direct app revenue, and takes no account of other clever ways of cashing-in on games in China, such as Rovio Mobile with its merchandising push.

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Mandarin, Muhfukka, Do You Speak It?

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Getting back onto the subject of localization, we can now see very strong demand for local language iPhone and iPad apps in China, with nearly half of all top 25 apps consumed in China being those with Chinese-language names. And so game publishers like Popcap have ensured that its cult titles, like Plants vs Zombies (pictured top), have a decent local name as well.

Major new entrants to China, such as the American 6waves Lolapps – with whom we chatted recently, about its social gaming plans in China – seem to realise this, and have been making acquisitions and tie-ups right, left, and centre in order to get it done right in Asia. Smaller/solo game devs face a tougher challenge though.

There seems to be more of a propensity in western European countries for Apple mobile device owners to not need a local language version, such as in multilingual Switzerland. Understandably, that’s not so feasible in east Asian countries that use different character sets.

If you’re a game developer, this panel discussion on localizing games for global success might be of interest, as it features expert advice from the likes of EA and Tapjoy.

[Source: AppAnnie’s blog]

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SARFT Banning TV Ads During Shows; Good News or Bad News for Online Video?

SARFT attacks TV ads, and maybe video web sites too, via the Telegraph

For the past few days, rumors have been swirling that along with its limitation of “entertainment” programs, China’s State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television (SARFT) will also be implementing a new regulation that bans all advertisement during TV dramas. Yesterday SARFT management bureau chief Li Jingsheng announced that SARFT will indeed be banning ads during TV programs.

The detailed regulations will be announced sometime later this month, but it seems that advertisements will be allowed, but only during the time when one show has finished and the next show has yet to begin. Shows will no longer take breaks in the middle of episodes for advertisements.

Needless to say, this could have a massive impact on the Chinese television market, where yearly losses in advertising as a result of the regulation have already been estimated as potentially reaching 20 billion RMB (over $3 billion US). We expect this figure may be a tad inflated, as networks will likely find ways of replacing that lost revenue — running text ads that scroll across the bottom of the screen while shows are in progress, perhaps — but there’s no doubt the regulation will nevertheless have a massive impact on the industry.

Online Video Sites: Time to Celebrate? Maybe…

At face value, this would seem to be great news for online video operators like Youku and Tudou, who are already poaching viewers away from television but who have historically struggled to profit from them. With fewer advertising opportunities on television, there’s a reasonable expectation that at least some of the money TV networks will be losing may flow in the direction of video websites, instead.

Moreover, if the loss of in-program advertising weakens China’s popular satellite networks, that could serve to drive even more viewers onto the internet as TV stations losing money will likely have to sacrifice quality or quantity (or both) in their show productions to be able to balance the books. In particular, this could really help Youku, which has an established history of successful self-produced dramas and films. If similar regulations don’t affect internet operators, and net ad revenue increases, Youku (and other sites) will be able to put even more money into original programming.

…and Maybe Not

That said, SARFT has framed the regulatory decision as a move to get viewers away from their computers and back in front of the TV by offering them a more enjoyable viewing experience. There are plenty of people who are annoyed by the advertising that permeates many of China’s web video sites, and the prospect of an ad-free television experience could be just what’s needed to get them back in front of the big black box.

Of course, that seems like a fairly pointless gesture. Entertainment is moving to PCs and, beyond that, mobile devices, period. SARFT can’t regulate that reality away, unless they can trick some other regulatory bureaus into shutting down the internet entirely (hey, it’s China, you never know). But that doesn’t mean they can’t go down swinging, and one has to assume that some of those fists are going to be aimed directly at online video providers.

We can be fairly certain, too, that SARFT is not trying to do online video sites any favors. Others have interpreted the regulations as a move by SARFT to weaken independent TV stations and, by extension, strengthen CCTV, and this makes some sense in light of the “entertainment ban” on satellite networks announced by SARFT earlier this year. If SARFT’s primary goal is to strengthen CCTV and the domestic propaganda apparatus, probably independent (and foreign-listed!) websites like Youku (NYSE:YOKU) and Tudou (NASDAQ:TUDO) will find themselves in the regulatory bureau’s crosshairs sooner or later.

Here, it’s worth noting that SARFT continues to be involved in a sort of behind-the-scenes territorial spat with MIIT (the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology) over who should be allowed to control certain types of content on the internet. Typically, the internet is MIIT’s domain, but as SARFT’s interests (TV shows, films, etc.) move increasingly online, so too has SARFT moved to assert authority over those areas of the net.

In any event, it’s hard to be sure what exactly will happen before the regulatory details are announced and we see how satellite TV networks respond. We’ve also reached out to some domestic video websites for comment on the new regulations and will update this post if we hear back.

[Via Netease Tech, h/t to @MalcolmMoore and @niubi for sharing that link on Twitter and having a short discussion about it as well!]

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Japan’s Virtual Star Hatsune Miku Invades CyberAgent’s Pico World

CyberAgent America’s (a subsidiary of Tokyo-based CyberAgent) Pico World is already going strong over on Facebook, and today the virtual world recruited a big attraction that should help it even more among fans outside Japan. Today the company announced a collaboration with Crypton Future Media to bring its famous Hatsune Miku into Pico World.

Readers may recognize the iconic character from the Vocaloid voice synthesizing application and her subsequent cultural rise that has included virtual concerts around the world (see video below) as a high-tech stage projection.

Needless to say she has legions of fans both inside and outside of Japan, and CyberAgent America is hoping that Pico World users will want Hatsune Miku Vocaloid virtual goods, including the Hatsune Miku outfit and trademark turqoise pony-tails. The company’s executive vice-president elaborated:

With social game and virtual worlds booming worldwide, we feel Pico World is on the forefront of brining Japanese culture to other countries… This partnership with Crypton Future Media will allow us to bring the Character style, and more importantly Hatsune Miku brand to fans worldwide.

While I’m not sure whether spreading Japanese culture is a key business goal for CyberAgent, it’s certainly a wonderful by-product. I can’t help but draw comparisons with China, especially having read Will Moss’ excellent piece about China’s soft power, and how that nation still lacks such an iconic cultural export.

Here’s a live concert of Hatsune’s, so that you can see her in the flesh pixels:

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24Quan Aaron Du: We’re Restructuring to Be the First Profit-Making Group Buying Service in China

Since couple days ago there have been news broke that 24Quan, a Chinese group buying service was cutting down local branches due to money shortage. The Beijing-based company was reportedly closing underperforming sites in tier-3 cities and downsizing sales team on top of salary cut/restructure.

While according to Aaron Du, founder and CEO of the Beijing-based company, all the branches and staff cuts could be ascribed to its ongoing HR and sales coverage restructure in an effort to improve their bottom line and to be the first profit-making Chinese group buying service by year-end. As for the merchants dispute, Aaron explained the facts that 24Quan is losing in some remote cities was leveraged to undermine its trust with their local merchants. However, “All merchant inquires have been resolved, and we’re opening a merchant hotline to resolve any future merchant payment inquiries” he added.

After two rounds of angel investments of undisclosed sum in September 2009 and May 2010, 24Quan raised US$ tens of millions in Series A (Febr 2011) and Series B (July 2011). Also a Sina Weibo post claims that the company is raising Series C of US$ 30 million from Dinghui Investment.

The future picture for China’s group buying apprentices is getting gloomy after the heat in late last year and early this year. Lashou’s unsuccessful IPO trial casted concerns over the daily deal markets. According to Tuan800, a daily deals aggregator and group buying market researcher, as of this October there’re 4057 group buying sites in China.

 

Related posts:

1. Google China Still Wants to Be Local, Launched Group-Buying Aggregator Service
2. Quantity or Quality? What is More Important for a Group Buying Site
3. Lashou Making Profit Now?

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Newegg Brings Black Friday Deals to China, But Will It Catch On?

‘Black Friday,’ the day of discount-led shopping frenzy that originated in the US, is not a tradition in China. Nonetheless, Newegg, the American e-commerce site, is running a Black Friday promotion today on its Chinese site, newegg.com.cn.

It’s an unusual move since none of its competitors in the country – such as 360Buy, or Dangdang (NYSE:DANG), which sell the same mix of mostly consumer electronics and some random stuff – are doing the same. But consumers love bargains, so it should be popular regardless of the timing. The Black Friday selection on Newegg China is a bit limited, but offers discounts of 10 to 60 percent on those items. Most of the really enticing goods, such as high-end laptop and smartphones, however, are limited to 10 to 30 percent being knocked off of their pricetags.

Perhaps the most enticing promo sale is on the Samsung Galaxy SII, which is slashed to 3,600 RMB (US$565) in an unlocked state. The oddest bargain, meanwhile, is an ageing LG feature phone that’s selling today for 9 RMB – yes, that’s $1.50. Check out that LG one here.

In recent years in China, the so-called Singles Day – on 11/11 – has emerged as a festival of fevered shopping. It reached new heights this month when the B2C online shopping market leader, Tmall.com, sold 439 million RMB worth of goods in just the first hour. After a full 24 hours of discounts, netizens had snapped up an astounding 3.36 billion RMB ($530 million) worth of stuff. I get the feeling that Singles Day, rather than Black Friday, is going to catch on in China. Either way, it’s a day of bargains for consumers to pick through.

The last time we looked at market share in the B2C e-commerce sector in China we found that Newegg was in eighth place, with a 1.1 percent-sized slice of the pie. That’s less than half of its compatriot Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), which recently refocused on China with new branding. In this interactive graph, Newegg.com.cn is highlighted in red:

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India Has 2nd Largest Opera Mini Userbase in the World

Opera Mini userbase in India ranks second amongst 22 countries ahead of the US and Europe. India crossed the one million mark of Opera Mini users in March 2008 and is now the second largest Opera Mini  userbase in world since August ’11 (India userbase is growing at 150% annually). The Opera Mini browser witnessed a data usage of nearly 180 million MB from India during the year.

Opera Growth

Top Visited Sites

Apart from Google, Facebook and Youtube, websites such as vuclip.com, songs.pk, zedge.net rank amongst the top 10 websites accessed from Opera Mini users in India. Nokia’s range of handsets continues to rule the roost in India (Nokia 2690 rules, followed by 2700c and 5120 Xpressmusic) [report link].

The growth can be attributed to growing usage of mobile internet and importantly, Opera’s tie-ups with mobile device manufacturers like Nokia/Micromax. A year from now, do you think Opera will still be ruling the mobile web access point (i.e. when consumers switch to smartphones)?

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Recommended Read

» Stats: Mobile Internet in India– Mumbai, New Delhi and Bangalore Rule [Kolkata Stands At Number 4].

» Insight: Indian Users Now Spend More Time On Content Than Voice and SMS.

» Launch: UCWeb Launches UC 8.0 Browser in India.

Related posts:

1. Opera updates Opera Mini, improving the Opera Mini experience on selected phones
2. Mobile Internet : Opera Mini Crosses 50 million Uniques, Facebook Clocking 100 million per month
3. Opera Mini spreads its wings — coming to INQ phones March 2, 2011
4. Apple iPhone is the #3 device used by Opera Mini users worldwide [Report]
5. Opera Mini goes Native on Windows Mobile phones

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Eco-friendly gloves lets you use a smartphone in the cold

Come winter time, you’ll be forced to wear gloves or mittons to prevent your hands from becoming popsicle.

But if you’re a tech geek who feels a compulsive need to check your smartphone every second, using your touchscreen device with your gloves is like asking an elephant to pick daisies.

FIETT, a company set up by a bunch of Singaporeans in wintry Sweden, has launched ISGloves, a product they hope will solve this problem.

ISGloves are touch sensitive, conductive, and eco-friendly all at the same time, courtesy of special nanotech yarns which are interwoven with bamboo yarns.

The gloves are made of recycled polyester, which requires less energy to manufacture, and reduces waste and pollution. Bamboo plants are one of the most sustainable and eco-friendly choice of textiles.

ISGloves are currently sold on the FIETT website at 419 Swedish Krona (US$60), which is on the high side. The company already has many competitors out there selling similar gloves at cheaper prices (this article lists ten), so it’ll be interesting to see how they market their products.

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The Real-time Plan

The big battle plan? Credit: wrath85.deviantart.com

 

Do you have a plan for your startup? I bet most of us do. Not just one, but multiple versions. You’re not alone.

I’ve learned that having a single plan isn’t good enough. Everything changes so quickly and there are way too many variables beyond our control. Sometimes shit just happens, or perhaps we as entrepreneurs overestimate our abilities to achieve certain results. Or maybe there are certain aspects of a product that receive feedback from users and brings the entire grand plan to a halt.

Anyway, the point I’m trying to get at here is that having just one plan is risky. We need many plans to suit many many different scenarios to achieve our goals. A desperate situation calls for desperate actions. But while in a favorable situation, a bullish plan would be more suitable. You get the drift.

On our team, we’re relentlessly focused on the product and the vision. Our product is content, so we need to maintain a good quality of content, writing, and form. We also have an event coming up, and we’re working hard to keep the content quality high and also ensure a good experience for all who attend, as well as those who don’t. Our vision is to push the Asia community forward, as best we can.

With the product and vision engraved at the back of our minds, we need a solid real-time plan to get it done (i.e. a plan that changes with time, situation, and rolls with the punches). That doesn’t mean we just wait for things to happen and react. We still have to be very active about building the product and chasing the vision. That means creating awesome content that fills a need, informing the world about what’s happening here in Asia, in line with the team’s vision and reader feedback.

So far ours has been a steady growing process, interspersed with bold leaps of faith (see our recent  “fuck, just do it” post). But that’s our ‘real-time’ plan, so to speak. It may be somewhat disorganized at times but it’s what keeps our small team rocking.

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