Singapore-based InMobi Launches New Ad Tracker

Singapore-based mobile advertising network InMobi has launched its new mobile tracking platform, which it says will enable advertisers to measure conversions in mobile web and app campaigns.

The company’s VP of products, Chandrashekhar Vattikuti, noted that in the business of analytics solutions, its not quite so important to be the ‘first mover,’ but rather it’s best to ensure that an accurate and scalable solution be delivered to meet customer needs. This is what InMobi hopes it has done with Ad Tracker:

[It] uses browser cookies to track conversions across apps and the mobile web as the primary conversion tracking technology. It also combines ODIN1 and market referrer tracking technologies for app download campaigns. By using multiple tracking technologies, it is able to produce the highest level of accuracy and scale that is possible through mobile devices.

In its announcement, the company notes that Ad Tracker does not rely on UDID [1], going to for more forward looking strategy free from any worry of UDID depreciation. It’s new solution is cloud-based, entirely separate from the InMobi ad network, and “completely free to integrate and use.” Users can define goals like downloads, registrations, or payments in a real time dashboard view. There is SDK integration for iOS and Android apps, as well as javascript integration for mobile web.

Leading up to this release, InMobi had issued a number of reports last week containing data and insights about the mobile web in various Asian regions. It’s good to see the company add more tools to its repertoire, especially ones that are more open and accessible for others to use like this latest one.

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1. UDID stands for Unique Device Identifier, which is a 40-character hex value unique to each device.  ↩

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Wokai to Conclude Operations, Micro-Finance Business Is Hard to Survive in China

It’s sad to write about a startup’s closing down, especially when the startup is founded by friends. I got the email from Casey Wilson, Cofounder and CEO of Wokai, an online micro-finance platform helping micro-entrepreneurs living under the poverty line in China. P2P lending model is still hard to survive in China as this country is still lacking of a mature credit system. (I am surprised that Wokai’s able to have 98% repayment rate, though).

The email from Casey is followed. Can you help?

Dear Wokai Contributors,

We regret to tell you that we are starting the process of winding down Wokai and concluding operations.

Wokai has been actively searching for a new CEO to take the organization to the next level in China. However, as of our application deadline, no clear candidate came to the fore. In addition, we have met unexpected funding road blocks, which have left us without the reserves necessary to extend the search further.

Considering Wokai’s current situation, our Board of Directors has unanimously decided to take the resources that we currently have and wind down Wokai’s operations. This approach will ensure that all of the resources that we have built up are used to continue our mission of growing microfinance in China.

Over the last 5 years since starting Wokai and 3.5 years since the launch of our website, our team and global supporter community has raised over a half a million dollars in loan capital for micro-entrepreneurs living under the poverty line in China. We’ve worked together to fund over 1,500 micro-loans to 961 borrowers, all at an over 98% on-time repayment rate. When you take into account the families of our micro-entrepreneurs, these funds have supported over 4,000 people to start the process of moving out of poverty. Not only have we directly impacted the lives of these individuals, but our over 30 major media features in the likes of CNN, Bloomberg, MSNBC, Phoenix TV, and China Newsweek and our global volunteer community of over 300 volunteers in 20 cities around the world has brought our cause of growing microfinance in China onto the global radar.

Moving forward, our Field Partners have committed to use the loan capital contributed to date to provide a continuous cycle of new loans to micro-entreprenuers in China’s rural Sichuan and Inner Mongolia Provinces. With this commitment, over the next ten years, over 9,000 micro-entrepreneurs should have the opportunity to lift themselves, their families, and communities out of poverty.

I cannot thank you enough for all of your support. Even as Wokai winds down, the legacy that we’ve built together will continue on, empowering a generation of micro-entrepreneurs to achieve their dreams and laying the groundwork for the future growth of microfinance in China.

Sincerely,

Casey Wilson
Co-founder & CEO, Wokai

Related posts:

1. How Struggling Micro-Blogging Tool Follow 5 Turned Into a Micro-Blog Aggregator
2. Introduction of Four Micro-video Services: Is an era of Micro-video coming?
3. Short of Business Professionals, Why LinkedIn Does Not Work in China

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LinkedIn To Acquire Slideshare for $118.8 Million Deal

LinkedIn is acquiring Slideshare, startup with strong India presence for $118.8mn.

Slideshare was started in 2005 and has been among the very few survivors of web2.0 era – thanks to companies focus in B2B space.

From the wire:

LinkedIn Corp. unveiled plans to buy presentation service SlideShare through a cash-and-stock deal valued at about $118.8 million, continuing the professional-networking site’s expansion after its first-quarter profit soared on higher revenue.

“SlideShare and LinkedIn have been working closely together to help professionals be more effective and productive through the content they create and share,” said LinkedIn senior vice president Deep Nishar.

The deal is expected to close by the middle of this year and as per the reports, LinkedIn will pay 45% of the SlideShare purchase price in cash, with the balance in the form of stock.

What a day for Amit and the entire Slideshare team! Well deserved exit.

What do you think has worked for Slideshare? Persistence? Focus ? Well planned marketing (they have people like Guy Kawasaki on board)?

Another prediction by our guest author, Praveen came true (Predictions 2012: Technology Trends, Investments and Exits in Indian Internet / Tech Space).
Aside, watch this slide on Slideshare’s acquisition by Linkedin

LinkedIn and Slideshare

View more presentations from LinkedIn

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Zaarly Brings Its Marketplace to China, With New Name and Apps

Zaarly, the American startup that helps people outsource simple errands and tasks, has launched in China with the Chinese name Jieqoo, and separate mobile apps for iPhone and Android for its new audience (pictured above).

Zaarly descibes itself as “a new kind of marketplace that allows you to name your price for anything you want,” and the same principle applies to Jieqoo, which is now running in Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Hangzhou, and Shenzhen. Rather than selling second-hand items – which is Craigslist territory – the emphasis here is on services. Looking at the Jieqoo web app for Shanghai, users have already gotten into the spirit of it, seeking – for example – a website logo to be designed for 300 RMB (US$48), or a golf coach for 3,500 RMB ($555). There doesn’t seem to be much traction at this early stage, with only 10 entries across the whole of Shanghai:

With Jieqoo, the Zaarly team seems to have localized well, and given some realistic examples of how it might be used – such as to find someone to queue up for you at the crack of dawn to reserve a place with a doctor (yes, that’s an actual thing that people have to do here). Inevitably, there might be local issues as well. For example, scalpers are a very real problem in China, and if this shiny new startup turns into a haven for shady scalpers and resellers – who, remember, make a living from queueing up to make a quick buck – then the Jieqoo team will have a big clean-up operation on their hands.

Back in October of last year, Zaarly raised $14.1 million in financing, and has some heavyweight investors such as as Ashton Kutcher and Ron Conway. Meg Whitman, formerly of eBay and then HP, is a board member.

Of course, there are already some Chinese startups doing location-aware mobile commerce, such as the Maimang app that we reviewed last year.

Folks in China can browse items in the web app on Jieqoo.com, and snag the mobile apps from there as well.

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Last Day For Early Bird Ideas Mesh Up Workshop Registration, Prizes and Bragging Rights to Be Won

Tomorrow we will be holding our first Ideas MeshUp Workshop in Beijing. Held in English, the workshop is aimed at bringing entrepreneurial people together to share their cool ideas for a mobile app to make life easier and better in China.

To kick off the session, Peng T. Ong, a Partner of GSR Ventures and co-founder of one of the first and biggest online dating sites, Match.com will share his inspirational entrepreneurial  journey.

Next up, the boys from Wodache.com, a corporate car sharing mobile app will talk about how they came up with the idea to reduce China’s pollution and problems from car traffic.  Problems like pollution, stress and time wasting are definitely a much needed problem to be solved in China and will really make life easier and better in China.

The fun part of the day will come from the interactive workshop where attendees will break up into small groups to pick an idea and brainstorm the problem to solve or opportunity to gain. Since mobile apps and smartphone technology has come a long way, there are a number of amazing functions and features to think about. How about NFC, augmented reality, GPS, accelerometer, maps, light, social networking integration to name a few! Then teams have to sketch out what the app will look like and how it will work. We will then judge the best idea and award some prizes, but of course the thrill of bragging rights is a greater honour!

Only online pre-registration people will enjoy the early bird discount of 100RMB. So if you are coming but have not yet registered, please do so now! Otherwise, you will pay 150RMB. Both types will be paid in cash at the door. Snacks and drinks will also be provided. Spread the word!

Here are the details:

Date: Saturday May 5^th

Time: 1:30-5PM

Location: Big Bang Café (Near the CBD Cultural Sports Square, CBD Jian Wai Soho, 39 East Third Ring Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing)

Cost: 100 RMB (online pre-registration) or 150 RMB at the door – both types are paid at the door in cash and includes snacks and drinks

Register here

See you tomorrow for Ideas MeshUp!

 

 

No related posts.

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Tiket.com officially launches with more than 550 hotel partners

Tiket Official Launch Press Conference. Photo: Tiket.com

Tiket.com officially launches in Indonesia aiming to be the one-stop travel and entertainment site in the country.

Founded by seven co-founders, and having searched for investments for six months, tiket.com flagging under the umbrella of PT. Global Tiket Network started to develop their web on August last year and had their soft launch three months after. A lot of features related to flight booking are currently being developed aim to be, quoting Managing Director Gaery Undarsa, “the best one-stop travel and entertainment site in Indonesia”.

Tiket.com provides a site where users can make hotel bookings and purchase tickets for entertainment events such as concerts and movies. Starting this month, they have added airline ticket purchasing to their list of features.  This feature allows users to purchase tickets from domestic airlines such as Lion, Sriwijaya and Batavia. Users will see one interface on the site showing the flights schedules as well as the fare. Users can book, pay and have their ticket issued. “It’s a creative and innovative move brings solution to our customers in just one click,” says Anthonius Thedy, Managing Director TX travel, one of Tiket’s partners.

Hotline customer service and 24/7 LiveChat services are provided for customers while for payments, users can opt to use credit cards (VISA and MasterCard), KlikBCA, or bank transfer using BCA and Mandiri.

Talking on how the service was formed, the COO Natali Ardianto explains, “I meet with Dimas, Wenas and Jeffry at #StartupLokal community, a community that I ran. Then Gaery, Richard and Kevin by professional networking and second degree of our friends. Everyone has their own background and expertise which has helped us a lot in helping Tiket.com achieve its major milestones.”

Having seen that Indonesia is growing to be one of the best travel destinations in the world, the Tiket.com team faced the undeniable fact that most of the Online Travel Agency (OTA) are from foreign countries. Something they are likely to turn it around and furthermore be the leading player in their own country.

Tiket.com sold their first ticket at the end of December, a month after their soft launch. For the Super Junior Super Show 3D movie tickets sold for BlitzMegaplex, they had 50,000 API calls within three hours. Another notable mark was 1,000 L’arc~en~Ciel tickets sold in less than two minutes. By having strategic partnership with Blitz, those who purchase movie tickets from Tiket.com are allowed to choose their preferred seat.

Despite having its focus on sales volume, they aim to hit 100,000 members by this year.  Even though concerts have given greater percentage to revenue contribution, with stronger partnerships with hotels, the service will be able to generate a stronger revenue stream. Establishing direct partnerships with more than 550 hotels in 50 cities both chain and boutique hotels such as Santika and Harris, bookings on hotels in Bali and Jakarta have accounted as the biggest share inside their wallet.

Most of their monetization model is based on commission, thus the selling price will be exactly the same as any other locations and even for hotel bookings. As Natali states it “Most OTA are given the same price by our hotel partners, so we are actually pushing the marketing side. They are way cheaper than when you go directly to the hotel.” If users find a lower price offering at another site when reserving a hotel,  users can call on Tiket.com’s lowest price policy and reach the team through their call center, LiveChat or send an email asking for the same rate with terms and conditions applied.

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Tiket.com officially launches with more than 550 hotel partners

Tiket Official Launch Press Conference. Photo: Tiket.com

Tiket.com officially launches in Indonesia aiming to be the one-stop travel and entertainment site in the country.

Founded by seven co-founders, and having searched for investments for six months, tiket.com flagging under the umbrella of PT. Global Tiket Network started to develop their web on August last year and had their soft launch three months after. A lot of features related to flight booking are currently being developed aim to be, quoting Managing Director Gaery Undarsa, “the best one-stop travel and entertainment site in Indonesia”.

Tiket.com provides a site where users can make hotel bookings and purchase tickets for entertainment events such as concerts and movies. Starting this month, they have added airline ticket purchasing to their list of features.  This feature allows users to purchase tickets from domestic airlines such as Lion, Sriwijaya and Batavia. Users will see one interface on the site showing the flights schedules as well as the fare. Users can book, pay and have their ticket issued. “It’s a creative and innovative move brings solution to our customers in just one click,” says Anthonius Thedy, Managing Director TX travel, one of Tiket’s partners.

Hotline customer service and 24/7 LiveChat services are provided for customers while for payments, users can opt to use credit cards (VISA and MasterCard), KlikBCA, or bank transfer using BCA and Mandiri.

Talking on how the service was formed, the COO Natali Ardianto explains, “I meet with Dimas, Wenas and Jeffry at #StartupLokal community, a community that I ran. Then Gaery, Richard and Kevin by professional networking and second degree of our friends. Everyone has their own background and expertise which has helped us a lot in helping Tiket.com achieve its major milestones.”

Having seen that Indonesia is growing to be one of the best travel destinations in the world, the Tiket.com team faced the undeniable fact that most of the Online Travel Agency (OTA) are from foreign countries. Something they are likely to turn it around and furthermore be the leading player in their own country.

Tiket.com sold their first ticket at the end of December, a month after their soft launch. For the Super Junior Super Show 3D movie tickets sold for BlitzMegaplex, they had 50,000 API calls within three hours. Another notable mark was 1,000 L’arc~en~Ciel tickets sold in less than two minutes. By having strategic partnership with Blitz, those who purchase movie tickets from Tiket.com are allowed to choose their preferred seat.

Despite having its focus on sales volume, they aim to hit 100,000 members by this year.  Even though concerts have given greater percentage to revenue contribution, with stronger partnerships with hotels, the service will be able to generate a stronger revenue stream. Establishing direct partnerships with more than 550 hotels in 50 cities both chain and boutique hotels such as Santika and Harris, bookings on hotels in Bali and Jakarta have accounted as the biggest share inside their wallet.

Most of their monetization model is based on commission, thus the selling price will be exactly the same as any other locations and even for hotel bookings. As Natali states it “Most OTA are given the same price by our hotel partners, so we are actually pushing the marketing side. They are way cheaper than when you go directly to the hotel.” If users find a lower price offering at another site when reserving a hotel,  users can call on Tiket.com’s lowest price policy and reach the team through their call center, LiveChat or send an email asking for the same rate with terms and conditions applied.

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Xiaomi Says Monthly Income Now Exceeds $158 million

It’s hard to believe that less than a year ago, Xiaomi hadn’t even released its phone onto the market. Now, versions of its handset are available for multiple carriers, heavily promoted in China Unicom stores, and selling out online in minutes whenever a new sale opens. Perhaps it’s no surprise, then, that the company says it’s now taking in more than 1 billion RMB ($158 million) in revenue each month. It is also shipping more than 500,000 units of its M1 handset each month.

The company has also grown substantially, now boasting over 1,000 employees, including more than 400 people on its service team. Xiaomi was criticized by some for having substandard after-sales service after its handset was released, and clearly the company is working hard to ensure that if nothing else, the service team is not understaffed. It is apparently dealing with an average of 150 customer problems per day at present.

In addition to building and training its young customer service team — most of the service staff has been at the company only a few months — Xiaomi is working on its next generation handset and building and optimizing various internal apps, like its Miliao chat platform.

It’s worth noting that Xiaomi is not a public company and isn’t required to publicly disclose any of this information; it was all surrendered voluntarily as part of an “Open Day” promotional event. That’s pretty cool; we like numbers and openness, so we hope other companies may follow Xiaomi’s lead here. Cough, cough, eedoo, cough.

[via Sina Tech]

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Over $100,000 of cash prizes for Evernote Devcup

Evernote Singapore holds a Evernote usergroup meetup on 8th May to allow interested parties to learn more about the Evernite Devcup

As Evernote announced its Series D round yesterday, valued at a billion dollars, this marks a new milestone for the company with no signs of slowing down at all. According to the article on Techcrunch, what is ahead for Evernote down the pipeline is to expand internationally, and in conjunction with that, the company is holding its second annual worldwide developer competition: the Evernote Devcup.

What is it? With over $100,000 in prizes as well as chances for finalists to present their work to the attendees of this year’s Evernote Trunk Conference in San Francisco on the line, software developers and designers are challenged to create products which can help their 25 million users do more with Evernote. The prizes come in the form of cash prizes, where $20,000 will be awarded as the Gold prize, $15,000 as the silver, and $5,000 for bronze. In addition to that, there will also be $10,000 cash prize, and airfare and lodging to attend ETC 2012 for 6 finalists.

The details:

Any piece of software that integrates with an Evernote API is eligible for Devcup. You can build for desktop, mobile or the web. Here are the key dates:

• Now through June 25th – Form a team, come up with an idea, build an app!
• June 25th – Submission deadline
• July 23rd – 6 finalists announced
• Late summer - Finalists present their entries at the Evernote Trunk Conference; the Grand Prize winner and runners up are chosen

There will also be a meetup in Singapore to help any interested parties get started as well as to brainstorm and discuss the feasibility of an idea with the developer relations staff from the Evernote HQ, which will be held next Tuesday May 8th 2012, 7pm at PlugIn @ Blk71. During the meetup, you can expect to connect with others who are participating in Devcup as well as to learn more about Evernote. For those whom are unable to attend the event, the Evernote team will also be holding webinars and you can also join the conversation at devcup.evernote.com.

So feel free to sign up for the meetup at https://devcup-sg.eventbrite.com/ to find out more.

Evernote apps. Photo: TechCrunch

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Over $100,000 of cash prizes for Evernote Devcup

Evernote Singapore holds a Evernote usergroup meetup on 8th May to allow interested parties to learn more about the Evernite Devcup

As Evernote announced its Series D round yesterday, valued at a billion dollars, this marks a new milestone for the company with no signs of slowing down at all. According to the article on Techcrunch, what is ahead for Evernote down the pipeline is to expand internationally, and in conjunction with that, the company is holding its second annual worldwide developer competition: the Evernote Devcup.

What is it? With over $100,000 in prizes as well as chances for finalists to present their work to the attendees of this year’s Evernote Trunk Conference in San Francisco on the line, software developers and designers are challenged to create products which can help their 25 million users do more with Evernote. The prizes come in the form of cash prizes, where $20,000 will be awarded as the Gold prize, $15,000 as the silver, and $5,000 for bronze. In addition to that, there will also be $10,000 cash prize, and airfare and lodging to attend ETC 2012 for 6 finalists.

The details:

Any piece of software that integrates with an Evernote API is eligible for Devcup. You can build for desktop, mobile or the web. Here are the key dates:

• Now through June 25th – Form a team, come up with an idea, build an app!
• June 25th – Submission deadline
• July 23rd – 6 finalists announced
• Late summer - Finalists present their entries at the Evernote Trunk Conference; the Grand Prize winner and runners up are chosen

There will also be a meetup in Singapore to help any interested parties get started as well as to brainstorm and discuss the feasibility of an idea with the developer relations staff from the Evernote HQ, which will be held next Tuesday May 8th 2012, 7pm at PlugIn @ Blk71. During the meetup, you can expect to connect with others who are participating in Devcup as well as to learn more about Evernote. For those whom are unable to attend the event, the Evernote team will also be holding webinars and you can also join the conversation at devcup.evernote.com.

So feel free to sign up for the meetup at https://devcup-sg.eventbrite.com/ to find out more.

Evernote apps. Photo: TechCrunch

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Korea’s Emart Creates QR Codes With Shadows in Midday Sun

Photo: ibnet.co.kr

QR codes have been around for years now, most commonly used in countries like Japan. I often see QR codes here in restaurants, advertisements, and even on business cards. But I came across one very clever use of QR codes today over on the Communicate Asia blog, as Korean shopping center Emart implemented this in a brilliant sales promotion.

The company’s ‘Sunny Sale’ event is promoted using a large QR code displayed outside. As you can see in the video below, the company wanted to attract more customers during its lunch hour down time. To do this, they used the mid-day sun to create a QR code with shadows, which is then scanned by people who see it on the street.

In addition to the promotion itself, it’s also a very fun gimmick that is sure to grab more attention than just a large printed QR code. The code can only be seen during lunch hour, since the pattern of the shadows changes after that time.

Emart says it saw a 25 percent increase in its lunch sales as a result of the promotion, not to mention lots of media coverage too. You can check out the video below for more information.

Do you know of any other innovative uses of QR codes? Let us know in the comments.

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