Former head of Google China, Kai-fu Lee, insists—insists—that he is not happy that Google imploded its business in China. “Seeing the work that I put in, how could I be happy to see that?” he says. In fact, in a press release all about his incubator’s companies being built on top of Android he doesn’t use the G-word once. “Given the pull out, we’ll accept the situation and do our best,” he says humbly. Yeah, accept the situation like a fox.
As Lee begins to open up more about the types of companies being created at his incubator, Innovation Works, there’s a consistent theme—Android. Whether it’s address books, music programs, video games, maps, eCommerce marketplaces or e-readers, many of Lee’s companies are hoping to take advantage of the good things about Android—namely that it’s a free, robust operating system—but customize the core smartphone applications in a way that Google won’t or can’t.
It’s interesting that I had a conversation with Lee about this topic right about the time Google CEO Eric Schmidt was delivering a keynote touting that more than 200,000 Android-powered smartphones are activated daily, going beyond just the smartphone wielding “elite.” Lee would agree with everything his former boss said. It’s just that Google isn’t well positioned to make money off the apps and services in the world’s largest market. Oops.
Lee philosophically may have issues with the lack of openness in the Chinese Web, but it’s also giving him an advantage: The most popular applications for the Android phone like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter or Pandora aren’t available in China, and Google’s native apps may not be the top choice of manufacturers given the search engine’s stance on doing business in the country. So Innovation Works is collectively trying to build a new Web on top of the platform that’s customized for Chinese tastes.
For example, music services that show song lyrics as they play—an essential feature for China’s karaoke loving audience. Another example is a program that automatically enters different dialing prefixes that save money on calls to certain regions. Because 3G is so expensive in China, a video program called Wonderpod downloads videos onto your phone from your laptop at work, so you can watch them without having to stream them on the commute home. An eReader software company lets you read 60% of the book for free then asks for a payment to read the rest. Because of rampant piracy, there’s no chance of selling eBooks without giving anything away for free, but once people are hooked, if they enjoy it, they’ll pay for the rest of the book out of convenience, Lee argues. The incubator is making a few, broad platform plays with an Android-based operating system called Tapas, an analytics tool for developers called Umeng and Ascending Cloud, a publisher of social games.
At most, Lee’s mobile companies are getting a couple dollars per user for these apps so these ideas only become huge companies with massive scale. This can’t be just a game played for the top of the pyramid. And there’s no question in Lee’s mind that Android will be bigger in China than the iPhone, because the cost differential is much more pronounced. Because there aren’t many Android models in the US, hardware makers can price the phones close to the iPhone, but in manufacturing-heavy China prices will almost certainly be driven down much faster.
Lee says the Android devices coming out next year—including manufacturers his companies are working with—cost $200 to $300 per phone. He expects that to fall to around $100 the next year, and possible fall below $100 the year after that. The iPhone will never experience that kind of competitive pressure because only Apple makes it. (Although I could show you plenty of cheaper versions with the an Apple-like logo in the dodgy markets of Shenzhen…)
And there are no carrier subsidies in China, because 80% of phones are bought independently from airtime. So an iPhone will cost around $600. Already Android will enter the market at half the price. For a big swath of the Chinese population that will make a difference, especially if those prices can get under $100 per phone in just a few years with features more tailored for the market.
In a lot of ways, this is a strategy that would only work in China—it’s all about volume and counts on a market with hyper-aggressively competitive gadget manufacturing. But with billions of dollars in venture capital sloshing around China, the market to build the best mobile apps could be as cutthroat as the competition to win the hardware wars. Lee has recently inked some strategic partnerships with Foxconn, Chunghwa Telecom, MediaTek Inc and a raft of global investors to help his chances of being the one to profit from the opportunity.
He’s also moved Innovation Works from Google China’s building to a new location that features what any incubator needs—a hologram that greets you at the front door. I’m not kidding. He told his designer he needed it to look different than any other office and from the look of the pictures, he succeeded. His mobile bets are less certain. But if he wins he’ll have at least one guy to thank: Sergey Brin. A big juicy market opportunity is a lot better parting gift than a watch.
After 10 years of preaching the merits of search engine optimization to sceptical business owners, I’ve found there’s a new challenge in online marketing and it’s a funny one.
Nearly all business owners I meet think they should use social media marketing to promote their businesses, but a good number have a real aversion to using social networking channels.
I am finding many people are afraid that if they don’t start using social media they’ll end up behind their competition – or even that they are just going to be missing out on this ‘next big thing’. I’ll be called in for a consultation on using social media for a business, and after discussing the ins and outs of a successful social media campaign, I see there’s something not quite clicking — but as averse to using social media the client may be, he still feels that he must use it.
Do you convince such people that they need to push on, as social media marketing is a necessity these days, or is social media just not for everyone?
Whilst we’ve all heard the benefits of using social media to promote businesses, the dilemma is that using social media as an effective marketing tool also requires:
- some technical ability (albeit pretty basic);
- time, when you may already have issues with time management;
- putting yourself ‘out there’, the social aspect of social media is intimidating to many;
- creative writing skills;
- buy-in from management that may be concerned about dealing with unfriendly comments, time and money spent, etc.;
- a budget to hire a professional to get started or run your campaign, if you just cannot manage it internally.
Even after discussing the ways of managing all of these issues – sometimes over and over again – I still get resistance in many cases.
“I can’t see myself telling the world what I’m having for breakfast.”
“I just don’t get Facebook.”
“It’s just not ME!”
So I’ve become a Social Media Marketing Evangelist, and I’ve been able to convert nearly all of those ‘with little faith’ through:
- inspiring with case studies of related businesses that have shown real results through social media marketing;
- brain storming content ideas related to the areas of the business that the client is most passionate about;
- using channels that are most suited to the clients skills and interests – videos for YouTube may really excite a person less inclined to write blog posts;
- working out a time management plan that fits with the clients’ other responsibilities;
- identifying others that may assist the client (at no or low cost) – teenage children are a good resource for sole traders, while using a variety of staff members works in larger organisations;
- looking at the higher cost of alternative ‘traditional’ offline or PPC advertising;
- showing how to set a realistic budget for social media marketing in case professional assistance is needed on a regular basis;
- setting up tools for integrating accounts and automated posting;
- discussing the other benefits of using social media – communicating with and retaining existing customers, networking, keeping tabs on competitors, etc.;
- meeting the sceptical parties in an organisation to get their buy-in and discuss setting up a social media marketing plan and policy.
Usually at some point along this path I see the client become more comfortable with using social media. Most become full converts after signing on new clients and making more sales through their social media efforts, for example:
- a small business owner, who barely used email a year ago, is now happily chatting with prospective clients on Twitter on a daily basis;
- a sole trader that couldn’t see himself ‘rattling on about my daily habits online’, has a popular YouTube channel showing off his services;
- a marketing assistant that had to struggle with the business owner for the okay set up a social media campaign, now amazes him with the number of sales they get through their Facebook page and Twitter.
There are still those who just don’t get it and may never get it. They may have heartedly set up a Facebook Pages that is only posted to once a month, or Twitter accounts that have just the very first post from a training session. They are not going to see much result from such efforts and this will probably confirm their fears that Social Media Marketing is NOT for them or doesn’t work altogether.
Perhaps the super sceptics will have to take their chances using more traditional marketing methods, but as there has been such a shift in marketing practices toward using social media, they may very well fall behind their competitors and will have to come to terms with it sooner or later. In this case they are probably best off hiring a professional social media consultant to run their campaigns for them.
Social Media Marketing may not suit everyone initially, but it’s definitely something that business owners, marketing and sales staff do need to come to terms with to be competitive in the business world today.
Bulletstorm dev talks down FPS fatigue <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net
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THE MICROSOFT INVESTOR: Good <b>News</b>! Microsoft's Killing More Side <b>...</b>
It shouldn't be sweating things like Zune, and even search to some degree.
U.S. Sues Fox <b>News</b> Over Discrimination Claim -- Daily Intel
Federal lawyers are suing the Fox News Network over allegations that it retaliated against a female reporter after she claimed she was receiving unequal pay and job conditions due to her gender and age. Reporter Catherine Herridge filed ...
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bench craft company rip off
Bulletstorm dev talks down FPS fatigue <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net
Read our news of Bulletstorm dev talks down FPS fatigue.
THE MICROSOFT INVESTOR: Good <b>News</b>! Microsoft's Killing More Side <b>...</b>
It shouldn't be sweating things like Zune, and even search to some degree.
U.S. Sues Fox <b>News</b> Over Discrimination Claim -- Daily Intel
Federal lawyers are suing the Fox News Network over allegations that it retaliated against a female reporter after she claimed she was receiving unequal pay and job conditions due to her gender and age. Reporter Catherine Herridge filed ...
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Former head of Google China, Kai-fu Lee, insists—insists—that he is not happy that Google imploded its business in China. “Seeing the work that I put in, how could I be happy to see that?” he says. In fact, in a press release all about his incubator’s companies being built on top of Android he doesn’t use the G-word once. “Given the pull out, we’ll accept the situation and do our best,” he says humbly. Yeah, accept the situation like a fox.
As Lee begins to open up more about the types of companies being created at his incubator, Innovation Works, there’s a consistent theme—Android. Whether it’s address books, music programs, video games, maps, eCommerce marketplaces or e-readers, many of Lee’s companies are hoping to take advantage of the good things about Android—namely that it’s a free, robust operating system—but customize the core smartphone applications in a way that Google won’t or can’t.
It’s interesting that I had a conversation with Lee about this topic right about the time Google CEO Eric Schmidt was delivering a keynote touting that more than 200,000 Android-powered smartphones are activated daily, going beyond just the smartphone wielding “elite.” Lee would agree with everything his former boss said. It’s just that Google isn’t well positioned to make money off the apps and services in the world’s largest market. Oops.
Lee philosophically may have issues with the lack of openness in the Chinese Web, but it’s also giving him an advantage: The most popular applications for the Android phone like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter or Pandora aren’t available in China, and Google’s native apps may not be the top choice of manufacturers given the search engine’s stance on doing business in the country. So Innovation Works is collectively trying to build a new Web on top of the platform that’s customized for Chinese tastes.
For example, music services that show song lyrics as they play—an essential feature for China’s karaoke loving audience. Another example is a program that automatically enters different dialing prefixes that save money on calls to certain regions. Because 3G is so expensive in China, a video program called Wonderpod downloads videos onto your phone from your laptop at work, so you can watch them without having to stream them on the commute home. An eReader software company lets you read 60% of the book for free then asks for a payment to read the rest. Because of rampant piracy, there’s no chance of selling eBooks without giving anything away for free, but once people are hooked, if they enjoy it, they’ll pay for the rest of the book out of convenience, Lee argues. The incubator is making a few, broad platform plays with an Android-based operating system called Tapas, an analytics tool for developers called Umeng and Ascending Cloud, a publisher of social games.
At most, Lee’s mobile companies are getting a couple dollars per user for these apps so these ideas only become huge companies with massive scale. This can’t be just a game played for the top of the pyramid. And there’s no question in Lee’s mind that Android will be bigger in China than the iPhone, because the cost differential is much more pronounced. Because there aren’t many Android models in the US, hardware makers can price the phones close to the iPhone, but in manufacturing-heavy China prices will almost certainly be driven down much faster.
Lee says the Android devices coming out next year—including manufacturers his companies are working with—cost $200 to $300 per phone. He expects that to fall to around $100 the next year, and possible fall below $100 the year after that. The iPhone will never experience that kind of competitive pressure because only Apple makes it. (Although I could show you plenty of cheaper versions with the an Apple-like logo in the dodgy markets of Shenzhen…)
And there are no carrier subsidies in China, because 80% of phones are bought independently from airtime. So an iPhone will cost around $600. Already Android will enter the market at half the price. For a big swath of the Chinese population that will make a difference, especially if those prices can get under $100 per phone in just a few years with features more tailored for the market.
In a lot of ways, this is a strategy that would only work in China—it’s all about volume and counts on a market with hyper-aggressively competitive gadget manufacturing. But with billions of dollars in venture capital sloshing around China, the market to build the best mobile apps could be as cutthroat as the competition to win the hardware wars. Lee has recently inked some strategic partnerships with Foxconn, Chunghwa Telecom, MediaTek Inc and a raft of global investors to help his chances of being the one to profit from the opportunity.
He’s also moved Innovation Works from Google China’s building to a new location that features what any incubator needs—a hologram that greets you at the front door. I’m not kidding. He told his designer he needed it to look different than any other office and from the look of the pictures, he succeeded. His mobile bets are less certain. But if he wins he’ll have at least one guy to thank: Sergey Brin. A big juicy market opportunity is a lot better parting gift than a watch.
After 10 years of preaching the merits of search engine optimization to sceptical business owners, I’ve found there’s a new challenge in online marketing and it’s a funny one.
Nearly all business owners I meet think they should use social media marketing to promote their businesses, but a good number have a real aversion to using social networking channels.
I am finding many people are afraid that if they don’t start using social media they’ll end up behind their competition – or even that they are just going to be missing out on this ‘next big thing’. I’ll be called in for a consultation on using social media for a business, and after discussing the ins and outs of a successful social media campaign, I see there’s something not quite clicking — but as averse to using social media the client may be, he still feels that he must use it.
Do you convince such people that they need to push on, as social media marketing is a necessity these days, or is social media just not for everyone?
Whilst we’ve all heard the benefits of using social media to promote businesses, the dilemma is that using social media as an effective marketing tool also requires:
- some technical ability (albeit pretty basic);
- time, when you may already have issues with time management;
- putting yourself ‘out there’, the social aspect of social media is intimidating to many;
- creative writing skills;
- buy-in from management that may be concerned about dealing with unfriendly comments, time and money spent, etc.;
- a budget to hire a professional to get started or run your campaign, if you just cannot manage it internally.
Even after discussing the ways of managing all of these issues – sometimes over and over again – I still get resistance in many cases.
“I can’t see myself telling the world what I’m having for breakfast.”
“I just don’t get Facebook.”
“It’s just not ME!”
So I’ve become a Social Media Marketing Evangelist, and I’ve been able to convert nearly all of those ‘with little faith’ through:
- inspiring with case studies of related businesses that have shown real results through social media marketing;
- brain storming content ideas related to the areas of the business that the client is most passionate about;
- using channels that are most suited to the clients skills and interests – videos for YouTube may really excite a person less inclined to write blog posts;
- working out a time management plan that fits with the clients’ other responsibilities;
- identifying others that may assist the client (at no or low cost) – teenage children are a good resource for sole traders, while using a variety of staff members works in larger organisations;
- looking at the higher cost of alternative ‘traditional’ offline or PPC advertising;
- showing how to set a realistic budget for social media marketing in case professional assistance is needed on a regular basis;
- setting up tools for integrating accounts and automated posting;
- discussing the other benefits of using social media – communicating with and retaining existing customers, networking, keeping tabs on competitors, etc.;
- meeting the sceptical parties in an organisation to get their buy-in and discuss setting up a social media marketing plan and policy.
Usually at some point along this path I see the client become more comfortable with using social media. Most become full converts after signing on new clients and making more sales through their social media efforts, for example:
- a small business owner, who barely used email a year ago, is now happily chatting with prospective clients on Twitter on a daily basis;
- a sole trader that couldn’t see himself ‘rattling on about my daily habits online’, has a popular YouTube channel showing off his services;
- a marketing assistant that had to struggle with the business owner for the okay set up a social media campaign, now amazes him with the number of sales they get through their Facebook page and Twitter.
There are still those who just don’t get it and may never get it. They may have heartedly set up a Facebook Pages that is only posted to once a month, or Twitter accounts that have just the very first post from a training session. They are not going to see much result from such efforts and this will probably confirm their fears that Social Media Marketing is NOT for them or doesn’t work altogether.
Perhaps the super sceptics will have to take their chances using more traditional marketing methods, but as there has been such a shift in marketing practices toward using social media, they may very well fall behind their competitors and will have to come to terms with it sooner or later. In this case they are probably best off hiring a professional social media consultant to run their campaigns for them.
Social Media Marketing may not suit everyone initially, but it’s definitely something that business owners, marketing and sales staff do need to come to terms with to be competitive in the business world today.
bench craft company rip off
Bulletstorm dev talks down FPS fatigue <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net
Read our news of Bulletstorm dev talks down FPS fatigue.
THE MICROSOFT INVESTOR: Good <b>News</b>! Microsoft's Killing More Side <b>...</b>
It shouldn't be sweating things like Zune, and even search to some degree.
U.S. Sues Fox <b>News</b> Over Discrimination Claim -- Daily Intel
Federal lawyers are suing the Fox News Network over allegations that it retaliated against a female reporter after she claimed she was receiving unequal pay and job conditions due to her gender and age. Reporter Catherine Herridge filed ...
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Bulletstorm dev talks down FPS fatigue <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net
Read our news of Bulletstorm dev talks down FPS fatigue.
THE MICROSOFT INVESTOR: Good <b>News</b>! Microsoft's Killing More Side <b>...</b>
It shouldn't be sweating things like Zune, and even search to some degree.
U.S. Sues Fox <b>News</b> Over Discrimination Claim -- Daily Intel
Federal lawyers are suing the Fox News Network over allegations that it retaliated against a female reporter after she claimed she was receiving unequal pay and job conditions due to her gender and age. Reporter Catherine Herridge filed ...
bench craft company rip off bench craft company rip off
Bulletstorm dev talks down FPS fatigue <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net
Read our news of Bulletstorm dev talks down FPS fatigue.
THE MICROSOFT INVESTOR: Good <b>News</b>! Microsoft's Killing More Side <b>...</b>
It shouldn't be sweating things like Zune, and even search to some degree.
U.S. Sues Fox <b>News</b> Over Discrimination Claim -- Daily Intel
Federal lawyers are suing the Fox News Network over allegations that it retaliated against a female reporter after she claimed she was receiving unequal pay and job conditions due to her gender and age. Reporter Catherine Herridge filed ...
bench craft company rip off
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