China! China! --Read All About it--

When considering emerging markets China is one of the most dynamic for almost anything that can be sold. Its colossal population presents some of the greatest opportunities; however, due to the size it is sometimes very difficult to penetrate and gain exposure through traditional advertising via television and print. This is where the internet has been a real game changer for many firms.

Looking at the number of internet users and the major growth it almost seems to easy to use the internet in marketing new products and services. In 2000 china had roughly 22.5 million internet users. Fast-forward to 2010 and there is an astonishing increase to 420 million users! This means that over the last ten years there has been an increase of nineteen times to users in a relatively short period. This also represents a huge increase in the population penetration going from 1.7% in 2000 to 31.6% in 2010. With increases like this is it no wonder why companies like Google and Microsoft are scrambling to establish themselves in the Chinese search engine market.

With the 2010 numbers China has yet to see the peak of internet users it will likely experience. Being one of the major developing economies that most experts have dubbed BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) also means that the population has a rising amount of prosperity and disposable income. The internet juggernaut is highly desirable in terms of exposure because it is a given that any sort of media will reach numerous individuals.

As China’s economy progresses these numbers will likely continue to rise, and this could be one of the markets that truly makes or breaks some of the technological giants from the U.S. Even with huge brand equity and leverage Google has had to succumb to the Chinese government in terms of regulation because they know how important this market is and will be in the future.

China’s internet usage creates some promising opportunities, and I am sure that in the coming years we may have Chinese based firms penetrating the American market in unprecedented ways!

http://www.internetworldstats.com/asia/cn.htm

Is it a SmartCard or CreditPhone???

Do you think it would be possible to go a week, or even a day without using your cell phone? It’s OK, neither do I. And now it may become even harder to put down those convenient little devices down. In an age where applications can do everything from providing weather updates to purchasing concert tickets it seems fitting that the next logical step would be to enable your phone to make payment transactions for pretty much everything. In a very surprising alliance, AT&T Mobility, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless are currently joining forces with a company called Isis in an attempt to do just that.

The Isis network has over 200 million customers and is currently teaming up with Barclaycard as well as the previously mentioned mobile giants to create a contactless payment system for smartphones. It would be set up very similarly to a system like Blink, which allows customers to simply wave the device over a transaction point and have the payment take place automatically. This isn’t the first attempt at contactless credit card payments via mobile phones, - In fact Bank of America and Citigroup both have similar programs in the works – but it is the first time such an alliance has been made.

This could yield some major opportunities to invest in for the coming years; however, we have yet to see such a system really take off. After all, there are some major security tradeoffs. What would happen if you left your phone unguarded and it was stolen? What if your cell phone battery died? What if you simply misplaced you phone? There are still many factors to consider, but the bottom line is that these advances are going to be reshaping the mobile application industry in a major way!

Maybe our phones will end up becoming too convenient!


http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20110123/BUSINESS/101230312/1003/Phones-get-smarter

Mixtapes and Piracy

In the advent of the digital age internet piracy has been a hot topic for many law makers and pretty much any company that has a fiduciary interest in almost any type of media. Piracy affects everything from music to software to pictures and has been a major issue in fluctuating profit and revenue streams. With all of these negatives it seems that there are absolutely no advantages to what would be considered “Piracy”; however, piracy has been a major contributor to the success of many established artists.

I know what you are thinking – How can this be true?? Well I’ll explain. In the hip-hop music industry it is a widely accepted practice for DJs to take material recorded by artists and put it on what is called a “mixtape.” A mixtape can contain a variety of different music, but in many cases they contain music that is unreleased and not technically available for retail sale. DJs then distribute these mixtapes in a variety of ways including unauthorized retail sales, passing them out after shows, or just offering them as free music in different retail locations. This creates a “buzz’ for artists and is a huge marketing tool that is not directly paid for by any record company or promotion firm. Though this differs from traditional internet piracy, bottom line is, this has been one way that piracy has helped record sales.

These situations coupled with more common internet piracy have lead to the creation of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The RIAA basically attempts to control internet piracy and look out for the financial needs of the recording industry. They have been responsible for numerous record store fines and closures due to the sale of mixtapes purchased from third parties. It seems almost counterintuitive for the RIAA to do this since mixtapes are such a valuable marketing tool.

Though it would be extremely difficult to put an exact figure on the amount of revenue that has been generated based on mixtape promotions, it can be said that this has been a FREE tool that has helped artists gain major recognition. One of the best examples being Drake! It seems somewhat wrong that agencies like the RIAA have been allowed to fine and sue record stores that were giving their artists free promotion.

http://www.riaa.com/index.php

http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Entertainment/20101221/rap-mixtapes-101221/