Saturday, June 30, 2007

The iPhone is finally out

All the waiting, all the anticipation, fhe first Apple iPhones went on sale Friday at 6pm eastern time in the US. Its probably the most anticipated electronic device ever that had so much buzz from the day it was announced some 6 months ago. Without much advertising, it has generated termendous hype and buzz through all medium possibly made available on the internet. Kudos to Steve Jobs for once again creating the most sexiest multimedia device. To Nokia, Motorola and others, eat your heart out. I m confident that iPhone will live up to most of the hype and certainly set a new standard in designing future mobile device and redefine the concept of a truly multimedia communication device.

iPhone First Unboxing WirelessInfo.com

Friday, June 29, 2007

Mobile Internet is like what Internet used to be 10 years ago

For me the key points of similarity between the web in 1997 and the mobile internet today are:

- Narrow bandwidth
- High latency
- Browser wars
- Network operators trying to own the value chain, the same way ISP portals trying to own the value chain at one time
- Geeks going crazy about it and the rest of the world not knowing what its - look at the scepticism today from many quarters about whether mobile advertising can work
- Poor and lack of rich media content
- Poor user experience
- High data transmission cost

Noting the parallels in stage of development is not to deny the important differences between mobile and the wired internet. The complexity deepens with heterogeneity of devices and OS’s, plus the small screen and limited input capabilities make mobile more difficult, whilst the fact that it is always on, always with you (i.e. mobile), has a camera and knows your location give it extra dimensions of potential.

The tipping point on the wired internet came when broadband hit critical mass in terms of penetration and I believe and envision that it will probably be the same on mobile. While the road ahead seems positive and rosy, its definitely not a bed of roses. Its going to be a long and tough journey with lots of trials and errors before coming up with another Google's recipe of success. While some startups will strike it big but many would not just like how the rest of the dot com failures had succumbed.

Timing is everything for young startups and I believe its about time. Moving forward with the right business model, with the right people and most importantly with lots of passion and self determination, some of you may end up the next Google on mobile.

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Nielsen Buys Mobile Measurement Firm Telephia

As expected, Nielsen, the measurement and media firm, has bought out mobile measurement and metric firm Telephia. The company, based in San Francisco, was founded in 1998. It raise a big $38 million fourth round of funding back in 2001, and that was the last publicly-disclosed round. Its listed investors are here.

The deal comes three weeks after Nielsen unveiled Nielsen Wireless, to assess and measure mobile content, reports AdWeek. Telephia says it serves over 100 clients in the United States, Canada and Europe. More details on how Nielsen plans to develop mobile measurement effort in the release here.

This acquisition has come in the wake of an increased need for concrete metrics for marketers. The ongoing melding of traditional and digital advertising campaigns has created an interest in investment risk with emerging platforms such as everything mobile. These metrics would help carriers and providers to effectively monetize inventory.

Advertisers are willing to experiment and make fairly reasonable commitments to mobile advertising. But you can’t have a vibrant market until there are metrics around it to help folks understand what success means.

Russians send SMS to authenticate Vodka

Russians will be able to send text messages to ensure that the Vodka they are drinking is genuine. By sending the serial number of the bottle to a designated short code, they will get a response by SMS certifying (or not) the product.

The project is an initiative by State run Rosspirtprom, the company responsible for the sale of 60% of strong alcohol in the country and distributor of the top brands.

The sale of counterfeit vodka is a huge problem in Russia, not just because it hurts sales of the major brands, but because the counterfeit drinks are filled with cologne water, antifreeze liquids or pure alcohol and are responsiable for 40'000 deaths each year.

This should be a great idea for China too as counterfeiting of any kinds are really a serious problem in China. Short of cloning human, the local Chinese counterfeiters have the capabilities to reproduce anything to near perfection. Another classic example sms application.

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

A Parody of ‘Die Hard’ Returns to YouTube, Approved




The story seems familiar to online video users: fans create a parody video using pirated studio content and post it on YouTube, and the studio’s lawyers quickly have it removed for violating copyright law. But this time the studio’s marketing team relented —and even paid the fans to repost their video.

Last August, a New York-based “comic-rock” group named Guyz Nite created an online video for their song “Die Hard,” a rather worshipful three-minute guide to 20th Century Fox’s action-movie franchise starring Bruce Willis and within days Fox’s legal department requested that the video be removed from YouTube.

But guess what in February, with a fourth “Die Hard” movie on the horizon, Fox’s marketing department contacted the band and offered to pay it to repost the video, using additional video clips to promote the new film, “Live Free or Die Hard,” which opens on Wednesday. The new version of the video has been viewed almost 90,000 times on YouTube; the reposted old version has been viewed almost 100,000 times.

Creating a viral video is something that’s incredibly difficult and if its really working well for the intellectual property owners, I cant see why they should not create a win win partnership with the content creators to take it to the next level.

You are Priceless

I think many of you would had came across this before but i thought its good to remind you again how priceless you are. Its really meaningful and here is how it goes.

A well known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a $20 bill. In the room of 200, he asked. “Who would like this $20 bill?”

Hands started going up. He said, “I am going to give this $20 to one of you - but first, let me do this.”

He proceeded to crumple the 20 dollar note up. He then asked. “Who still wants it?” Still the hands were up in the air.

“Well,” he replied, “what if I do this?” He dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now crumpled and dirty. “Now, who still wants it?”
Still the hands went into the air.

“My friends, you have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20.

Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we are worthless; but no matter what happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value. Dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are still priceless to those who love you. The worth of our lives comes, not in what we do or who we know, but by …WHO WE ARE.

You are Priceless - don’t ever forget it.

Monday, June 25, 2007

My Son's 9th Birthday Party

Time flies so quickly and in a blink of an eye my prince has just turned 9 years old (actual day is 26/6). No longer a baby he used to be. No longer a baby that I could carry in my arms. He is a young man now but whatever you may think son, you will always be Papa's baby.

I hope you liked the present that I had given you and though Papa wasnt at your birthday party, I m sure you had all the fun with mummy and your friends being around you. Papa could only wished to be there and I look forward to see you soon in Shanghai. Happy birthday son and papa as always miss you and love you no matter where I m.
Check out the video clip below.



Posting Your Résumé on YouTube

Have you thought of doing this before? If you havent, i think its high time you should consider posting your resume on YouTube if you are looking for a new job.

28-year-old David McMillan is an underemployed Hollywood writer, looking for a job as staff writer on a show. Tired of relying on the normal channels, this year he decided to take action and made a video pitch describing "the top ten reasons why you should hire me to write for your show" and then posted it on YouTube last week. The LA Times reports.

This is probably one of the best way to pitch yourself to your future employers after all its definitely more convincing than to email your resume. A short intro on video will provide great insights about yourself. I cant see any other better way to pitch yourself than to be recorded live infront on a video cam and publish it online.

This is definitely going to be the trend as more home computers can now handle streaming video; before, it was clunky and recruiters want to reach workers where they are, and younger job candidates like YouTube. The amateurish videos on YouTube carry an aura of authenticity appealing to a generation jaded by slick media.

This video clip below is great. How can you not get hired after this!! You are definitely qualified with unique talents. Good luck David.

Donald Trump's $125 Million Home is The Most Expensive House in America

This 18 bedroom 22 bathroom is considered the most expensive home in the U.S. With a price tag of $125 million, this 80,000 square foot mansion is owned by none other that Donald Trump. Reports say that he originally purchased it for around $40 million. Check out the clip below for the details.

Guide to Emerging Ad Networks

To help you cut through the complexity today's niche ad networks, here are brief descriptions of the major characteristics, each one accompanied by a list of ad networks that fit the descriptions.

RSS feeds and blogs

RSS feeds and blogs represent a seldom-used opportunity for publishers to better monetize their content. A year or two ago, there was debate over whether advertising in feeds was viable and, if so, if it was it worth it or would it repel subscribers? Google's entrance into the marketplace helped validate the model when it acquired Feedburner last month. Feedburner, as well as Pheedo, provides enabling technologies for advertisers to insert their feed into outside RSS feeds. They also represent a network of sites with RSS feeds that can be bought by advertisers, which allows advertisers to dynamically insert both text and graphics into the network of feeds.

Targeting, for the most part, can be done contextually by category of sites. The most effective RSS advertising is related to the feed's content and is content-driven.

CPM rate cards range from approximately $5 to $15 for B2C-focused feeds and $15 to $50 for B2B-focused feeds, depending on the degree of targeting.

Examples include:
FeedBurner (acquired by Google)
Google AdSense (in Beta)

Podcasts

As of April of this year, Apple's iPod has sold more than 100 million units worldwide, making it the most successful digital audio player in history. In addition to the success of the iPod, there are multiple MP3 players available to consumers and mobile devices now that phones are progressively more equipped to store digital content such as music and video. As a result, there is a marked increase in the amount of downloadable, serialized short-form content such as podcasts.

As with RSS advertising, one of the major advantages is that the media environment is still uncluttered. Additionally, an advertiser can reach an active, engaged audience because consumers have self-selected themselves as subscribers. Deploying ads on podcasts is becoming simpler as well, as companies like Fruitcast have begun to emulate the Google AdSense model of a pay-per-click, automated marketplace.

Examples include:

Mobile advertising

Advertising on mobile phones is perhaps one of the most complicated, least understood potential marketing platforms. One of the factors contributing to its complexity is the number of players involved in deploying ads on mobile phones. Unlike web advertising, which operates on the principles of an open network, mobile advertising is constrained by the carriers. The dream of geo-relevant, targeted advertising on mobile platforms can only be unlocked by carriers agreeing to share that information, which is highly unlikely in the short-term given the privacy issues involved. However, despite some of these barriers there is strong incentive for carriers to offset content development and data delivery costs through advertising. Sprint, through its partnership with Enpocket, is the first carrier to offer on-deck advertising on its network.

Another factor contributing to the complexity relates to the creative demands presented by mobile advertising. Advertising on WAP requires maintaining a WAP presence that consumers can click to. As a result, the best opportunity for mobile advertising is to reinforce mobile goals (such as building traffic to a WAP site) and use mobile messages to complement other marketing channels. Targeting is primarily contextual, although the networks also offer daypart, device and carrier targeting and frequency caps.

Mobile advertising also faces the same challenges as the other categories mentioned: namely, reach and scale. To address these challenges, there are now numerous mobile networks that have sprung up to ease the complexity and offer advertisers the ability to deploy mobile ads across multiple devices, platforms and sites. The challenge for these networks is not related to pricing. Rather, the networks must prove the value proposition of mobile advertising.

Examples include:
Greystripe (mobile games)
Third Screen Media (owned by AOL)

In-game advertising

It's no secret that the television networks are losing young men (ages 18-34) as they spend more time online and playing games. This is one of the reasons in-game advertising is so attractive to brands trying to reach this elusive demographic. It's also one of the reasons Yankee Group estimates that the in-game advertising market will grow to $732 million by 2010.

In-game advertising offers an engaged, active audience. Additionally, for many games, such as racing and sports, advertising enhances the reality of the virtual world. Consumers expect advertising in these ecosystems because it mirrors real-world environments. As long as the advertising is relevant and natural, it seems to be welcomed by audiences and even seems to perform better than other ad forms. A recent study by Forrester found that recall rates for in-game ads ranged from 30-40 percent compared to an average of 10 percent for television advertising.

There is a wide range of creative inserted into gaming environments, including billboards, posters, video, audio and sometimes even avatars or characters. However, in the past, most of those product placements had to be hard-coded into the game itself and couldn't be changed. The in-game ad networks not only offer advertising opportunities across multiple games, but they also offer insertion technology that allows marketers to serve their ads dynamically and in real-time.

Examples include:Adscape (acquired by Google)
Massive Inc. (acquired by Microsoft)

Video advertising networks

Of all the emerging ad platforms, video advertising is perhaps the one category that holds the most promise and is seeing the greatest increase in demand. While demand is strong, one of the challenges is growing the amount of available inventory. However, as broadband continues to expand and consumers increasingly demand more video content online, the issue of scale becomes less troublesome.

While online video advertising shows the most potential and strong demand from advertisers, it is not without other challenges. Like most of these emerging categories, the devil is in the details. Deployment is still a challenge, despite the emergence of networks designed to help marketers execute video smoothly.

One of the major frustrations cited by many marketers is the ability to synchronize their online video delivery with the ads delivered into the units adjacent to the video. Since consumers are unlikely to take action while watching pre-roll or interstitial video ads, it's crucial for marketers that publishers are also able to serve ads into the adjacent ad units, so consumers can take action at their leisure. Unfortunately, many advertisers report there is very little integration between the video advertising and the adjacent units. Currently, few publishers use the same technology to deliver their pre-roll advertising and their on-site advertising. As a result, analyzing the efficacy on video advertising is an exercise in futility. There is a lack of standardization for delivery, reporting and analysis. Additionally, advertisers uncomfortable with marketing on consumer-generated media should strongly consider if online video networks are appropriate for them.

Despite these complexities, the richness afforded by online video is proving irresistible to advertisers that are eager to exploit their television assets online. CPMs for online video tend to range from $15 to $40, significantly higher than television CPMs but are likely to drop as online video becomes a mainstream tactic. The explosion of online video networks, as well as the incorporation of video offerings on traditional web ad networks, bodes well for the future of online video, as does the upsurge in consumer usage. The primary challenge is offering a simplified, standardized solution to advertisers.

Examples include:
IVN (owned by Interep Interactive)

Sunday, June 24, 2007

How to Sell Soap

A short video clip about how to sell more soaps via viral marketing. Its definitely a simple and yet creative way to explain what viral marketing is.

The smallest PC in the World

It measures just 2 x 2 x 2.2 inches, which is apparently enough volume for 64 MB of SDRAM and a CPU that can go as fast as 300 MHz. As for what else is on board, we'll wait for our Japanese analysts' final report, but the Space Cube (Model SEMC5701B) has a remarkable number of connectors, including ports for a monitor, serial connection, USB, microphone, Ethernet, flash memory, and something called "Space Wire." Further examination of the company's Web site, however, reveals the Space Cube may not be the smallest PC on planet Earth, with its little brother, the SEMC5071A, measuring a mere 2 x 2 x 1.8 inches.

The smallest PC in the world 2.1 x 2.1 x 1.8, via Random Good Stuff

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Microsoft Big ASS Table Computing

Check out this Microsoft Surface Computing clip and have a good laugh at it. Eat your heart out APPLE.

Amazing Amateur Opera Singer

Talents are definitely all over the place and here is another true demonstration. Paul, a salesman at UK's CarPhone Warehouse surely had proved that there are way too many hidden talents in each of us. Of course Paul went on to win the Britain's Got Talent contest. He is truly an inspiration and had touched me. Check out this clip below as I m sure you will be touched too.

Apple launches iPhone guided tour

Apple has posted a 24 minute long iPhone guided tour.

This tour provides the longest look yet at iPhone’s capabilities and details how to use the phone for various tasks. It works through all of the applications including the recently announced YouTube support.

Click here to view the video online or download a copy in QuickTime format.

The ABC's of Mobile Marketing

If you're unfamiliar with the mobile space's players and ecosystem, selecting the ideal mobile partner can be daunting. This column will explain the mobile value chain and provides some questions for you -- the brand or agency -- to ask your prospective mobile partners, prior to making any selection decisions.

Although many players in the space are integrating across the value chain, there are four main elements:

Products and services.
Includes brands, agencies, and third-party content providers. These are the companies seeking collaboration and partnership with others within the value chain. We also see the emergence of mobile agencies and the creation of mobile divisions within larger agencies, which help with the end-to-end decisions around the mobile campaign. Depending on your needs, the mobile agencies may be what you're looking for.

Mobile ASPs (define).
Includes application and technology providers, along with the MASP. The MASP is the mobile partner that can provide a complete, one-stop solution for a mobile campaign, including mobile storefronts, campaign planning, and connectivity.
Connection. Includes aggregators and wireless operators. Many players in the mobile space are focused on connection only. Many MASPs are partnered with these companies, and thus connection players don't need to be contacted directly (although, again, it depends on your needs).

Media and retail.
Includes brick-and-mortar, e-tail, and so on.

Many brands are baffled. With so many companies to choose from and so many differences between the companies, how can you possibly find the right partner? It's best to first determine the capabilities you're looking for, then develop a checklist so you can narrow the selections and determine the partner that's right for you. According to Nihal Mehta, CEO of ipsh!, finding the right partner is one of the most important decisions you can make when choosing to integrate mobile into your cross media campaign. "Finding the right partner in the Mobile Marketing space makes the difference between a successful campaign and a complete flop," says Nihal.

Develop a checklist that includes the elements important to you and your company. Also ensure you include the following:

- How many campaigns has your mobile company launched? With which companies and brands? The number of campaigns and the size of the brands a company's worked with helps you understand its level of expertise. A partner should provide you with a list of contact companies and brands it's worked with, along with references.

- What are your company's customer care resources? Do I receive a dedicated account manager or support person? This should include number of support individuals, response times, levels of care (SLAs), and so forth. For those who appreciate personalized service, understanding if the same individual will be involved throughout your campaign may be important.

- Does your company provide proactive monitoring and reporting on my campaign? For example, does the company provide statistics and information throughout the campaign, or only at the end? Is this information available via a client extranet or must you depend on the agency to supply this data? Answers to these questions are important as ongoing feedback will help you understand and tweak the campaign throughout (iterative feedback and refinement).

- To what extent is the mobile company focused on your particular niche? If you're a player in the business-to-business (B2B) space, does the mobile partner understand how you do business? If you're a nonprofit, does your mobile partner understand the intricate nature of grassroots fundraising and donor management? If you're a large brand marketer, does your mobile partner understand all the channels you speak through and can it help augment them with a mobile program that works in concert?

- What types of services are offered? Is the partner company a mobile agency, an aggregator, other? Can you provide Web-related development that brings a mobile program to life or help to guide this process? How does its services match to your specific needs? For example, will you look to the partner company to execute creative and strategic direction in addition to connectivity?

In this case, developing a needs checklist is important in assessing a potential partner company. Be honest about which services you need and which you don't. If you're looking for creative input, ensure you pick a company that values creativity and personalization.

- Can the mobile partner help determine the campaign objectives through an ROI (define) calculation or other quantitative or qualitative means? This will help you determine if your mobile partner understands what your needs and priorities are prior to the campaign launch. Some mobile companies specialize in certain vertical segments. If you're looking for expertise for your vertical, ask around.
- What wireless carriers do you have direct or indirect connectivity to? Depending on your campaign, this is an important question if you're planning to launch nationwide or global campaigns across all carriers, or only with one carrier, standard or premium rate.
- How stable is the partner company? What are the funding and employee count, and how long has the company been in operation? What's its core focus and competencies (e.g., aggregation, licensing, creative, etc.)? If you're considering a long-term partnership for your mobile initiatives, these are important questions to ask. There are a large number of both established and new entrants in the space.

Source: Laura Marriott,ClickZ
Read article here

Friday, June 22, 2007

Google Phone To Be Launched Soon

With all eyes on the Apple iPhone, Google is about to pull a nice publicity with the launch of a Google Phone from LG.

To be available in Europe the Google phone is pretty much an LG Chocolate with Google apps integrated.

Google's strong search services are just one click away.
Features:
Simlar to the LG Chocolate
Price £200
Google search hot key
3 Google major applications, search, email and maps, incorporated into phone
MP3 player
2 megapixel camera
Video phone
Bluetooth
The device sports a red-on-black color scheme not unlike LG's popular Chocolate phone, but it's larger, sporting a 2in widescreen LCD, the better to view Google's web properties, accessed through a fast 3G connection.

The KU-580 has an FM radio and an MP3 player - controlled with dedicated playback keys - along with Bluetooth stereo and 3D sound enhancement. LG even said it has a song-writing app for budding musos. There's a two-megapixel camera on the back and a smaller snapper on the front for video calls.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Simple Introduction to RSS

Many of you would probably know whats a RSS and if you dont, take a look at the clip below and I m sure you will find out whats a RSS in simple plain English. Its definitely a much better and efficient way to aggregate information.

World's most expensive cities 2007

Taken from CNN, Moscow has been crowned World's most expensive cities 2nd time in a row thanks to appreciation of the Ruble against the US dollars. I guess most of you would had thought Tokyo or London being the most expensive. I wonder when will the city of Shanghai moves to the top 10, its definitely aint cheap to live in Shanghai too. Here is why Moscow is the champion.

A luxury two-bedroom in Moscow now rents for $4,000 a month; a CD costs $24.83, and an international newspaper, $6.30, according to Mercer. By comparison, a fast food meal with a burger is a steal at $4.80. Best to read online news and listen to online music than to buy a newspaper and CD.

1. Moscow
2. London
3. Seoul
4. Tokyo
5. Hong Kong
6. Copenhagen
7. Geneva
8. Osaka
9. Zurich
10. Oslo
11. Milan
12. St. Petersburg
13. Paris
14. Singapore
15. New York City
16. Dublin
17. Tel Aviv
18. Rome
19. Vienna
20. Beijing

Source : Mercer

Ogilvy China Digital Watch Launched

Kaiser Kuo, the man behind the excellent Ich Bin Ein Beijinger blog, has also masterminded a very informative new blog about digital media in China for his employer--Ogilvy China. You can read Ogilvy China Digital Watch in either English or Chinese.

Kaiser is Group Direct of Oglivy China Digital Strategy team and former Red Herring China Bureau Chief, his experience in journalism and marketing is guarantee of the quality of this new blog.

Its a must for all you readers out there.

Monday, June 18, 2007

Top 25 Marketing Blogs

Mack Collier over at The Viral Garden has updated his famous list of Marketing focused blogs to reflect Technorati rank vs. Alexa. The blogs are ranked by the number of sites that link back to them. Here's how it looks:

1 - Creating Passionate Users - 8,460

2 - Seth's Blog - 8,452

3 - Gaping Void - 3,728

4 - Logic + Emotion - 1,406

5 - Daily Fix - 947

6 - Converstations - 914

7 - Drew's Marketing Minute - 800

8 - The Viral Garden - 742

9 - Jaffe Juice - 736

10 - Church of the Customer - 710

11 - Diva Marketing - 706

12 - Duct Tape Marketing - 701

13 - Servant of Chaos - 671

14 - What's Next - 666

15 - Influential Interactive Marketing - 651

16 - Hee-Haw Marketing - 648

17 - Brand Autopsy - 618

18 - Community Guy - 571

19 - Flooring the Customer - 563

20 - CrapHammer - 560

21 - Customers Rock! - 547

22 - Shotgun Marketing - 534

23 - Coolzor - 532

24 - CK's Blog - 525

25 - Tell Ten Friends - 521

Interesting. What do you think of the list?

Amazing 6 Years Old Singer

She is not only adorable, she has the voice of an angel. You have got to hear this to believe it. I m sure British Connie Talbot will impress all of you. At 6 years old, she has got the voice that will put tears to your eyes. Its one of the most heartwarming clip i have seen for a long time. Enjoy it.

Sunday, June 17, 2007

Size of China's Online Marketing

According to iResearch, the market size of China's online marketing (including online Ad. and search marketing) reached 6 billion RMB, an increase of 44% from 4.17 billion RMB in 2005. Two market segments, online Ads and search engine marketing, had chalked up impressively 4.66 billion and 1.35 billion RMB in 2006 respectively.

What is Enterprise 2.0

Take a look at this presentation from Scott Gavin titled "What is Enterprise 2.0"? It uses a persona based approach to tell a story. There are millions of people who work and live just like Charlie. There are also millions of people that work alongside of Charlie who may do things very differently than he does.

This helps us think about those differences and makes us ask ourselves—"what would Charlie do"?

The Digital World in 2050



This is really an interesting insight about the future of the internet. How is it going to evolve? Who are the big players in 2050?

I don't see all of it happening as predicted but its a interesting video about the future. Is this the way it's going to go? What do you think?

Saturday, June 16, 2007

Dispelling Mobile Myths

Taken from a blog by Tomi T Ahonen who is a four-time bestselling author and consultant, lecturing at Oxford on high tech and convergence.

Tomi exposed some of the mobile myths and he went on to dispell some of the widely-held misunderstandings on it. Here are the summary.

Size
- Mobile telecoms is larger than its 100 year older fixed landline telecoms business.
- The mobile telecoms traffic industry alone (excluding handset and network equipment sales) is worth about 650 Billion dollars annually making it larger also than the IT industry (or the advertising industry for that matter). If we add handsets and network equipment, the industry is nearing the Trillion Dollar annual level, which is the rough size of the global automobile industry for example.
- There were 2.7 billion mobile phone subscriptions at the end of last year - twice as many as fixed landline phones in the world; twice as many people have a mobile phone as have a credit card; almost twice as many as have a TV set; three times as many mobile phones in the world as all PCs in use, meaning all laptops, desktops and servers combined. For the most ubiquitous device, a mobile phone is the most widely spread technology on the planet.

Growth
- They sell almost 1 billion phones per year.
- the phone replacement cycle is down to 18 months compared with 42 months for personal computers.
- New growth in mobile is much in the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China) and Africa is the next big market.
- European mobile phone penetration is at over 105% per capita (and still growing), leading countries like Taiwan, Hong Kong, Israel and Italy are at 125% per capita (and still growing). America has reached 80% penetration and is nowhere near saturation.
- The rapid replacement also means very volatile tastes by a fickle buying public.

Generation C (Community Generation) prefer mobile
- they love their Playstation Portables and iPods but the number one gadget for any kid is the mobile phone.
- 48% of UK teenagers admit to sending text messages while talking to another person
- 37% admit to avoiding contacts by their parents made to their phone ie the kids screen the calls and don't answer sometimes if the parent calls.
- More than half of Belgian teenagers have awoken at night to an incoming text message from friends; 20% regularly do.
- 39% of British under 14 year olds use their phone as a toy (in playing).
- But for all its addiction to the mobile phone, please don't assume Gen-C is exclusively on mobile, Generation Community is exceptionally aware of multiple overlapping networks and will optimize. Mobile may be most important, but mobile is not their only channel. On the other hand, the top 10% of British students send over 100 text messages every day; in South Korea already 30% of students average over 100 text messages daily.

SMS
- the most used data application on the planet, with more than 1.8 billion people using SMS text messaging
- twice as many active users as email users on the internet
- 99% of all mobile phones able to receive SMS text messages today
- reach more than 3 times larger audience via SMS than you can via email.
- the most addictive of any communication tools - as addictive in fact as cigarette smoking.
- SMS texting is worth over 80 Billion dollars worldwide and generates 90% profit.
- Brits send 6 SMS per person, South Koreans send 10, Singaporeans 12 and the Philippinos 15 SMS text messages on average every day.

Most advanced mobile
- The countries with most advanced mobile services are South Korea and Japan.
- highest sustained broadband speeds.
- lowest costs of broadband
- South Korea and Japan lead the rest of the world in the mobile internet experience.
- In South Korea half of all music sold is not only digital (like under 10% in the USA is on iTunes) but in South Korea 45% of all music is sold directly to musicphones.
- In Japan 54% of consumers willingly accept advertising to mobile phones, and the ads are so compelling that 44% of Japanese consumers actively click on ads.
- Japan is already reporting further that total amount of internet use is more frequent on mobile than on PCs; and that while sales of mobile continue to grow, Japan became the first industrialized country where PC sales turned into decline last year - as more and more Japanese consumers now migrate to the mobile internet.
- It is important to note, that both Japan and South Korea are not the most evolved mobile telecoms countries, as still today, their mobile phone penetration rates are below the industrialized world average.

Most evolved countries
- the leading markets for mobile phones changing society continue to the Nordic countries, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark.
- Italy, Israel, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong are also very advanced in how much society is changing due to mobile; with UK, Austria, Portugal, Netherlands very closely following those. For example, 54% of Helsinki public transportation single tickets to the trams and subways are paid by mobile; Finnish libraries and dentist offices etc send alerts to their customers via SMS. Singapore decided last year that all e-government initiatives will be enabled via mobile phone (and accessed by SMS). But innovative countries in mobile are all over - in Slovenia all vending machines, all taxis, all McDonald's restaurants etc accept payment by mobile. In South Africa you can have your full paycheck sent to you onto your mobile phone.

Mobile Internet
- The fixed internet is 13 years old, reaches 1.1 billion internet users generating an enormous amount of traffic on free sites, but the content industry on the fixed internet is worth $25 billion.
- The fixed internet derives its greatest paid content revenues from adult entertainment and gambling.
- The mobile internet is only 8 years old, reaches a potential of 2.7 billion users with mobile content generating $31 billion.
- the largest paid mobile content categories are music and social networking on mobile.
- The mobile data industry is not only more mature or "healthy."

Media migration to mobile
- sic industry clearly is migrating now to mobile
- music sold on mobile is 8 times larger than all music sold online including iTunes
- Videogaming is migrating to mobile (videogames already generate 50% more revenues than videogaming on the internet/broadband).
- Virtual societies, social networking, digital communities - is already twice the size on mobile as on fixed internet.
- Magazines, newspapers are migrating towards mobile.
- TV and radio will be on mobile.
- Advertising is discovering mobile. Hollywood movies see their future on the fourth screen (mobile) and now even the books publishing/printing industry is witnessing a move to mobile.

The Parody of Dove Evolution - Slob Evolution

Ogilvy developed a campaign for Dove called "Dove Evolution" that garnered "over half a billion downloads" worldwide. The campaign was such a hit that it even spurred a hilarious parody in the form of "Slob Evolution." As it turns out, Dove wasn't upset, but flattered by it. That seems to be the healthy attitude for a brand, don't you think?


This is the Original Dove Evolution


This is the parody - Slob Evolution

Friday, June 15, 2007

Another Mobile Marketing Company Snapped Up

Marvellous Mobile has been acquired by Aegis in a deal said to be worth £10m.

Marvellous had been working closely with Isobar, part of Aegis, for around a year on The Sprite Yard, a mobile content platform and interactive community for The Coca-Cola Company. It launched in China earlier this year and will be introduced in the US next month.

The purchase by Aegis is further proof of how seriously digital agencies are starting to take mobile marketing and I dont think it will be long before Omnicom, WPP, Interpublic and Publicis making their acquisitions.

Earlier this year Microsoft bought Screentonic while AOL acquired mobile ad serving platform Third Screen Media.

China needs more Surnames

The Chinese finally realized they have a problem with surnames and action is required. 85% of the 1.3 billion people share just 100 surnames...including 93 million people with the same last name - Wang.

92 million are named Zhang and 88 million are named Li.

Chen, Zhou, Lin and four others have at least 20 million each.

100,000 people have the same name - Wang Tao.

A new proposal will allow parents to be able to combine their last surnames for their children, opening up some 1.28 million new possibilities.

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Mobile Marketing via Bluetooth: Why it won’t work effectively

Time and time again, we get requests for “Bluetooth blasting”…. you know, the process of sending out messages to everybody in the area inviting them to your store/restaurant/club/whatever.

Quite honestly, it’s time to set the record straight: it ain’t gonna work effectively. Sure, it would be great, but carriers, technology, and the public aren’t going to allow it, and here’s why:

1. In order for Bluetooth blasting to work, you need your recipient to have….Bluetooth! Right now, there are still alot of mobile that doesnt support the technology.

2. While you may have Bluetooth on your phone, in order to receive “location based alerts”, your Bluetooth has to be turned on (most people probably don’t even know they have Bluetooth, let alone know how to turn it on), and set to “free association”, meaning you want your handset to talk to everything, not just your hands-free headset, or your car. Most bluetooth on most mobile phones are turn off by default!

3. Bluetooth has a limited range of 30 feet. If you fall outside of that, no ad! Additionally, to push ads, the advertiser needs to invest in expensive “Bluetooth broadcasters” costing as much as $2,000 or more apiece. Most of my bluetooth proposal will get shot down after looking at the costs of the implementation.

In the end, who wants it anyway? Its never effective though I must admit that there are some exemptions. Its great when its part of an overall marketing mix strategy. Mobile Marketing has to provide marketing tools that engage the consumer and we want people who would like to receive these messages. Everything we do is opt-in. The last thing we want to do is spam your phone with Bluetooth blasts.

Bluetooth marketing will only be effective if its tastely and properly communicated to the mobile user. Without proper communication, the end result would be nothing but just bluetooth spams. At the end of the day, you are better off with proper targeted mobile marketing campaign that had a better reach to a larger market. With better connectivity over mobile these days, files of any sizes and formats can be streamed directly to the end user. Bluetooth marketing providers should start to think harder how to create more compelling propositions to stay ahead.

Top 25 Commercial Cities in China

Taken from PanAsianBiz this figure provides useful information on the top 25 largest commercial cities.

Top 25 Commercial Cities in China according to Forbes Inc. are :

Shanghai, Guangzhou, Ningbo, Hangzhou, Yantai, Jinhua, Beijing, Jinan, Dongguan, Shenzhen, Wuxi, Tianjin, Fuzhou, Yueyang, Dalian, Nanjing, Wuhan, Qingdao, Chengdou, Wenzhou, Suzhou, Zhanjiang, Wulumuqi, Weihai, Xiamen.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

PARIS IN JAIL: The Super Funny and Sexy Music Video

I’ve not seen such a sexy and funny video for a long while! The video was added on June 06, and during that 5 days period, the video has been viewed for 2,945,506 times and increasing and there’ve been well over 10,000 comments left, which just gives you an idea how popular it is.

In this video, a Paris Hilton looks-like sings the funny lyrics about Paris’ prison ordeal (and other things she’s famous for) to the original “Stars Are Blind” tune by the A Simple Life star. The video is professionally done by people at oMovies.com, the lyrics is well written.

Not a bad Paris Hilton body double! What do you think guys?

China is the Largest Arms Spender in Asia

Not only is China accumulating alot of wealth, China is also accumulating Arms too. In its annual report on military forces around the globe, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), International arms sales have grown since 2002, with China and India being the biggest importers and the U.S. and Russia the two major exporters.

The United States remained the world's biggest military spender last year, devoting about $529 billion to arms, while China overtook Japan as Asia's top arms spender. China's growing military expenditures reached nearly $50 billion, making it the fourth biggest arms spender in the world and Japan was fifth with $43.7 billion.

Sometimes I wonder with so much wealth accumulated and so much more money spent on national security, how come China isnt doing enough to improve national healthcare and education in this country. I always thought that the welfare of the people must come first. With good education and good healthcare, China will be well positioned for the future.

Google China team up with Sina

Taken from Reuters, Google China and Sina announced an important partnership for each other today. They will cooperate on search, news and advertising service. Sina has added Google search service into its website, which will direct Sina’s search traffic to Google.

This partnership is beneficial for Google as it will facilitate them to discuss future business partnership with many potential partners in China.

As for Sina, this partnership would strengthen their search offering after all their own search strategy hasnt been much of a success and Sina can refocus on its online advertising business, while enjoying an important share of search advertising revenue from Google’s Adwords/Adsense service, thus increasing Sina’s revenue and bottom line.

Looks like Google is finally getting somewhere in China. Google has been expanding its presence and investing in local tech start-ups, as part of its long term China strategy.

$1,200,000,000,000 (Trillion) in National Reserves

CHINA is way too impressive by any standard.

Taken from Bloomberg, China's trade surplus rose a bigger- than-estimated 73 percent in May from a year earlier, increasing pressure on the government to allow faster currency gains.The gap widened to $22.45 billion, the customs bureau said on its Web site.

The median estimate of 18 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for a $19.5 billion surplus. For the first five months, the surplus grew 84 percent to $85.72 billion.Surging exports spurred economic growth of 11.1 percent in the first quarter and drove foreign-exchange reserves to a record $1.2 trillion.

China is recording monthly growth in trade surplus and it looks like this is going to continue for a while and I dont expect this to slow down. I just wonder how big will China's national reserves be in 10 years from now. Probably they can own half the world and still have pocket change to spare.

Monday, June 11, 2007

How NOT to use Powerpoint

Creative presentations?

I don’t know about you, but I used to love presentations. Always amazing how simple ideas can be turned into powerful propositions just with simple words and pictures. Its a great software and certainly helped me to think and present better. But these days, i think the standard of presentation had dropped tremendously since.

Don McMillan gives a short comedy sketch (in the video above) around powerpoint presentations and the common mistakes that people make.

The Human Tetris Game

When it comes to creativity on tv games, the japanese has to be the best. This is really hilarious. Check out the video below.

Sunday, June 10, 2007

$7,000 for a Mobile Phone the size of a brick

MSN has a history of cellphones in pictures which is quite interesting. From those military backpacks that were heavy bricks to the new HTC Touch and upcoming Apple IPhone, mobile phones have certainly evolved. Technology is moving at a very fast pace - with new digital networks, voice over IP, and smartphones. Will phones replace wallets and credit cards moving society to a cashless form where all things are digital? Time will tell….

Lets travel down the memory lane and and check out what mobile phones were like then as i m sure many of you had little recollection of what it was. My 1st experience of a mobile phone was back in 1985 and I could recall it clearly being a Motorola. It was massive in size by current standard (almoast the size of a brick) but in 1985 it was a work of art and only the elite groups could have one. The price for a mobile phone then was about US$7,ooo and you can even have it insured just incase.

In 1985, you could buy a small flat or even a car with $7,000. In those days, many could only wished to have one. The call quality over the analog connection was poor as its almost close to walkie talkie quality and the call charges wasnt cheap too but the idea of mobility was just great.

It was a symbol of success for many to own one then. I m sure some of you must had seen back in the 80s, businessmen were carrying mobile phones with sizes ranging from bricks to briefcase everywhere they go. It was an amazing sight to see mobile phones the size of bricks spreading all over the meeting table and people yakking on top of their voice to make sure others could see them talking on the mobile. Even my dad had one in the 80s but he had opted for a mobile car phone as he didnt like the idea of carrying a 20 pound gorrila into his meeting. The phone was installed in his BMW and comes with a external speaker so that he could hear his phone ringing even if he is not in his car. Just to give you a picture of how loud the external speaker was, it was loud enough to draw every single person's attention within a 20 meter radius at least. (hahahah)

These days the design of mobile phones have to be small enough to fit into pockets or handbags. Not only that, it must also be small and pack with features like messaging, camera, audio and video players, organizers and god knows what will future design will come up with. But back then, it could only do voice call and the call quality in comparison to current standard is no where near crisp. Mobile technology had certainly advanced with credits going to Nokia, Motorola and Ericson who were the real pioneers who had made it a reality.

Hefty: Motorola DynaTAC 8000X (1982)

In 1973, Motorola showed off a prototype of the world's first portable cellular telephone. That phone, which measured more than a foot long, weighed almost 2 pounds, and cost $3995, ultimately became commercial available in 1983. Known as the Motorola DynaTAC 8000X, its battery could provide 1 hour of talk time, and its memory could store 30 phone numbers. It may not have been pretty, but it did let you talk while on the go--if you could lift it, that is.Heftier: Nokia Mobira Senator (1982)

It may look more like a boombox than a portable phone, but this boxy, bulky device was actually Nokia's first mobile (if you can call it that) phone. Introduced in 1982, the Nokia Mobira Senator was designed for use in cars. After all, you wouldn't want to use this phone while walking: It weighed about 21 pounds.

Ahead of Its Time: Motorola StarTAC (1996)
Before the Motorola StarTAC was introduced in 1996, cell phones were more about function than fashion. But this tiny, lightweight phone ushered in the concept that style was just as important, ultimately paving the way for today's sleek-looking phones like the Motorola Razr. This 3.1-ounce clamshell-style phone, which could easily be clipped to a belt, was the smallest and lightest of its time. In fact, it was smaller and lighter than many of today's teeny-tiny cell phones.

DotComs Ran on These: Nokia 6160 (1998) or Nokia 8260 (2000)

In the late 1990s, Nokia's candybar-style cell phones were all the rage. Sporting a monochrome display, an external antenna, and a boxy, 5.2-inch tall frame, the Nokia 6160 was the company's best-selling handset of the 1990s. The somewhat sleeker Nokia 8260, introduced in 2000, added a colorful case and lost some of the 6160's bulk: it stood only about 4 inches tall and weighed 3.4 ounces, compared with almost 6 ounces for the 6160.
Early Smart Phone: Kyocera QCP6035 (2000)

If you're one of the many fans of the Palm OS-based Treo phone, you might want to thank Kyocera. The company's QCP6035 smart phone, which hit the retail market in early 2001 and cost between $400 and $500 (depending on the carrier), was the first Palm-based phone to be widely available to users. It included a measly 8MB of memory, and sported a bland monochrome display, but it paved the way for future products.

PDA to Phone: Handspring Treo 180 (2001)

Back when Palm and Handspring were still rivals, Handspring made waves with the Treo 180. More PDA than phone, the Treo 180 came in two versions: one with a QWERTY keyboard for typing (pictured), and another (the Treo 180g) that used Graffiti text input instead. Like the Kyocera QCP6035, it featured a monochrome screen, but boasted 16MB of memory.CrackBerry Phone: BlackBerry 5810 (2002)

Before the BlackBerry 5810 came along in early 2002, Research In Motion's devices were best known for their data capabilities: Push e-mail technology, Organizer features, and thumb keyboards. The 5810--the first BlackBerry to offer voice capabilities--changed that perception. This device added a GSM cell phone to the package, albeit one that required the use of a headset (it lacked both a speaker and a microphone).

Photo Opp: Sanyo SCP-5300 (2002)
Today, most cell phones come with a built-in camera. But, just a few years ago, a camera phone was hard to come by. In 2002, Sanyo and Sprint debuted the Sanyo SCP-5300 PCS phone, which they claimed was the first mobile phone available in America with a built-in camera. (A camera phone from Sharp had been available in Japan for a few years.) At its highest resolution, it captured VGA (640 by 480) images--a far cry from today's 5-megapixel camera phones like the Nokia N95.Bad Buzz: Nokia N-Gage (2003)
Nokia's N-Gage also created plenty of buzz when it was launched in 2003, but, unfortunately, most of the buzz was bad. This combination cell phone/gaming device was supposed to lure gamers away from their portable devices. Instead, it earned scorn for its odd curved design, and the fact that you had to hold the phone on its side to place a call. Later versions (like the N-Gage QD, launched in 2004) fixed many of the problems with the original device. But for many, the damage was done.
Sleek: Motorola Razr v3 (2004)
Cell phones continued to get thinner and more stylish over the years, but it was the debut of the Motorola Razr v3 in 2004 that took design to another level. With its super-slim lines and sleek metallic look, the Razr quickly became the must-have accessory. Three years later, it remains one of the most popular handsets on the market (according to market data from The NPD Group, various versions of the Razr were 3 of the 4 best-selling handsets in 2006), and is one of the few phones offered by almost every major wireless carrier.
Out of Tune: Motorola Rokr (2005)
It promised to bring together the best of two worlds: Apple's excellent iTunes music player and Motorola's cell phone design expertise. The Motorola Rokr, released in September 2005, was the first music phone to incorporate Apple's music software. It allowed users to transfer songs purchased from iTunes to the phone for listening on the go. Unfortunately, users found song transfers to be painfully slow, and many were stymied by the 100-song limit imposed on their music collections. Still, this handset paved the way for today's music phones, including those (like the Motorola Slvr and Razr V3i) that support iTunes.

Coming Soon: Apple iPhone (2007)

After months of speculation and rumors, Apple confirmed the news in January: The company does indeed plan to launch a cell phone. The device, which is expected to be available from AT&T/Cingular in June, will feature an innovative design: it lacks a numeric keypad. Instead, it will feature a touch-sensitive screen. The iPhone will also reportedly include a 2-megapixel camera, the ability to sync your iTunes collection to the phone, and it will run Mac OS X. Whew. We can't wait to get a look at one.

Friday, June 8, 2007

Better metrics to develop better mobile campaign

Nielsen will launch the first product under its new Nielsen Wireless brand, Mobile Vector, in the US next month. Mobile Vector will use information from Nielsen’s National People Meter TV sample to segment behaviour and demographics by operator, measure how many people use content services and assess the impact this has on established media behaviour.

Mobile Vector promises to aid mobile carriers target their advertising campaigns, assist content producers in deciding which distributors to work with, and boost the scope for competitive positioning and differentiation of the mobile media industry more generally.

Nielsen says that in the first quarter of 2007, more than 33 million people over the age of 12 used the mobile web and more than 8 million watched a video on their mobile phone (excluding their own, user generated content). Nielsen estimates that at least 25% of 18-34 year olds used their mobile phone to connect to the Internet in the first quarter of 2007, but that 46% of the mobile video audience is aged 35 plus and 46% is female.

Its an excellent initiative. The more reliable the metrics, the more likely advertisers are to put their hands into their pockets to buy media placements on mobile. The current mobile landscape requires such metrics to facilitate the advertisers and media buying companies to better understand who they are communicating with and how best to communicate with them.
Without such accurate metrics, mobile marketing companies could only be guessing who their targeted audience are based on simple profiling on the mobile users' number and the type of mobile brands and models that they are using. The profiling may not be 100% accurate but its currently what most mobile marketing companies in the world are using. Its definitely better than not having any targeting capabilities.

Look up M:Metrics, they have developed a great mobile measurement methodolgy and gathered very interesting mobile data but unfortunately for us its not available in China yet.

With accurate metrics, mobile marketing companies can develop and execute better mobile campaign. On top of such metrics, it would be ideal if research experts like Nielsen or Synovate could provide solution to audit such results at the end of each mobile marketing campaign. The mobile campaign reports and data obtained should be audited by a third professional body as the current reporting method could be biased and refined in favor of the mobile marketing provider.

Nielsen and Synovate, any thoughts and solution on this?

Mobile marketing is still at the infancy stage and many developments are taking places and it can only get more exciting. The are certainly alot of missing links but as time goes by, such issues will be eradicated slowly but surely. With so much investments going into this segment, it wont be long before mobile marketing becomes a bigger part of tomorrow's marketing mix strategy.

Wednesday, June 6, 2007

Porsche Mobile

After Ferrari and Prada it is Porsche's chance to foray into the ever expanding mobile phone market. Porsche has partnered with Sagem Communication for the P'952 mobile phone. Porsche Design Mobile Group showcased the clamshell phone at the Red Dot Design Museum in Essen. Specifications, release date and pricing is not available yet.

I reckon this is going to be the common trend as more and more luxury brands are heading similar path as mobile phone these days enjoy not only as a mode of communication but a fashion symbol.

SWOT Analysis on Mobile Marketing

The latest trends on Mobile Marketing were discussed at a recent E-consultancy roundtable. Here is a SWOT analysis for mobile marketing based on the discussion.

(It's important to keep in mind that mobile marketing covers a range of disciplines and types of marketing including brand advertising and direct marketing but this hopefully at least gives a flavour of what is happening in this 'sector'.)

Strengths
- Adoption of the mobile internet is speeding up and consumption of content is growing.
- The experience of using the internet to go online is getting more agreeable all the time due to better technology, including handset improvements.
- The 'walled garden' approach adopted by mobile operators is being consigned to the dustbin with the likes of T-Mobile and 3 signing deals with the big search engines.
- Fixed price 'all-you-can-eat' deals for mobile content are helping to drive content consumption.
- There is more leadership from bodies such as the Mobile Marketing Association.
- It is getting easier to pay for things by mobile, especially small-ticket items.
Weaknesses
- The mobile internet is not yet mass market which means that brands / advertisers are only dipping their toes into this rather than committing serious budget. It's where 'internet marketing' was several years ago.
- In terms of handsets, the market is actually getting more fragmented which means that it is getting harder rather than easier to work towards a user experience which is satisfactory across the board.
- The fact that mobile marketing is not a discrete area of marketing means that there is no body with a mandate to oversee the various constituent parts. It can be hard to know where to go for best practice, advice etc.

Opportunities
- Mobile Search - there is a great opportunity for advertisers to get traction on mobile search engine listings as many brands haven't jumped on board yet. Duncan Jennings has done a great blog post on mobile search.
- Local search / listings ... phones with GPS. Huge potential.
- The mobile phone is a very personal device and a great opportunity to get personalised marketing messages across - if done properly.
- Acquisition and Retention....
- Branding and direct response....
- Flash Lite means that more designers and developers will get on board with mobile with something which is familiar.

Threats
- It continues to get more difficult for companies to provide a consistent experience across different browsers and the ever expanding variety of handsets and personal devices on the market.
- Abuse of mobile marketing damages the industry (i.e. consumers being ripped off and permission marketing principles being ignored). It could get worse if the offenders are not punished properly.
- From the point of view of the mobile operators, there are numerous threats which boil down to any disintermediation from the value chain, whether because of VOIP or the fact that consumers don't want their content.

This isn't meant to be exhaustive so feel free to contribute things which may had been left out. You can also download the details of the discussion of the roundtable here.

Tuesday, June 5, 2007

Social Media Site built for $12,107.09

I was reading an interesting and inspiring post by Guy Kawasaki about his new startup. He has summarized on his latest launched startup - Truemors and you will see below that Guy has started his company for under $15k. Not bad as I m sure many of you would had thought that Truemors must had been started with hundred of thousand of dollars of investment.

Unlike pre-Nasdaq days where internet companies needed million to start, these days companies can be kickstarted with minimum investment. All you need is some money, put in a lot of hard work, a great idea and lots of passion. Check out below what Guy had learned from starting up Truemors. Here’s quick overview “by the numbers” from Guy Kawasaki.

1. Wrote zero (0) business plan for it. The plan is simple: Get a site launched in a few months, see if people like it, and sell ads and sponsorships (or not).
2. Pitched zero (0) venture capitalists to fund it. Life is simple when you can launch a company with a credit-card level debt.
3. 7.5 weeks went by from the time I registered the domain truemors.com to the site going live. Life is also good because of open source and Word Press.
4. The total software development cost was $4,500. The guys at Electric Pulp did the work. Honestly, I wasn’t a believer in remote teams trying to work together on version 1 of a product, but Electric Pulp changed my mind.
5. The total cost of the legal fees was $4,824.14. I could have used my uncle the divorce lawyer and saved a few bucks, but that would have been short sighted if Truemors ever becomes worth something.
6. Paid LogoWorks $399 to design the logo. Of course, this was before HP bought the company. Not sure what it would charge now. :-)
7. Spent $1,115.05 registering domains. I could have used GoDaddy and done it a lot cheaper, but I was too stupid and lazy.
8. Registered 55 domains (for example, truemors.net, .de, .biz, truemours, etc, etc). I had no idea that one had to buy so many domains to truly “surround” the one you use.
9. In total, I spent $12,107.09 to launch Truemors. During the dotcom days, entrepreneurs had to raise $5 million to try stupid ideas. Now I’ve proven that you can do it for $12,107.09.
10. There are 1.5 full-time equivalent employees at Truemors. For me, it’s a labor of love.
11. TechCrunch wrote about Truemors 3 times: the leak, the leak with a screen shot, and the opening. I wish I could tell you I was so sly as to plan this. Michael Arrington thought he was sticking it to me. Don’t stop, Michael!
12. Much to my amazement, there were 261,214 page views on the first day.
13. Much to my amazement, there were 14,052 visitors on the first day.
14. Spent $0 on marketing to launch Truemors.
15. However, I did spend 24 years of schmoozing and “paying it forward” to get to the point where I could spend $0 to launch a company. Many bloggers got bent out of shape: “The only reason Truemors is getting so much coverage is that it’s Guy’s site.” To which my response is, “You have a firm grasp of the obvious.”
16. Because some people had nothing better to do, there were 405 posts on the first day.
17. A mere 3 hours went by before the site was hacked, and we had to shut it down temporarily. I was impressed. The hacker who did this might be the next Woz. Please contact me if you are.
18. A mere 36 hours went by before Yahoo! Small Business told us that we were inappropriate for this service because of our traffic.
19. Our monthly break-even point was $29.96 with Yahoo!
20. Because Yahoo! evicted us, our monthly break-even point quadrupled to $150. If you’re interested in buying a monthly sponsorship for $151, you’d make Truemors profitable. :-)
21. A mere 2 days went by before Truemors was called the “worst website ever” by the Inquirer.
22. Thank you God for the Inquirer because it caused 246,210 page views. Yes indeed, there’s no such thing as bad PR.
23. A week before we launched, if you typed “truemors” into Google, you would have gotten 150 hits.
24. Eleven days after the launch, “truemors” had 315,000 hits in Google. I can’t figure out how this can be, but I’m not arguing.

Guy learned four lessons launching Truemors:
1. There’s really no such thing as bad PR.
2. $12,000 goes a very long way these days.
3. You can work with a team that is thousands of miles away.
4. Life is good for entrepreneurs these days.

I certainly cant agree more with Guy who has certainly convinced and overwhelmed me. Life is good these days for entrepreneurs as there are way too many ways to to develop and kickstart an online business. The rise of cheaper computing, faster internet connection and lower startup cost has allowed entrepreneurs from all over the world to build their dream. It certainly had opened up a whole new world of opportunity to us.

If you have an idea and lots of passion for it, I cant see no reason why you are not doing what Guy has done. Short of transporting people around space like Star Trek, the current technology is sufficient to bridge your dream to reality. I m definitely going back to my drawing board and I hope that you are doing the same. Whatever the outcome, I m sure the journey will be most exciting.