From Inspiration to Innovation.
Global Consumer Trend Research
Written By Xuan on August 19, 2008 at 3:23 pm | In 3G, mapping | Please Comment
A snapshot of the latest trends of Location-based Service (LBS) in Beijing, Shanghai, Hongkong and Tokyo.
Trend Description:
Many people would agree that LBS is becoming more and more popular worldwide and is opening a host of opportunities for business, but few would agree on the business model that will best monetize the service. Nokia, the mobile market leader, expects to ship 35 million GPS-phones in 2008 and the latest ABI report blueprinted a $ 3.3 billion market value for LBS, but still the way to whip up revenues from existing technology and infrastructure remains unclear. Here we filtered some promising, if not profitable, practices of LBS in Asia to summarize new trends for industrial practitioners and those who may be concerned.
Cases:
GyPSii is a social networking platform headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherland. It has partnered with Shanghai Rannuo and China Unicom to launch its GyPSii service during the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing and has opened a China Data Center to enhance local user experience. What GyPSii is doing in China is encouraging its network users to send back location information via mobile devices and integrate it into the digital map. Other users (who are also content creators) then, can experience a seamless mobile lifestyle, connecting with friends and communities, searching UGC and viewing maps and directions to points of interest.
Naviblog X is Japan’s first location-based moblog/mobsearch website. With this service, usrs can easily create their mobile diary sites within 60 seconds even if they know little about programming. After the sites are created, they point their mobile phones to the QR Code auto-generated with the sites and transfer them to the mobile phones of their friends or clients to log on the sites. It is also designed to geo-tag users’ information by one-click. Naviblog is said to be used on non-Japan phones soon.
Louis Vuitton Soundwalk
Fashion makers lag behind to none in creativity if not in high-tech. With thousands of foreigners entering China this Olympic year, Louis Vuitton, the French luxury fashion brand entered the mobile space with a unique location-based audio guide, available in six languages, to three major cities, Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. The voice is coming from three locally born actresses: Gong Li for Beijing, Joan Chen for Shanghai and Shu Qi for Hong Kong. It directs visitors by mobile phones in real time through the cities and costs 17 USD for for each city in one of the six languages, English, French, Cantonese, Chinese, Korean and Japanese.
Trend Potential:
The convergence of social networking, user-created content and location is a big trend. Mobile-enabled LBS is important because it links up something missing on the internet. There are some major barriers for business related to mobile internet, such as licensing and sophisticated algorithms, but as some of the global players have discovered, a fast track to enter a local market is to line up with local mobile carriers, technological developers and last but not least the users, who know best what they want.
Written By Daniel Allen on August 17, 2008 at 4:56 am | In mobility, technology, connecting, China | Please Comment
Two new mobile-based translation services are helping out (some) Olympic visitors who may have communication problems. Google recently released a version of its translation service specifically tailored to Apple’s iPhone, and another mobile translation service, from the VoIP company Jajah, was unveiled to coincide with the start of the Games.
Google’s service, which should be made available on other handsets soon, came about as the result of the company’s “20 percent” time policy, which sets aside a day of each employee’s week for work on any new project or idea they may wish to pursue. Because the service works using the iPhone’s Safari browser, a data connection is needed most of the time, although previously searched phrases and words are stored for future access. The service can translate text between 24 languages, including Mandarin, French, and Japanese.
Jajah’s service, called Babel, may also be useful for people visiting Beijing. By calling a special phone number users can leave a voice message that will be translated to Mandarin in just a few seconds. Babel is specifically designed as an on-the-go tool for English speakers who may run into translation issues while getting around.
Written By Daniel Allen on at 4:22 am | In Olympics, sports, retail, consumer, technology, China | Please Comment
Sportswear manufacturer Nike is causing a stir at the Beijing Olympics with its latest innovation, the Flywire track shoes. The company has supplied the US track and field team with two pieces of Flywire footwear - the Zoom Victory Spikes and Zoom Matumbo.
Already creating quite a buzz in the industry with its revolutionary lightweight construction, the Flywire design is said to be inspired by the cables from a suspension bridge. It makes use of a strong Vectran thread arranged in a fan-shaped pattern at anchor points around the shoe, creating a shoe that’s extremely light, yet cheap and easy to manufacture.
Sports shoe technology has developed massively since the first Nike Air’s hit the shelves back in 1987. Shoe manufacturer Brooks has recently released “Trance 8”, a show which features a biodegradable midsole. The sole contains a natural additive that encourages anaerobic microbes to break the shoe down once it hits the garbage.
The footwear company is debuted its midsole in the US$140 Trance 8 last month, with plans to extend the technology to all Brooks performance running shoes by the end of next year.
Written By Daniel Allen on at 3:42 am | In entertainment, Olympics, technology, events, China | Please Comment
More than 2,000 hours of live Beijing Olympic content and 3,000 hours of on-demand video will be made accessible online via NBCOlympics.com during the Games period. NBC had originally chosen to use Adobe’s Flash for streaming, but eventually chose Microsoft’s Silverlight due to its superior reproduction quality.
Microsoft is hoping that its role in the Olympics will both prompt downloads of Silverlight in the short term, as well as help give its video-streaming technology a much-needed boost. However, those that can’t get or don’t want Silverlight will still
be able to watch video from the NBCOlympics site, without access to some of the cooler features - the enhanced player allows picture-in-picture viewing of two events and a “control room” experience where true junkies can watch four events at a time.
Apparently the quality of the Olympic footage relayed on Silverlight is very good, although there have been a few problems getting reliable and relevant commentary. NBC wants bloggers to provide their own commentary, although this has led to mixed results.
The PC isn’t the only innovative ways to view Olympics content – a smaller range of programming is also being offered through cellphones, video-on-demand services, and as “on-the-go” content that can be downloaded to a laptop or bought via Amazon or Microsoft’s Zune service.
To counter the growing threat from Silverlight, Adobe released Adobe AIR last year. The two companies have now entered a steadily intensifting war of attrition - although both may happily co-exist side for some time, history shows that eventually the market will pick a favorite.
Written By Daniel Allen on at 2:29 am | In entertainment, sports, Olympics, technology, China, events, art | Please Comment
The Beijing Olympics have employed cutting-edge technologies in a wide array of areas - including their integration in some stunning presentational displays, where the boundary between technology and art becomes blurred. The opening ceremonies featured what was probably the most stunning mass display of lighting technology ever witnessed. Gizmodo has a selection of images from August 8 viewable here.
Written By Daniel Allen on August 13, 2008 at 2:26 pm | In user generated content, Olympics, media, mobility, technology, experimental, events, China | Please Comment
Innovative ways of applying mobile devices give audience worldwide unique perspectives of the event.
Trend Description:
Not being able to launch 3G does not mean this year’s Olympics keeps the hottest mobile media outside China. A bunch of companies are rolling out their mobile applications for the Games, which, if not becoming popular right away, carry profound meanings for world-level events later on.
Cases:
Twitter’s #080808 Campaign
Twitter’s campaign (pronounced tag 080808) is chalking up good result since the opening ceremony on August 8, 2008. Initiated only two days before the opening of the Games, it claims about 5000 entries coming in on the big day and is updated with an average rate of 1 piece every 0.2 seconds. A secret of its success is the easy way to press the keys of “0″ and “8″ on mobile phones. No matter who are you are and where you are, as long as you think or experience something related to the Olympics, you can tweet a couple of words starting with”#080808″.
Lenovo Olympics 2008 Application
Levono, one of the top sponsors of the Beijing Games and the official PC provider is NOT gonna lag behind those mobile savvy in playing with new technology. It lined up with Zumobi and rolled out the Lenovo Olympic 2008 Application, with which users of microsoft mobile, blackberries and iPhone can follow up the latest sports news, images and comments during the Olympics. It also contains blog posts selected ramdonly from anonymous athletes and is powered by ads of Lenovo and Intel.
Qik:
Located in California, Qik is a video-sharing company that allows Qikkers to stream their mobile captures directly to the website. Users have access to the service when they buy mobile phones installed with the software and will save money if they have signed up for unlimited data plans. Qik is now encouraging its users to send back footages taken on-the-spot of the Games. It will be a great fun for journalists and spectators who use proper telephone plans to point their mobile phones directly to what they are experiencing. Check up the Qikker’s footage of the opening ceremony here.
Trend Potential:
Given the fact that 3G is still to come in China, there is no sweeping success for any mobile application in the Beijing Games so far. However, the experience drawn here and business models initiated will remain good cases for later studies.
Written By Daniel Allen on August 11, 2008 at 12:28 am | In Olympics, sports, technology, events, experimental, China | Please Comment
From GE to Nestle to watchmaker Omega, companies are using the ongoing Beijing Olympics to test-drive new ideas and products. Check out this interesting article from last Thursday’s Business Week….
Learning from the Olympics
Written By Daniel Allen on August 10, 2008 at 7:07 am | In youth, society, retail, consumer, mobility, China | Please Comment
Apple recently unveiled its 219th retail store in Beijing’s New Sanlitun shopping complex, and plans to open further stores in Beijing, Shanghai and beyond as it attempts to grow Chinese market share. Before the iPod hit the market Apple’s
presence in China was minimal, but rising Chinese incomes coupled with the iPhone phenomenon have raised the company’s profile (and sales) in the Middle Kingdom considerably.
Inside the new store Chinese customers can inspect and try out the usual array of Mac and iPod products, as well as interacting with a sprawling Genius Bar staffed with technical support specialists. Chinese consumers still have to resort to the “gray market” for their iPhones, although there are signs that Apple’s latest 3G iPhone may be hitting the Chinese market sooner rather than later. Despite its non-release in mainland China, the iPhone, known by young Chinese as the “Ai Feng” (“Crazy Love”), has already built up a sizeable user base, thanks to illegal imports from Hong Kong.
According to a recent report in Reuters, discussions between Apple and China’s largest wireless carrier China mobile have cleared their biggest hurdle and are now focusing on practical issues. Apple has decided to stop requiring that wireless network companies pay it part of the subscription fees they get from iPhone users. Instead, they will subsidize the devices up front to make them cheaper.
Written By Daniel Allen on at 6:28 am | In music, entertainment, internet, China | Please Comment
Online search giant Google has just launched a China-only music search service that gives users free and legal access to online music. The new service, backed by a range of record labels and supported by advertising revenue, is called Music Onebox, and directs users to Top100.cn, where they can download or stream music for free.
Google’s new service will challenge popular Chinese search engine Baidu, which provides links to huge quantities of online music, most of it illegal. Baidu has recently come under fire for its MP3-linking policies, with lawsuits filed against it for enabling rampant copyright infringement. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) says Baidu may face damages totaling billions of dollars.
Paid music downloads in China are virtually nonexistent, and Apple’s iTunes digital music store is not available on the mainland. According to the IFPI, more than 99 percent of all music files distributed in China are pirated. It says that despite the huge potential of the Chinese market, China’s meager legitimate sales of US$76 million a year account for less than 1 percent of the global market.
Written By Daniel Allen on August 9, 2008 at 6:15 am | In internet, Olympics, user generated content, events, connecting, China | Please Comment
The Beijing Olympics kicked off with much pomp and ceremony yesterday, and are already proving to be the most hi-tech Games to date. In line with its increasingly important role in global communications and media transfer, the web will be one key way that both Chinese and international citizens can keep track of the Games over the next couple of weeks, with extensive online video coverage provided by a variety of sites and partnerships.
The New York Times reported a few days ago that NBC will stream over 2000 hours of live events from Beijing on NBCOlympics.com (by contrast, there were les than 100 hours of on-demand video from Athens in 2004). Unfortunately this year’s coverage will only be accessible to US netizens due to restricted broadcasting rights, and viewers must be runnning on Windows Vista Home Premium or Ultimate.
NBC’s online coverage will be powered by Microsoft Silverlight and Windows Media player, with a range of highly-touted, new media features including:
- user-controlled content
- 3,000 hours of re-viewable events and highlights
- switching between 4 live streams
- no network TV commentatory - NBC wants bloggers to provide their own commentary and analysis
- full access to statistics, biographies and other information.
Adobe also recently announced a partnership with China’s CCTV International Networks to bring web coverage of the Games to mainland China and citizens of Macau. CCTVOlympics.com will provide 5,000 hours of “on-demand streamed video content including full event replays, highlights, features, interviews and encore packages”. This is made up of 3,800 hours of worldwide broadcast Olympic Games video and 1,200 hours of CCTV’s own video footage.
Those who want to see a real fan’s-eye view of the Games should check out Qik, a Silicon Valley-based company into cellphone-based video streaming. Using Qik software (video streaming currently supported on many Nokia S60 phones and several phones running Windows Mobile) spectators at the Games can upload live content straight to the Qik site, and also stream video live to friends on Twitter, Facebook etc. All Qik Olympic video footage can be found here.
Subscribe!
subscribe.
