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Orkut Still A Contender Reveals Facebook’s IPO Filing!

by Paul Joseph February 3, 2012 Featured

Facebook feels that Orkut is still a worthy adversary for it in India. One of the largest, Facebook’s IPO filling keeps revealing many interesting tidbits. We recently wrote about how Facebook actually accepted it had rivals. But considering Orkut to be one of them is, well, amusing in the least. Sure it was a huge rage when Google introduced it. We remember filling in so many fun trivia & quizzes. However, since Facebook reared in India, people have literally forgotten Orkut. While Facebook may consider it a rival lets evaluate; Why? Facebook has named others along with Orkut, such as Cyworld in Korea, Mixi in Japan, vKontakte in Russia & of course Orkut in India as well as Brazil. These are being referred to as Social Networks with Deep Regional Roots . Nonetheless, together they have sizable population of active & passive users attached to them. This has directly affected Facebook’s march in these regions. In their absence Facebook would have garnered considerably more users per month. Facebook grew 132% over last year in terms of Monthly Active Users (MAU) in India, while in Brazil it was a whopping 268% . Despite this the Filling relegates us to “ relatively less-penetrated, large markets such as Brazil, Germany, India, Japan, Russia, and South Korea ” In case of Japan & Korea, the filing reveals penetration of only 15% & censorship-riddled China has near 0% ! Orkut, once a vibrant network has been relegated to the Back-burner, both by users & by Google. Though it’s own have abandoned it, Facebook is still watching it cautiously. Do you still use or prefer Orkut? Looking For A Social Media Agency?? – Contact WATConsult – India’s Leading Social Media Agency Related Posts How The Young Buy Mobile Phones : Report The Verdict – Facebook Overtakes Orkut In India Twitter Usage Dominated By Indonesia, Brazil and Venezuela – India Comes In At 18th Twitter Moves Towards Content Curation Special Feature: Facebook, Twitter & Firefox Requests Google Not To Be Evil

Tagged as: brazil, china, cyworld, Featured, features, india, korea, mixi, news, russia, vkontakte, web

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Yahoo Ponders Over Reducing It’s 40% Stake In Alibaba

by Paul Joseph December 23, 2011 Featured

Internet giant Yahoo is considering selling a part of its stake in Alibaba, recent reports say. The recently troubled company has a 40% stake in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and is mulling over the prospect of cutting down the share to 15% .  Yahoo had acquired a 40% stake in Alibaba, based in Hangzhou, eastern China, for about $1 billion in 2005. Alibaba, China’s biggest e-commerce company, wants to re-purchase its share in a tax-free manner from Yahoo. The deal values the assets at about $14 dollars a Yahoo share, pitching the Yahoo stake at about $17 billion . Yahoo would also sell off its stake in Yahoo Japan Corp. Alibaba doubled its efforts to buy back its share after the September sacking of its CEO, Carol Bartz, who had opposed the sale. With the change in management, the deal is moving forward, reports say. If it could, Yahoo would have wanted to hold on to it for a few more years. China’s e-commerce is entering a period of structured growth. Alibaba, through its Taobao subsidiary, has a dominant presence in this market. The transaction is fairly complicated and it could take weeks, a person with knowledge of the matter has said. Alibaba and Softbank Corp, co-owner of Yahoo Japan, are hoping to repurchase Yahoo’s stake without the introduction of the various taxes that would be triggered with the gains in the investment, into the equation. The way around this is that both Alibaba and Softbank would each create a standalone entity , investing cash and operating assets in it. Thereafter, Yahoo would exchange all of its stake in Yahoo Japan and most of its stake in Alibaba for these new entities. However, Yahoo would retain 15% of Alibaba.  Analysts at RedTech Advisors have said that in spite of the doubling of Taobao’s sales revenue in 2010, the same trend is hardly seen in 2011. Presently, with investors focused on growth, the valuation of Yahoo’s stake in Alibaba is probably one of the best. Apart from Alibaba itself, there aren’t many buyers. TGP Capital and Silver Lake are offering to buy a minority stake from Yahoo, with Silver Lake offering $16.60 a share. But Yahoo investors said that they would prefer if the company is sold in its entirety, at a higher value. In addition, chairman and CEO Jack Ma’s trifle with the Yahoo management is sure to deter prospective buyers, if any. The best scenario for Yahoo would be if Alibaba launches a public offering for Taobao. But Alibaba is under no qualms to do so and might even refuse unless Yahoo reduces its stake.  For Yahoo itself, things aren’t looking too bright for the parent company. Hence, this deal that would give them a significant amount for its stake and allowing it to hold 15% to benefit from future growth of Alibaba looks like a pretty good option for Yahoo.   What do you think Yahoo should do in this situation? Should it wait for more time or should it go ahead with the deal? Do let us know. Looking For A Social Media Agency?? – Contact WATConsult – India’s Leading Social Media Agency Related Posts Yahoo Sees Red In China! Trouble With AliBaba? CyberAttacks? Yahoo Buys Interclick To Boost Ad Data Alipay Outshines PayPal To Become The World’s Largest Payment System Yahoo Increases Focus On Content – Buys Associated Content For 100 Mil $ Alibaba.com Bullish On India Market – Looks For JV & Sets No Upper Limit On Investments

Tagged as: acquisition, acquisitions, alibaba, china, japan, news, web, yahoo, yahoo stake

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Apple To Change iPad Name Or Face Heavy Fine In China

by Paul Joseph December 8, 2011 Featured

Apple Inc, one of the most trigger happy companies around when it comes to lawsuits, may finally be getting a taste of its own medicine. While their tablet, the iPad, may be leading the market in terms of market share, apparently its name as ‘iPad’ cannot be used anymore in the most populated country in the world: China . Apparently, the name ‘iPad’ was already copyrighted in 2000 by Proview Technology (Shenzhen), a subsidiary of Hong Kong Proview International Holdings Limited. Apple had purchased the right to use the name in Taipei by paying them $35,000 , but according to the lawsuit they did not have the right to use it in Mainland China . Says Huang Yiding of the Hejun Vanguard Group,”A pple’s actions are strange. They had not obtained the rights to use the ‘iPad’ trademark when they began to sell the iPad on the Chinese mainland in September last year. Their copyright infringement is very clear. The laws are still there and they sell their products in defiance of laws. The more products they sell, the more they need to compensate ,” Yesterday, a local Chinese Court passed a verdict in the legal battle: Apple will have to either: 1. Stop selling the iPad under that name and change the product’s name in China 2. Pay Proview a sum of $1.6 billion for the rights to the iPad name in China. Apple may appeal this decision in a higher court, but as the situation stands, the case was ruled against them. It is not clear whether Apple will have to immediately modify the product name in China. Whereas, in India the iPad was one of the most recognized tablet in the market. In a world where Apple has been suing companies like Samsung left right and centre, and judges have mostly been ruling in their favor, this is against the norm.  It will be interesting to see how matters proceed.

Tagged as: apple, china, international, ipad, lawsuit ipad, news, technology

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Asians Prefer Online Shopping Reveals Report

by Paul Joseph December 1, 2011 Featured

Shattering previous speculations , a new Survey has revealed  that Asians prefer to shop & pay bills online. Visa eCommerce Consumer Monitor 2010, the survey which revealed the reassuring findings for online e-commerce websites that Asians, particularly South Asians from mainland China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan and Thailand are increasingly reaching for the mouse to buy goods & pay utility bills online. The survey comprising of 3,156 regular internet users revealed some very interesting facts as below: 1. Online Shopping offers tremendous joy & ease Over 87% of the respondents confirmed that had bought electrical appliances and white goods (electronics) online. The number shot-up to 98% and 97% for mainland China and Taiwan respectively. We Indians were not far behind with about 89% confirming that indulged in online shopping in the past 1 Year. 2. Paying bills need not be a chore About 60% of the respondents confirmed that they regularly pay their utility bills online & over 97% confirmed that they will continue to do so in the future. Paying bills online has multiple advantages revealed the survey, like convenience, anytime bill payment, no queues & here in India, we even have some incentives ( usually 0.5% ) if we opt to pay the bills online. MTNL sure does it. The Survey also had some very interesting facts for E-shoppers: Online Shopping for Travelling & Accommodation still rules with Average expenditure of US$ 550 , Online Share trading gets about $320 per user , electrical appliances and white goods manage about US$ 166 . Other services like Banking go below the 100 dollar mark with only US$ 92 & PC hardware with just US$ 75. With the convenience of detailed comparison of products, ability to pay & get it home delivered sometimes for free & even the no-questions-asked return policy that some offer, Online shopping is surely a lucrative destination to buy just about anything & everything . Just make sure you follow some safety precautions . Looking For A Social Media Agency?? – Contact WATConsult – India’s Leading Social Media Agency

Tagged as: china, india, indonesia, malaysia, news, online shopping, reports, taiwan, web

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India Has A Larger Base Of Internet Users Compared To USA

by Paul Joseph November 15, 2011 Featured

In the beginning of this year, a study was conducted by IAMAI (Internet and Mobile Association Of India) and the findings were released recently that in all over India, Internet services are availed by 112 million people . And it is believed that by the end of the year, the figures would reach 121 million .  It is important to note that 112 million Internet users  also includes those who have accessed Internet once in their lifetime . However, the active user base is just 79 million . It is expected that this figure will reach up- to 90 millions by September end.  Only 18 millions of urban Indian population is said to be active on surfing Internet. Moreover, this lot spends only two hours on Internet on daily basis.  Also 48% of the Internet users are going to cyber-cafes to surf while 37% of the users are using Internet at home. The growing demand of India is adding about 5 to 7 million Internet users, every month. If the demand of Internet continues to surge than it is possible that within two years, India will overtake the US in Internet usage. Currently China leads with around 485 million Internet users while US has about 245 million users . Indian government is hopeful that in 5 years India will have around 600 million Internet users . So will it really happening India ambushing U.S or this is yet another estimation? What do you think?         Looking For A Social Media Agency?? – Contact WATConsult – India’s Leading Social Media Agency

Tagged as: china, india, international, internet, internet usage, numbers, technology, usa, users

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India Focused Edition From BBC To Be Launched. Why The Rising Interest In India?

by Paul Joseph November 3, 2011 Featured

Yesterday BBC.com, the international news website of The BBC, had announced the launch of three new editions – for India, Asia and Australia/New Zealand, a little later a small update revealed that the India Edition is slightly delayed & will be launched later this month on the 21st. The statement from BBC said, “ The new edition will provide more in-depth analysis, breaking news and business bulletins for the region, in addition to specially commissioned features and reports.The site will also expand News, Sport and Travel coverage focused on the region, and will offer localized weather reports, increased features from local correspondents and video content ”. BBC went on and elaborated that the editions will be customized to each territory through the use of Geo-IP technology . The portal will automatically load the Indian edition for users physically present in India by means of Geo Tagging (GPS enabled mobile devices) & IP tracking (PC/work-stations). Chris Davies, Acting Managing Director, for BBC.com said: “ At present BBC.com is the leading international news website in Asia-Pacific with 11.1 million unique users per month.   These editions are the response to overwhelming audience feedback and testing and will ensure even greater engagement from new and existing users .” Another important feature these “Editions” will have is BBC.com ’s Specially Commissioned Reports which have always received critical acclaim & many awards world-wide for their fearless & daring revelations. Some of the upcoming multi-part series that will be featured are: Start-Up Stories China – Eight-part weekly series investigating how entrepreneurs in China are transforming the country, and the world. Generation Asia – Eight-part series exploring the huge changes sweeping across the continent and the impact of them on a new generation of Asians. India Direct – A series of reports which will run in tandem with the India Direct season of programming on BBC World News. China’s Global Reach – In line with the G20 summit, this series of eight reports will complement the Global Economy section of the News website, focusing on the key role China is now playing, and will continue to play, in the global economy. The New Middle Class – Two additional reports from the BBC series looking at financial decisions facing a new generation of middle class Asians, this time focusing on India. While some are abandoning , everyone else is embracing India, with Investments to localized editions ! India Truly Shining? Looking For A Social Media Agency?? – Contact WATConsult – India’s Leading Social Media Agency

Tagged as: asia, australia, bbc.com, china, Featured, india, international, news

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Internet Usage Exploding In India Believes Google

by Paul Joseph September 16, 2011 Featured

Google Inc. has been doing extremely well in India. Their browser, Chrome , has been eating market share. Their Web Store  has recently debuted. E-Commerce is looking up, as is M-Commerce . However, Google feels there is still a long way to go. According to Google, in the next two years, 20 Crore or 200 Million Indians will begin using the Internet for the first time.  However, the challenge will be capitalizing on these new users. Regulatory hurdles by the Government and the importance given to traditional methods of advertising are some challenges they are facing. Google India’s Country Head, Rajan Anandan, said in an interview  that by 2014 they expected to reach at least 30 Crore users. They currently have 10 Crore users in the country but improving telecom infrastructure and falling smartphone prices is likely to win them many many more. India has the 3rd largest Internet population, after China and USA. Yet, only 8% of the 1.2 Billion strong population is connected to the Internet. Said Anandan, “Despite a lot of the infrastructure challenges we have as a country, 100 million Indians are online, they’re spending a huge amount of time online and they’re doing a varied set of things online,” Out of this 100 Million, 63% of them use Google’s search service, said Web Metrics site ViziSense . YouTube has 23 Million Indian users. Unsurprisingly, Bollywood content is the most popular.  Google Plus  too has garnered 3 Million users already, one of the largest audiences worldwide. Orkut too still has 11.1 Million users . Despite this, Facebook has more users than the two combined, with 42.7 Million users in India. The new 200 Million internet users will not be on desktop PC’s though , said Anandam.  High-speed wireless  networks and discounted smartphone users on open source platforms like Android will be key divers. Phones costing less than Rs. 4000 or $80 are the market with maximum potential for growth. Google will be working closely with manufacturers to bring quality smartphones at this price. Another important factor will be Government Growth. With help from the government, they can bring an environment that fosters growth. Lately they have been running into tangles with the Government on issues like Street View , which was halted . What do you think? Will Google continue to grow or will local players outpace it in the handset, advertising and search markets?

Tagged as: advertising web india, children, china, countries, interview, news, yahoo, youtube

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Nissan unveils Nissan Sunny sedan in India

by Paul Joseph August 4, 2011 Featured

Japanese automobile manufacturer Nissan that has its subsidiary Nissan India in the country has unveiled its new sedan Nissan Sunny for the Indian customers. This unveil was scheduled later this year but it was preponed and was organized on August 3rd at a venue in Mumbai. This sedan by Nissan is also sold in China where it is called as Nissan Sunny. Nissan Sunny Price is still a undisclosed and not hinted at by the Nissan India officials. However, as per reports Nissan Sunny price in India is expected to be around Rs 7 lakh to Rs 9 lakh. It is expected to be launched this Diwali. See More Nissan Sunny Pictures                                   Read More on Nissan Sunny As per the Nissan Sunny India reviews based on the preliminary information, the looks of the new Sunny will be inspired by Nissan Almera. The Nissan Sunny is expected to be equipped with a 1.5 litre engine which is different from that of Nissan Micra hatchback. Sunny is expected to be available in both petrol and diesel variants and are expected to be highly fuel efficient due to its dual injectors. The diesel variant of Nissan Sunny will also be a 1.5 Liter, Dci common rail turbo engine car which is expected to return a maximum power of 105 Bhp. Nissan Sunny petrol variant will be a 1.5 Liter, HR15DE engine with an upper power limit of 108 Bhp and an maximum torque limit of 148 Nm. See More  Nissan Sunny Pictures                                    Read More on  Nissan Sunny The tough rivals to this car in the Indian market are the Ford Fiesta , Hyundai Verna , Fiat Linea besides other segment players.  Nissan  Sunny can be a rival to Honda ‘s latest version of Honda City as it is speculated that Sunny may be priced much lower than Honda City.

Tagged as: china, fashion-trends, ford, honda, india, mahindra-verito, nissan, nissan sunny price, price, renault fluence

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Ford India starts prodcution of sedan car Ford Fiesta

by Paul Joseph June 17, 2011 Featured

Ford India had started working on the production of Ford’s most popular sedan car four door Fiesta at the manufacturing unit in Maraimalai Nagar, near Chennai. This Chennai based facility is spread over 172,175 square metre and its the sixth Ford facility in the world along with the facility at Nanjing, China; Cologne, Germany; Valencia, Spain; Cuautitlán, Mexico; and Rayong, Thailand. Michael Boneham, president and managing director, Ford India commented that company is very enthusiastic to roll-out latest premium sedan Ford Fiesta from its Chennai facility, and will emerge as India’s regional manufacturing hub. He also added that Ford is looking to bring new products to India within coming years. Furthermore, Boneham commented that Ford Fiesta set a standard in the sedan segment as it features with a world class fuel efficient technology and have a very great design. It is assumed that this new Ford Fiesta will deliver a excitement and individuality for which Indian customers are looking for in their sedan car. With respect to enhance the sales and export growth plans in India Ford had recently made an investment of USD 72 million at the facility at the Maraimalai Nagar plant. This enhancement programme is supposed to be ended in mid-2012 and after that the production capacity will increase from 250,000 to 330,000 units per year. All new For Fiesta features a fully integrated stamping line, body shop, trim and final process area and composed of an advanced 1.5L Ti-VCT petrol and Duratorq TDCi diesel engines. With the use of this petrol engine Ford achieve a fuel economy of 17Kmpl and 23.5 Kmpl with its diesel engine. The entry of new sedan Ford Fiesta strike as an subsequent to a series of global introduction that started in Europe and moved around the world. Ford Fiesta reached a sale of over one million globally since after its launch. Fiesta features a world class safety standards, a cruise control, connectivity that includes voice control communications with Bluetooth, and automatic climate control. Ford Fiesta price is yet to be disclosed. Yet it is assumed that this all new Ford Fiesta will be available by the end of this year.

Tagged as: chennai, china, europe, fiesta, ford cars, ford fiesta in india, ford fiesta pictures, Indian, manufacturing, production, sales, spain, world

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State Of Internet In India By comScore

by Paul Joseph June 13, 2011 Featured

According to the latest comScore survey, the shared- access connection in India is as large the Internet population accessing from home and work. But at the same time, India and China’s usage is relatively low as compare to BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries of similar size. In India, teenagers widely spend their time on internet. 15- 24 years old in India are the heaviest Internet users. Almost 3 quarter of the teenagers are age under of 35 years. Compare to 52% of globally and 57% regionally. Some of the important key online categories are Search, Social Networking, Webmail. But in India, social networking is used often with 84% of web audience with a growth of 16% from the previous year. leading social network in India was found out to be Facebook after the downfall of Orkut globally. Retail site visitation increased relevantly from India over the past few years. It was also found out that computer software is the most visited software in India, which outpaces global & regional averages. It was also found out that Indian are big fans of travel sites with 13% in comparison with BRIC countries where growth is nearly flat. Top sites visit by most Indians were rail website (19.4%) and online travel agents. Business and Finance category received a modest growth of 4% . ICICI ranked topped in business and finance category with a leading percentage of 10.9% followed by Citigroup and MoneyControl. an impressive percentage of 55% population of India visited technology sites. Around 58% Indian web users make use of news/info category sites like The Yahoo! News Network with a reach of 32.7% . Cricket sport sites garner 38% growth in the past few years. some of the site dominated the sports channel are ESPNCricInfo.com and Yahoo! Cricket. Looking For A Social Media Agency?? – Contact WATConsult – India’s Leading Social Media Agency Related Posts Traffic To Travel Sites In India Increases By 32 percent: ComScore Cricket Sites See Jump As India vs Pak Semi-Final Comes Close Online Video & Video Ads Metrics In India – Comscore & Nielsen Reports The Verdict – Facebook Overtakes Orkut In India Twitter Usage Dominated By Indonesia, Brazil and Venezuela – India Comes In At 18th

Tagged as: brazil, china, finance, indian-internet, indonesia, internet, network, reports, russia, social-networking, venezuela, video, yahoo

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