Mobile Point View by Paul Ruppert

One Year in my Blog Life: Keeping Score at Mobile Point View

Readers from 128 Countries

Journalistic cycles  are often driven by calender milestones so today I celebrate my first anniversary as a blogger--albeit it slightly tardy. 

I started Mobile Point View in April of 2007 primarily to frame and define my "personal brand", project and shape awareness of my industry perspective and "thought leadership", enabling me to keep my eye focused on the mobile industry and global business trends through a discipline to discuss my views.

Along the journey I found it also fed internal motivations such as a love/hate relationship with writing, and my wanderlust for "Adventure Roads" and "Adventure Capitalism."

Plus, it feeds my spirit to learn more about other cultures and keep my skills sharp in making connections--both technical and human.  I've been told I've got a combinatorial world view which my blogging reflects, being part travelogue, wireless industry and global commerce analysis, pus a passionate interest in high growth markets such as China, Africa, and the Middle East.

Recognitions & Connections

An unexpected turn along the path has been the recognition of my views and writings by technoscenti like Om Malik of DigOm, Gerry Purdee of Forrester Research and mobilista Rudy De Waele. A surprising approach by Mobile Messaging 2.0 to contribute to that corporate sponsored blog has led to additional "thought leadership" and recently my being tapped to be the Managing Editor of Mobile Messaging 2.0. So now I'm a "professional" journalist, meaning my meanderings put some coin in my pocket.

Another unexpected consequence of having a cyberspace billboard has been the people I've become acquainted with--gratifyingly in other countries--who have graciously shared their time, interests and expertise with me by reaching out and establishing a personal connection as result of my views, especially Lars in Tokyo, Ben in Beijing, Mikki in Hong Kong, Tarek in Egypt, Feng in Beijing, James in London, and Mohammed in Iraq.

Reflecting a modicum of success, the connectedness of the mobile industry and power of the internet, the number of others who I have met at conferences who entered a conversation with "I know you, I've read your blog!" has been surprising and energizing.

What I'm most proud of is being relevant and interesting to readers from 128 countries.   

After a year of blogging, I've got a slurry of mixed metrics on total visits (over 100,000 ), page views, time on blog, google juice, etc., but the one which I'm most proud of is the reflection of my reach and global view point.   Having readers from so many countries reflects my purpose, passion and pursuits to illuminate the power of mobile communications to consumers and its fundamentally global characteristics. 

Interesting Quirks of Where My Readers Are 

Some interesting aspects of my readership include:  9,600 visits from readers in India, 900 visits from readers in Pakistan, 30 visits from readers in Myanmar, over 740 visits from readers in Iran, and 400 visits from readers in Nepal. I've got one regular reader in Foggaret el Arab, the dead middle of Algeria with a population of 4,300. The snowiest reader must be in Bathurst Inlet, Nunavut, Canada--probably someone visiting the Lodge.

I guess that reflects the power of the web, the strength of interest in mobile communications, and once in a while my ability to strike a chord which resonates with a variety of people in diverse international locations. 

Here's a tally of reader countries as of June 2008

A Year in the Blog Life
	Visitors from 128 Countires
Americas (25)	Europe (40)	Asia (26)	Middle East (11)	Africa (26)
US	UK	Australia	Afghanistan	Algeria
Barbados	Andorra	Bangladesh	Bahrain	Botswana
Bolivia	Aserbaijian	Brunei	Egypt	Cameroon
Brazil	Austria	Cambodia	Iran	Canary Islands
Canada	Azores	China	Iraq	Cote D'Ivoire
Cayman Islands	Belgium	Fiji	Israel	Djibouti
Chile	Bosnia	Guam	Jordan	Ethopia
Columbia	Bulgaria	Hong Kong	Kuwait	Gambia
Costa Rica	Czech Republic	India	Oman	Ghana
Dominican Republic	Denmark	Indonesia	Qatar	Libya
Ecuador	Estonia	Japan	UAE	Madagasacar
Grenada	Faeroe  Islands	Kazakhsatan	Yemen	Mali
Guatemala	Finland	Korea		Mauritius
Haiti	France	Laos		Moambique
Honduras	Georgia	Malaysia		Moldova
icaragua	Germany	Marutius		Morocco
Jamiaca	Gibraltar	Myanmar		Mutitania
Martinique	Greece	Nepal		Nigeria
Mexico	Iceland	New Zealand		S. Africa
Paraguay	Ireand	Pakistan		Senegal
Peru	Italy	Philippines		Sudan
Puerto Rico	Latvia	Singapore		Swaziland
St. Vincent	Lichtenstein	Taiwan		Tanzania
Trinidad	Lithuania	Tajikistan		Togo
Urguay	Luxemburg	Thailand		Tunisia
Venezuela	Macedonia	Uzbekistan		Uganda
	Mallorca	Vietnam		Zaire
	Malta
	Monaco
	Netherlands
	Norway
	Poland
	Portugal
	Romania
	Russia
	Serbia
	Spain
	Sweden
	Switzerland
	Turkey
	Ukraine

China Cutting into Microsoft's Bid for Yahoo?

According to Zaobao.com, Beijing is looking to intervene into Microsoft's acquisition of Yahoo by asking Chinese online e-commerce service provider Alibaba to provide detailed information on the acquisition and by keeping a close watch on the process of the acquisition as well as its possible influence on Alibaba and its impact on the Chinese internet market.

Red Hottest rumor coming out of China is that the Chinese government is intruding into Microsoft's  bid for Yahoo by requesting Alibaba, China's e-commerce giant, to proffer information on the potential acquisition's impact on Alibaba and to exert some influence on the possible acquisition. Yahoo is a significant shareholder of Alibaba, and the rumor is that the Chinese government has contacted Alibaba in the hope of knowing about the influence of Microsoft's acquisition of Yahoo on Alibaba.

Chinese government types are not keen on a having a foreign company potentially controlling or influencing the Great Firewall of China, hand on the till of filtering content, so they are concerned about maintaining local management control of Alibaba.  But, the government may have to stay on the bench until the playing pitch is changed as a result of China's Anti-monopolization Law not taking effect until August 1, 2008. Until then the Chinese government is powerless if Microsoft is able to execute the purchase before then.

Another blame China brewing in the winds?

You, there. What do you think...is the Chinese government really that keen about the acquisition of Yahoo by Microsoft? Are they that paranoid, do they really have a chance, or is this just the usual "stir the drink about China" to get some coverage? Comments are readily appreciated!

Asian M&A Leads US & Europe

Asian growth in M&A activity exceeded the traditional leaders of N. America and Europe for October 007, illuminating the global credit tightening, according to Thomson Financial. Total number of Asian M&A deals (excluding Japan) announced in October rose 53.8 % over the September pace, ahead of Europe’s 52.1 % month-to-month increase. The Americas, in trailing contrast, showed a monthly increase of just 18.7 %. Overall for the year Europe still drives the majority of deal clinching – 47 % – with the Americas accounting for 32 % and Asia 21 %,  according to Thomson.

Top 100 Countries Competing: World Economic Forum Report

The World Economic Forum has released its annual "Global Competitiveness Report" on national competitiveness. Noteworthy is that 14% of the Top 100 countries are Asian, and that the US has regained the #1 status after slipping second to Switzerland last year. Beyond the competitive standings, the US falls to 9 in "technology readiness" but gets back to #1 for "Innovation."  Big China's innovation ranking is #34 with tiny Singapore as #7 and only slightly larger Hong Kong is #12. Singapore slips to 11 (7/11) in innovation while Hong Kong drops to 23.

Funfact is that Turkey's overall ranking (53) is the same as its Technology Readiness and Innovation factors, the only country to hit the same mark in the Top 100. Here's a list of the top 100 countries competitiveness correlated against technical readiness and innovation.

Those countries in bold are where I've had the opportunity to do business in.

Country	Overall Ranking	Technology Readiness	Innvoation
United States	1	9	1
Switzerland	2	3	2
Denmark	3	5	10
Sweden	4	1	6
Germany	5	21	7
Finland	6	11	3
Singapore	7	12	11
Japan	8	20	4
United Kingdom	9	16	14
Netherlands	10	4	13
Korea, Rep.	11	7	8
Hong Kong SAR	12	6	23
Canada	13	13	12
Taiwan, China	14	15	9
Austria	15	18	15
Norway	16	8	18
Israel	17	14	5
France	18	22	17
Australia	19	17	22
Belgium	20	24	16
Malaysia	21	30	21
Ireland	22	25	19
Iceland	23	2	20
New Zealand	24	23	25
Luxembourg	25	10	24
Chile	26	42	45
Estonia	27	19	31
Thailand	28	45	36
Spain	29	28	39
Kuwait	30	47	68
Qatar	31	39	43
Tunisia	32	52	26
Czech Republic	33	35	27
China	34	73	38
Saudi Arabia	35	50	49
Puerto Rico	36	26	29
United Arab Emirates	37	33	52
Lithuania	38	38	48
Slovenia	39	29	30
Portugal	40	31	33
Slovak Republic	41	36	51
Oman	42	68	34
Bahrain	43	37	98
South Africa	44	46	32
Latvia	45	40	77
Italy	46	27	47
Hungary	47	41	37
India	48	62	28
Jordan	49	63	55
Barbados	50	34	56
Poland	51	51	58
Mexico	52	60	71
Turkey	53	53	53
Indonesia	54	75	41
Cyprus	55	44	61
Malta	56	32	62
Croatia	57	49	50
Russian Federation	58	72	57
Panama	59	61	87
Mauritius	60	54	81
Kazakhstan	61	77	75
Uzbekistan	62	84	42
Costa Rica	63	56	35
Morocco	64	70	60
Greece	65	58	63
Azerbaijan	66	83	54
El Salvador	67	85	100
Vietnam	68	86	64
Colombia	69	76	72
Sri Lanka	70	88	40
Philippines	71	69	79
Brazil	72	55	44
Ukraine	73	93	65
Romania	74	59	76
Uruguay	75	67	100+
Botswana	76	71	96
Egypt	77	87	67
Jamaica	78	43	59
Bulgaria	79	65	88
Syria	80	100+	93
Algeria	81	100+	89
Montenegro	82	48	100+
Honduras	83	98	100+
Trinidad and Tobago	84	66	82
Argentina	85	78	91
Peru	86	80	100
Guatemala	87	81	100+
Libya	88	100+	100+
Namibia	89	91	100+
Georgia	90	100+	100+
Serbia	91	57	78
Pakistan	92	89	69
Armenia	93	100+	94
Macedonia	94	90	92
Nigeria	95	97	66
Dominican Republic	96	64	100+
Moldova	97	100+	100+
Venezuela	98	79	99
Kenya	99	92	46
Senegal	100	82	73

Mobiles Eroding Spin Contol in China

The prevalence of mobile phones are making it increasingly difficult for authorities in China to positively spin manage the news.  According to a story in China Daily, "It has been repeatedly proved that information blocking is like walking into a dead end," the state-run China Daily newspaper quoted Wang Guoqing, a vice minister with the State Council Information Office, as saying.

Wang says local governments need to be more transparent, describing some as being "too naive" in thinking they can simply hide damaging information.
Wang reportedly revealed that some local government representatives used to believe that 90% of bad news could be concealed, and only 10% would be unluckily exposed by the media. He cited the recent case of a slavery scandal surrounding brick manufacturing emerged in China's Shanxi and Henan provinces as proving that bad news needs to be managed, rather than covered up.

It was revealed that the use of mobile phones, SMS, and handy access to the Internet via a mobile phone as opposed to the traditional desk bound pc, facilitated and accelerated the distribution of the information, which outpaced the government's eventual ability to shape and spin the story. Chinese authorities refused to acknowledge any problem until relatives of victims posted information about the scandal on the Internet. Wang said that the central government's commitment to transparency, as well as new information technologies such as the Internet and cellphones, were making it more and more difficult for local authorities to hide bad news.

China's "Great Firewall" has existed for some time with the Chinese government utilizing increasingly sophisticated techniques to routinely filter and block certain content from being viewed in China. Including ironically, this blog which my many friends in China have advised they Cannot reach in China. Not certain why I am blocked since I love the country, it's people, it's culture. Beyond loving doing business there I've had the privilege from my days in government to have met many dedicated and extremely effective representatives of the Chinese government. I've even encouraged my "family minder" a bright Chinese university student majoring in English to join the Communist Party of China, given the access and prestige it conveys to its members. As Chinese capitalism expands, China's confidence in itself will grow and deepen, and in turn it's openness to the "market place of ideas." It is inevitable. The Chinese government, through statements like Wang Guoqing's reflects that growing maturity, and lessening authoritarian approaches to the management of information.

Top 10 2020 City Economies by GDP

Top 10 City Economies in 2020 by GDP

1. Tokyo - US$ 1,602 billion GDP

2.  New York - $1,561 billion

3.  Los Angeles - $886 billion

4.  London - $708 billion

5.  Chicago - $645 billion

6.  Paris - $611 billion

7.  Mexico City - $ 608 billion

8.  Philadelphia - $440 billion

9.  Osaka/Kobe - $430 billion

10.  Washington DC - $426 billion

Source: UK Economic Outlook, PwC

ASIAN RIVALS TO iPHONE

Rival Asian mobile OEMs response to the iPhone is explored in a June 29 New York Times article covering off the competitive movements of Asian mobile manufacturers and their initial lack of concern over the real threat of the iPhone. According to the Times, S. Korean manufacturers are taking the threat that Apple may repeat in mobile what it did in the MP3 space: change the rules of the game. By the end of the year, Samsung, will unveil the "Ultra Smart F700, with a touch pad sceen dsiplay, just like the iPhone. That's really when the debate should start.

China already has an iPhone clone. A Chinese company has apparently announced a new mobile that looks very similar to the iPhone. The new phone called M8 -- which is said to be designed by Chinese firm Meizu -- features touch-screen functionality and boasts a smaller footprint than Apple's iPhone with an accompanying smaller screen, but offers a higher 720x480 resolution than Apple's 320x480 iPhone.

I'm struck that so little notice has been made of LG's Prada phone that was launched at 3GSM in Barcelona in March. I saw it there and it looks and acts just like an iPhone. Yet, the Times doesn't even mention "Prada" in the articel and instead refers to LG "has begun selling a smartphone in Italy that can view full-size Web pages." Odd exclusion, since anyone buying a US$500 phone, has surely heard of Prada.

Moreover, some say that the iPhone will change the price elasticity on how much US mobile consumers are willing to pay for a mobile handset.  “In the past, U.S. consumers were unwilling to pay $300 for a phone,” said S. Jay Yim, vice president of overseas marketing at Pantech." Much of the reason why MOST Americans don't pay for expensive phones is that they are locked into contracts, and can't migrate the use of the phone from one network to the other, not because they aren't looking to secure more features at a higher cost. It isn't the intrinsic value equation surounding the phone, it's the structure of the mobile phone acquistion market that limits the upside. From where I sit, the iPhone is akin to a high end Mercedes.

I think Samsung's and Bird's (largest mobile manufacturer in China) will have a longer term effect in how mobile phones are engineered. 

China & iPhone: Mobile Subscribers in China Exceed 494 million

China's mobile phone subscribers reached 494.6 million and fixed-line telephone subscribers 372.2 million at the end of May, according to statistics published by the China's Ministry of Information Industry (MII).

Now you understand why China is a central interest of mine. The convergence of scale markets and mobile is a breathtaking cultural and commercial opportunity.

Meanwhile the iPhone is'nt crashing into the middle kingdom as it is in the US. Chinese cell phone buyers, who are among the world's most voracious consumers of mobile devices, will not see the iPhone in local stores for at least another year. But the hype on China's Internet surrounding the iPhone's launch - even outside the gadget guys - has had an impact, with headlines about the new device on most of China's major Internet portals like SINA Corp. , Sohu.com Inc. and NetEase.com Inc.

An interesting white paper published last week by Shanghai-based "Internet Word of Mouth" researchers CIC), which analyzes the content of nearly 5 million Internet forum comments about mobile phones during the first quarter of 2007, indicates that Chinese consumers overwhelmingly talk about market-leading Nokia and Motorola Inc. Some 96% of the "buzz" about mobile phones among China's Internet users is focused on the top five brands, and 19 of the top 20 most chatted-about handset models were from Nokia and Motorola. Download the report here.

CIC's study also indicates the level of energy in conversations about mobile phones by China's Internet users, with over 700 thousand users posting almost 5 million comments about their handsets. Wouldn't you think Apple would want a piece of this action? They do, and they will. While I lived in China in '05, the largest billboards were for either Samsung phones, or iPods.

   For those of you who "broke the tape" here at the end of the post, other golden crumbs from China.
Zhang Ziyi on International Woman's Day in China was voted the most powerful woman in China based on results from an on line vote conducted by sohu.com and "Bazaar" magazine.  The voters threw her the victory bouquet for her:

1. Acting career
2.Growing reputation in the international  film industry
3. Being smart
4. Being confident
5. Being independent
6. Being ambitious
Being spectacularly beautiful wasn't even one of the criteria. Ziyi is currently in pre-production with Dennis Quaid on the movie "The Horsemen."  This Laowai's perspective: What a great country.

Upwardly Mobile in Vietnam

The President of Vietnam visited Washington DC last week, which got me thinking about my visit there two years ago, and the impact of mobiles in Vietnam. Mobifone and Viettel were customers of mine, so here are my thoughts on the impending mobile explosion in Vietnam, and how mobile communications will lead Vietnam from the village to the villa.

Top 10 Cities for Global Expansion of a Business