Top 5 Reasons why Grab Easy Uber Hailo Taxi bookings are picking up in Singapore

Online Cab Aggregators around the World - Top 30 Players from Valoriser Consultants

Take a look at the above slideshare for the top 30 online cab aggregators around the world according to Valoriser Consultants, online mobile taxi booking apps have taken the world by storm by solving a basic demand and supply problem between passengers and taxis. Indeed, of late, since late last year (2013), regional and global 3rd party taxi booking mobile O2O apps (GrabTaxi, EasyTaxi, UberTaxi and soon Hailo) have been jostling amongst the incumbent taxi providers' booking services (e.g. ComfortDelgro, SMRT) and been the rage in the Singapore taxi booking scene. It's not that taxi booking through phone calls to the call centres of the incumbent taxi service providers or via their respective apps have not been available. It's just that the supply, availability and fulfilment of booking jobs have not met with the growing demand.

Here are my view of the 5 reasons why Grab Easy Uber Hailo Taxis are trending in the busy and sleepless Singapore city.

1. Singapore is a regional hub in Southeast Asia

• Growing of people including PMETs who need to get quickly from point A to point B
• Singapore is among the top 3 cities in the world with the least hours of sleep (not really something to be proud of ... but really lots of things are going on around here and constantly in minds of people living here)

2. Viable Market with an active daily 1,000,000 taxi riderships base

• Anecdotally about 15% are through bookings today.
• Singapore consumers are used to mobile commerce - more than 15% of ecommerce (think Groupon like daily deals) are purchased via the mobile smartphones with credit card payment.

3. Inconvenient payment - non-acceptance of Visa credit cards

• With the option of paying taxi fares via Visa credit card on ComfortDelgro and TransCab taxis being withdrawn in July 2013 after these two largest taxi operators refused to waive an administrative fee imposed on passengers, so entered EasyTaxi and UberTaxi with the consumer proposition offering frictionless payment.

4. Underserved taxi booking

• Current taxi service providers (ComfortDelgro, SMRT and so on) have been unable to fulfill all their daily incoming bookings and demand due to a number of reasons - changing shift windows, varying strategies, convenience and maximising yield, costs etc.

5. Disgruntled supply base about 30,000 taxis and more than 40,000 drivers

• A growing number of taxi drivers here are exploring alternatives, i.e. more than 1 3rd party taxi booking app these days - disintermediation and choice.
• Taxi drivers are looking for easy non-fuss solutions which benefit their livelihood - bigger app screens, intuitive user experience, quicker acknowledgment of bookings, convenient payment and acknowledgement receipts, choice of solutions and so on.
• Just hop into a taxi and start a conversation with your friendly taxi driver, and you will learn lots!

So, here are my top 5 reasons why Grab Easy Uber Hailo (virtual fleet) Taxis are picking up in Singapore. The market is really heating up in the taxi booking scene - first with GrabTaxi and EasyTaxi earlier this year and now with UberTaxi since June '14 and Hailo soon to join in the fray. To add, there is also a fifth local player, MoobiTaxi who works with ComfortDelgro and SMRT taxis.

• What will the future hold for taxi booking market space?
• Will we see another taxi service provider to increase the current 30,000 physical taxi fleet?
• Will another international player like GetTaxi enter the Singapore market?

Let's look forward to better user experiences for both the taxi drivers and taxi passengers which I am sure we will see lots more innovation in this daily consumer lifestyle habit.

Can you connect with the above reasons from your experiences in Singapore on the taxi booking scene? Love to hear from you ...


Nelson Wee

Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/nelsonwee

Slideshare: http://www.slideshare.com/nelsonwee

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/nelsonwee

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/nelsonwee

5 ways to enjoy World Cup 2014 in Singapore | Nelson Wee | Singapore

The #WorldCup2014 is well underway, and drawing a fanatical following as viewership numbers show. No surprises there - I wrote previously on 3 reasons why the World Cup is a social magic magnet.

In this post, I would like to bring to you 5 Ways to enjoy World Cup 2014 in Singapore.

(1) 5 Places for World Cup Screening

Are you in the look out for excellent views and bustling atmosphere to revel in the last stages of the World Cup 2014? Fret no more ... 

Go on to read more on where to go: http://pickatsg.tumblr.com/post/88561517176/5-places-for-worldcup-screening

(2) 5 Foods from #WorldCup Hot Favourites
While you are basking in the World Cup revelry, why not explore the rich variety of tastes in the cuisines from the countries of the World Cup hot favourite teams? (disclaimer: this post was done earlier and one of the countries is already out - alas!) 

Go on to read more on where to go: http://pickatsg.tumblr.com/post/88655742821/5-foods-from-worldcup-hot-favourites

(3) 5 Popular #WorldCup Cuisines
In Singapore, the following cuisines in this post are pretty popular. You probably can't go wrong in Singapore who is ranked #2 in Asia in terms of spending in dining out!

Go on to read more on where to go: http://www.pickat.com.sg/5-popular-worldcup-cuisines/

(4) 5 Yum Cha Places While Your Other Half Is Watching #Worldcup
If you are not really into the World Cup, hey not to worry too. Here's a post offering 5 places in Singapore to choose from to have yum cha with your friends while your other half is engrossed into the World Cup.

Go on to read more on where to go: http://pickatsg.tumblr.com/post/89945815266/5-yum-cha-places-while-your-other-half-is-watching

(5) 5 Places Where Chefs from #WorldCup Countries Eat

If you have ever wondered where do chefs like to eat, well here's a post which brings you 5 places where chefs hailing from countries participating in the World Cup like to eat at in Singapore - a culinary paradise in Southeast Asia~

Go on to read more on where to go: http://www.pickat.com.sg/5-places-where-chefs-from-worldcup-countries-eat/

Well there you go, a quick listing of 5 ways (of 5 places each *wink*) on how you could enjoy the world cup in Singapore. A disclaimer here as well - I currently work in SK planet and my team has been working on bringing PickatSG food recommendations and O2O (online to offline commerce)  coupons app to the market. All the food places above have been curated and recommended by the PickatSG team. 

If you like to read more about PickatSG food app and how location-based services and online to offline commerce could impact our daily habits, here are 4 more posts to learn more:
(1) Welcome to a brand new PickatSG

(2) Get Great Deals with PickatSG’s Coupons!

(3) How can location-based social networks impact #dailyhabits and drive O2O commerce?

(4) How has location-based services (LBS) evolved into the #dailyhabits of consumers and business models for businesses?

Hope you have enjoyed this post and I (we) certainly hope to hear from you!


Talk soon~
Nelson Wee
Profile: Nelson Wee, Singapore
Blog: http://myovi.blogspot.com
Slideshare: http://www.slideshare.com/nelsonwee 
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/nelsonwee
Twitter: @nelsonwee
PickatSG Food O2O App: http://www.facebook.com/pickatsg

Photo credit: Digo_Souza / Foter / Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-ND 2.0)

I am Caesar - Playful, Inquisitive, Fearless | Nelson Wee Blog Post | Singapore

I am Caesar - Playful, Inquisitive and Fearless.

Journeying to Singapore all the way from Taiwan on 9 May 2013, I found home 21 August 2013 finally with my current family of 4, which includes my pal and brother, Max (who is a King Charles Cavalier).

With a swagger in my walk, I am proud of my brindle coat - as you can see matches the sofa in the living room I simply love to climb up and lounge in.

(1) Why be playful?

Aw, come on. Life can be boring if seen in one lens. I love to play with the blue ball in the house, taunting my pal, Max with a crazy dance (ball in my mouth). He falls for it all the time. 

I see it during my walks around my neighbourhood that humans look ever so stressed. Why should this happen? 

Be playful, laugh it away by being silly - that's my mantra!

(2) Be inquisitive, aren't you?

There are many areas to explore in the house. Little nooks in between furniture I squeeze myself into. 

You should have seen the look on Max's face when I emerged out of the nook butt first. Just awakened from his nap, he must have mistaken my butt for something else!

Anyways, be inquisitive, do stuff, cos you never know what you can find or experience in life!

(3) Show no fear, why not?

I am proud to be known to be a gladiator - at least that's what my family fondly labels me. Being a French Bulldog, I may be small in size but never never show fear.

Darned those dogs in the neighbourhood which come barking at me when I go for walks. Fine they may be taller and bigger - just let me at them (I try in vain to pull my owner towards these aggressors).

Show no fear. It helps in my motivation in life, and I am sure this would help you too.

I am Caesar - playful, inquisitive, fearless. These values help me in my life. Why not have a go and tell me how it goes in your life?

If you like cute animals, you may like to view the following Pinterest pinboard at http://www.pinterest.com/nelsonwee/cute-friends-from-nature/ 

Till the next time,

signing off from Singapore,

Nelson Wee (proud to have Caesar in my family)

more about me:

Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/nelsonwee

Twitter conversations: @nelsonwee

Slideshare materials: http://www.slideshare.net/nelsonwee

Pinterest Boards: http://www.pinterest.com/nelsonwee

Max and his 3 life principles | Nelson Wee | Singapore

My family welcomed a new addition to our family about 2 weeks ago. Say hello to Max - a cute four month old King Charles Cavalier. Whilst re-adjusting our lives to Max, I just took stock on how Max with his little actions and ways, highlighted the following Max's 3 life principles, which I find could be applied to our daily lives and habits ... ;-)

(1) Explore always the unknown (and keep testing the boundaries)

• Max like all cute dogs never gives up exploring and sniff out new objects or places around our house to play or rather nibble at - like the poor rug in my living room.
• And Max never ceases trying in testing our boundaries on getting at what he wants.
• Such curious and indomitable spirit is definitely applicable to all things in life - family, love, friendships, business and more.

(2) Go for the low-hanging fruit

• One thing about Max is that he is a pretty intelligent fella.
• Knowing he will get a treat if he poohs in the toilet, he actually positioned himself near the toilet the other day after his meal. Just so that he could immediately pooh (puppies I understand can't quite control their bowels at this young age) in the right place and get his treat!
• Clearly defining and understanding how and where to play in life for clearing away the big rocks and getting to even small immediate rewards, can be motivating and get you to bigger things in life.

(3) Position yourself and prime your audience

• In his cute and intelligent way, Max has sniffed out a way on how to get his belly scratched. Every time he sees us approaching him or when he goes close to us, he will lay himself on the floor, flip over his belly, place his four paws in a begging position and look into our eyes.
• To this, I salute Max for being able to position himself well, engaging and priming his audience, evoking desired emotions and getting to the desired actions.
• Max is a storyteller and a storydoer indeed!

Our lives have been transformed by Max since he arrived. And we are looking forward to many good years with this cute and intelligent fella.

More posts to come, I promise after this. One more thing, if you like this post, you may like to view my pinterest pinboard "Cute Friends from Nature" - hope you enjoy this.

Nelson Wee

For my slideshare presentations

For twitter conversations: @nelsonwee

How has the ecosystem evolved with the daily habits of mobile Internet users?

How has the ecosystem evolved with the daily habits of mobile Internet users? The journey from the PC Internet to the current age of the Smart device Internet is charting an exciting path on how the market ecosystem is evolving with the daily habits of mobile Internet users of today ... 

In the last 20 years, we have witnessed 4 Phases in the Journey to the Mobile Internet. From the age of the "PC Internet" to the "Feature Phone Internet", "Smartphone Internet" and now the "Smart device Internet".  We have also seen how users of the Internet have evolved in their daily habits of information and content consumption - this is evident as we review the market development in the five pillars in the digital content Internet business. 

How has the evolution been in the ecosystem during the 4 phases in our journey to the mobile Internet?

(1) Content has grown richer in variety and depth

• From black and white to colour and having depth in colour in graphics (remember days of black and white operator logos, picture messages in Nokia feature phones)
• From mono tone ring tones to polymorphic ring tones to MP3s and today's streaming and high-def music services
• From simple flash and java games to today's rich app store games and multi-player social games
• and the list goes on ... video, TV, 3D, augmented reality characters and so on ... consumers are spoilt for choice

(2) Advertising has evolved across multiple screen sizes, devices, content and purpose

• Ads are no longer restricted to the TV (broadcast, content and ads in DVDs) and PCs (with multimedia cards allowing for TV, video playing, radio listening).
• Ads are now also seen in various apps (e.g. chat, youtube); and apps are now in Smart TVs.
• Ads are evolving as content for the brands - attempt from brands to engage audiences.

(3) Access to Internet and content is widely availed to a global audience

• Content is now availed through TVs, radio, PCs, laptops, feature phones, smartphones, tablets, phablets, wearables, and so on in all manner of smart mobile devices - one of the trends in recent years and into 2013 ... 
• Feature phones are also getting smarter and driving mobile Internet access and innovative content consumption, especially in the emerging markets where mobile phones outnumber PCs.

(4) Payment for content (and now products) and the players in the ecosystem are fast evolving to cater to consumers' lifestyles and daily habits

• No longer restricted to just credit cards and PayPal,
• Operator mobile billing via sms, money online payment methods like bank transfers, scratch cards, COD (cash-on-delivery) are offering alternative payment modes for not only digital contents but potentially also for physical products and merchandise.

(5) Fulfilment, the last mile in terms of delivery of products and content and personalised bundled offers is being invested 

• Besides Amazon who leads the pack in this area, China's Alibaba and local ecommerce players like Redmart are investing in owning logistics fulfilment to ensure continual customer satisfaction and retention.

How are digital content players working to shape daily habits of mobile Internet users?

• News is sticky - look at Yahoo, local news sites like Malaysia's Malaysiakini.com, Indonesia's Detik.com and you will see them feature in the top 20 Alexa rankings for the local markets. And as for apps for news ... new ways to read news online are constantly evolving in their offers.

• Communication - mobile instant messaging (social chat), private chat, mobile Internet call (Skype), or good ol' email, is a hotly contested space in the market today, globally and especially more so in Asia.

• During Echelon June 2013 Asia startups event in Singapore, a number of players I met with are focusing on apps which cater to the following daily habits of users - take a look at the slideshare showcase below.

Echelon June 2013 Singapore - showcase of mobile apps and startups to daily habits of mobile Internet users by Nelson Wee from Nelson Wee

Consumers are growing spoilt for choice for content, products and mobile devices and appliances from where they can consume content and buy products from. With more choice fighting for a growing yet at the same limited attention span of the consumers, lots of innovation and change in the ecosystem will be taking place in this current age of "smart device Internet" and future ages to come - this indeed spells out for more exciting moments to come to see how the daily habits of the mobile Internet users will continue to evolve.

For your reference, please see below for the rest of the presentation deck which I presented my "Journey into the Mobile of the Internet" recently on 19 June 2013 at Salesforce.com Biz Academy (I would like to thank Sultan Semlali for this wonderful opportunity). Appreciate your comments.

Journey into the mobile of the Internet - Nelson Wee Salesforce.com Biz Academy Presentation 19 june 2013 from Nelson Wee

I look forward to continue with my conversations with you.

Talk soon~
Nelson Wee
Profile: Nelson Wee, Singapore
Blog: http://myovi.blogspot.com
Slideshare: http://www.slideshare.com/nelsonwee 
Twitter: @nelsonwee

What are the Daily Habits in Online and Mobile Internet Users?

With help from the rapid proliferation of mobile devices, mobile data connectivity with affordable data plans from mobile network operators and wifi services and innovations from the apps and contents ecosystems, the online and mobile Internet today has been shaping how consumers are consuming apps, services and contents and converting into daily habits.

Here is an analysis on how the daily habits of online and mobile users with respect to the different categories of apps, services and contents, served up and consumed on their feature phones, smartphones, tablets, PCs etc, are being segmented. The 4 types of segmentation are characterised against the frequency of usage vis-a-vis retention over time (source: analysis of Flurry blog analysis and AC Nielsen consumer studies on apps and second screen).

Daily Habits of Mobile Internet Users (Analysis May 2013) from Nelson Wee

(1) In the upper right hand corner Quadrant I "High Engagement and Value" segment, communication (email, social instant messaging)  and news come up tops being habitually consumed by consumers intensively and to which consumers grow loyal and stick to over time. With a power base of stable, growing audiences, advertising revenue or subscription charging are business models being pursued.

(2) In the upper left hand corner Quadrant II "High Engagement and Churn" segment,  social networking, social games, streaming music etc serve as high traffic drivers with consumption often contained within short bursts. To stem churn, acquisition and retention have to be constantly reinforced via for example, in-app item purchases, gamification.

(3) In the lower left hand corner Quadrant III "One-off premium use" segment, contents for education, health and fitness or medical tend to lead to one-off consumption and so warrant a premium charge. Entertainment and personalisation also fall under this categorisation where the situational context could lead to the users needing to buy a piece of music, standalone game or a theme to personalise their mobile devices.

(4) In the final Quadrant IV "Scheduled use but high value" segment, here we see habits for travel, navigation, utilities etc, as they are highly valued by the users when the situational context demands it, like for that schedule business trip or social holiday.

The focus on daily habits of mobile and online users were highlighted by Yahoo's Marissa Mayer when she laid out her vision in transforming Yahoo and bringing the cool of the Internet portal back into its stable. Real life momentum in developing on the daily habits of mobile and online users are in evidence today. 

• We constantly see Yahoo continuing on its acquisitions of startups which are entrenched in the daily habits of users - on email management (communication) and to do lists (utilities), Summly (news), Tumblr (social networking, user-generated content, communities) etc.
• SK planet has developed an app "Jukebox Hero" which turns your music library into social music jukebox and more in the portfolio addressing a range of consumer habits.
• eShopping trends today show growth in both ecommerce and mobile commerce.
• Retail Showrooming which see consumers doing price comparison research (Deals) whilst in store 
• Retail apps usage are surging 525%
• College students are finding deals on mobile
• What do users want in a location based app - a quora discussion around the emotional and rational drivers on consumer location-based habits

Understanding the daily habits of online and mobile consumers provide great value by helping businesses determine their digital content Internet business go-to-market strategies by reviewing first, which consumer segments, what content categories  and business models, how to evolve product portfolio and so on.

I look forward to hear your thoughts and experiences.

Till the next post, you can find me on:
Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/nelsonwee
Slideshare: http://www.slideshare.net/nelsonwee
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/nelsonwee
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/nelsonwee


signing off,
Nelson Wee

Photo credit: Phil Hawksworth / Foter.com / CC BY

6 Key Takeaways from Startup Asia 2013

I visited the Startup Asia 2013 event (organised by TechInAsia) recently in Singapore, which ran from the evening of 3 April (pre-event) to the night of 5 April (after-event dinner). Chock-full of market data from the neighbouring markets, marketplace of big ideas from startups, valuable lessons and advice from successful entrepreneurs, luminary quips (albeit at times with wry humour), it was a jam-packed startup event spread over 3 storeys of panel discussions, interviews, demo booths, startup pitches and countless networking opportunities. Bringing together VCs, incubators, social media marketeers, entrepreneurs, startups and more from all over the region in Southeast Asia and beyond, while everyone recognised that Southeast Asia is evolving to be a hotbed for mobile internet innovation, this wave is not coming without its hosts of challenges like payment, logistics, ecosystem support.

Here are the 6 key takeaways I put together from my experiences in the Startup Asia event 2013.

1. Develop Vertical Communities to build Commerce opportunities

• Lots of Buttons from Hong Kong, won the $10,000 first prize during the startup pitch competition at the Startup Asia event - "Lots of Butttons is a Hong Kong ecommerce that sells craft materials at 50% of retail price. #startupAsia via @xescx"
• Puddding which through its relevant social discovery platform for ladies looking to buy jeans online through recommendations from other similar sized ladies, offers sizing insurance.
• Windphony is a global self-publishing platform which allows composers, of varying professional levels to submit and market their own music (scores) works.
• The trend in the growing number of vertical communities into commerce has been highlighted during the SparxUp Indonesia 2012 event.

2. Enriching Your Communication Experience

• It is little wonder that with social being an essential layer to bring about engagement, community and commerce, the Social Messaging market is hotting up globally and especially now in Southeast Asia.
• In the business to business (B2B) space, Chatwork seeks to simplify business communications amongst employees.
• In the business to consumer (B2C) space - Hoozin tries to bring the real-world experience in face to face group chat conversations into its "round-table user interface".
• Watch out for the evolution of the Social Messaging market in 2013. 

3. Consolidating and Sharing Media Quickly

• Caught in today's hyper-connected mobile world, consumers are constantly being inundated with an avalanche of media, information and tasks to be completed. Startups are constantly sprouting up with solutions to address these perennial pains.
• In the Business to Business or B2B space, mmixr looks to offer professionals a cloud-based solution to better manage, edit and share their rich media presentation materials.
• In the Business to Consumer or B2C space, yet another photo app, Seconds comes forth with a pitch on their 1-2-3 quick to shoot and share to private albums, whilst PixBento is differentiating with their offer to bridge photo sharing amongst buddies by allowing photos to be pooled and shared across the smartphones and PCs of specific buddies.

4. B2B and B2C Loyalty is trending

• From 2012 and into 2013, an increasing number of business to consumer (B2C) loyalty program players who cater to retailer consumer loyalty benefits, and business to employee (B2E) loyalty program players who cater to corporate staff benefits are entering and developing these markets in Southeast Asia.
• Retailers and enterprises alike have been or will be looking into the trend of loyalty programs for their customers (business to consumer, B2C) or for their employees (business to employee or B2E).
• Some examples of B2C loyalty program players include Malaysia based Pofers.com and Gimmie.
• Examples of B2E loyalty program players include Singapore-based Pyrks.com and Malaysia-based PerkPool. And by the way, there is another player in Singapore, Patontheback.org which was not at the event.

5. Utility tools over Cloud as a service to drive SME productivity

• In view of the service labour crunch in Singapore, Kwix is looking to help restaurants relieve their labour shortage in waiting staff by allowing customers to order from their smartphones at their tables, instead of having to wait for the restaurant staff to attend to them.
• Ticktok looks at alleviating the frustrations of consumers who are waiting in line for their table by getting real-time notifications to them when their tables are ready. Restaurant owners are able to better manage their yield in seat allocation and not lose frustrated customers.

6. "Keep the fire in your belly"

• With every new business that one ventures into, there will never be any certainty in the product development, take up and performance. The important thing is that entrepreneurs need to stay bright-eyed in their outlook.
• Chua Kee Lock, Group President and CEO of Vertex Venture Holdings, offered the following golden gems:
• "Are you trying to win, or not to lose?"
• "An entrepreneur needs to be arrogant, but also willing to listen."
• Last but not least, Loo Cheng Chuan from Local L!fe, SingTel Digital Life Group rounded up his presentation about the 9 shocking truths about Silicon Valley with the following quip "Keep the fire in your belly".

Whilst the Startup Asia 2013 event in Singapore was a great platform and meeting of minds for the startup community in the region and beyond, it would only serve as a precursor for more exciting things to come for the business ideas and performances of many of the bright minds I have had seen and had conversations with.

In closing, to all startups and entrepreneurs out there, Keep on going ... Don't lost hope. You never know what tomorrow will bring.

Reading references:

1. Tech and cultural trends from Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia
2. Innovation from the East: takeaways from Startup Asia 2013
3. #startupasia Twitter conversations (chockful of information here! 
4. Startup Management: Tips for Prioritizing and Scaling (with Chua Kee Lock)
5. 9 shocking truths about Silicon Valley - Lessons from 100 Startup Founders
6. Newly added, Startup Asia 2013 as an infographic

5 Key App Insights from AppsXchange Asia 2010 Event in Singapore

The recent AppsXchange Asia event in Singapore on 16-17 June 2010 brought together the entire Apps Eco-system in Asia together -mobile phone manufacturers (Nokia, Samsung), operators (Telenor Group, Digi, Maxis, Singtel, AIS), content developers (mbounce, Zing Mobile, Touch Dimensions etc), mobile ads providers (Buzzcity, Mobile Spinach), platform solutions and payment providers (Oracle, Volantis, Globys, PayPal).

Here are the 5 key app insights gleaned from this 2-day discussion and networking forum around the Go-To-Market programs for Apps and the roles Operators and players could play in.

(1) With APPolution, Application Discovery is a Key Concern

• In an earlier post "3 social News Apps for a Nokia Phone", I wrote referred to the increasing number of apps offered by media publishers in the many apps stores available today.
• Arnie Chaudhari, Vice President, Sales and Business Development, mBounce, highlighted that with APPolution (i.e. app evolution), the applications marketplace is becoming increasingly crowded.
• Praveen Rajan, Head of Mobile Internet, Digi, talked about working with partners from other apps stores to push recommendations of apps via various operator online, mobile and offline channels. One case study he shared was around promoting daily content discovery through SMS subscriptions to Youtube alerts

(2) Traffic and Downloads are going off-deck

• Simon Wong, Sales Consulting Director, Oracle, highlighted that 50% to 80% of apps are now downloaded off-deck (note: Juniper Research)
• Praveen Rajan from Digi also advised that from experience, that operators need to rethink the Operator WAP Portal.  He suggested simplifying the operator wap portal with key promotional messages like attractive data plans, value-added service packages, or contests involving apps.

(3) Operators are trusted brands and offer value in platform enablers and to partner

• In his address on "Developing converged apps for TV, mobile and online", Naveen Wathan, Head of Product Innovations, Product Development and Infotainment, Maxis, saud that the role of the of the network operator is to enable applications across different user interfaces (TV, Mobile, Online) - use the Cloud, develop easy to use APIs for developers & co-market.
• Tanis Kuneepong, Partner VAS Marketing Manager, AIS (Thailand's largest operator) ahso shared about SingTel's regional apps store program, which is scaling up through shared apps sourcing, shared in -apps ads inventory, shared VAS offers across the Singtel group.
• Dr. Calicrates Policroniades, Senior Researcher/Business Developer in Content and Applications, Telenor Group Corporate Development, highlighted that the Telenor group's strategy is to focus on providing platform enablers to apps developers, rather than building their own apps stores.

(4) Operators offer value in consumer insights and marketing

• Praveen, Digi had started the event saying that "Everyone has favourites" (apps for that matter) and there are many opportunities for operators to promote apps, value-added services (VAS) and data plans to their consumers. Think about how to sell VAS the Apps Store way.
• Duanne Edwards, co-founder and Senior Vice President of Product Development, Globys, stated that operators can win the apps race by enabling discovery, profiling their consumers and understanding occasions - i.e. segment apps by occasions of usage, thereby driving downloads for developers through marketing contextually relevant apps to consumers.
• Urvashi Sahay, Director, Mobile Services and Integration, Singtel, reiterated support in providing more transparency to developers from Operators. Singtel for example is committed to sharing consumer insights to developers - what are the opportunities and in which verticals should developers be work on.

(5) Think about Feature Phones - they need some loving too

• Tanis Kuneepong, AIS, shared that out that 7 of the top 20 top performing phones for their AIS Apps Store (launched 8-FEB 2010) were Nokia feature phones.
• Arnie Chaudhuri from mBounce, Urvashi Sahay from Singtel, Dr. Lai Kok Fung from Buzzcity reminded the forum to think about the needs of the emerging markets which were largely proliferated with feature phones rather than smartphones. These consumers are looking for mobile ads with value, apps with sms-based content, utility apps for their feature phones.
• 2 examples of apps stores supporting feature phones are GetJar and the Nokia Ovi Store (which support more than 100 models of feature phones and smartphones today).

As seen by the 5 apps insights from the AppsXchange Asia event,

• In Asia, where there are both developed and emerging markets,
• where there are both smartphones and feature phones co-existing,
• there are different needs of consumers which could be catered to by the apps eco-system players - operators, content developers, mobile phone manufacturers, solution providers etc. 

I am very excited to be part of this dynamic and exhilarating apps growth market here in Asia.  How are your experiences in the apps market space?  Any best practices, case studies or key issues to share?  I look forward to hearing from you.




best regards,
Nelson Wee
or tweet me at @nelsonwee

3 Showcase Takeaways from Nokia Connection 2010 Singapore

Here is my post on the Nokia Connection 2010 event in Singapore where I added in my self-recorded videos on the 3 showcase takeaways - Nokia X5, local apps for Nokia Devices & the Nokia N8 (caveat: amateurish first raw takes on my part!).

Chris Carr, VP Sales for Nokia SEAP opened the event when he talked about how Nokia's strategy is to integrate Ovi services (map & free global navigation, millions of songs, integrated social networking access and globally local app store - Nokia Ovi Store) across Nokia devices of different price points, to be able to address different consumer segments who use Nokia Smartphones or feature phones.

Jo Harlow, Senior Vice President of Nokia Smartphones, further augmented with the message that Nokia continues to own the largest market share of mobile devices, smartphones, with more than 1.2 billion people are using a Nokia device today - and so lots of opportunities (to reach).

And now for my 3 showcase takeaways from the Nokia Connection 2010 event.

(1) Nokia X5 Hip with Colors, QWERTY Keyboard, Cool Spin & Shake Features

The Nokia X5 is the latest addition to the ever enlarging portfolio of Nokia's QWERTY keyboard devices.  It was just announced on 14 JUNE and will be availed in Indonesia in Q3 2010. The Nokia X5 feels nice when tucked in the palm of your hand. Slide the QWERTY keyboard out and you are on your way to access your favourite social networks on the nicely spaced out keyboard keys. View the video below which was recorded from the Nokia Connection 2010 event on other cool spin and shake features of the Nokia X5!




How cool is that?

1. Spin the Nokia X5 to change the music track.
2. Shake the Nokia X5 to hear beeps on how many unread sms you have.

(2) Local Apps from South East Asia Pacific

Presenting Nerd Attack, a 2 man company based in Malaysia who had developed upon their web design background with Web Run Time skills, built more than 10 apps in the past 1 year, working on regional South East Asia Pacific apps to the Nokia Ovi Store. 

Key app titles from Nerd Attack include:

1. Sky News Australia
2. KL Traffic
3. Headlines
4. I-S Mobile

Presenting Nanyang Polytechnic, an educational institution based in Singapore, whose students had developed 9 apps (sms utilities, fun casual games and more) which have generated more than 500,000 downloads globally from the Nokia Ovi Store (October 2009 to 14-June 2010). Have a look at the video below on Nanyang Polytechnic's apps. And there are many more upcoming in Nanyang Polytechnic's apps pipeline - so stay tuned.



 

Presenting Breakdesign, a 3 man South African award winning Adobe Flash developer team who are now based in Singapore. The Breakdesign team have developed Barking Seed, which is an indie mobile gaming community that connects players together with social elements tied into a portfolio of flash games, now available exclusively globally from the Nokia Ovi Store (more than 635,000 downloads globally in last 4 to 5 months till 14-JUNE and growing). More about Breakdesign in a later post. Have a look at the 2 videos from 2 of the founders Rick Treweek and Stefan Wessels below.







Here Rick talks about Barking Seed.





Here Stefan introduces the latest new Barking Seed enabled game title (very soon to be launched exclusively to the Nokia Ovi Store) 10PM!

(3) Nokia N8 Smartphone HDMI Dolby Stereo Video Showcase

The Nokia N8 was showcased, attached via HDMI cable to a plasma TV and a home entertainment set. Imagine the possibilities ... 

Signing out from the 3 showcase takeaways from the Nokia Connection 2010 event in Singapore. The possibilities are endless with Nokia's leading market share, consumer reach, new upcoming Devices and local Apps. What are your thoughts?




cheers,
Nelson Wee
@nelsonwee

For other related links to Nokia Connection 2010, do refer below:
1. VR-Zone's Post on Nokia Connection 2010
2. TechieLobang.com post on "Nokia Connection 2010 Debut N8 and Unveil X5"
3. Hip to be Square: Two Xseries launches at Nokia Connection (photo gallery)
4. Nokia N8: First hands-on reactions (what the media are saying)