Thursday, January 15. 2009
Announcing TechLang
I will dedicate more time on TechLang from 2009, however my blog http://jasonlog.supersized.org/ a> is still live with my personal view on Vietnam's web landscape.
TechLang welcomes all you guys as contributors, guest writers or whatever you name it. As startup entrepreneurs you can tip us your ventures so that we can follow and help you connect to the right circles.
Thursday, January 8. 2009
Recap 2008
Again there is no momentum for startups to get to fast track: lack of seasoned management, hard to monetize with high traffic sites. Most chased consumer entertainment services and few startups target enterprise apps SaaS and click and mortar hybrid that have more sustainable revenue model.
My predictions for 2008:
Social Media:
* Many new startups will be launched until mid year then some quit of exhausting. [Right: 2nd half 2008 saw few new startups, VC Corp quit Facebook clone game (Zoomban)]
* Some large tech companies such as FPT, CMC will opt for acquisition instead of in-house development. [Wrong: FPT launch its own incubator (Visky) and the FPT chairman takes care of these projects. I think it was not a good choice.]
* Self hosted Wordpress based blogs are increasing popular. [Quite true.]
* Active Yahoo360 accounts will drop 50% [Right: rumor of Yahoo SE Asia shutting down Yahoo360 service.]
Search Service:
* No local player can challenge the Google' dominant position. [Official launch of local search service xalo.vn, no bright future for this search engine.]
Online Gaming:
* WOW will be exploring the market through Asian affiliate. [The local market was ready for WOW, I did not know why Blizzard Entertainment still did not enter this promising game land.]
* Audition Online is still the top casual MMO. [Audition rocked again.]
Mobile:
* iPhone would be the top choice of wish list among local professionals and Vietnam would be the largest market of iPhone in Southeast Asia with sales of 200K to 250K of units end of the year 2008. [iPhone was truly a hit in Vietnam mobile market, without software based unlock solution iPhone 3G was a bit slow demand, but the number was still about 200k.]
* No one remembers DVB-H ever in existence. [What did DVB-H mean?]
* Wimax is still in testing and not a commodity until yearend. [Did Intel still bullish on Wimax this year?]
Investment:
* Some international VC firms will enter Vietnam market in addition to incumbent IDGVV, DFJ Vina. [Softbank China and India Holdings is an important player now.]
* Local VC and angels network will be formed to get a piece of the pie. [Not a clear trend in Vietnam, but some practice in existence.]
I will make the predictions for 2009 in next couple of days.
Saturday, December 20. 2008
FPT CEO is the New Visky
Monday, December 15. 2008
Who control Miss World Tube Rights in Vietnam?
"According to an agreement between RAAS and VTV, RAAS would provide Miss World 2008 shows free of charge to VTV for broadcasting on its VTV3 channel only. All profit earned from advertising during Miss World shows on VTV would be contributed to a charity fund.
RAAS withdrew the broadcasting rights for the final show because some websites in Vietnam stole the signals from VTV’s broadcasting of the Miss World fashion and swimwear programmes to broadcast live on their websites or upload on their sites illegally. These acts, according to RAAS, were serious copyright violations.
However, VietnamITV was not the only one; other websites, namely VTC.com.vn, PDA.vn, Clip.vn, stole signals from VTV and broadcast the Miss World shows live on their websites."
RAAS is a business group founded by a powerful Vietnamese Overseas family with business operation in the US, China and Vietnam. As a partner of Miss World Organization, RAAS holds exclusive broadcasting rights in Vietnam territory.
Of course VTV could not control the redistribution of its video signal across Internet, especially user generated content websites. VTV tried to explain it was out of their control but Vietnamese Internet users (about 20 millions) care? If young Vietnamese want to watch the Event they can find on many video sharing websites whether VTV did broadcasting or not. Are Julia Morley aware of this?
Friday, December 5. 2008
Google’s Strategy Slides by faberNovel
An interesting presentation prepared by FaberNovel, a french consulting firm, which produced many reports on Web 2.0 services. In the mid of recession and falling price of Google's shares, the slides shed light on the long term strategy of Google from Internet to mobile world.
Monday, November 17. 2008
Click and Mortar Model Can Make Money from the Start
Disclosure: I help the Teevn team from the start and currently an advisor.
Thursday, November 13. 2008
OpenSocial Hackathon in Hanoi?
Monday, October 13. 2008
Google DevFest HCMC - The First Ever Google Hackathon Tour in Vietnam
A team of Google engineers will come to Ho Chi Minh City in the first Google Hackathon Tour in Southeast Asia to meet, talk, chat with local developers on increasing popular APIs: OpenSocial & App Engine to YouTube & the Google Maps API. Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology will host the Event on 4th November 2008. Google Team will try their best to answer all the questions from participating developers as well as learn from local talents. This is your chance to interact with Silicon Valley engineers and local programmers. Bring your laptop and energy to join the Festival for Developers. You will get free food and refreshments just like Googlers get free meal at Mountain View.










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