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TWIA #59: Emmanuel Allix from InMobi

SGEntrepreneurs — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 11:57:59 +0000

As an Asian company, InMobi has made a lot of headway recently with their expansion from India to US, starting with a 2M fund for developers and a new investment series B round of 8M from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers & Sherpalo Ventures. Touted as an interesting independent ad-network by TechCrunch, InMobi is set to have an interesting trajectory. We have Emmanuel Allix from InMobi in Singapore to talk to us about the company, how they grow to reach 179 million consumers in over 108 countries through over 16 billion mobile ad impressions monthly in the past few years. You can go directly to TWIA website or listen the podcast here in SGEntrepreneurs.

65bits #171: HR65

SGEntrepreneurs — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 08:20:40 +0000

Our friends at Tech65 starts off this week with their weekly podcast on the following issues that dominated the tech landscape: [1] Facebook event outlines ’simpler’ privacy controls, [2] Quit Facebook Day is May 31, [3] Microsoft’s Robbie Bach and J Allard leaving as part of broader shakeup, [4] Apple overtakes Microsoft as being the largest technology company (For a day), [5] Palm’s Matias Duarte joins Google as User Experience Director for Android, [6] iPad 3G early adopters here soon able to use microSIM cards from local telcos. Do click and check out their latest podcast here. You can now also listen to the Tech65 podcast here as well by coming to the blog post directly.

TWIA #56: Attack of The Groupon Clones

SGEntrepreneurs — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 08:05:33 +0000

Yes, Google vs China comes to a stunning conclusion with one side making a kow-tow, and the emergence of Groupon clones taking over Asia springing from China and Singapore. How will all these change the landscape of Asia? With Chew Lin taking the helm as the moderator for the first time, the TWIA crew examines the key issues which dominate Asia, with little quibbles over Microsoft’s dropping of Kin, Huawei putting Froyo onto their Chinese Android phones, Mixi making a minor Linkedin, Amazon’s acquisition of Woot and the major differences between e-commerce in Southeast Asia & East Asia. You can go directly to TWIA website or listen the podcast here in SGEntrepreneurs.

The Groupon Clones in Asia: With Groupon Clones springing up from China (400+ according to Gang Lu) and Singapore (about 4 according to E27 SG), how is the whole e-commerce fever hitting across the Asian landscape?
Google vs China: The conclusion is that Google buckered down with an official blog release, but what are the next steps for the search engine giant to take on the Great Firewall of China? Is it with Froyo (Android 2.2) loaded with Huawei phones?
Is Mixi creating a minor Linkedin: Are they going to back to their roots or are they running out of ideas?
Microsoft drops Kin and what happens now?
Quibbles on Amazon’s acquisition on Woot and the e-commerce market in Southeast Asia vs East Asia.
Upcoming Events: Open Web Asia – Southeast Asia on 13 and 14 July (and you can use our promo code “TWIA” to register with 10% discount) & BlinkBl-nk on the 19 July.
And one last thing: Chew Lin now has an official twitter account, @chewlink – please add her to show your support. :)

TWIA #54: All over CommunicAsia, Nokia & InMobi

SGEntrepreneurs — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 10:31:25 +0000

The TWIA crew in our virtual studio, sets off this week on two major events: CommunicAsia 2010 & Nokia Connection. With a flurry of talking points on the future direction of Nokia and how the mobile landscape is shaping up in Philippines similar to the Indonesian one, the crew also looked at how InMobi, the Indian mobile ad network is moving into the US and the usual Chinese sightings: TenCent to acquire Comsenz? and FourSquare is now banned in China. You can go directly to TWIA website or listen the podcast here in SGEntrepreneurs.

Event – CommunicAsia 2010: How have the exhibitions and conferences fare this year? Is the conference losing focus or becoming more and more diverse? The TWIA crew examines the annual event that rocked Asia this week.
Event – Nokia Connection: The announcement of X5, X6 and N8 phones and the news that the C3 is completely sold out in Indonesia with delegates all over Southeast Asia and India turned up in Singapore for the event. We also examine how Nokia needs to step up the fight in the smart-phone space.
Social, smartphones shaping Philippines mobile landscape: With the success of how the Indonesia mobile landscape, we review how the same business models and mobile usage are replicated in the Philippines.
InMobi announces 2M Developer Fund: InMobi, the Indian mobile ad-network has finally stepped onto the shores of US with investments from KPCB, and open a new front to the Google-Admob vs Apple war. Will their independence and also the new developer fund change the mobile advertising landscape?
Tencent to acquire Comsenz?: So, web 1.0 online BBS forums has been popular in China and is the top social networking service Tencent acquire or invest in this company?
FourSquare banned in China: Yes, FourSquare has joined the list of banned services in China. We have inside stories on how people got a swarm badge in Tiananmen which led to the service being banned and not to mention, the emerging clones of FourSquare in China.
Open Web Asia 2010 in Kuala Lumpur on 13 and 14 July and you can register with our own promo code: TWIA

InMobi Set To Gain From Apple-Google Mobile Warfare

Larissa THIA — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 10:29:49 +0000

Apple recently released a new developer licensing agreement permitting only “independent” ad serving companies to serve ads on their iPhone (and iPad) platforms, thus making sure that Google’s new baby – the recently acquired AdMob – cannot do so. AdMob fails to meet Apple’s criteria as it is not “independent” because its parent, Google, “develops and distributes mobile devices and operating systems”.

While AdMob is fuming over this new agreement, InMobi (whom we met two weeks ago at ad:tech 2010) with its independent network status, stands to gain immensely from the absence of AdMob on the iPhone platform.

InMobi is now one of the largest mobile independent mobile networks in the world. The network has established its strongholds in the APAC region (where it first started out) and has managed to gain a strong presence in Africa and Western Europe since their launch there. InMobi now aims for deeper penetration into the US market which is currently dominated by entrenched players such as AdMob (Google owned) and relative newcomers like Apple’s iAd and Quattro Wireless.

However despite the strong competition, InMobi managed to increase its number of ad impressions from 250 million in January (when its soft launch took place) to 2 BILLION in June. (This represents an 8 time increase in the number of impressions within a 6 month period!)

Read our interview with Mr. Emmanuel Allix, VP and MD (APAC) of InMobi to find out how they did it.

Taking Advantage Of AdMob’s Absence On The iPhone Platform

While the (temporary?) absence of AdMob on the iPhone platforms is advantageous for all independent networks, they must move fast in order to grab market share quickly. On this note, it seems as though InMobi has all their bases covered in order take advantage of this situation.

InMobi recently launched City Targeting, a value added service, in March 2010. This programme enables advertisers to segment their audience according to the cities/regions which they reside in. Currently, the program offers advetisers targeted access to over 15,000 regions and cites across 6 key countries – UK, France, Indonesia, S. Africa, US and India.

Moreover, City Targeting enables advertisers to send messages optimized for the iPhone platform. This includes adding creative touches to their messages and this includes video, search and local calls-to-action served in an iPhone-optimized, 320×48 banner.

As such, the well timed launched of their City Targeting program which in part caters specfically to iPhone users, InMobi is therefore in a very good position to take advantage of the absence of Google-run Admob on the iPhone platform. Globally, there are 11.6 million Andriod OS devices but the number of iPhone OS devices (inclusive of iPhones, iPads and iTouches) more than triples this at 40.8 million devices. Specifically in the US market, this figures at 8.7 million Andriod OS devices and 18.3 million iPhone OS devices. This therefore means that by enjoying access to the iPhone OS, InMobi may be able to even potentially overtake Admob which has gained a stronghold in the developed markets where it first started.

Ability To Move Quickly With Self Serving Platform

Additionally, InMobi’s self serving platform and sales force teams is crucial in helping the company expand their network. The self serving platform enables InMobi to rapidly and cost efficiently gain a foothold in the market by enabling publishers and advertisers to sign up and get started immediately. Aforementioned statistics of their rapid increase in impressions also evidence this deduction.

While we do not know how FTC will rule on the new developer agreements issued by Apple, smart independent networks will make full use of this temporary absence of AdMob’s giant presence on the platform to quickly increase their market share now.

Image Credit: alicepopkorn

TWIA Episode 52: Asia coming of Age?

SGEntrepreneurs — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 06:39:32 +0000

Back to the studio after an exciting week from Echelon 2010 and the good news that we are recently mentioned on TechCrunch. Akky Akimoto, the founder of Asiajin.com is here with us this week as our special guest. The week could not have been better without Apple’s announcement of the iPhone 4 and another massive showdown between Apple & Google/Admob in mobile advertising. How do those events affect Asia? While Gree, Japan’s number 2 mobile social network is now casting its attention to US and China markets, how about Zynga who is turning their guns to India and China? If you think Google TV is really new, why not find out what has been happening between web and TV in Asia here, and finally, the Geeks on the Plane have declared Silicon Valley is just a state of mind & dying, is Asia really coming of age? You can go directly to TWIA website or listen the podcast here in SGEntrepreneurs.

This Week in Asia is featured on TechCrunch.
Event this Week: Pycon APAC 2010
Apple WWDC 2010: What have we? The new iPhone 4, the iOS 4 and Face Time, and oh yes, the juicy war that is brewing between Google/Admob and Apple on mobile advertising with their new terms and conditions on the developer agreement.
Gree to expand to US & China: Japan’s number 2 mobile social network is now moving into China and US. Of course, we talked about how Gree entice its customers with a semi-naked avatar when they sign up the service.
Zynga Enters Asia With Acquisition Of Gaming Startup XPD Media; Opens Office In Beijing: The creator of Farmville sets up an office in where social gaming has originated – China. With offices springing in India and China, is Zynga heading towards a global domination of social games through the iPhone and other devices?
Yahoo! Japan Search Now Provides In-TV-Program Products Info: How Yahoo! has integrated their services into TV with Japan and Korea makes us ponder how it might match up against Google TV if it ever comes to Asia.
Is Silicon Valley state of mind and dying: Is that really true? With the optimism expressed by the writers from TechCrunch and Geeks on the Plane, is the web/tech scene in Asia finally coming of age? We express some pessimism and cautionary tale while
Upcoming Events: (a) CommunicAsia happening from 15 to 18 June 2010 next week in Singapore and (b) OpenWebAsia – Southeast Asia in Kuala Lumpur on 13 & 14 July

TWIA #48: Mike Kofi Okyere from AdMob

SGEntrepreneurs — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 18:20:41 +0000

You have definitely heard the story that Google has officially acquired AdMob, a mobile advertising company. So where are they heading after the acquisition. We sit down with Mike Kofi Okyere (@mobilemko) from Admob to talk about the direction of the company in Asia Pacific and what he will be expecting for the coming Echelon 2010 conference. You can go directly to TWIA website or listen the podcast here in SGEntrepreneurs.

About Mike Kofi Okyere from AdMob: As Head of Performance Advertising, APAC for AdMob, one of the world’s largest and fastest growing mobile advertising networks, Mike is responsible for leading the team in identifying business and market challenges amidst collaboratively shaping solutions that drive strategic client initiatives and revenue growth. Prior to joining AdMob, Mike was Senior Technical Manager for Asia Pacific at Netbiscuits, one of the world’s leading B2B web software platform for the creation of mobile portals, within this role he led the portal conceptualization phase and managed the development life cycle for premium media companies and agencies.

Editor’s Note: We apologize in advance for the echo coming out of the recording, which has some impact on the sound quality.

65bits #170: Google Google

SGEntrepreneurs — Sun, 30 May 2010 08:57:49 +0000

Our friends at Tech65 starts off this week with their weekly podcast on the following issues that dominated the tech landscape: [1] The first in-depth technical analysis of VP8, [2] Google’s “Royalty-Free” WebM Video May Not Be Royalty-Free for Long, [3] An open marketplace for web apps, [4] Android 2.2 coming to Nexus One, other HTC phones, [5] Google TV and [6] Google WiFi data collection. Do click and check out their latest podcast here. You can now also listen to the Tech65 podcast here as well by coming to the blog post directly.

65Bits #168: Secret location #462

SGEntrepreneurs — Fri, 14 May 2010 16:59:21 +0000

Our friends at Tech65 starts off this week with their weekly podcast on the following issues that dominated the tech landscape: [1] Google Editions: Bringing E-Books to Your Browser, [2] Adobe shows off prototype Android tablet running Air and Flash ‘flawlessly’, [3] Apple names iPad UK launch date and [4] Apple sells 1,000,000 iPads in revolution’s first month. Do click and check out their latest podcast here. You can now also listen to the Tech65 podcast here as well by coming to the blog post directly.

TWIA #26: Live from Barcamp KL Part 1

SGEntrepreneurs — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 03:46:11 +0000

Finally, our first live show for This Week in Asia has happened in Segi College, Kuala Lumpur. With John Lim as our moderator together with our co-hosts Bernard Leong and Daniel Cerventus and Michael Smith Jr, our highest recurring guest in the show, we talked about the journey of TWIA till today and future plans and the proceed to hit the three top news of the day: (1) Apple iPhone has taken 4.9% of the mobile market and 72% of the smart-phone market in Japan, (2) Lenovo as the sole candidate left after HTC dropped the bid for Palm and (3) the acquisition of iHipo to Potentialpark in Singapore. You can go directly to TWIA website or listen the podcast here in SGEntrepreneurs.

iPhone takes 4.9% market share in Japan: The surprise with Apple gaining 4.9% market share in the overall mobile market & 72% of the smart-phone market. How did Apple manage such a feat in Japan? We also discuss the recent loss of the iPhone 4G by an employee from Apple and provide our Asian perspective to the issue.
Lenovo leads the chase for Palm after HTC drops the bid: With HTC dropping the ball, is Lenovo primed for the takeover with Palm? Are there other candidates? We offer a few more, from Microsoft to Facebook. While discussing this issue, we also take a perspective on how this takeover of Palm will mean for the “war” between Apple and Google.
Potentialpark Acquires iHipo: iHipo (which is also invested by BL) from Thymos Capital and MDA has been acquired by Potential Park. We brought Kamal on board to discuss how start-ups in Singapore and Malaysia should stop thinking about getting government grants and go building prototypes instead.