Sulake Chairman's Igglo Melts

After a 3 year cumulative losing streak of 15.1 mill euro, high-profile real estate startup Igglo (www.igglo.fi), the brainchild of Sulake Chairman Jussi Nurmio is kaput, and its website being folded into
Sanoma Group's online real estate service. But of course, they are not spinning it that way: http://www.sanoma.fi/Content.aspx?d=10349&l=3
For more details see http://www.kauppalehti.fi/5/i/talous/uutiset/etusivu/uutinen.jsp?oid=2008/09/14281

Interestingly, fellow Sulake Board member Johan Brenner, formerly of Benchmark Capital, and now with Balderton was also an investor in Igglo. They only put $12.5 million http://uk.techcrunch.com/2006/11/24/benchmark-invests-125m-in-igglo/
in Igglo so I guess their exposure was minimal. Or was that 12.5 million Euro? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igglo

Anyway ...

In retrospect, however, a 3 year loss in the real world of real estate is no big deal. While Chairing the Board of Sulake, Nurmio has lost real money in the virtual world of HABBO 7 years in a row (2000 - 2007). It remains to be seen whether this year, year 8, will be the year Chairman Nurmio breaks his HABBO losing streak and makes a real profit at the virtual Hotel. Stay tuned ...

ANOTHER Teen Virtual World

New 3D virtual worlds are appearing almost every week. And here's another one - under a .NET domain no less! Guess all the good .COM domains are gone. This one is called Hangout and is still in private beta at the moment, so if you want to have a look around you'll need to apply for an invitation.

This one claims to be designed for teens and if you watch the video on the homepage, it does look teeny. This one follows the predictable pattern of; a. each person will be able to have their own room b. which they will customize with virtual merchandise.
Graphics look ok and there is a decent level of customisation of the various rooms.
With most of these new worlds, there is little or NO innovation but interestingly, they are announcing both voice and text chat and the ability to create audio playlists and videos in the rooms. Tthere is mention of credit card payments on the terms of use, though this might not be for membership. The terms of use also say that user between 13 and 17 need to get their parents approval to register, so hopefully they are taking security seriously.

Multiverse and James Cameron Announce Places in Time

Multiverse and James Cameron have today announced Places in Time: Titanic, an educational virtual world based on the historic Titanic voyage.

According to the press release, Places in Time: Titanic will provide the opportunity for immersive research and exploration on the ship's construction, maiden voyage, and on contemporary expeditions to study the wreck. Incorporating original digital footage, computer models, and encyclopedic data created and assembled by James Cameron, the world will be offered to the global online audience free of charge.

"I've always wanted to let people see what it was like to sail aboard Titanic, to really know the ship, the passengers, and their place in history," said Academy Award-winning director James Cameron. "With Multiverse, the technology finally exists to offer this very personal experience."

Places in Time: Titanic will launch as a new destination within the company's consumer-accessible virtual world, Multiverse Places. Once complete, the project will combine qualities of massively multiplayer online games and virtual worlds into a new form of experiential learning. Virtual explorers will have the ability to experience Titanic in real and condensed time, easily move from one event to another, and - through their own actions, affect the world around them, enriching the experience for everyone.

"We're not simply creating a place for someone to go," said James Cameron, a member of the Multiverse Advisory Board. "We're creating a journey for them to go on that will both be exciting and educational."

Development plans call for the creation of several unique instances of the virtual Titanic. "Virtual worlds are the 21st-century way to learn," said Corey Bridges, co-founder and executive producer, Multiverse. "Educational tools as we know them now will fundamentally change in the next decade. What we currently call 'gameplay' will be a significant part of a more personalized learning experience."

Multiverse already have a partnership with Twentieth Century Fox, and are working on a Buffy The Vampire Slayer MMOG. They were previously working on a Firefly MMO, but the plans for this have been delayed.

Zong is Cool. Long Live Zong

Zong has been around for 8 years doing some cool things with mobile micropayments. The company behind Zong is Echovox, a transplant from Europe that is now located in Redwood City. The way it works is like this, you setup your service to accept a mobile payment from Zong which then passes a keycode to a user via SMS that the users then inputs into the service to authenticate the user. With 68 carriers currently active, Zong claims critical mass penetration in North America and Europe, and is bringing Latin America online as well which will move them closer to their 3 billion user goal. Analysts like this company because its mobile payments work with a developed and deployed infrastructure that serves as an effective barrier to entry for potential competitors.
http://www.zong.com/

Juniper Research: Total mobile payments to grow nearly ten fold by 2013

According to Juniper Research’s Mobile Payments Study, purchases via mobile devices, contactless NFC transactions and money transfers will together generate transactions worth over $600 billion globally by 2013. This figure represents the gross value of all the items being purchased or the value of money being transferred. While the mobile market today is currently dominated by digital goods purchases such as ringtones, music, games and infotainment, there are three high potential markets which offer major new opportunities for the future: contactless NFC, mobile money transfer and physical goods purchases via mobile devices. Report author Howard Wilcox argues that all segments of the market will see growth over the next five years, driven by both the rapid availability of exciting, easy to use services, and the continued growth, particularly in developing countries. “As well as becoming multifunctional devices for many users, mobiles will become wallets that people won’t leave the home or office without,” he added.

Highlights from the report include:

Global annual gross transaction value will grow over 10 times between 2008 and 2013

Juniper Research’s 2008 forecasts show an increased growth rate of the global mobile subscriber base than previously, with in excess of 1 billion new users by 2013

The top 3 regions for mobile payments (Far East and China, Western Europe and North America) will represent over 70% of the global mobile money transfer gross transaction value by 2013.

The report provides forecasts of the main market segments, regional forecasts of gross transaction values, and also offers profiles of 13 vendors and 17 service providers pioneering in the market. More information is available from Juniper Research’s website.

Linden VP Ginsu Yoon Says "kids and games are just the flavor of the month"

Good article in the Statesman on the proliferation of kiddie virtual worlds and new stuff introduced at Virtual Worlds Expo. It mentions the lineup of kiddie virtual worlds with toy tie ins including Irwin Toys Me2, a new virtual gaming device pedometer that kids can wear during the day and plug into a virtual-world game at night with the amount of "energy" they have to play in the virtual world depends on how much they walked in the real world.´ The article also mentions Hasbro and its latest Littlest Pet Shop VIPs (Virtual Interactive Pets) that kids can play with in the real world and also in a virtual world online and others.

But what struck PaymentGuy was the out of the blue quote from Ginsu Yoon, Linden's VP Business "Affairs" who said;

"Kids and games may rule for now, but Second Life and virtual worlds like it are still very much alive and kicking, said Ginsu Yoon, vice president of business affairs for Second Life creator Linden Lab. "Frankly, (kids and games) are just the flavor of the month,". Yoon is quick to point out that Second Life is a profitable business that's been around for about six years. It has nearly 15 million registered "residents" who can build houses, buy land and trade goods worth millions in real-world dollars every month. But Yoon also acknowledged Second Life is nothing like it was — or what some people expected it would become.
http://www.statesman.com/business/content/business/stories/technology/09/08/0908virtualworlds.html


Right! Ok! PG's got it now. Barbie Online, HABBO, Club Penguin, NeoPets, Webkinz, are short term fads - like Pet Rocks, Rubics Cubes and ChiaPets.

OY! Disney, Hasbro, Mattel - your throwing your money away on a fad! The 100 million + kids, moms and dads are naive band-wagoning sheep who live in ignorance of the fact the 3D visual immersive internet of the future is already here but just unevenly distributed. Don't you know that? Ok, gotcha! Thanks for clearing that up.

Oh, by the way, HABBO and Neopets are both lots older than SL.

Hearing a Linden Exec blow off a massive existing and real business opportunity like kiddie / youth / teen / family virtual worlds as flavor of the month is truly astonishing. Especially when LL could get a taste of this with their own Teen world, otherwise known to the select few as Teen Second Life. No wonder Teen Second Life is languishing as a virtual endless-summer-school-pergatory for pointy heads.

Teen SL should be the money making teen virtual launch pad crunching serious dough like Gaia, Nexon, Sulake, GANZ or Disney Interactive rather than just a distraction from the real 3d internet stuff happenin' over at the Grid with the MIT Engineers ... But how could it be if the dudes in charge think kids, teens and mom and dad all over are just fooling around with this just for fun short term kiddie-virtual world fad thing and will eventually start drinking the more sophisticated and serious SL-flavored virtual koolaid any minute now?

The article goes on to talk about Dell and the other companies who have left SL;
"Many companies that invested real money in advertising and online virtual stores on Second Live have pulled the plug. Users who once logged on daily have now found something else to do with their time and money. Dell Inc., for instance, created "Dell Island" on Second Life in November 2006, with high expectations that visitors would go there to meet other Dell users, catch up on company news and — most important — buy computers and equipment. But while the island was created to host 400 avatars, it sometimes has no visitors. Dell gave up trying to sell computers on "Dell Island" because it wasn't worth the cost or trouble, said Laura Thomas, who is responsible for the computer maker's virtual world programs."

On that note, PG thinks LL would be a lot more successful with the enterprise sector if it evolved its strategy from exploring affairs with business and focused on securing and developing serious committed long-term corporate relationships. Maybe even - virtual Gods forbid - business partnerships in real life? Real world old-school meat-space business practice truly works and gets results. Maybe Linden needs an old-school, real life VP of Business "Development" to get this?

All the tech glitches, bugs, scaling probs and other issues aside, PG cannot help think there is something simpler, more fundamental and visceral contributing to the mass exodus of Corporate America and Enterprise Europe from Second Life. Maybe, just maybe, an arrogant, pompous, condescending, know-it-all attitude simply pisses people (and Fortune 500 companies) off? http://metaversed.com/14-nov-2007/virtual-finance-and-reality-linden-dollar

Servers Servers ... Eve Online vs Second Life

Did you know an Eve Online server can handle 34,420 users at a time, but Second Life maxes a server out with just 160 users? Network capacity also is much more heavily used.

Moshi Monsters - a safe world for kids

Mind Candy, the parent company of Moshi Monsters, seems very concerned with your child’s safety. They even go so far as to keep an eye on your monster’s pinboard, where your, in - game, friends can leave you messages. These messages go through two levels of moderation before they are release to the child member. The rules states that a member may not give out personal information such as name, address, telephone number or any other critical information that might identify the member child. The more popular you make your monster, and the more friends you have, the better chance your monster will become Monstar of the Week.

Members adopt their own Monster and keep it happy by solving daily puzzles that are sent to each player. Monster owners can interact with their pets by tickling them, playing games, shopping, designing their rooms, and shortly by dressing them up. One core element being promoted for Moshi Monsters is the ability to build an emotional bond between the user and their Monster, which is achieved through flash animation and a complex behavioral engine. Monsters develop their own unique personalities depending on how well, or badly, they’ve been treated. Players can connect and communicate with others through the Friends Tree, visits to other Monster rooms, Monster blogs, Newsfeeds, and a messaging system. This site is totally geared towards kids, so online safety is a top priority and the Moshi Monsters team monitors site activity to make sure it remains safe. The more attention a Monster gets from its owner and their friends, the higher its Monstar status rises. All Monsters start as Z-Listers and can rise through the ranks to become A-List Monstars. Moshi Monsters is played in the browser and requires no download. The game is free to play, although a subscription feature for premium elements will launch in the future, as well a range of offline products.


In reviewing this kiddie virtual world, the first thing PG noticed was the instructional tour had the monsters talking in an “alien” language with the words written in English on the screen. This makes it very difficult for young children to play as reading ability is required. Another action that limits age groups is the daily puzzles and working at the Power Plant. Obviously, this website is targeted to an age group of 6 to 14 years old. There seems to be a genuine concern for child online safety. And that's a good thing! not a scary thing ....

Sulake President of North America Tells LA Times 10% of Habbos Spend $17-$18 per month (let's do the math...)

PG just had to return to the issue of Habbo spending limits visited in the post below. Something does not compute here.

If Sulake's President of North America is to be believed (see http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2008/09/habbo-virtual-w.html) that 10% of Habbo Users spend $17-$8 a month buying furni (and other virtual items) and Habbo has 100 million users registered with Sulake reportin on its homepage 10 million "unique visitors" a month this would mean ($17 x 1M) = $17 million a month spent on virtual items at Habbo Hotel. So for 1 year ($17 mill X 12 mo) this totals north of $200 million in revenue. WOOT! If only ...

However, in the Finnish business press Sulake recently reported revenues rose approximately 20% to 25,6 million euros ($36.5 mill usd) for the first 6 months of 2008 with the majority of the revenues from sale of virtual goods in Habbo Hotels world wide. Sulake also said annual growth for 2008 will be around 30%. http://www.arcticstartup.com/2008/09/02/sulakes-h1-profitable/
That would make for 53 mill euro or $73 mill usd revenue per annum and that includes IRC Galleria revenue and HABBO ad revenue.

So can it be true that 10% of HABBOS spend $17-$18 per month? - FUHGETTABOUTIT!.

Conferences ... Conferences ... Why spill your guts?

Why do all of these virtual world execs go to conferences and start spilling their guts? I mean, what is there to gain (other than free airfare, comped hotel, food and drinks of course...) from going to a hot smelly room of strangers and in the process telling the world about everything successful they have done and what they have learned from all the mistakes they made in the past? Is there some secret hidden ROI from blah blah blahing and power pointing all your good stuff at conferences full of competitors and wanna be competitors? There must be! Certainly... otherwise why do it?

Anyway, on that note ... PG recently came across an excellent preso on HABBO Hotel. It is a very detailed 66 slides and authored by their CTO no less. You may access it here. http://www.fishpool.org/post/2008/05/16/ION-08-wrap-up



This is great stuff full of best practices, inside information and how-tos and how not to's. It is especially useful insider info for existing competitors or potential competitors like a team of devs or new media studios mulling over the prospects of creating a BABBO MOTEL.

Ever see anything like this from the dev crew at Gaia online? Howard Ganz detailing Webkinz? Or Lane Merrifield on Club Penguin? PG has not.


Well maybe there is some heavily sterilized, "Disney-Legal-Counsel" redacted and sanitized stuff Lane presents at conferences now that he has cashed in his virtual igloos for $700 mill usd. However, there is no virtual world publisher so generous with sharing its IP as Sulake. The HABBO guys seem to love spreading oodles and oodles of insider power-point goodness and best practices all over the web. Just GOOGLE "HABBO PPT" or "SULAKE PPT" and see for yourself.

Virtual Worlds With Toy Tie - Ins

This is a no-brainer. Look at the success of Webkinz. So why should virtual world, mmo and game designers and publishers care? Toy tie-ins are not only an additional revenue source, but they allow for a deeper connection with the users. And there is a huge amount of opportunity in this space. But most relevantly for PaymentGuys and PaymentGirls, retail based and sold interactive merchandise connecting buyer to the virtual environment, game portfolio or world is simply the best payment method for a youth and parent customer demo. Think about it. When a user buy s an interactive toy at a store, there is no fraud, few chargebacks, brand is built in the real world, spontaneous user acquisition occurs, collectabilty starts and indirect purchasing happens (grannie buys Webkinz plush for grandkids etc...).

PG says virtual world publishers, especially those running kiddie virtual worlds, must start looking beyond the PC screen and focusing on the virtual environment itself. The retail based revenue stream has too much potential not to. And most importantly it allows end-users and customers to connect to virtual worlds, create more engagement and have more fun. It is all about engagement and high-levels of creative interactivity.

Here is a quick run-down of the key players in the interactive toy arena is arena but it is not by any means complete;

- Webkinz: The plush toys for starters, as well as figurines, lip gloss, and other licensed products to monetize the interest in the brand.

- BarbieGirls.com and Be-Bratz: Are targeting older. Toys and accessories already available, more to follow.

- Card based: many properties are expanding this way, including Bella Sara, Chaotic, Maple Story, and World of Warcraft.

- Virtual Paper Dolls and IRL (Fashion) Design: Moo.com (with Habbo), Stardoll, Zazzle, and FigurePrints.com all provide different tools that allow users to bring virtual fashions into the real world: by printing avatars on a T-shirt, or designing avatar clothes that can then be made IRL for the player, designing your own avatar-based figurine, etc.

- TestTubeAliens.com: Toy that detects screen patterns when held up to the computer screen, changing the mood of the "test tube alien" inside.

- UbFunKeys: Similar to Webkinz, but with plastic figurines instead of plush toys.

- Tamagotchi: Relaunched and updated to include an online world.

The virtual world with interactive toy business is where it is at!

The Best Email Scam in SomeTime

On Fri, Sep 5, 2008 at 4:05 PM, Sgt, Jarvis Reeves, sgtreeves@live.com wrote PaymentGuy:

I am in the Engineering military unit in Iraq,we have about $50,000,000USD.
Kindly contact me via my private Email:(sgtreeves@live.com) Regards, Sgt.
Jarvis Reeves.

PaymentGuy replied:

Yo JARHEAD! I wanna get me some of that Mullah Moolah. What do I gotta do? Col. PaymentGuy

RocketOn Rocks (Part II)

The RocketOn guys are still in Beta but doing cool things already. PaymentGuy likes the idea of parallel virtual worlds and the platform approach. Read the PR here
http://hosted-communications.tmcnet.com/topics/broadband-comm/articles/38710-rocketon-teams-with-animax-develop-virtual-worlds.htm "RocketOn & Animax Partner on Virtual World Creation; Industry leaders team up on parallel virtual worlds"

SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- September 2008 -- RocketOn, Inc., creator of the Parallel Virtual World Platform, and Animax Entertainment, an Emmy-winning multiplatform entertainment studio, today announced at the Virtual Worlds Conference in Los Angeles, their strategic partnership to co-develop parallel virtual worlds.

RocketOn will benefit from Animax’s expertise in creating high quality animated content and from its relationships with major brands, media networks & movie studios. Animax and its clients will have access to RocketOn’s Parallel Virtual World Platform™ and authoring system, making it easy to rapidly deploy virtual spaces, avatars and games across any website.

“RocketOn is a great way to launch and manage parallel virtual worlds,” says Michael Bellavia, CEO of Animax. “It enables us to create rich browser-based, virtual environments anywhere on the web without a user download. In a matter of weeks, we can literally build out a virtual space, deploy it on a website and populate it with content.” RocketOn manages the entire platform, including integrating the content, running the servers, and providing billing, e-commerce, analytics, maintenance and customer support. Animax’s team would determine the strategic implementation, develop the marketing plan and produce the creative.

Sulake Needs A Subscription Model for HABBO (if it wants to make money!)

PaymentGuy loves the philosophy behind discretionary spending caps to limit abuse but he cannot help thinking that this is the main reason why HABBO, despite attracting 100,000,000+ registrations, has not made any money. It is way long over due that Sulake follow Club Penguin and all the rest and offer a monthly subscription. This is a proven profitable business model where parents allow their credit card sto be billed at a reasonable monthly recurring rate of less than $10 - DUHHHHHHHHHHH! Do you get it now? Woooot!

If Sulake does not offer a monthly subscription model and persists with limiting spending on micro-payment end-user revenue it will never make any money (i.e. be profitable) - guaranteed! And relying on advertising to help pad the turnover is a pipe dream. Profitable Kiddie Virtual Worlds like Penguin and WebKinz realized long ago that chasing advertising dollars is not where it is at. Rather, it is monthly recurring end-user revenue in the form of monthly subscriptions or purchases of retail based interactive toy merchandise that makes the business profitable and sustainable.

PaymentGuy is not saying Sulake must ditch the micro-payment per transaction model with HABBO. Rather, Sulake must supplement this proven revenue generating model with the proven profit-generator of offering monthly subscriptions for premium access to the Hotel by employing their vast array of payment menthods throughout its unmatched international payment network.

And pssssst... while your at it Sulake, make HABBO credits / coins / talers cross-Hotel-redeemable and simplify currency and furni pricing for good-ness sakes!

By the way, PaymentGuy would love to see proof that "... 10% (HABBO's), spend between $17 to $18 a month to decorate their virtual cribs and characters." according to HABBO's "President of North America". But of course that is not true otherwise HABBO would be profitable. And how would these HABBO's get to spend $17 - $18 a month with spending limits anyway?

Mr. President HABBO goes on to say 2/3rds of HABBO users are aged 13-16?

WHATEVER! Of course you can get away with saying whatever you want when you are on the management team of a privately held company with no transparency and public accountability. He should clearly spend more time in the office and less time at the beach.

Anyway, here is the article in the LA Times;
href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2008/09/habbo-virtual-w.html">http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2008/09/habbo-virtual-w.html

The policy to limit spending, which has been in place since Habbo launched in 2001, stems from a desire to protect younger players. About two-thirds of its users are between 13 and 16 years old. Habbo Room "When teenagers get into things, they sometimes spend too much," said Teemu Huuhtanen, president of the North American unit of Sulake, the Helsinki, Finland-based company that runs Habbo. "We didn't want a situation where teens were raiding their parents' credit cards to be able to play."

The vast majority of its users don't spend any money to play on the site, which is free to use. The rest, about 10%, spend between $17 to $18 a month to decorate their virtual cribs and characters. That's ideal," he said in an interview today at the Virtual Worlds Conference at the Los Angeles Convention Center. "We really don't want teenagers to spend more than the price of two movie tickets a month on Habbo." If turning down money seems un-American, it is. Sulake's Scandinavian origins meant it grew up in a market that heavily favors consumers' rights. In October, the company will also reward members for being good virtual citizens. Users will be able to accumulate "activity points" for doing good deeds, such as welcoming new players or helping out newbies find their way around.

NOTE: By the way, PG may as well say at first glance these activity points seem to be a very dumb idea. Especially in light of the above. How do free points for busy-HABBO's make money for Sulake anyway? Weird.

Norbert Stangl Removed by ClickandBuy Board

PaymentGuy was informed by former ClickandBuy insiders that Founder and former CEO of ClickandBuy who recently stepped down as CEO was in fact pressured by the ClickandBuy Board to step down after a lengthly battle that divided the company and resulted in many executives, senior managers and key employees leaving.

One insider writes about the battles between Mr. Stangl and the Board;

"... quarrels that started afterwards between the board and the investors. Leading to the "kindergarten" like events end of last year. During this "fight" the company was very much paralized. Most of the people were just simply amazed about the name-and-shame campaign between the board and Mr. Stangl - leading to two camps inside the company. One following Mr. Stangl and the second one opposing him."

Another insider describes the tense atmosphere this tension between Founder Stangl and investors produced and the effect on company morale;

"This was pepped up with a few new execs that didn't fit into the company culture (mostly the VP HR and the new CTO). Add Alix Partners that had the assignment from the investors to assess the board, but not the balls to tell them the inaptitude of some of the board members. A perfect recipe for disaster."

Explaining the impact the battle between Mr. Stangle and Board on employee and management turnover, one insider says; "I've talked to most ex-execs about their reasons. Mostly (the reason why they left) it was the distressing situation inside of the board mangled with the disability to work. Furthermore some of the key execs that were role models inside the company started leaving and this lead to the situation that most were afraid of being the "last one" stuck inside of this madhouse."

Finally, this former insider concludes that Stangl and the Board reunited in an insincere attempt to improve the internal situation and public image;

"The situation deteriorated by both fire-sale attempts failing, leaving the remaining execs with no fantasy about a short-term change. Imho the worst situation at all, was the "re-unification" of Mr. Stangl and the board as such. Both camps were making propaganda, that they will never ever work together again, and both camps were exploiting the employees by saying that they were the key value of the company. In the meantime nearly every single employee was filing a law-suit against the company because of the inability of the HR department. At the end of the day the board is still in place with the same actors. I think you can imagine the effect on the morale. The only thing that this "kindergarten" produced where horrendous costs. The so called "re-structuring costs" iled up to several millions, leaving the company in a delicate financial situation. This of course is completely denied - even when asked by employees."

To be continued ....

ONEBIP Mobile Billing Worth Checking Out

Marko Maras at OneBit was nice enough to send PaymentGuy some info on their premium sms billing service. You can check out their demo at https://www.onebip.com/consumer/uk/?page=366

According to Marko; "This gives you a good overview of our mobile billing system. As you will see we are very different from companies such as mBlox, IPX, Netsize… Those companies sell connectivity, onebip on the other hand it’s a consumer oriented application that had been developed to narrow down the gap between mobile billing and credit card processing."

He says "there are numerous benefits in using onebip;

Benefits for consumers https://www.onebip.com/consumer/it/?page=513

Benefits for merchants https://www.onebip.com/merchant/?page=187

Onebip security guarantees the highest billing rate in the market with the lowest charge back."

Their customers include: Ijji, Aeriagames, Habbo Hotel, Gameforge, Bigpoint, Travian, Roliana….

If you would like more info contact Marko at OneBip!

Marko
https://www.onebip.com/admin/phplist/uploadimages/logosignature.gif
Marko Maras
V.le Monte Nero, 84
20135 Milan Italy
Phone: +39 02 5410 2771
Fax: +39 02 5412 4323
Mobile: +39 339 455 4544
www.onebip.com


Email: marko.maras@onebip.com

WebKinz Internationalization and Localization Strategy

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Aug. 22, 2008) - Webkinz WorldTM, the premiere children's virtual world, is now actively growing around the world as children everywhere want to share in the fun. In response to worldwide demand, key elements of Webkinz World will be translated over the next several months in phases. Global participation is expected to increase dramatically. Members of Webkinz World will soon be able to play online with friends all over the world. The multi-award-winning site has seen skyrocketing growth across North America since its launch three years ago. Children purchase a soft plush pet with a secret code, which allows them to adopt a virtual pet online. In Webkinz World, they care for their pets, decorate rooms and earn virtual money by playing games and quizzes and doing small jobs. Members can visit with 'friends' on the site and ensure their pets are happy, healthy and content.

The Webkinz World site lists distributors and stores around the world that carry the plush Webkinz pets. Ganz is launching the international Webkinz eStore (www.webkinzestore.com), giving kids in areas where Webkinz toys are not sold the chance to purchase a plush pet or a virtual pet code. Members all around the world are also able to purchase special online feature codes for exclusive virtual items to expand their play in Webkinz World.

Turnover at ClickandBuy

No, I am not blogging about the good kinda European-style turnover (i.e.; generating revenue). This post is about the bad kinda American-style turnover (i.e.; losing key people from your organization).

Since my recent posts on the management and senior employee departures at ClickandBuy, I received numerous emails from current and former employees and executives at the company. For example, former members of the ClickandBuy Executive Management Team wrote me with some very revealing insider insights. One wrote;

"I think you should straighten your facts about the timeline regarding the timeline of the exodus at ClickandBuy (CaB) and btw you just missed a few key persons as well."

So I thought I would heed this advice and post about what this former insider had to say who writes;

"First the people in the US office left - except Fabian Siegel." These include


Eli Entin former VP Product Development at C&B now an Independent Consultant


Michael Holdman former VP eCommerce Solutions at C&B now self-emloyed


Jamy Nigri former VP New Media at ClickandBuy LLC now VP Biz Dev at Stealth Mode


John Baross former VP Global Sales & Strategic Development at Click&Buy LLC now Sales Director at Amdocs


Stuart Ginsberg former Public Relations Manager at ClickandBuy now self employed


Ann Whitener former VP eCommerce Sales at ClickandBuy now Director, Business Sales at Internet Payment Solutions, Inc "PayByCash"

See related post here; http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=2162947490265832295&postID=7833121755746378663

Philipp Barthold






and Rafael Otero Fandino




were the first execs to leave end of last year already. Shortly followed by David Hunter (MD at ClickandBuy Europe).






Next ones to follow where Martin Grass (Senior Marketing Manager)










and Andreas Horst (VP Communication) (http://www.kobil.de/uploads/media/UK_KOBIL_Press_Release_AH_uk.pdf).
















This former insider continues;

"In fact nearly 2/3 of the software engineering department left the company ... Also nearly half of the sales department left the company, as well as the whole product management (only left is Hans Hoffmann). Same goes for the purchasing department and half of the operating department.

"One of the last execs to leave the company was Timo Seidel, followed by his fellow co-workers BJ Park (Director Controlling and Business Planning) and Denise Hundgeburth (handling the accounts receivable team)."

So there you have it readers. A more thorough and accurate timeline of the key people at the Executive and Senior Management level who have left ClickandBuy. Stay tuned for more inside stories ... For now, see these related posts; http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?hl=en&q=clickandbuy+blogurl:http://paymentguy.blogspot.com/&um=1&ie=UTF-8

13 Mobile Banking Platforms

Financial research firm Javelin Strategy & Research (www.javelinstrategy.com) released today a new study that analyzes 13 global vendors offering U.S. mobile-banking platforms for SMS text, mobile browser and downloadable applications. The report, titled, Mobile Banking Vendor Analysis, compares product features, partnerships and overall strategy for each provider. “As banks and credit unions begin to roll out mobile banking solutions for customers, they have to manage a complex landscape of vendor offerings,” said Jim Van Dyke, president of Javelin Strategy & Research. “With this report, we developed a useful profiling tool—which we call Javelin’s Target Grids—to help financial institutions better understand the various offerings available in order to determine best short-and-long term strategies.”

The study finds that many mobile vendors have different philosophies about how mobile banking should be shaped and how it will evolve. Banks and credit unions are challenged to balance what consumers want most from mobile banking against practical issues such as, infrastructure limitations, costs, vendor strengths and weaknesses. In the midst of this complex arena exist overarching concerns about the potential threat that wireless carriers pose as mobile banking evolves into mobile payments. Report author and multi-channel financial services analyst, Mark Schwanhausser suggested that ultimately, financial institutions should offer a mix of all three platforms, but most will be wise to roll out mobile banking in stages.
http://www.javelinstrategy.com/2008/08/15/new-study-analyzes-13-mobile-banking-vendor-platforms/

Finnish Gaming Companies - The List

http://asmunder.net/peliyhtiot/
A good list for job seekers, partner-hunters or business developers.

The real value of virtual dung and other online items

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2008/08/virtual-world-m.html

Vili Lehdonvirta Why do people pay real money for virtual items?

This is a question that has intrigued Vili Lehdonvirta for years. A researcher at the Helsinki Institute for Information Technology in Finland, Lehdonvirta approaches the market for virtual goods the way economists study the market for copper or clothing.

He estimates that people spent $2.1 billion on virtual items, including all manner of weapons and fantasy outfits for their virtual avatars in 2006 (the most recent year for which he and a colleague Tuukka Lehtiniemi compiled stats). Some of the more unusual items include virtual horse manure and colored "contact lenses" for avatars.

Lehdonvirta is an advisory board member for Live Gamer, a New York company that offers a sanctioned marketplace for players who want to buy or sell digital items for virtual worlds. Until the recent arrival of Live Gamer and Sony's Station Exchange service, most of the buying and selling occurred via shadowy websites or on EBay, making estimates of actual spending difficult. Now that the trading is gaining popularity and legitimacy, Lehdonvirta's studies are beginning to carry real world value for companies hoping to cash in.

In a recent interview with The Times, Lehdonvirta gave us some insight into the market for virtual goods.

Q: Why do people pay so much money on items that aren't tangible?

A: People pay real money for virtual items for the same reason they pay real money for any consumer commodity, namely ...

... status, identity, membership, class and performance. If you think about the clothes that you buy today, how much of the value of that $100 shirt is based on the material properties of the shirt to protect and keep your body warm? It’s probably very small. It’s not so amazing that virtual items can convey the same symbolic payload.

Q: What determines the value of virtual items?

A: One thing is performance. You can buy sharper swords and faster steeds. But then you have less obvious things like aesthetics. I don’t mean it in the common language -- aesthetically pleasing. I mean it in the sense of creating social distinctions. In one game, Maple Story, they sell different colored rubber boots. If you buy an expensive pair of boots, the only thing you get is different colored pixels. For someone who doesn’t understand the value system of that world, it may not make any difference. But to someone in that world, those few pixels can carry tremendous meaning. The same applies to everyday clothing where logos or details make a huge difference. The social world develops its own aesthetic code about what is tasteful and tasteless. And the difference can be very subtle.

Q: You also mentioned prestige as a driver of value. Do you have an example for that?

A: In Habbo Hotel, you have trophies that anyone can purchase. They all look exactly the same. But a virtual trophy that was given to a famous user by the publisher is valued many times higher than the equivalent trophy with no history. In the case of the trophy, it has a tangible record. If you click on it, you see who it was awarded to. If that’s a celebrity, the trophy will command a much higher price. What if it was possible for players to record the provenance of their virtual items? What if a sword was owned by the guild master of the leading guild when they first conquered a particular monster? I’m positive it would command a higher price.

Q: Many gamers believe items should not be made for sale, because it gives people an unfair advantage and drains the fun out of games by letting people buy their way in. What do you think?

A: There will be places where trading is simply not appropriate. At the same time, there's a lot of room for trading where it increases value. Let's go to a sports analogy. No one says it's bad to have a market for sports equipment even though they can enhance performance. But there are things that should not be traded -- human relationships, honor, achievements and skill.

Q: What's the oddest virtual item you've seen sold?

A: Virtual horse dung in the game Ultima Online, which sold for several hundred dollars. The value was driven by its scarcity. It was a rare item. There were only a few of them on each server in the game.

-- Alex Pham

Webkinz International eStore is All Wrong

Ganz Interactive has expanded the Webkinz brand internationally via it "estore" on a geographical basis. There are 20 countries (with such gigantic markets like Bahamas, Bermuda, Antigua, Cayman and British Virgin Islands ... while other "niche" markets like the entire European Union are missing) covered where you can buy virtual items and pets via credit card http://www.webkinzestore.com/static/available_countries. This is really weird. Rather than just simply making language versions and payment methods available for buyers around the world, Ganz appears to think they need some legal permissions "per country" to sell virtual items. Absolutely incorrect! There is no requirement for a country by country approval to sell virtual goods or items to residents or citizens on the internet. The Ganz Legal Dept. had better rethink this one as they are probably losing tonnes or money and new Webkinz signups with this flawed approach. https://www.webkinzestore.com/static/howtouse

Sears CMO Richard Gerstein on Marketing in Virrtual Worlds

From VWN; "Last month Sears launched an ambitious back-to-school campaign across seven different youth-oriented virtual worlds and avatar sites. It's a new direction for a major brand. While some, like Scion, have run multiple campaigns in different virtual worlds, this is the first to aim for this wide of a reach as a part of a cohesive campaign. It's still early, but the kids are starting to head back to school, so we caught up with CMO Richard Gerstein for an email Q&A about the early results, why Sears took this approach, and what virtual worlds offer to the department store giant.
http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/08/qa-sears-cmo-ri.html

500 Posts!

PaymentGuy is happy to have reached 500 posts this morning! Thanks to all my readers for making this blog such a success! PaymentGuy appreciates each and every email you send.

ClickandBuy CTO's Resign

Just a note to let my readers know that

Rafael Otero Fandino, who quit as ClickandBuy's Vice President of Technology, also served as its interim CTO after ClickandBuy CTO Fabien Siegel quit http://paymentguy.blogspot.com/2008/04/clickandbuy-cto-fabien-siegel.html

Sulake Extends HABBO Payment Network to Philippines

Good news but long overdue on Sulake extending its prepaid card payment method reach in Southeast Asia. What is even more interesting but disappointing is how Sulake with its HABBO franchise has dropped the prepaid card opportunity in other markets like US, Canada, France and Spain by doing extremely odd things like promoting Premium SMS over this clearly superior payment method. Not to mention its failure to capitalize on its extensive prepaid payment network to commercialize IRC Galleria more fruitfully. PaymentGuy will be blogging more about that in the near future so stay tuned. Anyway, the story on the Philippines expansion http://blogs.inquirer.net/hackenslash/2008/08/14/singapore-based-distributor-to-launch-fresh-games-in-rp/; "Singapore-based video game distributor New Era Digital Interactive Media Inc. is refreshing its business in the Philippines in measured steps, as it prepares to introduce two online games in the coming weeks. The company is also preparing to launch two “huge titles” that will target gamers in Internet cafes, the company said. Allan Carbonell, newly appointed New Era Digital Interactive Media country manager, told hackenslash that the company will introduce the virtual social networking game Habbo, owned by Finnish firm Sulake Corporation, soon. The game, which plays like the first Philippine online game OZWorld, uses configurable avatars to represent account owners. Players can open their own pages called Habbo Homes and customize these with widgets, stickers and backgrounds. They can also form group pages where members can lounge. Just like any other social networking sites, Habbo has “virtual hotel rooms” where players can communicate with other avatars. Habbo is touted as one of the most popular social networking sites. It has over 100,000,000 registered users worldwide with 9.5 million unique visits per month. Most users are between 13 and 18 years of age. Carbonell said New Era will distribute and promote the game in the Philippines but the game will be hosted in Singapore. “By September we’re introducing prepaid cards for players of Habbo. These will be in denominations of P50 and P100. These will allow them to buy items and virtual furniture but the game itself will be free-to-play,” he said. Apart from Habbo, the company will also distribute boxed online game, called “Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures,” which is similar to online game “Guild Wars” already distributed in the country. Carbonell said that the company is in the process of opening up an office in Ortigas Center, Pasig City.

Behind MasterCard’s soaring stock

Two of the best stocks in the universe this year have been MasterCard (MC) and Visa (V). MasterCard went public in May 2006 and has rocketed from its offering price, $39 a share, to $231. That’s a six-fold increase. Visa, which scored the biggest IPO in history last March, has seen its stock rise from $44 to $73. Ironic, isn’t it, that these two companies are sailing along when so many U.S. consumers are in credit hell? Meanwhile, the big banks are reeling from lending money to too many deadbeats. MasterCard and Visa make money by processing payments, not extending credit. And since millions of people around the world are replacing cash with credit cards, these companies’ profits are expanding dramatically, with minimal risk from the multiplying credit crises. On Tuesday I had lunch with some MasterCard folks at Michael’s in midtown Manhattan (and paid with my American Express (AXP) corporate card, sorry to say). We talked about the global migration from cash to credit — about Asian and Middle Eastern consumers snapping up elite MasterCards studded with diamonds and, more darkly, desperate debtors in Turkey and Korea committing suicide. (The New York Times ran a front-page story on Sunday about this.) We also talked about what may be the most exciting trend: mobile payments. MasterCard has experimented for years, largely abroad, with “contactless payments” via mobile phones. This year, MasterCard partnered with U.S. Bank and Nokia (NOK) for a pilot program in Spokane, Washington. If you live in New York, next year you’ll likely be able to stand in front of a movie theater, tap your cell phone on the poster of the movie you want to see, pay for your ticket, and even buy your popcorn.

Even as MasterCard’s stock has multiplied, there’s room for more gains, many analysts say. Morgan Stanley (MS) put a price target of $320 on the stock and forecasts double-digit organic revenue growth, operating margins in the 30-40% range, and net income gains of more than 20% annually over the next three years. Of course, as MasterCard and Visa clean up from consumers borrowing aggressively, there’s ever more risk for the banks who put up the money. Byron Wein, a Morgan Stanley alum who is now chief investment strategist at Pequot Capital Management, warned in a Morgan Stanley report last month: “There is too much credit card debt. Holders of credit cards should have to put up a deposit before they can use their cards, like the renter of an apartment puts up security. No credit card borrowing should be allowed. Naturally that would cut consumption way down, but that is what is needed.” Wise words, but as we know, sanity doesn’t drive businesses or markets either.
http://postcards.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2008/08/13/behind-mastercards-six-fold-increase/

Key Managers Quit Clickandbuy

The management exodus at Clickandbuy continues.

Eric Normant is now Senior Manager, Systems Engineering - Card Online Banking at Bank of America having quit as ClickandBuy's Director, Software Engineering - Internet Payment Systems;


Tashin Isin, Clickandbuy's Director of Merchant Integration has joined Acoreus AG, Düsseldorf as a Project Manager.

Moritz Königsbüscher, formerly ClickandBuy's Director of Payment Systems is now Payment Specialist at arvato finance services Limited.





Rafael Otero Fandino has quit as ClickandBuy's Vice President of Technology.

Oliver Augustin has quit as ClickandBuy's Vice President Sales and Marketing Controlling to become Director CRM at Deutsche Bahn AG.

Senior Employees Leave Clickandbuy

The list of senior employees, that have left Clickandbuy continues to grow;

Benjamin Grohe, formerly ClickandBuy's Senior Product Manager, has left to join Register.com as Product Manager.

Hernan Ganame has left ClickandBuy and joined AOL.

Clickandbuy VP HR Still With Company

Apparently, Berthold Hoeffken is still with Clickandbuy as VP HR. He must be very busy with all the layoffs and resignations. According to an email PaymentGuy received from Clickandbuy's Legal Counsels, coincidentally both of whom are first-named named "Christian" but have different last names; "Dear Sir or Madam, ... According to Mr. Hoeffken himself and the management, he has no intention to leave the company."...
Sincerely yours
Christian Daeumer, LL.M.
Legal Counsel

Kind regards,
ClickandBuy
Christian Däumer
Legal Counsel
------------------------
So apparently there are two Christians who serve as Legal Counsels at Clickandbuy, one
Christian Daeumer, LL.M. and one Christian Däumer. Guess it takes (2) Christians to replace (1) Timo Seidel who left as ClickandBuy's Executive Director Legal and Compliance at ClickandBuy (Europe) Ltd. and VP Legal and Collections at ClickandBuy Services AG to be Senior Manager Corporate Legal Counsel at Qimonda http://paymentguy.blogspot.com/2008/07/clickandbuy-executives-quit-seidel-and.html
Phillip Barthold, formerly ClickandBuy's VP Financial Services left to join PayPal as a Senior Risk Consultant about the same time. There ... that should clarify the situation!
Sincerely yours and kind regards,
PaymentGuy

Linden Lab Appoints Frank Ambrose Head of Global Technology for Second Life

Mark Kingdon announced the appointment of Frank Ambrose as Head of Global Technology, according to Bloomberg Technology. “To develop computer systems, Linden named Frank Ambrose as senior vice president of global technology. Ambrose was previously head of technology for infrastructure and network services at Time Warner Inc.’s AOL.” The Linden Lab press room is strangely absent with an announcement of its own. Frank Ambrose held the position of “Vice President, Access Management Global Network Operations” at AOL. Which means, I guess, he’ll be responsible for keeping log-ins up and running: via Dusan Writer and Bloomberg

Frank Quattrone Schools HABBO's President of "North America"

This is hilarious. http://www.mercurynews.com/vc/ci_9972936
"His legal troubles behind him, famed investment banker Frank Quattrone was back in his old role Wednesday as corporate advisor and tech industry sage. At the AlwaysOn technology conference at Stanford, Quattrone opined about the market reforms enacted after the dot-com bust, equity markets, the state of the initial public offerings and the outlook for innovation in the technology industry. Along the way, he dispensed advice to executives of three start-up companies lucky enough to have an appointment with 'the doctor," as the conference billed Quattrone. "It feels great," he said. "I feel like I'm a kid in a candy store." He should ...

The startups were:
* Teemu Huuhtanen, EVP Sulake. Sulake - a social networking and virtual world play.
* Lance Tokuda, CEO RockYou - a social networking site with 90M unique users.
* Phillip Alvelda, CEO MobiTV - a mobile content broadcasting company.
http://www.bellc.com/Tech-Industry-Confabs/Frank-Quatrone-gives-advice-at-AlwaysOn.html

And once again, HABBO's President of North America has nothing meaningful to say, announce or contribute. But nice socks anyway!