A quick note to virtual gods: If you create a virtual world, you're probably going to wind up with virtually everything that occurs in the real world, and that includes crime, sex, economic upheaval and so on. No one knows that better than Linden Labs, the creators of Second Life, which has seen a variety of such behaviour over the years.
This time, the virtual proletariat are up in arms about an increase in what might be called virtual taxes -- the fees that Linden Labs charges for various features inside the world/game. In this case, it's a fee increase for what are called "Openspaces." Here's a description from the Second Life blog:
"An Openspace is a type of private island that we made available for light use countryside or ocean ... but Openspaces differ from normal regions in one particularly significant way; unlike normal regions that effectively get a CPU to themselves on the server, there can be up to four Openspaces on a single CPU (so 16 on a quad core machine), sharing the resource (hence them being ‘light use')."
The issue, Linden says, is that people are using the Openspaces for things that they weren't intended to support, and that is putting a strain on the company's infrastructure. Just as cities and states raise taxes to pay for repairs to highways and so on, Linden clearly feels that it needs to charge more to offset the cost of maintaining these private islands. Sensible enough, yes? Not if you're a Second Lifer. Or rather, not if you are a Second Lifer who has built a business based on the services and features that are attached to that Openspace. Here's the problem as one person sees it:
"There is demand for the 'original' OpenSpace 'void sim' application: lower primcount, very few scripts, very few avatars–just very light load, and only in areas surrounding other, full-primmed sims. There is also a clear demand for heavier use OpenSpaces–still much lower density than full-primmed sims, but posing much more demand on the backend services than does the 'void sim' application. These need to be separated into two distinct products with different fee schedules; let's call them 'Void' and 'Low-Density' sims."
Don't feel badly if none of this makes any sense to you. I'm pretty familiar with Second Life, and a lot of it makes my head hurt too. It's a little like reading a science-fiction book, in which the author has made up new words for everything, and you have constantly flip to the index to figure out what everyone is talking about. The issue is whether Linden underestimated what people were going to do with Openspaces and priced them too low, or whether people are misusing the world somehow and should therefore be expected to pay more. Regardless, people are upset. As Wagner James Au notes in his piece for GigaOm, the problem for Second Life is that there is an open-source version of the game/world called OpenSim that has been attracting more users as a result of the changes at Linden Labs. It's hard to maintain a half-decent world when people who don't like the way things work can just move to the one next door.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081031.WBmingram20081031155429/WBStory/WBmingram
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Linden Lab Burns Second Life Residents
Virtual Protest Threatens Linden Lab's Profitability
By Wagner James Au
October 30, 2008: 03:47 PM ET
(gigaom.com) -- The denizens of Linden Lab's virtual world Second Life are a passionate lot, so when the San Francisco company recently announced a steep purchase and maintenance fee increase on popular regions of their virtual land, sign-waving avatars were soon gathered outside Linden's SL office, in protest. Some even set themselves on fire.
There have been protests like this throughout the world's five-year history, but without a competing virtual world offering all the unique features of Second Life, angry customers have largely stayed put, despite their grumblings. Now, however, there is an increasingly viable alternative: OpenSim, an open-source platform for developing virtual worlds, that was, ironically, made possible after Linden Lab released its viewer code. Though still in beta mode, OpenSim has attracted developers with IBM (IBM), Microsoft (MSFT), and numerous startups, so it's bound to rapidly improve.
Within 24 hours of the price hike announcement, more than 800 frustrated SL users, including influential members of the community, had registered with an attractive OpenSim variation. That might not seem like much, but Linden Lab is profitable primarily through virtual land sales, and less than 17 percent of its 507,000 active users are premium subscribers who can own SL real estate. (Economic stats here, SL reg. req.) That number has been slowly but steadily decreasing -- there were 93,000 premium subscribers in December 2007, but in August 2008, the last published figure, less than 85,000. So if a few thousand of its land-owning users quit SL for OpenSim, accelerating this slide, the company will likely feel the pressure.
I contacted freshly minted Linden CEO Mark Kingdon for his comments about the protest. In a statement provided by his publicist, Kingdon told me, "We understand that this price adjustment will affect businesses and other projects of some our Second Life Residents," and emphasized the cost increases were only directed at select landowners, who have until January 2009 to adjust themselves to the new rates. "To be clear," Kingdon continued, "this price adjustment affects only a portion of land in Second Life; it does not apply to private islands or regular mainland property. We made this change to ensure an optimal Second Life experience for all Residents."
That may be, but anger over this increase (which many consider unfair) and concern over future price hikes have become added incentives for users to consider OpenSim grids that charge less for virtual land. Second Life does retain a lot of goodwill among its supporters (including me), which will dampen any calls for a general exodus. Still, one thing remains clear: "I'm moving to OpenSim!" has already become the metaverse version of the "I'm moving to Canada!" threat we hear every U.S. Presidential election. http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2008/10/lost-in-the-voi.html
By Wagner James Au
October 30, 2008: 03:47 PM ET
(gigaom.com) -- The denizens of Linden Lab's virtual world Second Life are a passionate lot, so when the San Francisco company recently announced a steep purchase and maintenance fee increase on popular regions of their virtual land, sign-waving avatars were soon gathered outside Linden's SL office, in protest. Some even set themselves on fire.
There have been protests like this throughout the world's five-year history, but without a competing virtual world offering all the unique features of Second Life, angry customers have largely stayed put, despite their grumblings. Now, however, there is an increasingly viable alternative: OpenSim, an open-source platform for developing virtual worlds, that was, ironically, made possible after Linden Lab released its viewer code. Though still in beta mode, OpenSim has attracted developers with IBM (IBM), Microsoft (MSFT), and numerous startups, so it's bound to rapidly improve.
Within 24 hours of the price hike announcement, more than 800 frustrated SL users, including influential members of the community, had registered with an attractive OpenSim variation. That might not seem like much, but Linden Lab is profitable primarily through virtual land sales, and less than 17 percent of its 507,000 active users are premium subscribers who can own SL real estate. (Economic stats here, SL reg. req.) That number has been slowly but steadily decreasing -- there were 93,000 premium subscribers in December 2007, but in August 2008, the last published figure, less than 85,000. So if a few thousand of its land-owning users quit SL for OpenSim, accelerating this slide, the company will likely feel the pressure.
I contacted freshly minted Linden CEO Mark Kingdon for his comments about the protest. In a statement provided by his publicist, Kingdon told me, "We understand that this price adjustment will affect businesses and other projects of some our Second Life Residents," and emphasized the cost increases were only directed at select landowners, who have until January 2009 to adjust themselves to the new rates. "To be clear," Kingdon continued, "this price adjustment affects only a portion of land in Second Life; it does not apply to private islands or regular mainland property. We made this change to ensure an optimal Second Life experience for all Residents."
That may be, but anger over this increase (which many consider unfair) and concern over future price hikes have become added incentives for users to consider OpenSim grids that charge less for virtual land. Second Life does retain a lot of goodwill among its supporters (including me), which will dampen any calls for a general exodus. Still, one thing remains clear: "I'm moving to OpenSim!" has already become the metaverse version of the "I'm moving to Canada!" threat we hear every U.S. Presidential election. http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2008/10/lost-in-the-voi.html
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Second Life Flops in Korea
"Kim, the local head of Linden Lab, said major local firms Samsung, Hyundai, KT and LG experimented with the service last year, but haven't benefited much because only 110,000 Korean users have so far signed up."
``Second Life is a service that requires patience to maneuver, but domestic users prefer things quickly,'' he explained, adding that it will take a few years for the business to mature here. http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2008/10/123_32740.html
IRC-Galleria Sold to Sulake for 12,5 Million Euro (in HABBO paper)
October 1st 2008 Antti Vilpponen blogged about Sulake's aquisition of IRC Galleria, the only part of Sulake that makes any money http://www.arcticstartup.com/irc-gallerias-price-to-sulake-125-million-euro/
IRC-galleriaKauppalehti reports that according financial data published into the government files, the price Sulake paid for the acquisition of IRC-Galleria a while back is 12,5 million euros. The company behind IRC-Galleria is Dynamoid, where the Finnish serial entrepreneur Taneli Tikka has also gathered some experience. The price was 6,6 times their annual revenue which at that time was 1,89 million euros and 25 times their earnings of 500 000 euros.
But the key deal point here is that the price was paid in Sulake stock. Silly silly IRC guys! You should have taken the cash money not the HABBO paper.
If only Habbo made $100 million ...
This Aussi article on virtual worlds must have been written by Crocodile Dundee. I do not know who this guy interviewed at Sulake if anyone to state:
"Habbo, owned by the Finnish company Sulake, generated about $100 million in revenue in 2008, 75 per cent of it from teenage users buying virtual furniture to deck out their private rooms in the Habbo Hotel. The remainder comes from advertisers." 2008 is not even over yet dude. And HABBO revenue has been shrinking since Japanese VC SoftBank's 5% purchase in 2006. HABBO revenues peaked in 2005 and have dropped steadily since then http://www.smh.com.au/news/biztech/virtual-playgrounds-for-kids/2008/10/09/1223145499071.html
Interestingly, the article quotes Aussie HABBO Chief Jeff Brookes; "Habbo is looking to expand its global teen reach - it has about 9 million users - to older audiences although it is acutely aware of start-ups looking to poach its users.
"It's the brightest star in the online sector in terms of development and where people see the future," Sulake's Asia-Pacific regional director, Jeff Brookes, says. "For Habbo, once our users hit 17 they pretty much drop off. It's why there are 200 virtual worlds in development .. everyone is trying to get another one going that will catch them at 17 and catch them again after that."
Monday, October 13, 2008
ClickandBuy no longer an international payment system
ClickandBuy may be an alternative payment method for German merchants to supplement credit cards, bank transfers, prepaids and sms. But the wallet service is no longer a viable international payment method given their complete retreat to and focus on their home turf (Germany). Just look at the news coverage. Totally German. So much for internationalization.
Arcor-Vorstand Michael Grodd wechselt zu ClickandBuy
news aktuell Schweiz (Pressemitteilung), Switzerland - Oct 10, 2008
ClickandBuy, einer der führenden Zahlungs-Dienstleister im Internet, hat mit sofortiger Wirkung Michael Grodd in den Vorstand berufen. ...
Neuer Leiter Marketing, Sales und Produktmanagement bei Clickandbuy
Klein Report, Switzerland - Oct 10, 2008
ClickandBuy, ein Zahlungsdienstleister im Internet, hat mit sofortiger Wirkung Michael Grodd in den Vorstand berufen. Hier verantwortet er zukünftig die ...
ClickandBuy startet neues Bezahlmodul zur Mail Order World
openPR.de (Pressemitteilung), Germany - Sep 30, 2008
Zug/Köln, 30.09.2008 – ClickandBuy, eines der führenden Bezahlsysteme im Internet für die Zahlungsabwicklung im digitalen und physischen Warenverkauf, ...
ClickandBuy bietet Online-Retail-Händlern zur Mail Order World ...
news aktuell (Pressemitteilung), Germany - Sep 26, 2008
Zug/Köln (ots) - ClickandBuy präsentiert sich vom 30. September bis zum 2. Oktober auf der Mail Order World in Wiesbaden als eines der führenden ...
ClickandBuy Payment-Plugin für Magento verfügbar
Verivox (Pressemitteilung), Germany - Sep 25, 2008
(pressebox) Stuttgart, London, 25.09.2008 - ClickandBuy ist eines der führenden Zahlungssysteme im Internet. Mehr als 12.000 Händler nutzen den ...
LifeGen.de® ist eine Publikation der
Lifegen.de (Abonnement), Germany - Oct 7, 2008
Alternativ können Sie auch den Service von ClickandBuy nutzen und die Texte einzeln bzw. im Rahmen des Jahres-Tickets erwerben. Die kostenlose Volltextsuche ...
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Apaja Numbers in the Public Listing
Thanks to Jussi for clarifying this http://paymentguy.blogspot.com/2008/09/how-much-is-internationalizing-playray.html:
"The key fields can be found under the heading "Tunnuslukutiivistelmä" or "summary of key figures".
Yrityksen liikevaihto (1000 €) = Turnover (1000 euros)
Liikevaihdon muutos% = change in turnover %
Tilikauden tulos (1000 €) = net profit/loss (1000 euros)
Liikevoitto% = Net profit %
Yrityksen henkilöstömäärä = # of employed.
So the most recent figures show turnover of 1,6 M€ and a loss of 1,1 M€.
And related post on Apaja's Founder quitting http://paymentguy.blogspot.com/2008/09/apaja-founder-quits-playray.html'
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Who is the ex-Sulake employee now at Valve possibly planning a Habbo Competitor?
Anyone know who this ex-Habbo now at Valve possibly recruiting designers for a HABBO competitor is? From http://www.arcticstartup.com/valve-recruiting-game-developers-expanding-to-us/
"Valve logoThe Internet Agency Valve has been all quiet about its plans, but there is something going on about its operations abroad. The agency is a famous flash house in Finland, that has hogged numerous awards from many different competitions. It seems like they have something going on in the US at the moment, more specifically San Francisco. Valve is recruiting game developers and game designers with the work being located either in Helsinki, Finland or San Francisco, US. A guess is that they are looking towards some sort of Flash based social game as they emphasize the need for “good up-to-date understanding of social networks and web-trends“. I’ve heard from an industry insider that the person pulling together team is a former Sulake employee. Sulake is the house behind the world famous Habbo Hotel. An educated guess is that Valve is planning something similar, with a different target market perhaps?"
Here is some recent developments on the Valve Tweehouse initiative http://www.arcticstartup.com/valve-setting-up-a-new-social-gaming-firm-tweehouse/
Motley Fool's Fool on the Second Life Economy
http://www.fool.com/investing/value/2008/09/25/an-unreal-financial-crisis.aspx
This guy at Motley Fool is an idiot. Oops, I meant "fool". The Linden $ has remained remarkably consistent in value given its relation to the usd. Then to conclude the piece at the end of the article he loses all credibility by stating "Corporate usage is also up." Maybe for educators, which is a great thing. But everyone, even fools, know about the mass exodus of Corporate America and Enterprise Europe from SL.
Most of this is simply because of the wrong Lindens running the business side, arrogance, lack of focus, maybe even a little laziness - whatever ... Clearly the Linden strategy of not engaging enterprises directly that wanted to learn about leveraging SL for various business purposes but instead opting to refer them to any SL developer-du-jour was completely stupid. This strategy proved especially ridiculous when many of these SL developers started making more money than Linden itself and used SL-project cash to fund initiatives employing competitive virtual platforms.
See what Christian Renaud says about his interaction, or lack thereof with Linden. It is unbelievable to hear but when Renaud was planning and launching amazing ground-breaking initiatives for CISCO in SL, there was nary the slightest interest or engagement from the "Business Affairs" Lindens;
"In particular, Linden Lab needs to start paying more attention to its big customers. Prior to founding TIG this year, Renaud headed up Cisco Systems' Second Life effort. They have six islands and 1,000 employees in Second Life. But despite the size of the investment, Renaud said he found it difficult to get support from Linden Lab or find someone to talk to." http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal_tech/virtualworlds/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=210602194&pgno=2&queryText=&isPrev=
Fortunately for Linden and its investors, with new CEO Mark Kingdon, Linden is acting more like a business than a Lab now. Linden actually seems to think having a Fortune 50 Giant like CISCO pushing 1000 employees into its virtual world is a pretty good thing worth paying attention too and maybe even helping out with! See PG's related post http://paymentguy.blogspot.com/2008/09/ginsu-yoon-says-kids-and-games-are-just.html
Who knows if Linden will ever regain its credibility with business. They certainly pissed off a lot of Corporate USA. Will big business give Linden another chance?
It should. With perfect VOIP, the communication and collaboration potential of the Linden technology is awesome. And the ROI from enterprise use of SL especially for a globally dispersed corporation composed of remote employees encouraged not to travel is virtually impossible to argue against. Linden needs to immediately offer a secure behind the firewall run on your own servers version of SL for Big Business. If it does, PG hopes Big Business gives Second Life a second chance.
Anyway, one of the examples of corporate usage cited by Motley Fool, Starwood Hotels, is especially lame given the Hotel Chain left SL a over a year ago http://blog.relactions.com/2007/07/starwood-aloft-leaves-second-life.html
Here is the fool's article;
http://www.fool.com/investing/value/2008/09/25/an-unreal-financial-crisis.aspx
This guy at Motley Fool is an idiot. Oops, I meant "fool". The Linden $ has remained remarkably consistent in value given its relation to the usd. Then to conclude the piece at the end of the article he loses all credibility by stating "Corporate usage is also up." Maybe for educators, which is a great thing. But everyone, even fools, know about the mass exodus of Corporate America and Enterprise Europe from SL.
Most of this is simply because of the wrong Lindens running the business side, arrogance, lack of focus, maybe even a little laziness - whatever ... Clearly the Linden strategy of not engaging enterprises directly that wanted to learn about leveraging SL for various business purposes but instead opting to refer them to any SL developer-du-jour was completely stupid. This strategy proved especially ridiculous when many of these SL developers started making more money than Linden itself and used SL-project cash to fund initiatives employing competitive virtual platforms.
See what Christian Renaud says about his interaction, or lack thereof with Linden. It is unbelievable to hear but when Renaud was planning and launching amazing ground-breaking initiatives for CISCO in SL, there was nary the slightest interest or engagement from the "Business Affairs" Lindens;
"In particular, Linden Lab needs to start paying more attention to its big customers. Prior to founding TIG this year, Renaud headed up Cisco Systems' Second Life effort. They have six islands and 1,000 employees in Second Life. But despite the size of the investment, Renaud said he found it difficult to get support from Linden Lab or find someone to talk to." http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal_tech/virtualworlds/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=210602194&pgno=2&queryText=&isPrev=
Fortunately for Linden and its investors, with new CEO Mark Kingdon, Linden is acting more like a business than a Lab now. Linden actually seems to think having a Fortune 50 Giant like CISCO pushing 1000 employees into its virtual world is a pretty good thing worth paying attention too and maybe even helping out with! See PG's related post http://paymentguy.blogspot.com/2008/09/ginsu-yoon-says-kids-and-games-are-just.html
Who knows if Linden will ever regain its credibility with business. They certainly pissed off a lot of Corporate USA. Will big business give Linden another chance?
It should. With perfect VOIP, the communication and collaboration potential of the Linden technology is awesome. And the ROI from enterprise use of SL especially for a globally dispersed corporation composed of remote employees encouraged not to travel is virtually impossible to argue against. Linden needs to immediately offer a secure behind the firewall run on your own servers version of SL for Big Business. If it does, PG hopes Big Business gives Second Life a second chance.
Anyway, one of the examples of corporate usage cited by Motley Fool, Starwood Hotels, is especially lame given the Hotel Chain left SL a over a year ago http://blog.relactions.com/2007/07/starwood-aloft-leaves-second-life.html
Here is the fool's article;
http://www.fool.com/investing/value/2008/09/25/an-unreal-financial-crisis.aspx
Making online payment system vids
A good example. PG recommends every payment vendor have an easy to understand video demo. Or you are Fu%&ed!
Selling prepid cards with video - Dame Esa!
This is how to sell prepaid cards with video or tv spots. So cool!
What does Fruugo mean? New World Order!
The answer to Fruugo's intriguing equation 1L + 1M + 1P = 1 Language + 1 Mind + 1 Purpose = Success. Sounds like the New World Order. Or the Age of the Beast ...
In any event, whatever it is supposed to mean, with weird marketing 3.0 formulations like this, no doubt the Fruugo's are going to give the 1 world economy conspiracy crowd a lot to blog about http://www.postchronicle.com/religion/article_212174979.shtml http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=75856 ... pretty scary.
This reminds PG of the greatest wrestling team of all time - WWF NWO - New World Order! Hollywood Hogan, Scott Hall and Big Sexy Kevin Diesel Nash on one team - UBEATABLE!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWOKvHL6UHc
NWO 4 Life Brotha!
At the end of the day, no matter what the Fruugo code is intended to mean, what the math says, what the reader infers, whatever - one thing is crystal clear: Fruugo's ecom stuff better be damn good if its marketing message is this damn bad (and confusing, and scary, and weird ...). http://paymentguy.blogspot.com/2008/09/is-fruugo-just-talking-crapt.html
Oh yeah, Thanks to startup bin for getting the answer. http://www.startupbin.com/2008/06/27/fruugo-wants-to-become-the-trusted-3rd-party-of-ecommerce/
Stardoll virtual world in-depth
Great article on Stardoll at http://virtualgoodsinsider.com/category/virtual-goods/
titled Stardoll: Casual Web Community or Hardcore Virtual World?
"Tucked away in Room 5 on the ambiguously named “Technology & Results” track at the Virtual Worlds Conference, Matt Palmer and Glenn Ginsburg presented a session titled “Stardoll: The Next Level of Engagement”. Stardoll not only represents the next level of user engagement, it also represents the state of the art in brand integration and virtual goods business models.
Stardoll has over 16 million registered accounts and is adding 35,000 new accounts per day. But Stardoll doesn’t suffer from registered account bloat; the site reaches 7.8 million unique users per month. Those users generate 600 million page views over 35 million visits per month. Even at a modest CPM, that’s a whole lot of revenue, but Stardoll’s business doesn’t rely on banner ads. Instead, Stardoll relies on virtual good sales and integrated sponsorship. As result, they simultaneously achieve a higher revenue per user and provide a better user experience. But more about that later.
Perhaps you’re thinking that this growth must be the product of a massive, expensive, unsustainable media campaign? Not a chance, Stardoll hasn’t spent a dollar on paid media. Growth is driven by viral buzz and press exposure.
Global Appeal
Stardoll is an international phenomenon. It was started by a Finnish woman who wanted to share her passion for fashion with her friends and family. Today, the 60-70 employee company is headquartered in Stockholm, but commands a global audience (44% in the U.S., 46% in Europe, and 10% in Asia). The site has been translated into 15 languages and additional translations, such as Japanese, are on the way.
Girl Power
Not suprisingly, Stardoll’s audience is primarily female (93.1% female, 6.9% male). The site appeals at a universal level to its key demographic - a demographic that has been notoriously difficult to reach in a meaningful way. Stardoll is attaining scale without diluting their core audience; it has the highest concentration of teen girls of any online service. In addition to teenage girls, the site has found a surprising audience - their mothers. 81% of mothers visit Stardoll weekly and 63% visit the site without their daughter. Co-viewership on that scale is virtually unheard of on the web.
Stardoll’s “Gameplay”
Who Knew Putting On Clothes Could Be So Much Fun?
At Microsoft Game Studios, we urged our first party developers to identify their game’s core fun as early as possible. Once that core fun is identified and refined, building a great game is actually pretty straightforward. For Halo, the core fun is aiming and shooting with a variety of well-balanced weapons. For Age of Empires, the core fun is establishing an efficient unit production pipeline. The Stardoll team knows that their core fun is dressing a paper doll. Apparel is dragged off hangers and onto the paper doll. It can be placed anywhere on the screen, and that simple mechanic yields a good deal of fun. Want to give David Hasselhoff that much needed gangsta look? Drag his pants down low. Think it’s about time for Avril Lavigne to ditch that good girl look? Low rise pants and a little cleavage couldn’t hurt.
Stardoll builds on that core fun with an array of thousands of dress-up and make-up options. This gives Stardoll’s entire audience, from Goth girls to Glam chicks, a powerful way to express their unique identities.
From Solitary to Social
Stardoll’s dress-up function acts as the foundation for a broader experience that looks a lot like other virtual worlds. Stardoll users get their own space, called a Suite room, which they can decorate to suit their tastes. A new chat feature lets a user share the dress-up experience by inviting a friend to her Suite room.
The heart of Stardoll is StarPlaza, an online shopping mall that features Stardoll’s internal brands, such as Fudge and Pretty in Pink, and real world brands, such as DKNY. Stardoll also features an active aftermarket, called StarBazaar, where users and buy and sell items in their wardrobe. Basically, its a virtual vintage shop.
To date, all of the apparel and other virtual items in Stardoll have been designed by Stardoll’s creative team. StarDesign is a soon to launch feature that allows Stardoll’s audience to create their own fashions. The combination of StarPlaza, StarBazaar, and StarDesign will enable Stardoll’s users to participate in a rich virtual economy based on the fashion they love. Stardoll’s virtual world features are complemented by features that are more commonly seen in social networks. Each user is given a profile page that looks a lot like a typical social networking profile page. However, due to the site’s younger demographic, the contents of the profile pages are limited. Girls can’t upload photos, but they can express themselves with images of their MeDoll and a variety of profile customization options. Stardoll also features Clubs that are similar to Facebook Groups. The Clubs feature was launched five months ago and there are already over 500,000 Clubs in the system.
Stardoll’s Business
Virtual Goods Done Right
Six figure real estate deals in Second Life and massive gold farming in World of Warcraft are what get the media’s attention when they talk about virtual goods. But Stardoll is the company that has flawlessly unlocked the power of the virtual goods business model. The first key to Stardoll’s success is that they’ve found a genre of virtual items that are truly valuable to their audience. Celebrities and their fashion are an aspirational obsession for millions of people around the world, and Stardoll taps directly into the vein of that obsession. That same insatiable desire to look trendy in the real world translates, without skipping a beat, into the online world. The second key to Stardoll’s success is that they provide an incredibly rich platform with which fashion brands can reach their demographic. As soon as fashions hit the runway or the retail shelf, they are available in Stardoll. If a girl thinks her MeDoll looks cute in that new pencil skirt from DKNY, she can run out that day and grab the very same skirt from her local brick and mortar mall. That same branding extends beyond just apparel. MeDoll make-up is provided under the Sephora brand and jewelry is based on designs from Heidi Klum’s jewelry collection. All of this makes Stardoll one of the most powerful branding and lead generation tools thats ever been available to the fashion industry. They have even had consumers ask when Stardoll’s house brands, such as Pretty in Pink, will be available in brick and mortar stores.
Advertising Done Right
Stardoll doesn’t fall back on banner ads to augment their virtual goods business. Instead, they weave marketing messages into the features of the Stardoll experience and, as a result, create an advertising experience which is fun, engaging, and far more powerful than static banner ads. For example, during a recent advertising campaign for Disney’s movie Enchanted, Stardoll took scenes, characters, and costumes directly from the movie and incorporated them into the world. As a result, Stardoll’s users could immerse themselves in the fiction of the movie and develop an attachment to the movie world before Enchanted even hit screens. In a unique twist on banner advertising, Stardoll offered a poster that users could hang in their Suites. That poster was hung in hundreds of thousands of Suites and generated millions of ad impressions. Stardoll’s approach to advertising generated everything from casual brand impressions to deep engagement in a way that added value to the audience’s experience and was elegantly integrated into the site’s core activities. Stardoll provides a similarly rich branding platform to actors and music artists. Every celebrity featured on Stardoll has their own unique URL so that they can use their Stardoll presence as a promotional vehicle. In addition, Stardoll often runs explicit promotions for celebrities and musicians who are featured on their site. For example, Stardoll recently ran a contest where a member of their audience was flown to an Avril Lavigne concert and got to meet her backstage.
Stardoll’s approach to advertising highlights some important lessons:
* Audiences want advertising, but only for the brands they care about
* Audiences want to chose the brand messages they receive; they don’t want those messages pushed to them
* Just as in the real world, online brand associations are powerful personal identifiers
* Engagement is maximized when branding is woven into the core activities of the site
* Above all else, advertising should be fun for the user, not a distraction
A Model for the Future
Although virtual goods have resulted in extraordinary success in Asia, there has been some doubt as to whether virtual goods would become a mainstream business model in Europe and the U.S. When Cyworld recently close its doors in Europe, some people asked whether virtual goods would ever be relevant outside of Asia. Stardoll is proof positive that virtual goods have a very promising future in Europe and the U.S. The Stardoll team has hit on a recipe that is uniquely engaging to their core demographic, and they are leveraging that recipe to provide maximum value to their users and their advertisers. I’m glad that I stumbled into Room 5 at the Virtual Worlds Conference. Stardoll is defining the future of virtual goods today — and I’m amazed that they’ve flown under the industry radar for so long. Stardoll has captured the attention of 16 million girls around the world, but they don’t even have a Wikipedia page.
titled Stardoll: Casual Web Community or Hardcore Virtual World?
"Tucked away in Room 5 on the ambiguously named “Technology & Results” track at the Virtual Worlds Conference, Matt Palmer and Glenn Ginsburg presented a session titled “Stardoll: The Next Level of Engagement”. Stardoll not only represents the next level of user engagement, it also represents the state of the art in brand integration and virtual goods business models.
Stardoll has over 16 million registered accounts and is adding 35,000 new accounts per day. But Stardoll doesn’t suffer from registered account bloat; the site reaches 7.8 million unique users per month. Those users generate 600 million page views over 35 million visits per month. Even at a modest CPM, that’s a whole lot of revenue, but Stardoll’s business doesn’t rely on banner ads. Instead, Stardoll relies on virtual good sales and integrated sponsorship. As result, they simultaneously achieve a higher revenue per user and provide a better user experience. But more about that later.
Perhaps you’re thinking that this growth must be the product of a massive, expensive, unsustainable media campaign? Not a chance, Stardoll hasn’t spent a dollar on paid media. Growth is driven by viral buzz and press exposure.
Global Appeal
Stardoll is an international phenomenon. It was started by a Finnish woman who wanted to share her passion for fashion with her friends and family. Today, the 60-70 employee company is headquartered in Stockholm, but commands a global audience (44% in the U.S., 46% in Europe, and 10% in Asia). The site has been translated into 15 languages and additional translations, such as Japanese, are on the way.
Girl Power
Not suprisingly, Stardoll’s audience is primarily female (93.1% female, 6.9% male). The site appeals at a universal level to its key demographic - a demographic that has been notoriously difficult to reach in a meaningful way. Stardoll is attaining scale without diluting their core audience; it has the highest concentration of teen girls of any online service. In addition to teenage girls, the site has found a surprising audience - their mothers. 81% of mothers visit Stardoll weekly and 63% visit the site without their daughter. Co-viewership on that scale is virtually unheard of on the web.
Stardoll’s “Gameplay”
Who Knew Putting On Clothes Could Be So Much Fun?
At Microsoft Game Studios, we urged our first party developers to identify their game’s core fun as early as possible. Once that core fun is identified and refined, building a great game is actually pretty straightforward. For Halo, the core fun is aiming and shooting with a variety of well-balanced weapons. For Age of Empires, the core fun is establishing an efficient unit production pipeline. The Stardoll team knows that their core fun is dressing a paper doll. Apparel is dragged off hangers and onto the paper doll. It can be placed anywhere on the screen, and that simple mechanic yields a good deal of fun. Want to give David Hasselhoff that much needed gangsta look? Drag his pants down low. Think it’s about time for Avril Lavigne to ditch that good girl look? Low rise pants and a little cleavage couldn’t hurt.
Stardoll builds on that core fun with an array of thousands of dress-up and make-up options. This gives Stardoll’s entire audience, from Goth girls to Glam chicks, a powerful way to express their unique identities.
From Solitary to Social
Stardoll’s dress-up function acts as the foundation for a broader experience that looks a lot like other virtual worlds. Stardoll users get their own space, called a Suite room, which they can decorate to suit their tastes. A new chat feature lets a user share the dress-up experience by inviting a friend to her Suite room.
The heart of Stardoll is StarPlaza, an online shopping mall that features Stardoll’s internal brands, such as Fudge and Pretty in Pink, and real world brands, such as DKNY. Stardoll also features an active aftermarket, called StarBazaar, where users and buy and sell items in their wardrobe. Basically, its a virtual vintage shop.
To date, all of the apparel and other virtual items in Stardoll have been designed by Stardoll’s creative team. StarDesign is a soon to launch feature that allows Stardoll’s audience to create their own fashions. The combination of StarPlaza, StarBazaar, and StarDesign will enable Stardoll’s users to participate in a rich virtual economy based on the fashion they love. Stardoll’s virtual world features are complemented by features that are more commonly seen in social networks. Each user is given a profile page that looks a lot like a typical social networking profile page. However, due to the site’s younger demographic, the contents of the profile pages are limited. Girls can’t upload photos, but they can express themselves with images of their MeDoll and a variety of profile customization options. Stardoll also features Clubs that are similar to Facebook Groups. The Clubs feature was launched five months ago and there are already over 500,000 Clubs in the system.
Stardoll’s Business
Virtual Goods Done Right
Six figure real estate deals in Second Life and massive gold farming in World of Warcraft are what get the media’s attention when they talk about virtual goods. But Stardoll is the company that has flawlessly unlocked the power of the virtual goods business model. The first key to Stardoll’s success is that they’ve found a genre of virtual items that are truly valuable to their audience. Celebrities and their fashion are an aspirational obsession for millions of people around the world, and Stardoll taps directly into the vein of that obsession. That same insatiable desire to look trendy in the real world translates, without skipping a beat, into the online world. The second key to Stardoll’s success is that they provide an incredibly rich platform with which fashion brands can reach their demographic. As soon as fashions hit the runway or the retail shelf, they are available in Stardoll. If a girl thinks her MeDoll looks cute in that new pencil skirt from DKNY, she can run out that day and grab the very same skirt from her local brick and mortar mall. That same branding extends beyond just apparel. MeDoll make-up is provided under the Sephora brand and jewelry is based on designs from Heidi Klum’s jewelry collection. All of this makes Stardoll one of the most powerful branding and lead generation tools thats ever been available to the fashion industry. They have even had consumers ask when Stardoll’s house brands, such as Pretty in Pink, will be available in brick and mortar stores.
Advertising Done Right
Stardoll doesn’t fall back on banner ads to augment their virtual goods business. Instead, they weave marketing messages into the features of the Stardoll experience and, as a result, create an advertising experience which is fun, engaging, and far more powerful than static banner ads. For example, during a recent advertising campaign for Disney’s movie Enchanted, Stardoll took scenes, characters, and costumes directly from the movie and incorporated them into the world. As a result, Stardoll’s users could immerse themselves in the fiction of the movie and develop an attachment to the movie world before Enchanted even hit screens. In a unique twist on banner advertising, Stardoll offered a poster that users could hang in their Suites. That poster was hung in hundreds of thousands of Suites and generated millions of ad impressions. Stardoll’s approach to advertising generated everything from casual brand impressions to deep engagement in a way that added value to the audience’s experience and was elegantly integrated into the site’s core activities. Stardoll provides a similarly rich branding platform to actors and music artists. Every celebrity featured on Stardoll has their own unique URL so that they can use their Stardoll presence as a promotional vehicle. In addition, Stardoll often runs explicit promotions for celebrities and musicians who are featured on their site. For example, Stardoll recently ran a contest where a member of their audience was flown to an Avril Lavigne concert and got to meet her backstage.
Stardoll’s approach to advertising highlights some important lessons:
* Audiences want advertising, but only for the brands they care about
* Audiences want to chose the brand messages they receive; they don’t want those messages pushed to them
* Just as in the real world, online brand associations are powerful personal identifiers
* Engagement is maximized when branding is woven into the core activities of the site
* Above all else, advertising should be fun for the user, not a distraction
A Model for the Future
Although virtual goods have resulted in extraordinary success in Asia, there has been some doubt as to whether virtual goods would become a mainstream business model in Europe and the U.S. When Cyworld recently close its doors in Europe, some people asked whether virtual goods would ever be relevant outside of Asia. Stardoll is proof positive that virtual goods have a very promising future in Europe and the U.S. The Stardoll team has hit on a recipe that is uniquely engaging to their core demographic, and they are leveraging that recipe to provide maximum value to their users and their advertisers. I’m glad that I stumbled into Room 5 at the Virtual Worlds Conference. Stardoll is defining the future of virtual goods today — and I’m amazed that they’ve flown under the industry radar for so long. Stardoll has captured the attention of 16 million girls around the world, but they don’t even have a Wikipedia page.
Gaia Online collects $1 million month - 40% via prepaid cards
Craig Sherman, who heads Gaia Online, says Gaia collects $1 million every month from players who buy virtual goods ranging from puppy ears to lightning bolts to something called a "coal tavern wench's bustier." PG's sources say 40% of this is via prepaid cards which makes about 400K per month usd or about $5 mill usd for printing your own virtual money - wow!
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h5f3CnR17qRvLoMEgNKycgqeahcQD9322FIO0
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h5f3CnR17qRvLoMEgNKycgqeahcQD9322FIO0
EVE Online Subscription Fees and Payment Options
PG has gotta ask "Why no bank transfer options for Eve-Online - at least in the EU?" And why is it taking CCP so long to get a prepaid option launched? If I wanted to play Eve, I would be very motivated to "pretend I was from the US" and pay in $ rather than euros. A 12 mo subscription of euro 131.40 is t today's exchange rate $191.850 USD or almost 50% more. Vice versa, that annual fee is about 90 euro! WOW http://www.eve-online.com/pnp/pricing.asp
"The original purchase price for EVE includes thirty days of free game time. A credit card is required to establish your account. MasterCard, Visa and American Express are accepted, as well as a variety of payment options offered through PayByCash™.
To learn more about our subscription rates and plans, read the related section in our FAQ.
Current subsciption plans available:
Europe
Cost/month* Total cost*
1-month-plan € 14.95 € 14.95
3-month-plan € 12.95 € 38.85
6-month-plan € 11.95 € 71.70
12-month-plan € 10.95 € 131.40
* VAT included
Outside Europe
Cost/month Total cost
1-month-plan $ 14.95 $ 14.95
3-month-plan $ 12.95 $ 38.85
6-month-plan $ 11.95 $ 71.70
12-month-plan $ 10.95 $ 131.40
Game time cards are now available in Germany and will be sold through major retailers in the US and Europe. Negotiations are underway with distributors. More information will be provided as it becomes available."
Hey CCP! Your losing a lot of money relying on credit cards and prepaids in Germany. So mail PG asap and he will hook you up with some bank transfer good stuff ... paymentguy@gmail.com
"The original purchase price for EVE includes thirty days of free game time. A credit card is required to establish your account. MasterCard, Visa and American Express are accepted, as well as a variety of payment options offered through PayByCash™.
To learn more about our subscription rates and plans, read the related section in our FAQ.
Current subsciption plans available:
Europe
Cost/month* Total cost*
1-month-plan € 14.95 € 14.95
3-month-plan € 12.95 € 38.85
6-month-plan € 11.95 € 71.70
12-month-plan € 10.95 € 131.40
* VAT included
Outside Europe
Cost/month Total cost
1-month-plan $ 14.95 $ 14.95
3-month-plan $ 12.95 $ 38.85
6-month-plan $ 11.95 $ 71.70
12-month-plan $ 10.95 $ 131.40
Game time cards are now available in Germany and will be sold through major retailers in the US and Europe. Negotiations are underway with distributors. More information will be provided as it becomes available."
Hey CCP! Your losing a lot of money relying on credit cards and prepaids in Germany. So mail PG asap and he will hook you up with some bank transfer good stuff ... paymentguy@gmail.com
Friday, September 26, 2008
PayByCash Ultimate Game Card
PG is delighted and happy with the success Kevin Higgins and his hard-working persistent crew of payment pros have achieved in a short time with their Ultimate Game Card. Congrats mate!
From VWN " PayByCash announced today that over 50% of its US transactions were coming from its Ultimate Game Card, a prepaid card that supports over 150 virtual worlds and games, like Club Penguin, Nexon America, and IMVU. Previously U.S. consumers favored PayByCash's direct debit options. I think it's a figure worth pointing out, first, because after its recent acquisition by PlaySpan, PayByCash is an increasingly large player in payment options, and, second, because it highlights the increasing importance of prepaid cards." Here is where you can get 'em
http://www.ultimategamecard.com/retailers.php
From VWN " PayByCash announced today that over 50% of its US transactions were coming from its Ultimate Game Card, a prepaid card that supports over 150 virtual worlds and games, like Club Penguin, Nexon America, and IMVU. Previously U.S. consumers favored PayByCash's direct debit options. I think it's a figure worth pointing out, first, because after its recent acquisition by PlaySpan, PayByCash is an increasingly large player in payment options, and, second, because it highlights the increasing importance of prepaid cards." Here is where you can get 'em
http://www.ultimategamecard.com/retailers.php
Royal Bank of Canada trials SMS payments service
Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) is trialling a mobile person-to-person payments service that lets customers send and receive money instantly using SMS text messages. The RBC Mobex payment service is being piloted by bank employees and their family and friends until January 2009, with a wider trial expected to follow. To make a payment, participants send a text message to RBC Mobex with the dollar amount and the recipient's mobile number. Funds are then taken from the sender's stored value Mobex account and moved to the recipient, who receives a notification text message. Up to $100 per day can be sent to anyone with a mobile phone serviced by a Canadian wireless carrier, even if they do not have an RBC Mobex account, as long as they have registered for the service. Trial participants can remotely track and manage their account directly from their mobile phone or through the RBC Mobex site to check balances, view payment history and add funds. For transactions of over $25, senders receive a call to verify the transaction with a PIN. Anne Koski, head, payments innovation, RBC, says: "We're testing this mobile phone service to find out if consumers are eager to instantly send and get cash when it's needed most, in an easy but secure manner." RBC says there are no additional fees to use the service but users are subject to any regular bank or wireless carrier charges and fees. Last year the bank teamed with Visa to launch a NFC-based mobile payments trial featuring the card firm's contactless payWave application.
http://www.finextra.com/fullstory.asp?id=19041
http://www.finextra.com/fullstory.asp?id=19041
Visa Plans Launches for Google’s Android, Nokia, And Money Transfer
Visa on Thursday said it will introduce transaction alerts and other services that will work with Google Inc.’s new Android operating system for mobile phones. The world’s largest payments network also said it has developed contactless-payment and money-transfer applications for a new handset from Nokia that features near-field communication (NFC) technology. And, in what amounts to a hat-trick of mobile developments, Visa announced it will launch by the end of the year a person-to-person payment pilot with U.S. Bank and other unnamed financial institutions. The breadth of Thursday’s announcements—ranging from money transfer to NFC to services like alerts and merchant offers--comes at a time when many payments executives are struggling to sort out how they should invest in mobile payments. “What Visa is saying is we’re in this for the long haul,” says Robert B. Hedges, managing partner at Mercatus LLC, a Boston-based consulting firm. “They’re trying to build an ecosystem, as opposed to trying to find the killer app. They’re not a startup, so they don’t have to promote the killer app.”
Still, for some observers the latest developments leave some key questions unanswered. While Visa announced it is working with major partners such as Google and Nokia, for example, it said nothing about cooperation with wireless carriers, which specify phones and so control both device and software availability. “Working with handset vendors and ISPs are important steps in developing future mobile financial services, but the critical link to the end user is the mobile operator,” says Nick Holland, senior analyst at Boston-based researcher Aite Group LLC, in an e-mail message to Digital Transactions News. “This is to a certain extent changing with devices like the [Apple] iPhone and the new [HTC] G1 Android device, but keeping the mobile operator in the loop will be critical.” MasterCard Worldwide, meanwhile, sees an element of me-too in Visa’s news. MasterCard this spring announced a handset-based money-transfer service it is launching with mobile-payments processor Obopay Inc. (Digital Transactions News, June 19). “Whenever your competitor copies you, it’s validation that you’re on the right track,” says Simon Pugh, group head of mobile at MasterCard. Still, observers concede Visa’s announcements cover a lot of ground. The network said it will offer by year’s end alerts as well as the capability to send offers from merchants and a locator service as applications that will work on Android, an operating system Google launched this week. Currently, Android is available on the G1, a phone available on T- Mobile’s network that competes with Apple’s iPhone and sells for $179. The phone, made by Taiwan-based HTC Corp., is slated to become available Oct. 22.
The first issuer to offer the downloadable services will be JPMorgan Chase & Co., Visa said, though it added it expects more banks to sign on later. “Through this effort, U.S. consumers will, for the first time, be able to download Visa mobile service applications directly to their handsets,” says Elizabeth Buse, global head of product at Visa, in a statement. Observers say the services, while not strictly payments-based, are likely to encourage greater consumer usage and thus increased transaction volume. The locator service, for example, will be based on Google applications such as Google Maps, and will allow consumers to zero in on stores that send them offers. Similarly, Android will support Google search, a function expected to deliver handset users to merchants and to generate incremental transactions. “Adding extra services to enrich the consumer experience becomes very valuable,” says MasterCard’s Pugh, though he cautions that “it’s too soon to tell what impact [Android] will have on the marketplace.”
To test handset-based person-to-person payments, Visa says it will launch a pilot in which a Visa cardholder can send money via his cell phone to another Visa account holder. The sender will use his mobile browser to reach a secure site where he can initiate the payment. Visa’s switch will manage settlement to the recipient’s Visa account; the recipient can then access the money through ATMs or by making purchases.
The pilot’s first phase will be limited to domestic transfers, Visa says, and will include U.S. Bank and other institutions as well as a maximum of 6,000 account holders. Some time in the first half of next year, the program will expand to international transfers.
With Nokia, Visa will offer NFC-based payment as well as mobile commerce and alerts on the handset maker’s new 6212 Classic phone, which sells for $315 and comes with an integrated NFC chipset. NFC allows consumers to pay for goods at the point of sale by waving or tapping their phones by or on a contactless reader. The phone is intended initially for the European and Asian markets, where NFC payment applications are more advanced than in the U.S.
see also http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticleHomePage&art_aid=91473
Still, for some observers the latest developments leave some key questions unanswered. While Visa announced it is working with major partners such as Google and Nokia, for example, it said nothing about cooperation with wireless carriers, which specify phones and so control both device and software availability. “Working with handset vendors and ISPs are important steps in developing future mobile financial services, but the critical link to the end user is the mobile operator,” says Nick Holland, senior analyst at Boston-based researcher Aite Group LLC, in an e-mail message to Digital Transactions News. “This is to a certain extent changing with devices like the [Apple] iPhone and the new [HTC] G1 Android device, but keeping the mobile operator in the loop will be critical.” MasterCard Worldwide, meanwhile, sees an element of me-too in Visa’s news. MasterCard this spring announced a handset-based money-transfer service it is launching with mobile-payments processor Obopay Inc. (Digital Transactions News, June 19). “Whenever your competitor copies you, it’s validation that you’re on the right track,” says Simon Pugh, group head of mobile at MasterCard. Still, observers concede Visa’s announcements cover a lot of ground. The network said it will offer by year’s end alerts as well as the capability to send offers from merchants and a locator service as applications that will work on Android, an operating system Google launched this week. Currently, Android is available on the G1, a phone available on T- Mobile’s network that competes with Apple’s iPhone and sells for $179. The phone, made by Taiwan-based HTC Corp., is slated to become available Oct. 22.
The first issuer to offer the downloadable services will be JPMorgan Chase & Co., Visa said, though it added it expects more banks to sign on later. “Through this effort, U.S. consumers will, for the first time, be able to download Visa mobile service applications directly to their handsets,” says Elizabeth Buse, global head of product at Visa, in a statement. Observers say the services, while not strictly payments-based, are likely to encourage greater consumer usage and thus increased transaction volume. The locator service, for example, will be based on Google applications such as Google Maps, and will allow consumers to zero in on stores that send them offers. Similarly, Android will support Google search, a function expected to deliver handset users to merchants and to generate incremental transactions. “Adding extra services to enrich the consumer experience becomes very valuable,” says MasterCard’s Pugh, though he cautions that “it’s too soon to tell what impact [Android] will have on the marketplace.”
To test handset-based person-to-person payments, Visa says it will launch a pilot in which a Visa cardholder can send money via his cell phone to another Visa account holder. The sender will use his mobile browser to reach a secure site where he can initiate the payment. Visa’s switch will manage settlement to the recipient’s Visa account; the recipient can then access the money through ATMs or by making purchases.
The pilot’s first phase will be limited to domestic transfers, Visa says, and will include U.S. Bank and other institutions as well as a maximum of 6,000 account holders. Some time in the first half of next year, the program will expand to international transfers.
With Nokia, Visa will offer NFC-based payment as well as mobile commerce and alerts on the handset maker’s new 6212 Classic phone, which sells for $315 and comes with an integrated NFC chipset. NFC allows consumers to pay for goods at the point of sale by waving or tapping their phones by or on a contactless reader. The phone is intended initially for the European and Asian markets, where NFC payment applications are more advanced than in the U.S.
see also http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticleHomePage&art_aid=91473
Visa Extends Mobile Payment Plans
Visa plans to expand its mobile payment service by year's end, including the addition of applications for Google's new Android operating system. Android apps would allow Chase Visa cardholders to receive notification of account transactions, obtain merchant offers and use the platform's GPS technology to find nearby stores to redeem offers and locate ATMs. The company will also create a payment application to let cardholders make mobile payments in retail locations or on the go. Further, Visa will deliver services including contactless payments, money transfers and alerts for Nokia handsets. In another initiative, Visa will partner with U.S. Bank to begin a mobile money transfer pilot program allowing cardholders to send funds directly to another registered Visa customer account. The pilot to start by year's end is the first U.S.-based test of mobile money transfers between Visa accounts. Visa last month launched a pilot program testing real-time transaction alerts sent to mobile phones through SMS text messaging and e-mail
Virtual world payment trends 2008 - Post 2 (Interactive Toys)
This is the 2nd of PG's post's on 10 payment trends for virtual worlds and mmo's/online games so far in 2008. This time we look at payment trend #1, Interactive Toys. PG could write a treatise on this fascinating emerging payment topic that would be longer than War and Peace. But given most readers are too busy running their payment business or virtual world to read long posts this will be short and to the point. Besides, being a greedy ruthless capitalist PG keeps the detailed good stuff for the inner circle (otherwise known as paying clients ;)). PG is just too cynical and greedy give away free IP.
Anyway, interactive toys as default offline payment methods are a huge market opportunity for any virtual world publisher. This goes for those vw's with a recognizable avatar-brand (Penguin, HABBO, Neopets - of course!) as well as newbies. This is a simple and effective way to differentiate your new and emerging property from the competition. In many respects, an interactive toy, say a plush with a secret code that activates an online pet (ala Webkinz)
or a decorative item for your plush in the form of jewellery with a secret code to decorate and customize your real life plush and online pet (ala Webkinz)
is a truly great way to get eyeballs on your brand in the real world, trigger spontaneous purchases and user adoption and get parental approval for the purchase when it comes to kiddie or youth demos. Viewed as an offline payment method, interactive toys are great. There is no fraud, chargebacks in the form of returns are nominal and the user more closely connects with the avatar through the purchase and customization process. Perfect!
But distribution is key here. I mean, what is the point of having a portflio of innovative interactive toy merchandise connected to an online environment if no one can buy it? So how do you overcome old-fashioned distribution and logistics hurdles?
In Ganz Interactive's case with Webkinz, their original core business was merchandise, novelties, plush and gift-ware sold in "upscale" gift-stores normally found in malls. This unparalleled chintz/gift store distribution network is without equal in North America and was built over 50 years of hard work. Similarly, Ganz pioneered the practice of producing plush toys and giftware in low-cost China way back in the early 79's and figured out neat tricks like how to stuff as many cupie dolls in the back of a cargo plane as possible. So when Ganz launched Webkinz it already had a huge and sophisticated logistics supply and distribution chain for theose adorable plushies.
So how does an upstart virtual world publisher compete? Well, for one thing, finding good reliable Chinese and Taiwanese (they the same thing - right?;)) production of merchandise has never been easier. Anything from vinyl toys to surface to air missiles to rocket ships for space flights, you name it, the Chinese make it faster and cheaper. PG will not give all the contacts he has and names of best producers and suppliers but there is a broad selection of good ones to draw upon.
For very reasonable fees (think dirt cheap) these factories of glorious workers will produce a line of custom toys for your virtual world and ship them over to you in a couple weeks to you for distribution to your retail arm. And how do you develop a retail arm? Of course, it would be pretty impossible to get your line of interactive toys in WallMart or Target by cold calling before everyones kids or teens are playing your games online or know your brand.
That is why you need an agent or better yet, target the niche designer toy store network. And yes, PG has excellent resources on placing merchandise all across North America, EU and ASIA-Pac in boutique toy stores. Think the kind of places that sell designer toys (www.plasticandplush.com) or Tod McFarlane figures for example.
PG predicts it will be next to impossible for your virtual world, especially if it is a kiddie or teen virtual world, to achieve mainstream adoption and huge useage if you are not able to offer real life available interactive merchandise and products. For some hints and tips on where PG thinks the industry is headed look at UB Funkeys, http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.ubfunkeys.com/assets/img/homeHero.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.ubfunkeys.com/index.html&h=310&w=588&sz=60&hl=en&start=3&sig2=GlxYGevnkBIB1LGP-L1Glg&um=1&usg=__tUIBJ_d85OlrV2TTmbizGQZim6c=&tbnid=fz446iQLLa1PcM:&tbnh=71&tbnw=135&ei=aHbcSIWIEo6WwQH8suyGDQ&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dub%2Bfunkeys%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG Moshi Monsters http://www.moshimonsters.com/ Bella Sara http://www.bellasara.com/index_maf.aspx.
and CoolCamels http://coolcamels.com/ by Napfolt KFT in Hungary (www.napfolt.com) See also
http://paymentguy.blogspot.com/2007_12_09_archive.html
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www3.clustrmaps.com/counter/index2.php%3Furl%3Dhttp://paymentguy.blogspot.com/&imgrefurl=http://paymentguy.blogspot.com/2008/01/neoptes-does-plush-toy-thing-who-isnt.html&h=106&w=160&sz=13&hl=en&start=4&sig2=x4QzU62eRYjA2hqLz51Lhw&um=1&usg=__X437zBs_yM7sskVO0tJGWT0Ad2M=&tbnid=MBYqWim93-_tHM:&tbnh=65&tbnw=98&ei=4XjcSPXbLZCaxAHe2Yn1DA&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcoolcamels%2Bplush%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN
Think about designing a cool looking little avatar toy, hire a Chinese vinyl sweat-house to make 20,000 vinyl toys at 10 cents each, hang a secret code around their necks, get your devs to give them away to teens in a shopping malls as gifts for their girl/boy-friends and VOILA! Your in the interactive toy business baby! VC's will immediately start lining up to shower you with more money than you can spend.
And when it comes to internationlization and local launches in new and emerging markets, interactive toys as payment methods ARE THE SHIT. Full stop. PG firmly believes the interactive toy is the most innovative and effective payment method for new and emerging markets like the Muslim World and New Europe. Take the Muslim World. At the moment, with the exception of the wealthy Gulf States, online, mobile and prepaid buying and selling is a significant barrier to revenue generation and profitability. This payment obstacle can be hurdled in an innovative way with interactive toys.
PG thinks an interactive toy strategy is the smartest strategy to build a lasting long-term successful brand in new emerging markets. And achieve profitability, stable cash flow and parental "buy-in". So in each new market you target for your virtual world, focus on niche or high-up upscale retail distribution of interactive merchandise (following the Webkinz model) It has to be part of your payment plan if you want to innovate, differentiate, build sticky brand and make money (good old fashioned profits!) http://www.itbusiness.ca/it/client/en/home/news.asp?id=49716. Just get it right the first time! http://paymentguy.blogspot.com/2008/08/webkinz-international-estore-is-done.html
And if you cannot figure this out yourself, from this post and getting your devs to GOOGLE around for info, please drop PG a line. What can you lose? PG guarantees you will make more money - or your money back ;) paymentguy@gmail.com
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Apaja Founder Quits Playray
Seems Asmo Halinen one of the 3 founders of Playray-publisher Apaja is quitting, or as he says in a Jaiku post, "looking for new challenges". Good luck mate. A guy as talented as this should not have trouble finding interesting new gigs. Coverage at the Finnish blog Arctic Startup http://www.arcticstartup.com/apaja-founder-looking-for-new-challenges/ PG hopes yesterday's post on Playray's internationalization costs never caused this ;)
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
How Much Is Internationalizing PlayRay Costing Apaja?
PG often asks himself (or is it itself /herself / themselves) "Does an aggressive "launch the site in as many new countries and languges as we can" strategy work?"
Apparently, it costs a lot to internationalize virtual worlds. Take Apaja http://www.apaja.com/ of Finland and its virtual world Playray. PG came across this interesting post from Arctic Startup Blog on Apaja having localized PlayRay in a staggering 16 countries http://www.arcticstartup.com/apajas-playray-now-in-16-countries/
"In a press released yesterday, Apaja Online Entertainment announced that they will be launching a localised Belgian website of their Playray service with a partnership with Corelio and MTV Networks. At the moment their Belgian website is directing users to France or Netherlands, depending which language and social circle they enjoy more is asking users which language preference they enjoy (edited due to earlier mishap in the analysis - see comments). According to Kim Lindholm, Business Development Director, the Belgian registrations in the French and Dutch services attracted so many Belgians that they had to build localised version of the service in Belgium. Despite being an area where languages mix with ease and people understand each other easily, there are a lot of differences between people in the BeNeLux countries and thus localising each service makes common sense in the long run. A recent survey conducted in Playray revealed that the social aspects of the service are equally important to the casual games. This strengthens the latest understanding of the industry that social gaming is on the rise. Furthermore a third of new registrants are over 35 which also supports the broadening of the user base, in line with previous studies."
The post concludes with this intriguing analysis;
"It remains to be seen how successful such a rapid expansion strategy is. Apaja’s 2007 financial figures are still unpublished in the public listings, but looking at the 2006 results the company ran a loss almost equal to its annual revenue."
The Finnish public listings link for Playray seems active http://www.inoa.fi/Uusmediapalveluja/Apaja%20Online%20Entertainment%20Oy/HELSINKI/taloustiedot/546769/
Any of our Finnish readers know what these numbers mean for English readers?
Franktown Rocks - Cool Kids Music World
PG Loves FrankTownRocks. They recently updated the world with a number of new features including; 1. ability to load up your music player with all kinds of different songs,
2. a new Record Store where you can go to check out new music,
3. a voting system in City Hall where you can vote on the latest city issues (and earn $25 Franks each time you do!),
4. a new game called Guitar Crazy,
5. a drag-and-drop voting system where you can vote on what new products they should make,
6. room and building upgrades,
7. new videos in the Franktown Theater
They were also profiled on the cover of Parents magazine
PG likes the music focus - hey every kid should be exposed and encouraged to play an instrument, sing and dance - and family friendly "parents need to be happy their kids are using this site" approach. Very cool and recommended. http://www.franktownrocks.com/index.php
Sunday, September 21, 2008
CyberSports Adds Javien
From VWN:
CyberSports Adds Javien Payment Technology to Football Superstars
Javien Digital Payment Solutions announced today that CyberSports had chosen its ecommerce technology for the currently-in-beta Football Superstars. The partnership comes as a joint venture with the Game Center Group, which is providing CRM for CyberSports and partnered with Javien in April. Football Superstars will be a free-to-play, ad- and microtransactions-supported virtual world, so the e-commerce support is particularly important for launch.
“We evaluated several payment providers and found that Javien’s technology offered the fullest menu of both merchant and customer support tools. It was also easy to integrate and provides the security we need to assure our customers they can trust doing business with us,” said George Scotto, Chief Customer Officer for CyberSports. “All of this, combined with the company’s partnerships and proven track record of meeting aggressive deployment schedules for high-profile customers, made Javien the obvious choice for us.” http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/09/cybersports-add.html
CyberSports Adds Javien Payment Technology to Football Superstars
Javien Digital Payment Solutions announced today that CyberSports had chosen its ecommerce technology for the currently-in-beta Football Superstars. The partnership comes as a joint venture with the Game Center Group, which is providing CRM for CyberSports and partnered with Javien in April. Football Superstars will be a free-to-play, ad- and microtransactions-supported virtual world, so the e-commerce support is particularly important for launch.
“We evaluated several payment providers and found that Javien’s technology offered the fullest menu of both merchant and customer support tools. It was also easy to integrate and provides the security we need to assure our customers they can trust doing business with us,” said George Scotto, Chief Customer Officer for CyberSports. “All of this, combined with the company’s partnerships and proven track record of meeting aggressive deployment schedules for high-profile customers, made Javien the obvious choice for us.” http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/09/cybersports-add.html
Virtual world payment trends 2008 - post 1
Here are 10 payment trends PG has detected so far in 2008:
1. Interactive Toys substituting as offline payment methods huge in North America and becoming big in Europe - Webkinz, Moshi Monsters etc...
2. Premium SMS - still huge in Europe but dwindling in popularity in Asia and still relatively unadopted in North America but huge potential in USA and Canada. Critical in South America with absence of other reliable payment methods
3. Credit cards still rule North America - ClubPenguin, Second Life, WOW etc... Card pocessors offer widely-varying fees and rates with little industry wide transparency in pricing and charging models with few notable exceptions (e.g.; Adyen)
4. Bank Transfers emerging in EU and offer huge high-margin low-chargeback opportunity in 2009 with SEPA
5. Subscription model powering most profitable virtual worlds. Most money losing virtual worlds like PlayRay, HABBO etc... clinging to transaction based virtual item / currency model. Hybrid model of subscription and transaction based revenue models key in North America and Europe. Transaction based model still rules Asia-pac.
6. Telco payments via IVR still essential in South America and parts of Europe
7. Prepaid opportunities still huge in Europe and now beginning to see mainstream adoption in North America as has been case in Asia for many years. Virtual world operators seemingly struggle to launch own line of branded prepaid cards. PayByCash prepaid service seems to attempt to fill this need
8. Virtual world payment network construction - few virtual world operators have dedicated payment teams. Most appear to cobble together card dominant ad hoc payment networks with in-house developers based on in-house billing-systems and processes (* email Paymentguy, who, for a small annual retainer, will guarantee your virtual world makes more money - or your money back!)
9. ISP billing emerging in North America and Europe with suppliers like PaymentOne and France telecom targeting gaming community
10. Wallets die slow painful death with companies like ClickandBuy (Firstgate) seeing steep decline in customer registration and market uptake. Paypal is unique and still rules this space morphing beyond a pure wallet service but being susceptible to fraud is still not a viable go-to payment method option for virtual world operators.
PG will add a few more trends and flush out the details with examples in later posts. This is Sunday morning post 1 of XX number of posts of a series on payment industry trends in virtual worlds.
PG
1. Interactive Toys substituting as offline payment methods huge in North America and becoming big in Europe - Webkinz, Moshi Monsters etc...
2. Premium SMS - still huge in Europe but dwindling in popularity in Asia and still relatively unadopted in North America but huge potential in USA and Canada. Critical in South America with absence of other reliable payment methods
3. Credit cards still rule North America - ClubPenguin, Second Life, WOW etc... Card pocessors offer widely-varying fees and rates with little industry wide transparency in pricing and charging models with few notable exceptions (e.g.; Adyen)
4. Bank Transfers emerging in EU and offer huge high-margin low-chargeback opportunity in 2009 with SEPA
5. Subscription model powering most profitable virtual worlds. Most money losing virtual worlds like PlayRay, HABBO etc... clinging to transaction based virtual item / currency model. Hybrid model of subscription and transaction based revenue models key in North America and Europe. Transaction based model still rules Asia-pac.
6. Telco payments via IVR still essential in South America and parts of Europe
7. Prepaid opportunities still huge in Europe and now beginning to see mainstream adoption in North America as has been case in Asia for many years. Virtual world operators seemingly struggle to launch own line of branded prepaid cards. PayByCash prepaid service seems to attempt to fill this need
8. Virtual world payment network construction - few virtual world operators have dedicated payment teams. Most appear to cobble together card dominant ad hoc payment networks with in-house developers based on in-house billing-systems and processes (* email Paymentguy, who, for a small annual retainer, will guarantee your virtual world makes more money - or your money back!)
9. ISP billing emerging in North America and Europe with suppliers like PaymentOne and France telecom targeting gaming community
10. Wallets die slow painful death with companies like ClickandBuy (Firstgate) seeing steep decline in customer registration and market uptake. Paypal is unique and still rules this space morphing beyond a pure wallet service but being susceptible to fraud is still not a viable go-to payment method option for virtual world operators.
PG will add a few more trends and flush out the details with examples in later posts. This is Sunday morning post 1 of XX number of posts of a series on payment industry trends in virtual worlds.
PG
Mobile Payment transfers by Juniper Research
Operators and end users stand to gain from the rise of mobile transfers, according to Juniper Research.
User demand for convenient and intelligent ways in which to make payments for goods and services using a mobile phone is creating exciting opportunities for those organisations that are part of the mobile payment ecosystem. The ecosystem includes mobile operators, banks and credit card companies, retail merchants and transport operators, handset manufacturers (and their suppliers), and a range of new software and system vendors and service providers entrants eager to put their innovative mobile payment solutions into the hands of mobile phone users. There is significant opportunity to create profitable services to handle even small money transfers and payments, and for mobile network operators to derive additional and much sought after ARPU from handling transactions.The definition of a mobile payment is often open to interpretation and can differ from source to source. Juniper Research has a simple definition of a mobile payment a "payment for goods or services with a mobile device such as a phone, PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), or other such device."
As is the case with other, older, payment schemes like cash, the current mobile payment market does not have a single, definitive, payment method and there is substantial variation between what particular scheme is adopted from region to region. Mobile payment schemes vary from the remote methods, such as PRSMS (Premium Rate SMS) schemes for paying for digital content dominating in Europe, to the physical, whereby, in regions such as the Far East and China, users take their mobile phone to the physical storefront to pay for goods via contactless credit/debit card schemes. There are many different and often competing categories of mobile payments currently available. Juniper Research has identified two distinct categories based on the location of the mobile user in relation to the merchant:
• Remote Mobile Payment: this is when the storefront, shopkeeper or retailer is remote to the mobile phone user, e.g. paying for digital goods or physical goods via a mobile web enabled retailer.
• POS (Point of Sale) Mobile Payment: this is when the storefront or retailer is physical and the user is located at or near to the storefront or retailer.
Typically in the future this type of payment will be via Near Field Communications (NFC) technology integrated into devices. Mobile payment applications and services are already available in most regions in a variety of formats, and where they are being adopted, either in trial or commercial mode, the user feedback has been very favourable.
Juniper Research further segments remote payments into the following sub-segments:
• Remote Digital: defined as remote purchases of digital goods and services via a mobile device, which is also the point of delivery. Examples include music (ringtones), tickets and games, with prices typically between a few cents and US$20.
• Remote Physical: defined as remote purchases of physical goods and services via a mobile device - examples could include almost any consumer items from clothing to electronics equipment to books and CDs. Essentially this is the mobile equivalent of regular online purchases of similar items from a desktop or laptop via a fixed internet connection.
• Remote Person-to-Person: this area is the focus of this study and is defined as a money transfer between two mobile phones, which can be redeemed for airtime, cash, or used to pay for bills or goods by the receiving party. Typically these services are provided using SMS, a downloaded application, account based or a phone browser.
PAYMENT SCHEMES: The big picture
The following table details the different types of mobile payment schemes in each segment. Whilst the classification is by no means definitive, it does provide a structure for organising and evaluating the numerous distinct types of mobile payment schemes in this fragmented market. It is important to note that service providers quite often straddle the categories shown here. This market has generated a lot of interest from the mobile payment ecosystem recently. Person to person payments are when funds are transferred between mobile phone users and then the funds are redeemed for airtime, goods or cash at selected merchants.
In developing world economies such as Africa and the Indian Sub Continent there is restricted access to financial and payment services. Only a small percentage of the population has a bank account or a credit card. A larger percentage, however, has a mobile phone or access to one. Not only is there more than one mobile phone per two people in the world, but industry participants frequently discuss the "next billion" subscribers which will come largely from developing countries. Globally, the key statistics tell the story with the world's population at 6.6 billion, 3.6 billion mobile subscribers and more than 2 billion people "unbanked" and up to a further 3 billion underbanked, with 1.5 million ATM machines and 500,000 bank branches around the world. The reality is that far more people in countries that are underbanked will have used a mobile phone than will have used an ATM or visited a bank branch. The reach or coverage of the mobile company compared with banks is important: using Ghana as an example, 1 in 20 have a bank account, whereas nearly 1 in 3 people have a mobile. Mobile transactions also cost far less to deliver than either servicing customers at a bank branch or installing ATMs. Therefore, there is significant opportunity to create profitable services to handle even small money transfers and payments, and for mobile network operators to derive additional and much sought after ARPU from handling transactions.
Mobile money transfers can extend remittance services to millions of underbanked people in developing countries both in urban and rural areas. However, a sizeable number of people in developed nations also either do not have a bank account or are underbanked - that is they may only use basic banking functions (sometimes via retail stores), they typically live in a cash-based economy, and use cheque cashing agencies and payday loans. In the USA, for example, recent estimates by the Center for Financial Services Innovation (CSFI) place the underbanked (including unbanked) population at 40 million households (106 million individuals) or around 30% of the whole population. The second key area is international money transfers. The increase in migrant workers globally has fuelled the number of remittances being sent home to families regularly. The World Bank recently reported that the top three recipients of migrant remittances in 2007 were India ($27 billion), China ($25.7 billion), Mexico ($25 billion).
The US was also the top immigration country in 2005, with 38.4 million immigrants, followed by the Russian Federation (12.1 million), and Germany (10.1 million). The World Bank also reported that recorded remittances to developing countries were estimated to reach $240 billion in 2007. Officially recorded remittance flows reached $337 billion in 2007, but the World Bank stated that the unrecorded flows of money will significantly increase this number. Mobile money transfers enable migrant workers to send money home at lower transaction costs than traditional money transfer services, and enable friends and family at home without bank accounts to access the money. Juniper Research has found that there is a growing number of (often but not always) new and start-up players providing such money transfer services via mobile phones. There are at least 50 services, pilots and trials around the world, many in the Africa and Middle East region, confirming the potential of this exciting development. This market potential is also true for vendors. Juniper Research's forecast for the total incremental ARPU opportunity for service providers for both national and international mobile money transfers combined, based on the estimated commission levels that they will be able to charge, is in excess if $5 billion in 2013 globally, as shown below.
The top 3 regions (W. Europe, Africa & Middle East and Far East & China) will represent over 60% of the global money transfers gross transaction value by 2013. New services and trials are being announced almost every day. Judging from the response from users so far to services like M-PESA and SmartMoney, prospects for these services are excellent, both in developing and developed countries. For many people, transferring money to frineds and family via existing services has been problematic: using mobile phones solves many of the problems. This white paper is taken from Juniper Research's report entitled "Mobile Payment Markets: Money Transfers & Remittances 2008-2013." Juniper Research specialises in providing analytical reports and consultancy services to the telecoms industry. www.juniperresearch.com
French & German Banks Plan European Credit Card
The biggest European banks plan to establish an alternative to the Visa and Mastercard payment systems, the Russian Vzglyad Weekly informs. Leading French and German banks have initiated negotiations with the European Commission. Representatives of the Central European Bank support the project since it would provide a higher degree of security to clients. The president of Visa Europe considers the involvement of numerous payment systems does not correspond to the customers' needs.
http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?id=n153330
http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?id=n153330
Saturday, September 20, 2008
PaymentGuy Adds ProSurve
... to his unparalleled Directory of Payment Systems. Congrats Sander and Team http://www.prosurve.nl/
Jeremy Monroe of Sulake Talks Targeted Advertising To Teens
From Gamasutra an interview with Sulake's Jeremy Monroe who "Talks Targeted Advertising To Teens"
Social network and virtual world Habbo (formerly Habbo Hotel) began in Finland in 2000, and has since grown to a worldwide community with over 100 million avatars registered and over eight million unique visitors monthly -- heavily biased to the teen demographic, but with an even split between males and females.
Ad support plays a significant role in Sulake's business model for Habbo, and the company often partners with major brands like Target or participates in promotions for films like Harry Potter.
Here, Sulake director of business development Jeremy Monroe talks to Gamasutra about the challenges of creating, integrating and marketing brands to a diverse, worldwide community of teens.
What role does creating opportunities with brands that fit with the audience play in Habbo overall experience
Jeremy Monroe: It's critical. Actually, I think it's something that is at the forefront of our brains when we go into a partnership. Not only does the company, but the property that they want to bring into the community -- does it fit? And we are willing to say no, if we don't think it's a fit.We do a lot of activity, like with Global Habbo Youth Survey, which is our market research, about what the community is interested in, how and where they're spending their time. What brands are interesting or cool to them, and what brands aren't. And what movies are interesting to them, what genres are interesting to them. We take that data, and it's really the basis for how we approach potential partners, prioritize those partnerships, and prioritize the type of properties that are coming into the Hotel.
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=19608
Sulake is looking for a Vice President of North American Advertising by the way: http://www.imediaconnection.com/Jobs/Description.aspx?ID=2243
And a Director of AD Sales North America http://www.dmwmedia.com/news/2008/03/25/director-ad-sales-%2526amp%3B-marketing,-sulake-inc.,-santa-monica,-ca
PG thinks the VP AD Sales would report to the President of HABBO North America - but is not sure. The Director position looks a bit dated but it is still live on the net so who knows. Just check out the positions and see for yourself if you are interested in HABBO Ad Sales my Dear Reader ...
Friday, September 12, 2008
Fruugo talks the talk - can it walk the walk?
Lot's of bigtalk from mysterious Fruugo dudes and dudettes .. PG cannot wait to see some action. Their test-tube is bubbling over with frothy green money making excitement. At least you can see they are saving money on marketing.
An example of their most recent PR was most attention-grabbing in its modesty;
"Fruugo will do for online shopping what Google did for Internet search. Reinventing the concept of e-commerce, Fruugo brings together businesses and consumers throughout Europe for a one-of-a-kind e-commerce experience. As we make an inspiring and social online shopping experience a reality, national borders and language boundaries lose their importance. Interactive, social, versatile, true-to-life... Fruugo is an online shopping experience unlike any other. Our constantly expanding team currently consists of more than a hundred enthusiastic experts, and the growth will continue after the launch. Fruugo will be launched later in 2008.” - Reijo Syrjäläinen, CEO, Fruugo Ltd.
Talk about reasonable expectations. With talk like this the newbie-Fruugo's have positioned themselves as the most revolutionary and perfect payment solution the internet has even known ... well, they better be with promises like that!
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Gaia Online Balances Monetization And Creativity
Gaia Online is unique among virtual worlds, beginning as a forum before evolving into a virtual world which boasts over 2.5 million users every month. It can often be a challenge for growing online worlds to balance monetization strategies against the needs of the communities that built them, but Gaia CEO Craig Sherman says he's found a solution whereby both world and advertising strategy can grow in tandem. Sherman says Gaia's evolution hinges on its users' needs and requests -- and when they asked for the ability to battle, Gaia responded by launching a proper MMO, Gaia Battle, alongside its social world. Now, Sherman explains in depth the evolution of Gaia Online from a community website into a full-scale world and game, and how the company's maintained its creativity and relationship with its users even as it's undergone exponential growth from its humble origins. We recently profiled Gaia, and what I found interesting is the site started as a more traditional community site, and then grew into an online world.
blah blah blah
This is way too long and rambles with no juicy inside stuff so PG will cut it short and give readers the link:
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=19605
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Fatfoogoo Brings Micropayments to Sun's Project Darkstar
From Virtual Worlds News; "fatfoogoo announced today that it would be enable the integration of its micropayment software with Sun's open-source virtual world and MMOG creator Project Darkstar. As the first billing and transaction solution designed explicitly to work with Darkstar, fatfoogoo is initially enabling developers to use its virtual item trading, subscription management and in-game economic control tools.
"The work that fatfoogoo is doing to extend the reach of Project Darkstar exemplifies and underscores the value of open source communities," said Karl Haberl, Director of the Project Darkstar research initiative at Sun Microsystems. "fatfoogoo has openly shared their expertise with others, enriching the Project Darkstar Community with their code contributions, interactions with game developers, and now with commercial software offerings. We are very pleased with the positive results of fatfoogoo's Community participation, including the new opportunities they have presented to developers of online games, virtual worlds, and social networking applications."
"The work that fatfoogoo is doing to extend the reach of Project Darkstar exemplifies and underscores the value of open source communities," said Karl Haberl, Director of the Project Darkstar research initiative at Sun Microsystems. "fatfoogoo has openly shared their expertise with others, enriching the Project Darkstar Community with their code contributions, interactions with game developers, and now with commercial software offerings. We are very pleased with the positive results of fatfoogoo's Community participation, including the new opportunities they have presented to developers of online games, virtual worlds, and social networking applications."
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