Say Hello to PG's Moldovian Girlfriend ...

Well, their beer is crap but Moldovan pizza is surprisingly good!

Beware Dave Walker!

A GMAIL PG recently received from notorious scammer Dave Walker - no relation to this Walker who is a Good Guy; "This is to officially inform you that (ATM Card Number;5299751493779935 with a fund worth 2.8 Million Dollars has been accredited in your favor,Please Contact Mr. Dave Walker (mrdave.atmdpt@gmail.com) With the following,
Full Name:Delivery Address: Age: Occupation: and Phone Number: Best Regards.
Mr. Dave Walker"

Wizard 101 Sells Prepaids in 7-11

KingsIsle Entertainment announced today that its Wizard101 virtual world had registered over 2 million unique users. To support those users--and monetize them--the company is also launching $10 prepaid cards in 7-Eleven stores across the nation.

How Sulake Makes Cash From Habbo Credits

It's all here Dear Readers! http://www.pafis.shh.fi/~henjan06/v17.pdf

Wanna Work at Sulake?

... if you do check out http://www.sulake.com/careers/open_positions/view?id=229
... if you are successful you will work for Li Ma or (is it Li Nieminen?)

eCommerce Manager - Helsinki/Finland

We are looking for a motivated individual to join the Sulake Payment Support unit in the Helsinki Headquarters. eCommerce Manager will work closely with Director, Payment Support to carry out the following main tasks:

· Make eCommerce related business analysis, share findings and introduce good business practice with relevant business units.
· Conduct market research, identify innovative payment methods, design pilots, formulate the business model to improve monetization, identify new business opportunities and formulate associated business plans.
· Participate in global payment partnership management and deal negotiations.
· Plan and execute eCommerce related projects.

eCommerce Manager will also work closely with other HQ units, namely Development, Finance, Habbo Product, Marketing and other business units. eCommerce Manager reports to Li Nieminen, Director, Payment Support unit.

Key Competences:

· BBA or MSc degree in business studies
· Proven track record in International online business or eCommerce business area
· Good analytical and presentation skills. Proficiency in using Excel or other research analysis tools.
· Confident self-starter, pro-actively and independently carry out tasks and willing to develop skills and capability.
· Willing to work both in planning and execution.
· Demonstrate problem solving and negotiation skills
· Fluent spoken and written English are must. Other language skills are a bonus.
· Good communicator & a team player

To apply for this position, please fill in the online application form no later than 17 May 2009.

Apply now

Building Payment Networks - Part 4

So now that you have your biller built (or bought) http://paymentguy.blogspot.com/2009/04/building-payment-networks-part-2.html and you have licensed and integrated your accounting software to your biller http://paymentguy.blogspot.com/2009/04/building-payment-networks-part-3.html, you need a plan.
This boils down to choosing the right payment method mix per payment system. In any successful hight-profit margin payment system targeted at a diverse demographic of kids, teens, moms and dads, you need a wholeistic approach to payment method selection to create the widest possible payment network reach. Basically, you need to cover the 3 main payment categories which are;

1. Online Payment Method (s) i.e. Credit Cards, Internet Bank Payment(s), PayPal;

2. Offline Payment Method(s) i.e. prepaid cards, e-voucher/e-pin code generators; and

3. Telco Payment Method (s) (mobile sms, IVR).

This should be replicated in each market / region via a consistent systematic approach. To do this you either a) integrate to a turnkey hosted payment network provider with a diverse portfolio of payment methods in your home market and / or internationally, or b) do it yourself.

Our next blog post in this series http://paymentguy.blogspot.com/2009/04/building-payment-networks-part-1.html will describe in more detail how you can go about selecting partners per method.

Building Payment Networks - Part 3

So once you got your biller built (or bought) you need to tie in some accounting software (like Netsuite)to manage your cash flow. Here are some good options;

1. Basware


2. iScala


3. Netsuite

Netsuite is most popular and a good option to investigate. Tell 'em PG sent you ;)

Check out CyKash

Don Lee of CyKash was nice enough to drop PG a line and introduce himself and his prepaid solution CyKash. CyKash is "a universal virtual currency/multi-game prepaid card that can be redeemed at our partner game websites." According to Don they designed CyKash to make it as user-friendly and safe as possible with such features as.

- Redeem/Share value across multiple games

- Redeem directly at the game site

- No personal information required to redeem

- No extra fees

Game clients include: Atlantica, War Rock, Knight Online, Global Mu, Luminary, Shaiya, MegaTen, Three Kingdoms, Rohan, Seal Online, and many more. Check them out at www.cykash.com or better yet, contact Don and see if he and his Team can help you make some money; Don Lee / CyKash, Inc. / 2350 Mission College Blvd. Ste.315 / Santa Clara, CA 95054 / Tel: 408-727-7510 / Fax: 408-727-7510
Mobile : 408-655-0946 / Email : don@cykash.com

Smart Veoh

Last year, Veoh, a video-sharing site operated from San Diego, decided to block its service from users in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe, citing the dim prospects of making money and the high cost of delivering video there. “I believe in free, open communications,” Dmitry Shapiro, the company’s chief executive, said. “But these people are so hungry for this content. They sit and they watch and watch and watch. The problem is they are eating up bandwidth, and it’s very difficult to derive revenue from it.” http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/27/technology/start-ups/27global.html?_r=1&hp

Interesting revenue model for Aion

http://www.developmag.com/news/31731/NCSofts-Aion-spinning-money-in-China
From our good friend Ryan at Sarf Studios Inc. who "Found that extended pay to play aspect interesting".

Building Payment Networks - Part 2

Building a biller can be done in house by one of your Devs who will treat it as an avoid at all costs 4 day old dog turd on a sidewalk. However, most Devs consider being labeled Billing Bitch worse than a bad burrito lunch. Thus, given your Devs will consider this the most thankless impossible to please and deliver on time headache no one will step up thus delaying your payment systems launch and costing you money, your likely better off just getting one from a reputable provider. Here are some good options if your Devs are way too lazy and underpaid to motivate themselves to step up to the challenge of coding your own internal billing system or you don't want to take the chance that the new guy with the pencil mustache on the student work term can figure it out over the summer;

1. Vindicia


2. Javien


3. Aria Systems







4. JBilling




However, if you are able to find a Dev with payment system and biller design and coding expertise and the willingness and motivation to lead and manage you payment projects and team - HIRE AT ALL COSTS!

Building Payment Networks - Part 1

Dear Readers, let PG fill you in on the A,B,C,'s of Payment Network Construction:

Step 1. Build a biller (code it in house, or license one from a billing system provider)

Step 2. License some accounting software (like Netsuite)to manage your cash flow

Step 3. Choose the right payment method mix (you need to cover the 3 main payment categories A. Online Payment Method(s) i.e. Credit Cards, Internet Bank Payment(s), PayPal; B. Offline Payment Method(s) i.e. prepaid cards, e-voucher/e-pin code generators; C. Telco (mobile sms, IVR)

Step 4. Choose the best payment partners per payment method (let PG help you ...)

Step 5. Organize a Payment Systems Team / eCommerce Unit (this is the G&A / Admin side of things)

Step 6. Design some killer easy to use web pages

Step 7. Tie it all together, test, deploy, launch it and repeat per market / country / language.

More details on each point to come. Stay tuned.. or email PG @ paymentguy@gmail.com to get the straight talk direct and start making money ASAP.

Islamic HABBO

Did you know there was a HABBO Clone just for Muslims? Apparently, the CTO of the low-key creative agency FWD Helsinki is a guy fired by Sulake a few years ago. PG thinks there is not enough of a business threat for Sulake to consider wasting any time or legal fees suing them for this shameless rip-off. http://www.startupbin.com/tag/fwd-helsinki/

ECO-Rangers

ECO-Rangers by Valve Design Studio Helsinki coming this August looks to fill a void in the huge eco-themed virtual world opportunity. Using Flash, this project has a lot of brains, talent and money backing it. Virtual currency with a philanthropic twist such as ECO's would be cool? Stay tuned ... http://www.tweehouse.com/blog/2009/02/20/eco-rangers-teaser-game-live/

Ginsu Yoon Canned By Linden Lab

Yup, PG called it http://paymentguy.blogspot.com/2009/03/hard-ass-john-z-fired-by-linden.html and M. Linden has now cleaned house. From the SL Blog https://blogs.secondlife.com/community/features/blog/2009/04/07/graduation-day: "Have you ever noticed how rarely the departure of an executive from a company is regarded as good news? I find that really odd, for consider the opposite: How many companies fail for refusing to evolve their leadership? In my observation, great companies evolve their management around the reality that experienced executives enjoy different stages of company development. I'm leaving Linden Lab, some of the finest people I've ever known and the most ambitious project I've ever seen. And the most passionate, intelligent, challenging, engaging Residents in any world. And that's good news; it's a graduation of sorts for the company and for me. Yet I'm sure that pundits who prefer their underinformed opinions to verifiable facts will try to find bad news.

The facts are that over the past four years, I've seen Second Life rise from an obscure project of a few dozen people to a worldwide brand with undeniable leadership in a new sector that we helped define. We've built a profitable business with diverse revenue lines, broad interest from consumer to enterprise, hundreds of employees, half a billion hours of use annually, and great new leadership. I believe that Second Life is in a better position than ever before to succeed in making virtual worlds part of everyday online life. I'm happy to see that my path ends with the company in peak condition.

As for me, it's time for a new challenge. I love helping to grow wild startups, and I plan to spend some time exploring a few of my own ideas. I may never see anything as wild as Second Life, but it's a big world out there and I'm entering it with the benefit of the incredible education that you have given me. I hope our real or virtual paths cross again someday. My deepest thanks to all of you for taking part in the journey. (Note to all business development inquiries: Sorry if I haven't had a chance to contact you personally before this posted - rest assured we are working through an orderly transition, and I'll strive to ensure that all of you are in good hands before my last day, by the end of this month.)

Howard Ganz Wins Name Change

Another victory for the smartest man in Virtual Worlds - from VWN; " Webcarzz Changing To "Vector City Racers," Announcing New Contest" Webcarzz announced today that it would be changing its name to "Vector Entertainment" and its product to "Vector City Racers." The company says that the name will better reflect its virtual world--a vector graphics-filled casual MMO based around building and racing cars. However, the name "Webcarzz" has also been subject to a trademark opposition from Ganz due to the similiarities to its Webkinz name and product.

PaymentPin.com Lands Nexopia Deal

Congrats both! And thanks to Darren for the info.

"Leading Canadian Social Network Significantly Increases Revenue Through Addition of Alternate Payment Solution

(Montreal, Canada) PaymentPin.com is pleased to announce the successful activation of their micro-payment processing platform with Nexopia.com. Nexopia is one of Canada’s largest social networks, extremely popular among the teen and tween generations, that chose to leverage both the phone line and mobile billing solutions to unlock a previously un-served customer segment. “Let’s face it. Teenagers don’t have credit cards. It has been great working with the folks at Nexopia to help them open up this new revenue channel considering their younger demographics. We are witnessing rapid growth in social networks as phone line or mobile payments gain traction which only parallels what we’re seeing for dating and gaming as well. Our partnership with Nexopia is a natural fit. We are really happy the chose to work with us.” Malik Yacoubi the CEO of PaymentPin.com says. “Integrating our API with them was not complicated and saw us even further adapting our tech to be an easy plug in for ruby on rails systems.” He continues.

Kevin Swan, the Director of Product for Nexopia.com says, “Out of the gate our results were phenomenal. Our users told us this was right up their alley and we witnessed 3 to 4 times our regular amount of sales in the first week alone. This platform has opened up a whole new door to micro-transactions that we had considered many times before yet never had a suitable partner to access it with. We are looking towards further geographic expansion across North America since PaymentPin gives us the price point options and coverage to do so.”

About PaymentPin.com:

PaymentPin is a preferred solution for phone line and mobile micro-payment billing for websites in Canada, the US and overseas. They offer a fully secure infrastructure, varied price points and attractive payouts to website owners.

About Nexopia.com:

Nexopia is the number one place for Canadian youth to connect online. Launched in February 2003 by 19 year-old student Timo Ewalds, the site’s user base has expanded to over 1.4 million strong and growing daily. Nexopia enables its users to create and design their own profiles, friends list, blogs, galleries, articles, and forums. These features are uniquely presented to specifically engage teens to be active and expressive. The site is staffed by a young team whom are experts in teen culture and stay closely connected to their users.

PG WINS!

This is to officially inform you that ATM Card Number 4278763100030014 with a
fund worth 6.8 Million Dollars has been accredited in your favour,Please
contact Mr Kelvin Perkins (kelvin.perkins1@gmail.com) With the following,
Full Name: Delivery Address: Age:Occupation: and Phone Number:

Best Regards,
Juan Carlos Rodrigue

Webkinz Goes Baby Shopping

Webkinz Jr., the new virtual world from Ganz targeting kids 3-6, went live last week. Ganz is already a leader in the kids world space with Webkinz, which helped jumpstart the craze and certainly the (patented) concept of linking physical toys to virtual worlds. Even at a simple level, though, Webkinz is likely too complicated for the preschool set. The website itself is simplified compared to Webkinz, and the virtual world promises age-appropriate activities and games, guidance and educational programming for children, and a parents' area to monitor in-world progress through a deluxe membership.

Hard Ass John Z. Fired By Linden

Yup, PG called it (this one is long overdue....) http://paymentguy.blogspot.com/2009/02/told-you-so.html
"CFO John Zdanowski Leaving Linden": From "VWN" - CFO John Zdanowski announced today on the Second Life blog that he was leaving Linden Lab. Zdanowski joined the company in Summer 2006, before the mainstream hype of Second Life or virtual worlds more generally had really picked up. It's also, as he notes, before Second Life was profitable or really had a solid business model. Following Corey Ondrejka's ouster as CTO, Philip Rosedale's transition from CEO to Chairman, and, more recently, Robin Harper leaving as VP of Marketing and Community Development, Zdanowski's exit highlights the changing nature at Linden. Half of the executive management team has joined in the last year since Mark Kingdon took over as CEO. Appropriately, Zdanowski's only offered reason for leaving is that the challenges of the start-up have been overcome.

"Fast forward to now. We have a comprehensive financial model that ties all the activities of Second Life to our revenue forecast so that we can manage to profitability," blogged Zdanowski. "I am proud to say that we boosted profitability and generated a very healthy cash balance. We implemented all new accounting practices including a comprehensive revenue recognition policy. We've come a long way and I'm proud of my work and that of the great finance team." This guy was a 100% total Polish American Cunt who was always struting around showing off how smart he (thought) was. A total 100% FAILURE...

Club Penguin Success Proves Canadian Billingualism is a Joke

So now "Club Penguin is Supporting French" with Disney announcing today that it had begun supporting the francophone community in its kids world Club Penguin. The new rollout brings in French-speaking staff from Canada and Europe for more timely support and moderation. “As a Canadian-based company, we’re particularly excited to be able to offer French-speaking children and families in this country the same opportunity to explore the fun and creativity of Club Penguin in their own language that so many other kids around the world already enjoy,” Lane Merrifield, Club Penguin co-founder and executive vice president of Disney Online Studios, said in a statement. So this virtual penguin-land is launched in Canada exclusively in English, becomes an unbelievable internet success story which Disney suits in USA buy for $300+ mill USD in cash and not one French Canadian was bothered by the lack of a French version. Don't get PG wrong, the French rock in Canada and back home. Frech women French wine, French cuisine, French-Canadian goalies, culture... all are pretty damn superb. And the French internet market is with the Spanish, a most often neglected market that have an extremely wealthy and sophisticated user-base for virtual worlds (the vibrant French communities in Second Life, HABBO and WOW - published by Vivendi of course - proove this). But at the end of the day, to be a success story in Canada & North America generally for virtual worlds, Club Penguin proves French is not necessary. All French Canadian kids speak English anyway ... So canadian Government, save a few billion and ditch this silly billingualism.

Sulake Director Shuffle

Yu-Yang Bai is now Acting Regional Director (UK, France, Italy, Spain and Latin America, Brazil & Portugal) at Sulake Corporation. Congrats Yu-Yang! Anyone know who he replaced?

Why didn't I think of that ($10 million usd name ...)

http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2009/03/supersecret-raises-10m-largest-investment-for-new-kids-world-in-a-year.html
PG thinks the name is worth 10 mill. MoiPal - change your damn name!

Fortumo Looks Promising But ...

PG likes their fast and easy sign up process but is not sure the long-tail go where no one else has gone business development strategy will result in a golden goose exit strategy ala 3United http://news.cnet.com/VeriSign-buys-3united-Mobile-Solutions/2100-1033_3-6038979.html
Anyway, why is their site in Finnish and blog in English? You can read all about them in this article http://www.virtualgoodsnews.com/2009/02/fortumo-on-mobile-payments-and-the-long-tail-in-eastern-europe.html

Joakim said...

Dear Readers, here is a nugget of insider payment advice from Ironstar Helsinki CEO Joakim Achrem about mobile payments for social networks "We at MoiPal use Fortumo a lot. You should check it out at http://www.fortumo.com. It works fine in Eastern Europe." Thanks for the "Payment Tip of the Day" Joakim. See related post here http://paymentguy.blogspot.com/2009/02/mobile-payments-getting-traction-on.html

Screw You Citi!

Citigroup — the mega-bank that managed its own finances so badly that it has required three taxpayer bailouts totaling at least $45 billion so far — is preaching fiscal responsibility to young people. http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/06/citi-urges-myspace-users-to-spend-wisely/?hp

Cool Camels Launches in Finland

Cool Camels Finland launches! Congrats Napfolt and Nefele! http://www.coolcamels.fi/

Voit vaellella kamelilla ympäriinsä. Tämä fantastinen maailma tarjoaa paljon viihdykettä sinulle: pelejä, elokuvia, tekstiviestejä, chättejä, sähköposteja, jopa radion. On hyvin jännittävää huomata mitkä kaikki seikkailut odottavat lemmikkiäsi näissä iloisissa ja hauskoissa maisemissa.

Kameli on virtuaaliystäväsi ja pitää pukeutumisesta. Lenkkarit vai saappaat, peruukki vai silinteri? Voit valita kamelisi vaatetyylin valitsemalla useiden takkien, kenkien, hattujen ja muiden varusteiden joukosta.

Tiesitkö että kamelit pitävät pelaamisesta? Etsi pomppiva koripallo ja klikkaa sitä! Kamelisi voi pelata useita pelejä yksin, mutta on hauskempaa pelata yhdessä muiden kameleiden kanssa.

Voit liikutella kameliasi hiirellä. Klikkaa paikkaa, jonne haluat kamelisi menevän. Varo kuitenkin, jos tiellä on este, ei kamelisi osaa ohittaa sitä ilman apuasi! Huomioithan myös keltaiset nuolet, jotka haluavat kiinnittää huomiosi Kamelimaailman eri kohteisiin.

Tarvitset toimivan sähköpostiosoitteen rekisteröityäksesi, sillä lähetämme aktivointikoodin antamaasi osoitteeseen. Rekisteröinnin jälkeen kamelisi on vieraana Kamelimaailmassa. Voit siis katsella ympärillesi, mutta et voi kokeilla uusia asioita ilman jäsenyyttä.

Löydät kaiken tärkeän informaation jäsenyydestä jäsenyyssivulta. Yksi tilaus kuuluu yhdelle kamelille, eli jos haluat osallistua useammalla kamelilla, täytyy sinun tilata oma jäsenyys niillekin.

A Beautiful Eco World ...

... For Kids & Coming Soon!

Is Metaplace Full Of It?

"There are more than 25,000 Metaplace worlds, most of them are empty and most of them are crap." http://news.cnet.com/8301-10797_3-10171492-235.html

WhatsYourPlace - A Cool GOOGLE Maps Mashup

Thanks for the info from Tobias in Munich!

Munich, Feb 26, 2009: Novel online service whatsyourplace.com lets users buy places in the real world – in virtual terms

WhatsYourPlace is a Google Maps Mashup that lets members own and showcase their favorite places. Today, the web-service has officially launched an English language version to target the global market. The Munich-based online community has been up and running in Germany for more than a year, and successfully proven the innovative concept to meet substantial market demand. People with an emotional attachment to any spot on the earth can now stake a virtual claim on it. Each place has its own URL and profile page („land register records“), and the land owner alone is entitled to edit that unique place profile. Hence, virtual land ownership is an exclusive way for expressing attachment to a place and to showcase that spot to the world. Editing means include picture upload, tagging, geo-marking, adding notes, or adding time stamps. As these features are embedded into a social community environment, other members will bookmark a parcel, comment on it, or even share their own pictures or related experiences with the land owner. More advanced community features include grouping places and inviting residents to a private area.

Membership to the community is free of charge, virtual land ownership comes at 9.95 USD an acre. Ownership is without time restriction and entails full reselling rights. All features bound to land ownership can be tested for free buy obtaining a “trial parcel”, which will be removed after 30 days. So far, over 25.000 acres have been sold. The entire world is for sale, the only exception being parts of the globe that Google Maps does not yet cover well. It is the philosophy of WhatsYourPlace that places must be absolutely unique, such that per place, there is only one owner worldwide."

If you want to learn more, reach out to Tobias Lampe CEO of Whatsyourplace.com creator Value Maps GmbH Tobias.Lampe@value-maps.com
Klausenburgerstr. 9
81677 München
Tel: 089 37414258
Mobil: 0151 1720 5567
Fax: 089 37414257
www.whatsyourplace.de

Springboard Into Europe

Everyone simply needs to make Euros if they can http://paymentguy.blogspot.com/2009/02/making-euros.html. But launching in the EU without a local partner is time consuming, tricky and expensive. If you want a partner to help you launch your virtual world, mmo or social network throughout the European Union there is actually only one pioneering studio of developers to call. That is this new Finnish startup composed of devs from leading Scandinavian gaming, design and virtual world studios - Spring Board Labs. Springboard Labs offers all of the infrastructure pieces from server colos, payment systems/billing, technical/customer support and language localization /web development to publish your property in any European language. Here is the link http://www.springboardlabs.eu/. Don't let the boring site fool you. PG knows these guys and they are the first to figure out how to make launching a virtual world or mmo in Europe - EASY and FAST. Drop Tommi a mail at info@springboardlabs.eu and tell him PG sent you. Guaranteed you will not be disappointed.

MySQL Dude Invests in Virtual Industry's Silliest Named Offering

Yesterday Ironstar Helsinki, publisher of mobile social network virtual world not sure what to call it yet but damn well better change the stupid name ASAP microtransaction virtual world MoiPal, proudly announced MySQL creator and founder Monty Widenius had become one of its investors.

The investment comes through Widenius's Open Ocean company which seeks out starts-ups focusing on disruptive technologies and tries to help them find financial success. The amount of the investment or the intended purpose of the funds is currently undisclosed. But it should be enough to spend some marketing euros and change the name to something decent.

PG PS: Also thought Jaiku was a stupid name. But when GOOGLE bagged them I admit I felt kinda stupid! So if NOKIA buys MoiPal, PG will feel similarly stupid.

Leading Virtual World Developer Electirc Sheep Axe Staff

From Virtual World News this article about leaidng virtual world developer ESC's layoffs; "Electric Sheep Company Cuts Five" - Today the Electric Sheep Company let go five employees due. The affected employees include VP of Software Patrick O'Shaughnessey and Director of Business Development John Swords. The cuts, according to CEO Sibley Verbeck, are due to larger economic issues and potential clients' budgets.
http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2009/02/electric-sheep-company-cuts-five.html
I think most of the eSheeps are vegetarians however ...

ePredaotor Becomes eConsultant

Yup, ePredator voluntarily left a high paying cushy job at IBM to start his own company. Sorry to sound like a prick about this but who the hell ever leaves any "Evangelist" position voluntarily http://eightbar.co.uk/2009/02/23/a-new-era-begins/. Anyway... Well, perhaps some others do like CISCO's Christian Renaud perhaps http://xianrenaud.typepad.com/ (yeah right ...).

Ok, so the intro to this post seems nasty but its not. Both a very smart and talented guys. Renaud is especially impressive and in PG's humble IMO is the smartest dude around about enterprise application and adoption of virtual world technology. If you don't believe PG then read http://www.christianrenaud.com/weblog/2008/10/crosspost-from-tig-blog--current-economy-and-virtual-worlds.html and see for yourself. Anyway, someday very soon, when enterprise virtual worlds take off (start measuring the roi Dear CFO's...) and are seen as a necessary component to any enterprise IT's Infrastructure to allow workers to collaborate, network, improve productivity and idea flow remotely, especially in an age of travel restrictions and cost cutting, thought leading visionaries like Hughes and Renaud will be worth their weight in gold. So large globally dispersed multinationals should check out these guys and what they have to offer asap. Good luck with your new gig Ian!

Vindicia Bills 1Billion USD in 08 Expects to be Profitable in 09

Vindicia is a highly reccommended payment partner, especially to mitigate, prevent or reduce fraud and chargebacks. Congrats to Gene and his hard-working experienced team; "REDWOOD CITY, Calif. - February 11, 2009 - Vindicia, a leading provider of on-demand payment management software, today released 2008 performance metrics pointing to across-the-board growth and highlighting the company's expectation to capitalize on the year's success with accelerated growth in 2009. Underscoring its bullish outlook, the company expects to reach profitability in 2009 on forecasted revenues of between $6 to $8 million, a 100% increase over 2008 revenue. Vindicia handles approximately 160,000 online transactions a day, for a total of over 58 million in 2008. Also in 2008 the company billed $1 billion in revenue for its customers." http://www.vindicia.com/news/Press.html?release_id=381

Webkinz Sues Webcars - Or is it Webcarzz?

Don't let this photo fool you. Howard Ganz and Uncle Sam take no ... well, let's just say they will sue your bollocks off if you even think about stepping on their virtual world turf. Good luck litigating Howard! http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2009/02/ganz-opposing-webcarzz-trademark-registration.html#more

PG's10 Favourite Countries

Well, I really like Vietnam too, especially D'alat beach life http://www.vietnam-travel-guide.net/dalat.html and I love Norwegian chicks and visiting the Oslo Fjord at my buddy Olav's cottage in midsummer, but these are PG's top 10 countries by blog readership:

United States (US) 1,307
United Kingdom (GB) 372
Germany (DE) 279
Canada (CA) 243
Finland (FI) 205
Netherlands (NL)147
Brazil (BR) 138
Italy (IT) 121
France (FR) 112
Poland (PL) 107

Shout out to Poland ... what a suprise #10!

Do Enterprise Virtual Worlds Suck?

Tell us what you really think Raph; http://www.raphkoster.com/2008/10/03/enterprise-vws-do-they-suck/#more-2066

Second Life technology continues its slow move towards being an enterprise solution with the announcement that the SL-derived OpenSim project is getting commercialized by 3Di. Enterprise was a big buzzword this year at the Virtual Worlds conf in Hollywood. (Of course, in the midst of it, someone had to ask “what is enterprise anyway?” It means “selling VWs to businesses”). The penny has also dropped for some users that SL itself seems to be trending in this direction — as Tateru Nino writes on Massively,

When you look at the hiring of Tom Hale, the ongoing hiring of enterprise sales and marketing staff, and the licensing of the Immersive Workspaces product from Rivers Run Red, this all seems to signal a clear direction for where Linden Lab is taking Second Life. Clearer than anything else we’ve seen in a year, certainly.

Of course, we have also seen Forterra and their OLIVE platform (derived originally from the There.com codebase) continue to focus on this area over several years, with particular success in work for the military. Is all this a surrender of the dream? What about user-creation virtual worlds for consumers? I’m not personally particularly excited about enterprise and it has never been something I have paid attention to. But rather than me ranting about it, I went and asked Jason Hable, our VP of Business Operations (and former VC) why enterprise isn’t necessarily an appealing direction. His answers:

Sales cycles are notoriously long because of:
- Testing, trialing and approval levels
- Unproven return on investment
- New tech can wallow within the “labs” groups on discretionary budgets for years before being rolled out to business units (if ever)
- Rank and file aversion to new technologies (especially without prior consumer touchstones

The business model isn’t as attractive as consumer due to:
- Slow, linear growth
- Lower margins due to customization and service requirements
- Lower exit multiples due to lower margins and slower growth
And also noteworthy today,
- Drop of enterprise spending on new technology during recessions

He ended with a note saying that enterprise isn’t necessarily a bad business — just less attractive, and there’s a learning curve that many of the VW crowd have not had to climb yet and underappreciate.

My take?

* It takes a long time to sell to enterprises. Lots of folks need to approve a purchase, if there’s any significant cost to it.
* There is no clear ROI for the enterprise. Meaning, how does the company prove that they are making more money thanks to this purchase and service contract? This matters more the more expensive the product is. If it’s in reduced travel costs, then it’s in direct competition with stuff like Webex.
* Slow adoption — a new tech group within the company may adopt it, but enterprises are slow to adopt as a whole. Just think about how hard it has been to get companies to change which version of MS Office they use, for example.
* The business model — it’s licensing and and service contracts, so it is only as scalable as the number of enterprises, and the margins aren’t great.
* It’s a communication technology, and those rely on everyone being on them. Sure, there’s a business in enterprise phone systems — but in the end, everyone wants to be on the real phone system.

In the end, for me the answer comes down to the fact that over the longer haul, the consumer tail wags the enterprise dog in some ways. No companies want Gmail, and in fact many ban it, but everyone uses it anyway for the convenience and because it’s where their non-work lives reside. If there’s a common consumer standard out there, enterprise is often obliged to adapt to it, rather than the other way around. Granted, given the slow pace at which enterprises move, it can take a long time, and there’s money to be made in the interim… so sure, enterprise is a viable strategy.
Right now, there is no common consumer standard at all — in fact, I have made the case before that it is actually premature for the market to move towards interoperability standards; we’re in the midst of a ferment of invention that could be short-circuited by overly aggressive convergence on a standard. But when it does happen, I am pretty sure that it’ll be arising from the consumer space and not the enterprise space. Enterprise solutions are driven by opposite needs:

* Walled gardens.
* High levels of privacy and security.
* Heavily customizable software that can be tailored to specific and generally non-replicable solutions.

So why the move away from consumers? Well, because monetization has been demonstrated quite effectively in entertainment worlds, but not to the same degree in “social” virtual worlds. Lots of eyeballs hitting, but not necessarily paying — or perhaps not paying enough to equal the sort of burn or investment that the worlds have seen. This was part of the reason, I suspect, that There.com split in two and originally ditched the consumer service — and of course, today Makena (the other half that stuck with the consumer service) spends a lot of their time on… middleware. But in the end, consumers are where the scalable revenue lies. It is arguable whether even something like World of Warcraft is truly “mass market” yet — it’s got enough North American users to be in the same ballpark as something like Gossip Girl, but Gossip Girl is itself a heavily targeted niche show — just a very lucrative niche. So we’re simply not yet at the place where the mass market consumer is jumping on even the entertainment worlds. But we’re getting there at a rapid clip. And the possibilities are exciting and unpredictable, whereas to me, anyway, enterprise is kinda boring. :)

So, no, the dream isn’t dead. Consumer virtual worlds are still coming on strong, despite the focus on enterprise lately. It may be that part of the reason why these slightly older worlds and platforms are having to shift is that they are simply the wrong design for the consumer space, and the future belongs to stuff that looks more like Lively, Whirled, SmallWorlds, Vivaty, and yes, Metaplace. I sure hope so, because the very different architecture choices made there can grow back to the big immersive experiences, but I am unsure that the big architectures can shrink down to the smaller needs of the ordinary person.

Did you know Runescape is now serious business?

PG had heard about this but never got around to blogging about it; http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y07/m10/i24/s04 Maker of RuneScape Hires CEO of PayPal Europe

Jagex announced it has hired the former CEO of PayPal Europe Ltd. Geoff Iddison has extensive experience in leading international ecommerce-based businesses and replaces Constant Tedder, who will remain on the board of Directors. Iddison held the position of CEO of eBay-owned payments business PayPal Europe Ltd from August 2003, having originally led the first expansion of PayPal from its base in California. Geoff had joined eBay in 2000 from Christies Inc. where he held the role of COO.
Iddison said, "I am very excited about joining Jagex. The company has built an amazing international playing community through the RuneScape game. The technology used to distribute the game and the incredible depth offered to anyone playing RuneScape makes Jagex a very different gaming company." RuneScape has over 6 million regular players worldwide. The browser-based game has attracted popularity across the globe with strong subscriber communities in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Scandinavia. In addition, Jagex recently launched a new German-language of RuneScape, "packed with the same number of features that have made the English-language version so widely popular."

Best Virtual World CEO's

#1. Lane Merrifield - Disney Interactive Group / Club Penguin

#2. Howard Ganz - Ganz Interactive / Webkinz








#3. Geoff Iddison - Jagex / Runescape




#4. Jean-Bernard Levy Vivendi / World of Warcraft



#5. Ghislaine Le Rhun Gautier Goa Games

Maybe Old News Is Bad News For Apaja's Playray

PG always checks vw, mmo and social networking sites news categories. If its current, that's a good thing. If its dated, perhaps the property is tanking? Look at the latest news release from Apaja Online Entertainment about Playray for example. It is dated from July 08, 7 months ago http://www.apaja.com/press/ Are they just lazy with PR? Do they have nothing good to report? Is this a sign the property is about to expire? Stay tuned... Dear readers, keep your news current!

PG PS These guys and gals at Apaja and Playray used to be hot. Well, at least their Former CEO was. Let's see if this online Goddess and new mom http://paymentguy.blogspot.com/2008_04_13_archive.html can bring this promising and innovative property back to life when she gets back behind the CEO desk.