FRUUGO Sucks - Already?

From TechCrunch http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/11/05/is-stealth-startup-fruugo-stumbling-right-before-launch-day/

Is Stealth Startup Fruugo Stumbling Right Before Launch Day?
Rumor has it that Finnish social e-commerce startup Fruugo is burning through a heap of cash, both hiring and firing employees at a rapid pace and dealing with some disappointed potential customers. Caveat: the service hasn’t even been launched yet.

Actually, Fruugo seems to have delayed its launch date a number of times already, although at this point they’re likely going for a big push at the upcoming SIME conference, arguably Northern Europe’s largest web event. The company has been in stealth mode to date, and has been signing NDAs with just about anyone they come into contact with. Being secretive and claiming that they will ‘do for online shopping what Google has done for search’ has evidently made Fruugo the talk of the town in Finland’s entrepreneurial community, but it’s still unclear what they’re up to exactly. It’s definitely a serious venture: they’re assumed to be backed by tens of millions of euros, employ a workforce of around 150 people and its board of directors has been joined by people like Nokia’s former CEO (and current Chairman of Shell) Jorma Ollila, and F-Secure Founder/Chairman Risto Siilasmaa. The biggest investors are Washington DC based Queensway Developments and TEKES.
This is what the Fruugo website reveals about the service:

At Fruugo, we’d like to bring retailers and consumers throughout Europe together for a new kind of shopping experience, one where consumers find a better way to shop and retailers find better ways to grow their business. We want to make it easy for consumers to buy the stuff they want, in their own language and using the payment method they prefer – without the hassle of exchange rates, complex shipping costs, taxes, or staying up all night worrying “am I actually going to get my stuff?” We want to help with all that.

Now tech blog ArcticStartups is suggesting something is amiss at Fruugo HQ.

Local serial entrepreneur Taneli Tikka has been adding fuel to the rumors with a blog post last week saying Fruugo is apparently mass-firing up to 33% of their staff and burning around 1 million euros a month, while customers (merchants) are underwhelmed by what they’ve seen so far. That’s a lot of gossip for a startup that has yet to release a public beta of their product.

Here is his take;

In any case it sounds like a really serious venture: to burn up multiple millions and hire up to 150 people before the product even hits the market. Ambitious, certainly. Risky, for sure.

The 33% people laid off sounds very serious for a couple of reasons; the first one on the list being how poor management competence it demonstrates (if it is true at all?). First hiring people rapidly and then firing lots of them a month later doesn't really showcase competent management. The current economic crisis is not and could not have been a surprise to anyone in the industry. Most people have been waiting since about 2005 for things to crash "any minute now". I personally remember being in Thailand in August of 2007 on a scuba diving course (PADI; Nitrox Diver), and discussing this economic stuff with other entrepreneurs vacationing there. Some memorable lines from the conversations were that "people don't realize how serious this is, our firm has been preparing for the crash for about 1,5 years now, and we except the economy to hit the wall within a year". Didn't happen quite that fast, but almost. Not a surprise for anyone; and it should not be for Fruugo either. Managers cannot see the future, but when they have to lay off people they ARE the ones ultimately responsible.

So what's up with that? All I have is the usual gossip and rumor mill, no really concrete stuff here. Does anybody know better?

PG told you so http://paymentguy.blogspot.com/2008/09/is-fruugo-just-talking-crapt.html

http://paymentguy.blogspot.com/2008/09/what-does-fruugo-mean.html

Linden Lab Revises Second Life Price Hike

From Giga-Om; http://gigaom.com/2008/11/05/linden-lab-revises-rebellion-land-price-hike/

A week after Linden Lab said it was raising the cost of buying and maintaining much of the virtual land in Second Life, leading to open revolt among many users, the company has significantly revised its pricing policies. Citing enormous customer feedback, Linden CEO Mark Kingdon laid out the revision today on the company’s blog.

At issue are the fate of so-called “Openspaces,” Second Life regions where wilderness and open ocean predominate. Such regions were designated for “light use” when Linden put them up for sale earlier this year, but that term was somewhat ambiguously defined, and what happened next is a case study in the challenges inherent in managing user-generated content. Many residents began building massive constructions and businesses on their Openspaces, causing unexpected server load. Meanwhile, others kept their land use comparatively light, adding Openspaces to existing property to buy a better view, for example, or to use as extra space for virtual sailing and other activities. No one was happy when the company announced the price hikes, but the light users in particular felt unfairly penalized.

In the revision, Openspace owners who comply with these regions’ original intent will be exempt from the increase, but will have to abide by technical limitations that Linden Lab is now implementing into their world’s server architecture, to insure they’re kept light use. Those who don’t comply will eventually pay the original price hike. So far, the virtual world’s user base seems largely receptive to the change. In an unscientific survey on my Second Life blog, reaction currently runs overwhelmingly positive, with nearly 70 percent describing themselves as satisfied — though much of them, just begrudgingly so.

Linden Lab Axes Second Life Business Development Team

From Valleywag there is a tipsters report that "Second Life maker swings layoff ax":
A tipster reports that Linden Lab, the maker of virtual world Second Life, is laying off its business-development department, which had cultivated ties with software makers. The move affects "9 or 10" employees," he says. A wise move, if tardy: Don't you need to have a business worth developing before hiring someone in business development? http://valleywag.com/5076428/second-life-maker-swings-layoff-ax

According to a statement from CEO Mark Kingdon reported at http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/, 4 employees are being laid off; "Linden Lab is profitable, healthy and growing. We've hired 100 people this year and have open positions we are working to fill," Linden CEO Mark Kingdon said in a statement. "We are also increasing our investment in core strategic initiatives related to platform stability, usability and several new product areas. As we've refocused on these core initiatives, we've had to make some hard decisions about resources and as a result we eliminated four positions out of our headcount of nearly 300. We do eliminate positions from time to time, and of course we have some attrition (in the single digits), though historically less than half the industry average."

PG wonders if Chris Collins aka Logan Linden, Director of Enterprise Business Systems at Linden Lab, and one of the most talented overall Lindens is one of the 4 affected employees.

Or if Chris Mahoney, aka Chris Linden, Sr. Business Development Manager is in the cuts;



There is also Jean Miller, Jean Linden, who carries the title Head of German Business Development at Linden Lab http://www.medientage.de/kongress/referenten/referentendetail.html?id=referentendetail&referent=332&lang=en

Readers please note that PG has no knowledge that any of these 3 Linden employees are part of the terminated group of Linden Lab's business development team. They are mentioned here because they are some of the few Linden's who publicly carry biz dev titles.

Anyway, that said, none of this surpises PG who saw it coming. See what Christian Renaud, formerly Chief Enterpsise Architect said about about his interaction, or lack thereof with Linden Lab when trying to get the Lab's attention and support for his CISCO-in-SL initiatives. It is unbelievable to hear, but when Renaud was planning and launching amazing ground-breaking initiatives for CISCO in Second Life, there was nary the slightest interest or engagement from the "Business Affairs" Lindens. Here is what Renaud told Mitch Wagner at Information Week about his experience;

"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=21060219
What is striking is the Linden that actually managed and ran the department and managed to blow every business dev guy's dream of having 1,000's of Fortune 500, European Enterprise and Asia Pac Business PowerHouses come begging to do business with Linden by not giving them the time of day, VP Ginsu Yoon, seems safe from the cuts, for now at least, as they are at the employee level.
'

So here is PG's advice to newbie Linden Lab Chairman Philip Linden and newbie CEO M Linden;

1. Keep the talented hardworking Linden Business Affairs/Development employees.

2. Lead them, inspire them and give them much needed focus and direction to retake the initiative with the enterprise sector.

3. Can Yoon - the Linden who, in PG's humble opinion at least, is most responsible for the stagnation and erosion of business development in the first place and for blowing a once-in-a-lifetime Golden Goose business opportunity.













Ok. Now it looks like SL will focus on Educators and Governments having lost Businesses. Interestingly, there was also a recent Linden hire aimed at pursuing the Government sector ala Forterra Inc.:

"Not all that long ago, if you wanted a piece of Second Life Linden Lab would be just about the last organization to deal with you. Linden Lab was all about the platform. If you wanted help setting up shop, or a marketing presence, to the Lab you were no different from any other customer. Those days, apparently, are over. Linden Lab has partnered with Rivers Run Red, and is now in the business of marketing and selling solutions. While a jump in new sales and marketing staff (like European Marketing Director, Clare Rees) are now old news, Linden Lab has a new hire from Washington DC.

That's Scott Sechser, former Operations Manager at the White House. That's the one at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW. Sechser is the new Government Accounts Manager at Linden Lab, which involves the care and feeding of government clients, as well as marketing and sales work to land new government customers. It isn't any stretch to assume that Immersive Workspaces 2.0 is going to be the chef's special on that menu. Sechser's career kicked off in 1995 as an intern for US Senator Larry Pressler, then Field Director for the Bob Dole for President campaign the following year. Then a stint at Aspect media, before spending nearly five years as the Operations Manager at the White House. Finally, Sechser worked in Special Projects for the US Department of Health and Human Services before being hired by Linden Lab last month. All in all, we've seen a profound psychological and philosophical shift at Linden Lab this year, essentially not only reversing their overall hands-off policy, but growing a sales, marketing and account management team that may soon exceed the size of the Linden Lab's core development team at this rate.
http://www.massively.com/2008/11/01/linden-lab-sets-sights-on-government/

See related post: http://paymentguy.blogspot.com/2008/09/motley-fool-on-second-life-economy.html

Virtual World Research Needs Your Help

PG's fellow Blogger Karl Kapp NEEDS YOU and will pay you in Lindens!
http://karlkapp.blogspot.com/2008/09/virtual-world-research-needs-your-help.html
"Some colleauges of mine have asked me to forward on this important announcement about Second Life Research. Participate in a study that examines the experiences of individuals collaborating in virtual environments. To participate, you must have a Second Life avatar and account, and access to a Second Life client on a PC. Participation will involve 2 online surveys and completion of a team exercise in Second Life. The 1st survey takes about 10 minutes to complete, the exercise about 30 minutes, and the post-exercise (2nd) survey about 15 minutes. For participating you will receive US$20. In addition, for every 25 teams, prize money will be awarded to the 2 best performing teams with each member receiving US$100. If you desire, payment may be made in Linden dollars (L$),e.g., US$20 is currently worth about L$5200. If you are interested in participating, please go to the link below by September 25th to tell indicate your time preferences for participation in the study:

Yes, count me in for this exciting research.

Investors Pump $148.5 Million Into 12 Virtual Worlds Companies In Q3

http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-investors-pump-1485-million-into-12-virtual-worlds-companies-in-q3/

By Tameka Kee - Wed 15 Oct 2008 04:12 PM PST

While VC firms like Sequoia Capital prep their startups for leaner days, and the WSJ says that marketers are planning to cut back spending on “experimental” ad buys, a group of virtual worlds companies has nearly $150 million to burn. Virtual Worlds Management reports that a dozen virtual worlds-related companies received $148.5 million in funding in Q3, bringing the total amount invested in the space this year to over $493 million. Kid-friendly worlds were definitely a focus, as more than half of the deals (worth more than $36 million) were with companies that had either launched or were set to launch youth-facing properties; but it will be interesting to see if the same level of investment is sustained in the coming months.

-- Notable deals: SF-based Gaia Online picked up $11 million in a third round led by Institutional Venture Partners. All told, the teen hangout has raised over $32 million since 2006. Hollywood Interactive Group snagged $5 million in a first round led by BlueRun Ventures. The company launched MyHollywood.com, a celeb- and entertainment-themed world for women, in June.

Ukash, an electronic payment provider (a la PayPal) picked up a $14.4 million investment from Gold Cash Investments (a subsidiary of Blue Label Telecoms) and DataCash. The U.K.-based company works with a number of virtual worlds, including Habbo Hotel and Stardoll.

-- Biggest deal: MMO and virtual world developer Trion World Network was the biggest winner, picking up $70 million in a third round. The Redwood City, CA.-based company is using the funds to develop a new MMORPG, and Interwoven, a virtual world-TV show hybrid with The Sci Fi Channel, per Virtual Worlds News.

Should Open Virtual Worlds Use the Second Life Currency? L$

The short answer to this is NO. The L$ is uniquely tied to the economy of Second Life and with Linden's limited payment infrastructure, especially lack of alternative payment methods and international payment method reach, the playing field is still open for a "gold standard" virtual currency for 3D worlds. The payment infrastructure (both accepting and exchanging and processing payouts/redeeming payouts from exchange transactions) needs to exist to underpin the virtual currency adoption, use and dispersion. So there is a huge opportunity for any entrepreneur to create an open payment platform to disperse an internationally recognized and cross virtual world/environment redeemable virtual currency unit.

In any event, Ginsu Yoon has blow this opportunity for Linden by repeatedly undermining the substance and nature of the L$ as a viable virtual currency by publicly declaring it a "limited license" for use at the "Second Life product" revocable at will by Linden Lab and other such on the fence spin http://metaversed.com/06-nov-2007/metanomics-reloaded-gene-yoon-aka-ginsu-linden

Anyway, read on for some interesting points in this article from http://www.slentre.com/virtual-world-news-opensim-development-show-me-the-money/ "OpenSim Development: Show Me the Money!" By Sigmund Leominster, News Editor

At this year’s Second Life™ Community Conference (SLCC) in Tampa, Florida, a group of OpenSim developers and Linden Lab® employees ran a session called “Open Software for Open Worlds.” One of the topics that came up was whether the OpenSim environments would be able to use Linden™ dollars. From a financial perspective, Second Life business owners wanting to set up in alternative environments would benefit from having one currency. In the same way that Europe now has the Euro as an across-the-board exchange medium, so some sort of common monetary unit across virtual environments would be valuable. In the recent article The 4C’s of 3D’s, one of the suggested key factors for success in a virtual world is the ability to handle Commerce, which in turn requires a unit of currency. Second Life resident and businessman, IntLibber Brautigan, described money as Second Life’s “killer app,” the fundamental substrate on which a business can not only be built but thrive. On the Linden Lab side, Rob Lanphier, the “Open Source Busybody,” said that he was unsure at this stage how porting the Linden into OpenSim worlds could be done. According to Lanphier, “We’re not going to pretend we know how to export that in a way that protects Second Life’s economy. I can’t project a timeline.”

This is something of a step back from comments made in a Reuter’s article in July by Linden VP Joe Miller:

“I could see Linden offering economic services, trading services, search services,” Miller said. Some OpenSim worlds may respect Second Life’s intellectual property protections and commerce functions. The Linden Dollar, with a years-long reputation of solid financial backing, may be positioned to become the gold standard of virtual currencies. (Reuters).

Knowing that the number of virtual environments is likely to get larger, it would be prudent for LL™ to take on the role of “international banker” and become more involved in providing a virtual banking system based on the Linden dollar. Experience in the real world suggests that there is a tendency for monetary systems to converge, not diverge, and the costs involved with having multiple currencies and concomitant exchange rates would have businesses wringing their hands. But over on the OpenSim developer’s side, Adam Frisby said that he didn’t see money as being an essential in the early stages of a sim. “Money doesn’t belong in the core [OpenSim] product build.” Frisby is also the Director of Research for DeepThink Labs, a company that provides customized services to virtual worlds. For private sims that are simply an extension of a real-world company, used for conferencing, testing, development and so forth, there is unlikely to be any need for a monetary exchange system. But in the world of public sims, attention to the needs of in-world commerce in terms of a domestic currency may be critical. Waiting, as Frisby suggested, to “ask again in six or nine months” may be de-motivating for current owners of virtual businesses. What they want to do is expand into new worlds and start making a return on investment as quickly as possible: If there is no means of realizing a ROI, why would they bother?

Want a Job? Roblox is Hiring!

WANTED: Director of Online Ad Sales – Fast Growing Virtual World and 3D Game – VC Bac
ROBLOX is a fast growing online virtual world and building game for kids – think “Second Life meets building blocks”. We have established a compelling market presence and a clear advertising demographic. We are looking for a motivated, hands-on individual to lead our direct and network advertising sales campaigns. We prefer experience with kid friendly companies (cereal, toys, video games, etc.), but a compelling track record in online sales counts more.

The ROBLOX user base is expanding at an explosive rate: in a recent week, over 2.9 million games were played, 5.5 million building blocks were used, and 1.5 million Robux (our in game currency) were exchanged. Our users are also passionate, playing over 5 hours per week, on average. Check us out on YouTube – search on “ROBLOX”.

You will be responsible for forging new advertising partnerships with national brands, maintaining existing relationships, developing pitch presentations, updating sales forecasts, and maintaining a sales pipeline. You will be expected to consistently hit and exceed revenue goals, and will be compensated through a mix of salary, commission, and stock.

If you fit the bill, and are interested in joining a growing, efficient, and highly focused startup in the gaming market, we want to meet you.

REQUIREMENTS
*BS or MBA in Marketing, Advertising, Communications, or equivalent education or experience
* 5+ years experience in an online-sales advertising leadership role
* Experience identifying and closing new advertising opportunities
* Knowledge and interest in children’s games, toys, and products
* Demonstrated ability to implement and lead an organized, effective sales process
* Drive, passion, and the ability to execute and deliver
* Proven track record of success developing long-term strategic relationships

ABOUT ROBLOX
* We are a startup company in Redwood City – and we have done this before
* We are funded by a leading venture capital firm and professional angel investors
* Our environment is dynamic – we release a new build every two weeks
* We are passionate about quality in everything we do
* We offer competitive benefits, commission, and stock options
* For more info, read our news and forum sections at www.roblox.com

Please visit Roblox Jobs 2.0 to submit a resume or learn more about a career at ROBLOX. http://affiliate-marketing-forums.5staraffiliateprograms.com/affiliate-manager-jobs-internet-marketing-jobs/13974-wanted-director-online-ad-sales-fast-growing-virtual-world-3d-game-vc-bac.html

Wizard101 Innovates in Payment Method Selection

This is very smart! From Massively; http://www.massively.com/2008/11/03/wizard101-lets-players-choose-their-payment-method/

Wizard101 lets players choose their payment method by Shawn Schuster Nov 3rd 2008 at 4:00PMness models, MMO industry, Free-to-play, Kids, Wizard101

In an innovative move by KingsIsle Entertainment, Wizard101 has just announced their new payment plan which promises to cater to a larger audience. This new plan will let players decide for themselves which game payment plan suits them best. As described in a recent press release:

* At the basic level, Wizard101 is free-to-play for as long as players choose.
* Subscriptions provide advanced gameplay access for a monthly fee. Prices start at $6.95 per account per month for multiple accounts on the family plan, or $9.95 per month for the regular subscription. All items will be available to subscribers via in-game gold or item drops.
* The micropayment system now allows individual streets or "zones" to be unlocked for as little as $1.00. Players purchase packages of in-game currency called Crowns to buy zones or items in the game. A volume discount is available based on the number of Crowns purchased.

PayByCash Ultimate Game Card Goes North

Ultimate Game Card™ Now Available in Canadian Stores

Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, Tuesday, November 04, 2008 -- (Business Wire India)
Ultimate Game Card™, the prepaid gift card accepted by more than 200 online multiplayer games, is now available in western Canada at 294 Mac’s Convenience Stores, Inc. By the holiday season, 580 of Mac’s eastern stores will also stock Ultimate Game Card. While there are many prepaid cards targeted to multiplayer games, Ultimate Game Card is the only card accepted by more than 200 games and sold in more than 18,000 major retail stores in Canada and the U.S.

Developed and supported by PayByCash®, a subsidiary of PlaySpan, Inc., these pre-paid cards are available at Mac’s in a $20 denomination. They are redeemable at more than 200 online multiplayer game supported by PayByCash. Ultimate Game Card allows customers to make fast payments for online entertainment without submitting financial information.

Kevin Higgins, president of PayByCash commented, “Ultimate Game Card usage continues to grow. Retailer demand is high, allowing game publishers to accept Ultimate Game Card payments at a cost that is lower than if they distributed their own card by themselves or through a third party. It’s as instant as a credit card, accessible all across the United States and Canada, and easy to use for game players of all ages.

“With the Ultimate Game Card having such dense distribution throughout North America, single-publisher game cards are an evolutionary dead end. They don’t make sense for publishers and certainly make things harder for those buying gifts for gamers. With an industry-wide card, givers don’t have to worry about which game their favorite gamer will be playing in a month or two. With the Ultimate Game Card, gift givers can be confident their gift will be a great one.”

Higgins continued, “With the help of our distributor, InComm, our Canadian customers now have access to the fasted growing game card in North America. Canadian gamers can now pay for their online games in the time it takes to run to the convenience store.”
http://www.businesswireindia.com/PressRelease.asp?b2mid=17417

Clickandbuy Payment Problems Increase at MMO Cabal Online

From "Some problems at Click and Buy" http://forum.cabalonline.com/showthread.php?t=78521
Hello peeps
I have noticed myself that there is an increase in tickets with problems at Click and Buy. Anyone asking questions about this should be given the following advice:

I have to look through all the tickets to see what the problems are then I will get onto Click and Buy about them.
When you write a ticket please remember to include:
1. Your game account id
2. The payment system you have a query on.
3. Your Click and Buy (or other system) account username and number.
4. The date of your transaction
5. The amount of your transaction in € and Cabal cash.
6. A receipt or confirmation of your purchase if you have one.
7. Details of any error message that you might have encountered.
If you include all these details in your first message your tickets will be processed much more quickly. And PLEASE just send ONE ticket for any one problem as it takes precious time gathering them into one ticket to process. And please send your ticket to just ONE section. Sending a clutch of tickets for one problem to every section doesn't help anyone. Thank you, I'll let you know as soon as I can give you any news.

Virtual world payment trends 2008 - Post 3 (Building a Mobile Payment Network)

Continuing PG's extremely popular look at the top 10 payment trends so far in 2008, we dive into that most promising, confusing, baffling, yet essential payment method of all - mobile payments. This payment method is PG's 08 trend 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"

Everyone and their mother knows you absolute gotta make money from all those 100's of millions of mobiles, otherwise known as cellphones in the USA. So PG will cut to the chase, spare the Juniper analysis http://paymentguy.blogspot.com/2008/09/juniper-research-total-mobile-payments.html and Gartner dredge on the emerging mobile payment industry and tell yo uthe bottom line step by step guide to start building. launching and deploying a money-making mobile payment network;

Step 1 - Deploy Onebip

Marko Maras and his team at Onebip are doing amazing things making it easy for merchants like virtual world operators, mmo's ... to quickly deploy, scale and manage an international payment infrastructure. Onebip is simply the fastest, easiest, most economical and thus best way PG knows to start offering mobile payments. So here is a tip to PG's dear readers, get Onebip! You can check out their demo at https://www.onebip.com/consumer/uk/?page=366
This gives a good overview of their mobile billing system. They are very different from companies such as mBlox, IPX, Netsize… which sell connectivity. Onebip is a consumer oriented mobile payment service that narrows the gap between mobile billing and credit card processing. The benefits of this approach are; a. for consumers https://www.onebip.com/consumer/it/?page=513
b. for merchants https://www.onebip.com/merchant/?page=187
Onebip security guarantees the highest billing rate in the market with the lowest charge back. Their customers include: Ijji, Aeriagames, Habbo Hotel, Gameforge, Bigpoint, Travian, Roliana…. So if you want to start making mobile money, contact Marko at Onebip!
Marko Maras
V.le Monte Nero, 84
20135 Milan Italy
Phone: +39 02 5410 2771
Fax: +39 02 5412 4323
Mobile: +39 339 455 4544
www.onebip.com
Email: marko.maras@onebip.com

Step 2: Deploy a good local partner in your core market like a MyThumb in Canada

an Air2Web in USA, etc... PG can help you if you need recommendations on country or region specific mobile payment partners.

Step 3: Deploy a global mobile connectivity partner that offers billing services in multiple countries. The better providers in PG's experience include;

a. Ericsson IPX - excellent people, excellent service, excellent technology

and backed by SonyEricsson unlike the other start-up and small cap SMS billing companies. And their Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish and other sales girls are hot!

















b. Cyclelogic - best connectivity pan Latin America with CEO Miguel Ordonez a great guy to work with and truly one of the most knowledgeable experts in the mobile payment industry and knows the Latin American / Hispanic internet business landscape inside out;

c. Verisign - smart aquisitions like the MQube http://www.mobile-tech-today.com/story.xhtml?story_id=42219 and 3United deal give them excellent international connectivity and emerging market know-how (http://news.cnet.com/VeriSign-buys-3united-Mobile-Solutions/2100-1033_3-6038979.html
)

Some other companies in this space worth mentioning are;

Mobillion - do not expect these Dutch cheapskates to even buy you lunch after closing a 10+ country connectivity deal but they have low rates and know what they are doing;

b. Netsize - if you can stand the French C'est la vie approach, they could be a good value-adding partner for you and Stan Chesnais the CEO and Founder is a cool and smart guy.













So that is that on building a global mobile payment network. Contact PG is you are confused and he will solve all your mobile payment worries.

See related posts on 08 virtual world payment trends here:

http://paymentguy.blogspot.com/2008/09/virtual-world-payment-trends-2008-post.html

http://paymentguy.blogspot.com/2008/09/virtual-world-payment-trends-2008.html

So what do the 200 Linden Devs do?

Linden Lab Hires Big Spaceship to Improve "First Hour Experiences"

Linden Lab announced today that it had hired the interactive design agency Big Spaceship "to dramatically simplify the sign-up stage, ease users’ introduction into Second Life, and quickly connect people to relevant content and experiences in Second Life." The challenge of bringing new users into Second Life has been observed for some time, and when CEO Mark Kingdon first announced the addition of third-party support, he noted that a project to redesign the "first hour experience" began shortly after he took over. The focus of the project will be on Second Life's registration through the Web and virtual world Viewer and users' initial experience in-world. Big Spaceship will not, though, be officially creating content inside of Second Life.

"Big Spaceship will be working with internal teams at Linden Lab to research, design, prototype and test web sites and user interfaces that dramatically lower the learning curve for experiencing Second Life," explains the Linden blog. "Big Spaceship will employ a user-centered design methodology to develop innovative solutions for streamlining the complexity of Second Life without limiting the freedom and expressiveness that makes Second Life so powerful for so many people."

ClickandBuy Targeted By Fraudsters - Steer Clear

$1 charges from blizzard entertainments world of warcraft and clickandbuy.com



Are you seeing charge attempts on your credit card statement from blizzard ent*wow sub and clickandbuy.com (London based online payment provider)? We just recently had these show up on one of our business credit cards, and after online access to our account was denied we called in and our credit card company informed us that they suspected these were unauthorized charges. In particular, due to the small amount ($1), they appear to be charge attempts - that is, if the $1 charge had gone through, the perpetrator would then proceed to charge larger amounts, knowing that they could successfully charge the card.
How does credit card fraud happen?

There's a number of ways credit card fraud can occur, not the least of which is identity theft, where someone gets a hold of the right combination of personal information necessary to pose as you. Personal information subject to identity theft and fraud includes your name, address, phone number, bank and credit card numbers, social security number, etc. However, in this case we feel the charges were executed by random number generators. You'll notice that not all charging systems are secure - they don't all check for the same information - ie. name, number, expiration date, and security code. If any one of these items is missing, the transaction's level of security decreases significantly.
Credit card number generating software

In this event, and in other reported events we've come across since researching this issue, it appears that all that is necessary in some instances is correctly guessing your credit card number. The blizzard ent*wow sub appears to be from Blizzard Entertainment, developer of the popular World of Warcraft computer game franchise. In the online version of the game, customers are able to purchase subscriptions. The clickandbuy.com could be attached to any vendor that uses Click and Buy's online payment system. These include but are not limited to Apple iTunes, Skype, msn, T-Online, Electronic Arts, Meetic, Playboy, SanDisk, Yamaha, UNICEF and more.
Does your credit card company have fraud prevention measures in place?

If you are visiting this page because you have charges similar to these on your statement that you don't recognize, call your credit card company and put a hold on your card immediately, if you or they have not already done so, and have them send you a new card. In our case our credit card company recognized the clickandbuy.com charge as potential fraud (but not the blizzard one). When our account access was denied, we called in and answered security questions to a fraud prevention agent that was able to answer our questions and help us track down the problem. Fortunately, a hold was placed on our card automatically when the clickandbuy.com charge was attempted, and no further charges were allowed. Unfortunately, not all credit card companies have the same security measures in place. We asked how many of these incidents they receive and they said 5-6 per day. That means these charges are being attempted constantly, and odds are your card will be hit with one sooner or later. Call your company and make sure identity theft and fraud prevention procedures are in place now.
Read Privacy Crisis: Identity Theft to start protecting yourself

There's tons of services out there that offer "identity theft" protection programs for recurring monthly fees. But if you know what you're doing you don't necessarily need all those extra cost services. After all, why should you have to pay more to protect something that should be protected by the company that is in control of your information in the first place? We do recommend, however, that you take the time to download and read Privacy Crisis. It's an ebook (electronic book) that shows you how to prevent identity theft. Click here to check it out now. No recurring fees - once you have the book you'll have good knowledge of how the system works, and you'll feel more comfortable knowing how to keep your identity safe and protected.
http://community.contractwebdevelopment.com/clickandbuy-blizzard-credit-card-fraud

Outspark Launching Pre-Paid Cards at Best Buy Next Week

Outspark announced yesterday that it would be launching its prepaid cards in Best Buy stores across America next week through a partnership with GMG Entertainment. The $25 cards can be redeemed for SparkCash, which in turn is used for virtual goods across Outspark games, in addition to exlusive items, like costumes, for the various games and casual MMOs.

"As the holiday season approaches, we're excited be working with a top retailer like Best Buy," said Outspark CEO and founder Susan Choe. "SparkCash Cards make a perfect gift for family and friends."

UK's Best Online Bank Payment Method - Fast£rPay

PG wants to tip off his loyal readers to what is likely the best online banking payment method currently offered in the UK. Fast£rpay is an alternative billing platform in the United Kingdom for those customers who do not wish to use credit or debit cards. It is awesome in that it allows customers to pay online via all the major British banks http://www.fasterpay.co.uk/banks.php. If you currently have customers in the UK or want paying customers in the UK for your MMO or Virtual World but do not offer FasterPay, you should ASAP. Otherwise, you are losing money! This payment system is that good it is a must have for your international payment method mix. http://www.fasterpay.co.uk/

So that was the bottom line. Here are the details why you need this payment method, why it’s different and why it is safe, secure and easy to use:

- FasterPay takes advantage of the new “Faster Payments Service” which was recently launched by 13 of the largest UK banks (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faster_Payments_Service).

- This allows them to process online bank transfers instantly for the first time in the UK, meaning customers can pay via their usual internet banking portal safely without needing to enter credit / debit card details anywhere.

- They offer merchants a very low fee, per transaction (£0.55) which is DIRT CHEAP when compared with credit card, SMS and telephone billing solutions. Most banks will charge more than this themselves, simply for receiving a Faster Payments transaction on their accounts.

- FasterPay is an excellent, safe alternative to paying online via credit / debit cards, SMS, or IVR.

- This service is especially attractive to MMO's, Virtual World Operators and internet companies outside the UK who do not have bank accounts there and are unable to process such transactions by themselves. But it is also great for domestic UK merchants given the cheap fee structure.

- FasterPay is the only company to offer such a service in the UK and it is similar to the Dutch (iDEAL) that now processes over 2,000,000 transactions per month and is by far the most popular payment method in The Netherlands. This is also similar to Finland's eSOLO service.

PG says get this payment method so you can start getting paid via UK bank transfers today! To drop them a line or give them a call go straight to the top with the MD's contact info:

Paul Fargus, Managing Director
Faster Pay Limited
www.fasterpay.co.uk
E: paul@fasterpay.co.uk
M: +44 (0)7718 600 989
T: +44 (0)1482 214 714
F: +44 (0)7718 219 411
+44 (0)845 224 96 45 (support line)

Yogurtistan in Private Beta

This new Virtual World & Virtual World Marketplace developed in Turkey looks really innovative and cool. Check it out and join the beta! http://www.yogurtistan.com:8080/jsp/Faq.jsp
Frequently Asked Questions

1- What is Yogurtistan?
It is a browser based three dimensional virtual world. Every member of this world selects one avatar for herself/himself and then they can chat, play games or trade goods and services with other members.

2- Chat is fine. How are they ever gonna do trading here?
Yogurtistan is an online marketplace as well. Here you can meet thousands of members and buy and sell virtual/real goods and services. Any citizen can open a shop and start selling services or goods. Yes, you can sell real goods here too.

3- What can one sell or buy here?
This is a multiplayer online world, therefore if you have an idea to sell anything or have something that you make or trade, you can decide to sell here. This is a marketplace that you can meet people and chat with them online.
For example, one can sell consultancy, ideas, photos, designs, virtual dresses, real dresses, animations for avatars, your music, your blog's articles, your time, jeans... Just name it. We do not allow though to sell other people or solicit yourself for any reason. Also it is prohibited to sell anything illegal here.

4- What should I do if I have something to sell?
First you should be a member. And you will select your avatar and home. All up to now is for free. Then you must rent a store for one year. The cost of this is not much, something like 50 YTL (40 USD., 25 euros). You will get “kayme”s in exchange for this money too.

5- Kayme? What is that?
Kayme is the name of the virtual currency in Yogurtistan. All financial activity works with kayme here. You can buy kaymes using your credit card.

6- What if I don't have anything to sell?
That is perfect! You will enjoy the atmosphere, social groups, chat with others, play games with thers, perform window-shopping, shop with your avatar friends, meet in person with other avatars. Or you can stay home and think. Every member of Yogurtistan will get 100 free kaymes. You can buy anything for sale here, change your looks, listen to music etc.

7- What is difference of Yogurtistan from other virtual worlds?
This is the first 3D virtual world designed with Adobe Flash. We are crazy and big about giving people their power back. This will be through real and virtual economic activity and later through community power creation tools that you will create. Very soon you will see more...

8- Who sits behind this?
It is us a small group of creative people with our own intellectual capital and nothing else. We got financial backing from a venture fund called Golden Horn Ventures. No big boss, no global capital, no shady stuff.
© 2008 Yoğurt Bilgisayar Teknolojileri A.Ş. All Rights Reserved

HABBO Hotel is a Glorified Chat Room - Needs VOIP ASAP

Habbo Hotel, a glorified chat client says blogger Tatum. And you know what? PG agrees. Sulake spends so much on "game enhancement" and "new features" which is probably why it has lost money every year since its launch (2000) but hardly any of the HABBO's actually play the games, the virtual item (furni) catalogue is full of 10's of thousands of antiquated stuff that hardly sold while the HABBO's just want to chat it up. HABBO needs VOIP ASAP and it needs to start charging for it as a premium service;

"While Habbo Hotel is not exactly like the MUD’s of Curtis’ description, it does share a few key aspects. There is no ending or winning of Habbo Hotel; it is primarily a glorified chat room. Habbo Hotel does have a graphics, and each person “expresses themselves” through their personalized avatar and room. Each character has a room, which they had add furniture and objects too, by buying Habbo Hotel cards at convenience stores. There are casual games within the Habbo Hotel world, and one can go and play games with another player. But Habbo Hotel is primarily played by young teenagers and often, the social phenomenon I discovered was each room was filled with “Pretty or Not” contests. Avatars who are not pretty enough get kicked out of the room, haha. In my experiences with Habbo Hotel, my female avatar was constantly bombarded by male avatars asking me to be their Habbo Hotel girlfriend. Mnookin describes Habbo Hotel perfectly although he is describing LambdaMoo when he states, “At any given time, hundreds of characters are logged on at once, talking, programming, flirting and fighting; LambdaMOO is a virtual community.” I was surprised by how many kids actually play Habbo Hotel because I find it rather boring. Even though I was reading many hilarious conversations, I prefer Neopets.

Habbo Hotel mirrors MUDs by allowing social structures to be constructed and deconstructed. (Mnookin) Children can be whatever they please on Habbo Hotel, and it seems that it is rewarding to play a female avatar in Habbo. I received a lot of attention just by having a girl avatar. Because Habbo is a children’s MMOG, there are many game moderators watching chat logs and banning anyone who messes around or harasses another player. There are also tons of chat filters within Habbo and in particular, the word, “bobba,” is rampant in Habbo. The filter seems almost pointless because the kids know exactly what “bobba” stands for, and thus, are constantly saying “bobba” in whatever they are discussing. I would not recommend to take the filters out, but they seem pointless nonetheless.

Habbo Hotel did not make me feel as if I was doing anything productive with my time spent there. In contrast, in thirty minutes spent playing Neopets, I can feed and play with my pets, complete a quest, and perhaps make a few 100 np or neopoints. On Habbo, all I could do was play a few games and talk to people because I refuse to pay real dollars for Habbo furniture. Although, I was disenchanted with Habbo Hotel, many players use their Habbo dollars to make beautifully decorated rooms. As Pearce argues, “boundaries between play and production, between work and leisure, and between media consumption and media production are increasingly blurring.” Kids take their Habbo cards and with the money buy furniture, and in some cases, create tasteful rooms. There is an art to arrangement. Many other MMOGs offer a bit more self expression than Habbo, but even Habbo Hotel offers their players a room to design however they please. Like Lucasfilm’s Habitat, “a cyberspace is defined more by the interactions among the actors within it than by a technology with which it is implemented.” Habbo Hotel in comparison to most MMOGs like World of Warcraft or Cities of Heroes, has awful graphics and hardly any gameplay, but still the game flourishes. Habbo Hotel is a chat client with graphics on top, but some people find this place to be a third place for them.

If I was to improve Habbo Hotel, and I believe it much needs improvement, I would start by adding more content. Designing a room and playing some, mostly broken, casual games is not enough to keep me signed on to Habbo to chat. I enjoy pets and taking care of things so perhaps adding a companion to the game. Companions could easily fit the teenager feel of the game and could be used in the "Pretty or Not" contests. Only pretty pet's owners get to stay in the room. Also, I am a fan of casual games, but most of Habbo's were broken. They should take the time to fix their games and add more rewards for playing. I think Habbo needs an in-game economy and money that is not entirely based on real dollars. Neopets does this well with their neopoints and neocash, neocash being real life dollars. Most of the game's content is available with neopoints, and neopoints are gained by playing games and the economy. This makes the game give a much more productive feel which Habbo is in desperate needs of. One could simply play the games within Habbo and earn Habbo dollars which can be spent to improve your avatar or room. That simple change would improve Habbo immensely. Habbo needs more interaction beyond mere chatting about avatars, and this can be easily done by adding more games and content.
~Tatum Clanton, gth760n http://flux.blogs.com/gamedesignandculture/2008/10/habbo-hotel-a-g.html

UKASH EXTENDS SERVICES TO SPAIN - Pilots with HABBO

Deal with Telefonica enables digital cash issues at phone kiosks

Convenience cash voucher provider Ukash has inked a deal with Spanish telecommunications giant Telefónica which will see the digital money outfit's vouchers available 24 hours a day from 70 000 telephone kiosks across the Spain, a burgeoning online and land gambling market. To buy digital cash at the phone kiosks, users follow simple prompts on-screen and deposit coins for the voucher's value. Customers then receive a unique and security-safe 19-digit code via SMS text message, which can be used to buy goods and services online. Social networking site Habbo is already piloting the service and will accept Ukash vouchers from Telefónica kiosks with initial values of Euro 5 and 10, and online gambling operators are expected to use the service as well.

With mobile penetration at 111 percent in Spain, Telefónica has been seeking to add new features to its public phone terminals. The company first upgraded the booths to send SMS to mobiles and e-mails in 2003 and turned them into points of sale for small payments the following year. Juan Utande Ramiro, marketing director, Telefónica Telecomunicaciones Públicas, says: "Kiosks are hugely widespread, present in the great majority of communities, including rural areas. They allow services such as Ukash to conveniently reach audiences which would be almost impossible to reach otherwise." Ukash spokesmen said a joint marketing and outdoor advertising campaign is imminent to promote the new scheme to Habbo users in Spain.

Real Estate Crashes In Second Life, Too: Linden Lab's Bailout Plan

Eric Krangel | October 28, 2008 10:00 AM
Linden Lab's new-ish CEO Mark Kingdon has been fond of telling reporters "there's no credit crunch in Second Life." We'll see about that. Last night Linden announced it was jacking the prices on its "Openspaces" virtual land by two-thirds, from $75 to $125 a month (that's American dollars, not fantasy game-currency).

Linden Lab has an easy-to-understand business model. The company creates and sells "virtual land," which is essentially dedicated CPU time with which Second Life avatars can build space stations, elven villages, whatever. (Think 3D webhosting.) Linden collects a monthly fee on the land it sells, which is the company's revenue. Unlike many other Web 2.0 companies, Linden's fortunes aren't dependent on selling advertising and the company isn't at the mercy of declining ad rates.

But that doesn't mean Linden is doing well. The base of paying customers is declining, prices in the avatar-to-avatar aftermarket for land have bottomed out, and the company has been unable to introduce new land into Second Life for months amidst the glut. And if Linden isn't introducing new land, it isn't growing its bottom line. So the company came up with a new way to make money -- charging its existing customers more.

In the short term, this was probably a smart move by Linden. The company introduced "Openspaces" months ago as budget option with reduced performance, thinking most of its customers would still prefer the more robust experience of being on Second Life's mainland. Many more users went for the cheap low-performance virtual land than expected, so much so the company can't even sell its more expensive product anymore. (That would be the credit crunch. Or the end of a fad.) Second Life's avatars are already screaming and howling over the price spike, but even if a few customers are lost, the company will most likely score a net positive.

That being said, there's only so much blood that can be squeezed from a stone. For Linden Lab to survive, it can't keep raising usage fees, and it can't try to con business users into teleconferencing in Second Life when the product is so poorly suited to enterprise use. In the end, Linden needs to pull off an image overhaul and make Second Life once again a hip place to be, with a growing population and a steady influx of new land-owners (read: paying customers). If Linden can do that, it prospers. If it can't, it's doomed.

Linden Lab Jacks Land Prices - Residents Pissed

The Virtual World Has Its Own Housing Crisis: Second Life Jacks Up Land Rental Fees
By Tameka Kee - Fri 31 Oct 2008 11:15 AM PST

In an attempt to keep its coffers full, Linden Labs is raising the prices of Openspaces, the cheaper parcels of Second Life land. The setup fee for the virtual space will increase by 50 percent from $250 to $375, and the monthly maintenance fees will increase by 66 percent from $75 to $125. Land manager Jack Linden said the increase is needed because too many Second Lifers are setting up apartments or shops on the land—not using it for “open spaces” like the forests or beaches that it was intended for—and the heavy usage is straining Linden Labs’ network and database infrastructure “at a much higher ratio than is reflected in the current pricing.”

Unlike pricier parcels of “Mainland,” and private islands that typically get their own CPU, up to four Openspaces are connected to a given unit at any time (hence the lower maintenance fees). And the lower fees seemingly attracted users who wanted to maintain their virtual existence and be budget-conscious at the same time. SAI’s Eric Krangel says Linden Labs’ announcement is indicative of larger issues facing Second Life: a declining paid user base, an in-world real-estate market that’s bottoming out, and dwindling demand for the pricier Mainland. New CEO Mark Kingdon may well be wondering what he’s got himself into. After all, if people are having a hard time paying their rent in the real world, how quickly (and easily) do you think they’d default on their virtual mortgages? http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-the-virtual-world-has-its-own-housing-crisis-second-life-jacks-up-land/

Second Life uproar over high "taxes"

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

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