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Cellular phone?
Nowadays I hardly know what this thing is I carry around … a cell phone??? That’s what most people call them in California – elsewhere – I think it’s a mobile phone in the UK and the German nickname is a “handie”. (Also, BTW as an aside, is it, or is it not, geekie to wear them on your hip??? I know 10 years ago that was bad news. Now it seems more sociably acceptable … and I’m nervous, because that’s where mine is most of the time. Maybe I’ve become an old geek?)
Anyway, I want to tell you a story. Due to my professional career, the Lamvik household has always been pretty high tech. I’ll skip the details but let’s just say we were an early adopter of pumping broadband wireless around the house many years ago. So my youngest son Ryan, when he was about 11 yrs old, associated “wireless” with “cool and high tech”. So we’re at the shopping mall one day and he comes running to get me -- -> “ Dad – you’ve GOT to see this!!!” So I follow him over to a display where if you bought a certain amount of junk – you got a free TV. But, the TV was some 7 inch overstocked old-school clunker with the bunny ears antenna. I was quite puzzled at his excitement until he said: “Look Dad – WIRELESS TV!!!” And that’s when it hit me the perspective of 30 years difference, because to my generation, cable TV was the big breakthrough.
So now we sit here making VOIP calls from our laptop skype, jajah, etc, and I’m getting email and opening .pdf attachments on my “cell phone”. So just like cable TV versus over-the-air TV can change a perspective, also now cell phone versus laptop is an interesting phenomenon. I carry a Blackberry 8820 and among other things, it can connect via WiFi, has GPS capabilities, has a media player, and can open most MS Office attachments. So do I even need two devices? (I can’t even imagine NOT having a laptop!)
So if one happens to be in the Electronic Software Download (ESD) space, what is the best strategy; configure for PCs, or configure for “smart phones”? We think asknet’s answer is the best … do it for BOTH!!!
The mobile handset numbers are staggering. Imagine, first, the installed base of about 900 Million personal computers. And remind yourself, these are mostly in the developed areas of North America, Western and Central Europe, Japan, Australia, etc… Now, versus SCALE and GEOGRAPHY consider a current installed based of handsets of 3.514 BILLION. And consider the geographical implications of this …. 46 handsets are sold per minute in North America – but 94 every minute in Africa and (drum roll) APAC + India = 388 PER MINUTE. As common sense, in developing areas, why not go straight to WIRELESS. (makes sense doesn’t it?)
So back to ESD, we now look straight into the eye of a HUGE OPPORTUNITY. How cool would it be to serve this huge VOLUME MARKET, and also address EMERGING GEOGRAPHIES at the same time. Answer - -> VERY cool.
So asknet, in partnership with an outstanding software publisher, F-Secure, has done it. You absolutely positively have to go directly to F-Secure Online-Shop and check this out. Now that smart phones are connected via high speed like EDGE or WiFi they are equally susceptible to the same type of attacks we worry about with PCs. And F-Secure has incredible platform support for multiple hardware products and mobile operating systems. And when you get ready to buy, the asknet system will allow you to purchase directly from your smart phone. Remember: Your customers are mobile. Sales occur where they are!
I’m rambling long here, but one more thing. It’s not just downloading applications FOR smart phones TO smart phones. In Japan, you do your shopping on the metro ride home. Select the software you want for your PC, and make the purchase from your 3G smart phone. Then (ready for this) the image of the barcode is delivered to your smart phone, and then when you come up from the underground, you walk into your local convenience store and hold your smart phone image above the scanner, then purchase via cash (Yen, in this example). Now you have your license key and get everything set up when you arrive at your apartment.
VERY long blog entry, sorry, but this emerging marketplace is AMAZING in terms of SIZE and GEOGRAPHIC REACH. I hope you buy an F-Secure product and also hope you keep a close eye on the developments in mobile eCommerce or mCommerce:
Best Regards, Bob Lamvik
Caveat Emptor
In the last few weeks I’ve gotten more than one unsolicited emails regarding companies that will help me “sell my products online…” One in particular was from a large company that I won’t name, but their company name is like a huge Brazilian river, and they got their start selling books online out of Seattle. Here is the claim:
What's Included?
Multiple online stores (no additional cost) for $59.99 per month + 7% commission
Credit card processing
Fraud protection
Built in search engine marketing services
…… and much more!
So now they have my attention, because A.) that sounds a lot like what we do at asknet, and B.) those are better rates than we normally offer. This …. I need to check out!
Fortunately, it didn’t take too long for my paranoia to subside. The giant company to the north won’t be putting asknet out of business any time soon, but I thought it would be a good blog subject to discuss some of the big differences, and also a few subtleties because I assume anyone reading an asknet blog is more than likely trying to learn more about the Electronic Software Distribution (ESD) space.
So first, let’s talk about perspective. Why does:
Mercedes McLaren SLR cost $497,750.00 (starting price – ha!) so there are added options? Hmm… I can only wonder about that…
Chevrolet AVEO starts at $10,950.00 (maybe the cost of the tires on the SLR???)
And yet they can transport the same people to the same places via the same roads, etc, etc….. You get the point. So what is an equivalent metaphor in the e-commerce business?
Well, the first BIG one to get out of the way is the difference between “shipping” a physical product (throw a book in a box and then call UPS) versus “shipping” an intangible product (… a bucket of bits) like a software application or multimedia content. Shipping bits takes much more attention in the form of servers, storage, broadband, version control, license key management, intellectual property protection and live customer support in case you get hit by lightning half way through your download and it doesn’t complete. It turns out this $59 service is only for physical products
From there, we then move to the fact these commodity “websites” aren’t even really that, they are actually just “product pages” in which the seller has virtually no control over customization of product pages, ad campaigns, regional pricing, block pricing, or other such shop customization.
Another big topic is in the area of interfaces and reports. As you know, e-commerce is a sales channel that many people use. Some use it exclusively, but others use it as “one of many” to also include a direct employee sales force, telesales, VAR/Distribution channel, etc… But here comes a really important point. Have you ever heard of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002?
Among many other things, it makes “revenue recognition” in software sales (an intangible product) very challenging. Let’s just say “you better be right” – or the consequences are severe:
Article from cfo.com - "You've Got Charges: SEC Sues Ex-AOL Time Warner Execs"
your e-commerce site needs to be tied into your financial and inventory systems very closely, and the sales reporting needs to be very precise and timely, so that when you tally your daily, monthly, and quarterly sales, you know what you’re putting on your “top line” is right. A highly integrated solution is obviously better than an “off the shelf” report for proper revenue recognition.
There is probably 10 or 20 other differences, but at blog school they taught me to keep it short (I didn’t really go to blog school…) If you want to dive deeper into this subject matter, please contact me, our sales team, or keep poking around our website. (sales@asknet.com , 415/352-2610)
PS – I’m not Tarzan trying to say … asknet – GOOD, everything else- BAD. The other site I compared to today would be good for a small business shipping products in a fixed geography. In fact, their “limited time promotion” methodology looks quite nice. So the point is not good vs. bad, I’m trying to show apples vs. oranges.
Thx, Bob
Wonders of Technology
Hello asknet.com blog readers – I was all psyched up to write about the different e-commerce “payment types” today – but I just landed at Frankfurt airport and rodethe Deutsche Bahn “German Train” the Inter City Express (ICE) down to Karlsruhe Germany:
What a marvel of engineering that machine is: 240 km/hr while sipping coffee, getting AC power to my laptop, and surfing via T-Mobile hotspot. WOW…
So it got me thinking about stereotypes. How many of us think that the major centers of technology are MIT, Carnegie Mellon, or Stanford. Trivia contest …. Who knew the SUN in Sun Microsystems stood for “Stanford University Network” = SUN??? Okay – if you ever win final Jeopardy with that – send me $20! And I think some other guys from there started some kind of search engine after Yahoo! – I think it’s called Google or something like that…. Anyway – great school + Tiger Woods, don’t get me started, I went to OregonState!
So, after that major digression - back to the point: when you get off the ICE train at Karlsruhe Station “Bahnhofsvorplatz”, you are greeted with “ Welcome to Europe’s Technology Region”
It’s pretty impressive (and what a beautiful place with VERY nice people!) As an example, Karlsruhe University partnered to create the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology: In fact, a big company in our industry, SAP , does major league R&D in the area.
asknet, while a little known player in the US, was and has been a contributor and beneficiary of all of this high tech thought leadership for 11 years now. In fact, I’ll bet most people in the US think of ASKnet as a word with roots coming from “a question”. BUT for 11 years now, the roots are Academic Software K(C)onsortium – started on the Karlsruhe University Campus! So we’ve been with e-commerce since day 1 – and have the skills and knowledge to prove it!
A view from 10 floors above shaky ground...
Welcome to my asknet blog. My name is Bob Lamvik, and I am President of asknet North America. In this blog, I hope to tell you more about us but more importantly, about industry trends in Electronic Software Distribution (ESD), the digital media marketplace, best practices, and (hopefully) fun stories or entertaining events.
asknet: This company was started in Central Europe and it is well known over there. In North America, our brand is not as strong and we’re working hard on improving that. As an example, you may not know that asknet AG also owns:
This web site is the place to go to buy software inGermany, for all the big name software vendors. In fact, asknet was recently named the “Adobe channel education partner of the year – 2007”! As you can see, there is quite a disparity between asknet profile in Europe versus North America.
Industry Trends: the best way to communicate. I am a “baby boomer” being in the 44 -61 year age bracket. Also well established in the workforce is “Generation X” representing 27 – 43 year olds, and now entering the workforce is “Generation Y” representing 18 – 27 years olds. (ps – if you’re interested in this, more details are here): How to think like an x-y-or-w --the-post-baby-boomer-revolution
As a baby boomer, I still think email is pretty cool. Talk to a Gen Y member, and you’ll quickly find out email is old news. Catch them via SMS, IM, or a post messages on MySpace or write on the wall on Facebook. A blog is simply the latter, posting thoughts and ideas for anyone interested in the topic. It is important for us to have vehicle to communicate in a contemporary fashion. I hope it is well received and interesting.
Electronic Software Distribution: As to ESD, just like various communication media changes with the generations, so do buying patterns. In this digital age, we need a “digital marketplace”, and that is what we create. People from all over the world want to participate in buying and selling via this giant electronic shopping mall. Over the coming months I want to discuss opportunities, risks, and emerging trends in this area. I hope you enjoy it, and if you want a preview of future blog content, take a look at our mousepad!
Bob can be contacted at: bob.lamvik@asknet.com
