the consumer localization decision daniel goldschmidt

The Consumer Localization Decision

Daniel Goldschmidt

Daniel Goldschmidt

Daniel Goldschmidt

Riddle

Let’s start with a riddle

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Google mission statement:

Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful.

Source: http://www.google.com/corporate/

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Microsoft mission statement:

Enabling people and businesses around the world to realize their full potential.

Source: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/exec/steve/2005/02-16cera.mspx

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Sun mission Statement:

To create the technologies and fuel the communities that power the Participation Age

Source: http://www.sun.com/aboutsun/investor/faq/index.jsp

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Riddle:

What is the core business of Google?What is the core business of Microsoft?What is the core business of Sun?

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(Sad) Answer

Making money (actually, lots of it)

Sad but true.These are publically held companies with clear

objectives and goals

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Conclusion #1

Money is important

Better phrasing:Money is the only thing that really counts

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Why localize? Why companies localize their products?

$ $ $Wrong answer

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Internet usage by percentage of each country's population

Source: Wikipedia, of course

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Internet Users Distribution

World RegionsPopulation 2008) Est)

Internet Usage,Latest Data

% PenetrationUsage% of World

Africa955,206,34851,065,6305.3 %3.5 %

Asia3,776,181,949578,538,25715.3 %39.5 %

Europe800,401,065384,633,76548.1 %26.3 %

Middle East197,090,44341,939,20021.3 %2.9 %

North America337,167,248248,241,96973.6 %17.0 %

Latin America/Caribbean576,091,673139,009,20924.1 %9.5 %

Oceania / Australia33,981,56220,204,33159.5 %1.4 %

WORLD TOTAL6,676,120,2881,463,632,36121.9 %100.0 %

Source: http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm

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Why localize? Why companies localize their products?

€Much better answer

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Why localize? Why companies localize their products?

€ £ ¥ ₤ ₧ ₦ ฿₨ ₩ ₪ ₫

Even a better answer

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Conclusion #2

The biggest income potential is outside ofNorth America

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Internet User Distribution:

“We picked the 40 languages read by over 98% of Internet users “

Source: Google official blog (http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/hitting-40-languages.html )

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Conclusion #3

If you are not an Internet user, you are doomed. Nobody cares about you.

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The long tail

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The long tail

The long tail changes its shape during time

More and more Internet users are outsideNorth America and Western Europe

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The long tail

Google Search Page is translated into 116 languages (try it!)

Is it really useful?

IMHO, not enough. We are missing indexed content in most of those 116 languages

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Localizing Content

Localizing UI is nice, but far from being enoughContent should be localized too (should we call it “Culturized?”)

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The Incentive

More localized content = More usersMore localized content = More content to be indexedMore indexed content = More search, more usersMore Users, more search = More revenue

$€ £ ¥ ฿ ₤ ₧ ₦ ₨ ₩ ₪ ₫

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One Laptop Per Child

It is a great and wonderful initiativehttp://laptop.org/en/index.shtml

(IMHO a cynical way to reach the “next billion users”)

…but is missing content in target locales

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Conclusion #4

Everyone will focus in the future on localizing content

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How to get more localized content?

CrowdsourcingIn the near future we will see more initiative of Crowdsourcing In the near future we will see more platforms to enable Crowdsourcing

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10005605-93.html?hhTest=1

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Why Crowdsourcing Works?

Source:http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/rural/facts/96-001.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow's_hierarchy_of_needs

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Conclusion #5

Individuals will happily contribute to Crowdsourcing localization

The incentive is psychological, not financial

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Summary

• Don’t let anyone to fool you: Money drives the industry

• $ is out, € £ ¥ ฿ ₤ ₧ ₦ ₨ ₩ ₪ is in• Internet users are the celebrities• The focus will be on localizing content• We can count on the crowd to help us

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A much better summary

Enterprises are driven by money

Consumers are not driven by money

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Q/A

?

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Conclusion #6

This is the end of the talk

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The end

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