The Consumer Localization Decision

Daniel Goldschmidt

Daniel Goldschmidt

Daniel Goldschmidt

Riddle

Let’s start with a riddle

Daniel Goldschmidt

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/

Daniel Goldschmidt

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

Daniel Goldschmidt

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

Daniel Goldschmidt

Riddle:

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

Daniel Goldschmidt

(Sad) Answer

Making money (actually, lots of it)

Sad but true.These are publically held companies with clear

objectives and goals

Daniel Goldschmidt

Conclusion #1

Money is important

Better phrasing:Money is the only thing that really counts

Daniel Goldschmidt

Why localize? Why companies localize their products?

$ $ $Wrong answer

Daniel Goldschmidt

Internet usage by percentage of each country's population

Source: Wikipedia, of course

Daniel Goldschmidt

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

Daniel Goldschmidt

Why localize? Why companies localize their products?

€Much better answer

Daniel Goldschmidt

Why localize? Why companies localize their products?

€ £ ¥ ₤ ₧ ₦ ฿₨ ₩ ₪ ₫

Even a better answer

Daniel Goldschmidt

Conclusion #2

The biggest income potential is outside ofNorth America

Daniel Goldschmidt

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 )

Daniel Goldschmidt

Conclusion #3

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

Daniel Goldschmidt

The long tail

Daniel Goldschmidt

The long tail

The long tail changes its shape during time

More and more Internet users are outsideNorth America and Western Europe

Daniel Goldschmidt

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

Daniel Goldschmidt

Localizing Content

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

Daniel Goldschmidt

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

$€ £ ¥ ฿ ₤ ₧ ₦ ₨ ₩ ₪ ₫

Daniel Goldschmidt

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

Daniel Goldschmidt

Conclusion #4

Everyone will focus in the future on localizing content

Daniel Goldschmidt

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

Daniel Goldschmidt

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

Daniel Goldschmidt

Conclusion #5

Individuals will happily contribute to Crowdsourcing localization

The incentive is psychological, not financial

Daniel Goldschmidt

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

Daniel Goldschmidt

A much better summary

Enterprises are driven by money

Consumers are not driven by money

Daniel Goldschmidt

Q/A

?

Daniel Goldschmidt

Conclusion #6

This is the end of the talk

Daniel Goldschmidt

The end

תודה רבה