Related News
Home » Sunday » Technology
Giddy up! Google in race for Asia
By Zhu Shenshen |
00:00 UTC+8 December 16, 2012
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
GOOGLE'S top 10 searches of the year saw "Gangnam Style," the global hit single by South Korean rapper PSY, jockeying for position to be the hottest topic on the search engine.
The tongue-in-cheek take on Seoul wannabes that spawned a horse dance craze came second with 300 million searches, behind those for "Whitney Houston," who died in February.
PSY's showing on Google's Zeitgeist list, released this week - topping other hot trends including "Hurricane Sandy" and "iPad 3" - represents a surge of non English speaking culture on the world's biggest search engine.
To meet this, Google has been developing specific technologies and services for web users in emerging markets who speak different languages.
The global Internet user base will jump to 3 billion from its current 2 billion by 2015, with only a very small part - 15 million - coming from the United States, according to Google.
Instead, many of the next billion web users will come from Asian countries, including from China, India and Thailand.
To attract new users with lower incomes and limited Internet access, Google has developed tools such as Free Zone - free Internet access - and Google Trader, which offers free online listing for small business.
"The Internet has the power to change every life and every business in every emerging market," said Nelson Mattos, Google's vice president of Product and Engineering for Europe and Emerging Markets.
But before Google and other companies can tap into this potential market sizeable obstacles must be overcome that are currently keeping people offline. These include poverty, slow and expensive Internet services and culture gaps and a language barrier, as the Internet is still dominated by English.
Regarding this cultural imbalance, the success of PSY's "Gangham Style" offers a case study on how to break down these barriers.
On its release in July, the rapper hoped his single would be a hit among his Korean fans. But now, PSY is a fully-fledged global phenomenon.
The video, showcasing PSY's distinctive steps, went viral through YouTube - which is owned by Google - across both developed and developing countries. It has been viewed more than 939 million times, making it the most-watched video on YouTube.
"Local communities become stronger and the export of local cultures makes global culture truly global. Nowhere is this more true than video," said Adam Smith, YouTube Asia Pacific president. "YouTube is leading to the creation of new kinds of local cultures and new stars."
Even though some Google services, such as YouTube, are not available on Chinese mainland, the search engine giant is "closely watching the market and is ready to increase investment in China," Smith told Shanghai Daily.
Free Zone - no data charges
More than 70 percent of phones in emerging markets are Internet enabled but only 14 percent of the population is online in these regions, mainly because they cannot afford data plans. For Google's Mattos, Free Zone is a key to unlock the potential for those devices.
Launched last month, it offers users free web access without data charges, if they log on through a Google account and visit Google search, Gmail or Google+.
Nearly every web page from Google's search index is offered without data charges, including phone numbers, song lyrics and sports scores.
Free Zone will help people with very low incomes have more access to information, which can lead to a dramatic rise in incomes and quality of life, according to Mattos.
For example, using Free Zone a peasant in the Philippines can know the real-time and detailed price of his products and knows how to improve production, Mattos said.
The service is currently available in the Philippines and South Africa, and will be rolled out in other countries.
Trader - establish an online presence
After helping people get online, Google encourages them to find relevant local information through its Trader service, which offers small business online listings for free.
A business registers where it is based, what it sells, and through online advertising can reach wider - including foreign - markets.
Trader first launched in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and Uganda, and received good feedback. Now 7 percent of Internet traffic in Ghana comes through Trader.
Google has since launched the service in Thailand and plans to roll it out in other emerging markets.
Maps, YouTube - toward a visual web
Google is looking at more visual ways to reach out to the next billion, because images evoke powerful emotions in users, irrespective of literacy or language barriers. Its visual web products include Maps and YouTube.
In areas where tomorrow's web users will come from, 80 percent of the population doesn't go beyond 10 miles of their birth place, research has found. To mobility and trade, Google aims to organize information visually, using platforms such as Maps to help attract the next one billion.
And as well as South Korean dance crazes, YouTube is also a stage which makes all the world a classroom, according to YouTube's Smith.
Now more than 450 universities, such as Harvard, Stanford, MIT and Cambridge, with channels on YouTube EDU, sharing lectures from top professors.
With these initiatives in place, Google will no doubt feel more confident that many of the predicted one billion new web users will come stampeding in its direction.
Google Zeitgeist 2012
The most popular searching keywords on Google in 2012
1. Whitney Houston (惠特尼·休斯顿)
2. Gangnam Style （江南Style）
3. Hurricane Sandy （飓风桑迪）
4. iPad 3
5. Diablo 3 （暗黑破坏神 3）
6. Kate Middleton （凯特·米德尔顿）
7. Olympics 2012 （2012年奥运会）
8. Amanda Todd （阿曼达·托德）
9. Michael Clarke Duncan （迈克尔·克拉克·邓肯）
10. SOPA （Stop Online Piracy Act，禁止网络盗版法案）
The tongue-in-cheek take on Seoul wannabes that spawned a horse dance craze came second with 300 million searches, behind those for "Whitney Houston," who died in February.
PSY's showing on Google's Zeitgeist list, released this week - topping other hot trends including "Hurricane Sandy" and "iPad 3" - represents a surge of non English speaking culture on the world's biggest search engine.
To meet this, Google has been developing specific technologies and services for web users in emerging markets who speak different languages.
The global Internet user base will jump to 3 billion from its current 2 billion by 2015, with only a very small part - 15 million - coming from the United States, according to Google.
Instead, many of the next billion web users will come from Asian countries, including from China, India and Thailand.
To attract new users with lower incomes and limited Internet access, Google has developed tools such as Free Zone - free Internet access - and Google Trader, which offers free online listing for small business.
"The Internet has the power to change every life and every business in every emerging market," said Nelson Mattos, Google's vice president of Product and Engineering for Europe and Emerging Markets.
But before Google and other companies can tap into this potential market sizeable obstacles must be overcome that are currently keeping people offline. These include poverty, slow and expensive Internet services and culture gaps and a language barrier, as the Internet is still dominated by English.
Regarding this cultural imbalance, the success of PSY's "Gangham Style" offers a case study on how to break down these barriers.
On its release in July, the rapper hoped his single would be a hit among his Korean fans. But now, PSY is a fully-fledged global phenomenon.
The video, showcasing PSY's distinctive steps, went viral through YouTube - which is owned by Google - across both developed and developing countries. It has been viewed more than 939 million times, making it the most-watched video on YouTube.
"Local communities become stronger and the export of local cultures makes global culture truly global. Nowhere is this more true than video," said Adam Smith, YouTube Asia Pacific president. "YouTube is leading to the creation of new kinds of local cultures and new stars."
Even though some Google services, such as YouTube, are not available on Chinese mainland, the search engine giant is "closely watching the market and is ready to increase investment in China," Smith told Shanghai Daily.
Free Zone - no data charges
More than 70 percent of phones in emerging markets are Internet enabled but only 14 percent of the population is online in these regions, mainly because they cannot afford data plans. For Google's Mattos, Free Zone is a key to unlock the potential for those devices.
Launched last month, it offers users free web access without data charges, if they log on through a Google account and visit Google search, Gmail or Google+.
Nearly every web page from Google's search index is offered without data charges, including phone numbers, song lyrics and sports scores.
Free Zone will help people with very low incomes have more access to information, which can lead to a dramatic rise in incomes and quality of life, according to Mattos.
For example, using Free Zone a peasant in the Philippines can know the real-time and detailed price of his products and knows how to improve production, Mattos said.
The service is currently available in the Philippines and South Africa, and will be rolled out in other countries.
Trader - establish an online presence
After helping people get online, Google encourages them to find relevant local information through its Trader service, which offers small business online listings for free.
A business registers where it is based, what it sells, and through online advertising can reach wider - including foreign - markets.
Trader first launched in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and Uganda, and received good feedback. Now 7 percent of Internet traffic in Ghana comes through Trader.
Google has since launched the service in Thailand and plans to roll it out in other emerging markets.
Maps, YouTube - toward a visual web
Google is looking at more visual ways to reach out to the next billion, because images evoke powerful emotions in users, irrespective of literacy or language barriers. Its visual web products include Maps and YouTube.
In areas where tomorrow's web users will come from, 80 percent of the population doesn't go beyond 10 miles of their birth place, research has found. To mobility and trade, Google aims to organize information visually, using platforms such as Maps to help attract the next one billion.
And as well as South Korean dance crazes, YouTube is also a stage which makes all the world a classroom, according to YouTube's Smith.
Now more than 450 universities, such as Harvard, Stanford, MIT and Cambridge, with channels on YouTube EDU, sharing lectures from top professors.
With these initiatives in place, Google will no doubt feel more confident that many of the predicted one billion new web users will come stampeding in its direction.
Google Zeitgeist 2012
The most popular searching keywords on Google in 2012
1. Whitney Houston (惠特尼·休斯顿)
2. Gangnam Style （江南Style）
3. Hurricane Sandy （飓风桑迪）
4. iPad 3
5. Diablo 3 （暗黑破坏神 3）
6. Kate Middleton （凯特·米德尔顿）
7. Olympics 2012 （2012年奥运会）
8. Amanda Todd （阿曼达·托德）
9. Michael Clarke Duncan （迈克尔·克拉克·邓肯）
10. SOPA （Stop Online Piracy Act，禁止网络盗版法案）
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
