8 Asians

What anyone loves to see in a cellular plan is a corporation that deploys rate changes in your favor. So you have to love it when NTT DOCOMO lowers the rates on their monthly data plans. Obviously this action is probably to encourage more users to get on the plans themselves and thus fulfill their margins through volume instead of higher pricing.

Overall, it’s a smart move. Strangely enough, there really isn’t similar moves in the North American markets by the domestic cellular providers. The closest would be the $99 Everything Plans, that actually are capped traffic instead of a pay-as-you-go type solution set.

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With the growth of Internet cafes and online gaming, its actually a surprise that the Chinese government would draw a line in the sand now against anti-societal behavior. But, the latest social policing has constituted in a ban against any games that represent the genre of organized crime.

What’s interesting about this is that the line isn’t drawn against violence, or anti-war efforts as much as mafioso and such games similar to Rockstar’s GTA series. GTA doesn’t have to worry yet, being that it doesn’t dominate the online gaming realm which is the majority of game play in China. In the land of micro-payments and Internet cafes, console gaming and personal PC just doesn’t quite cut it.

World of Warcraft players can breath easier too, since fantasy and horror genres currently are off the ban list. In approximately $2.6 billion industry, the online gaming arena is not only an upcoming arena for growth and business, but its growth rate of 77% over the last year dictates that it actually has a lot more to go before maturity.

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Manga has not only hit the mainstream, but NTT DOCOMO is looking to provide mobile manga in the cellular environment via Manga Mode. French operator Bouygues Telecom S.A. will be providing a special pane-by-pane reader that allows their customers to read translated manga from publisher SHUEISHA Inc. with hits that have taken off in both Europe and North America.

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DOCOMO has introduced audio spatial technology which allows you to hear different sources of sound in your mobile so that virtually, you can hear distinct users in different spaces just as if it were a conversation. This allows the mobile listener to differentiate speakers based on their virtual placement.

Popularity: 6% [?]

ChangYou.com writes MMORPGs, but specifically they wrote the popular, Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils (天龍八部), based on the novel of the same name by one of the most famous Chinese novelists, Jin Yong (金庸).

Well, it seems that out of this year’s IPO starts, Changyou is actually doing fairly well opening the public share price of $19USD and now stabilizing around $25USD. It seems that the parent company Sohu, another Internet favorite, sold half of the shares. Currently, it’s doing fairly well in a weak market although they’re going to need more than Tian Long Ba Bu to actually last out the weak markets. But the opening perhaps was a sign that it isn’t all downhill globally since ADR stocks have not been weathering the storm very well and have fluctuated all over the board in the past six months.

Popularity: 66% [?]

NTT DOCOMO completes purchase of a stake in Tata Teleservices. TTSL is branded as Tata Indicom in India and is part of the Tata Group conglomerate.

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The Tata Nano including tax is only $2500USD. The two cylinder, four seater can go a maximum of 105 kmh and is really suited for city driving. Unfortunately, it will currently only be sold in India with a European launch in 2011.

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China Mobile’s cellular subscribers is now up to 464 million out of the country’s 650 million total.

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In the world of cheap manufacturing, China reigns king. And while their economic growth is an explosion on global front, their pollution has also gotten away from them due to their dependence on coal for power. But this wind play for infrastructure could actually help them in the short and long haul.

If you take the fact that seventy cents to every dollar is borrowed through government owned banks due to the fact that the corporations are also government owned, then you have some self-dealing. But it is also a trust factor that is in play. And with the wind farms sprouting up to take on some of the backlash from the beast of energy consumption, this is given the Chinese more ways than one to look at this technology and to cut costs where they can. Eventually, this will produce great goods at a low price which would in turn increase their profit margins.

It’s not that it’ll save the environment as much as there is a huge green market and it gives another source of energy to delve into and allows them to grow even at a faster pace. Let’s face it, if this Asian country is increasing their electrical take that is equivalent to the take by France every year, there isn’t anything stopping this growth for a while until the country hits a utility critical mass. And there is a lot of room to grow yet.

Photo Credit: (Kiwi Mikex)

Popularity: 50% [?]

In the midst of layoffs and stock market downturns, there are young Asian entrepreneurs breaking out the good stuff displaying that you CAN make it. The several young people featured in the latest issue of Inc.’s Cool College Start-ups proves that you don’t need a good idea as much as you need to target the right market with an idea.

Truthfully, I can’t even understand how Danny Klam is making it with Simply Splendid Donuts; with the current downturn and Krispy Kreme taking a beating, I’m surprised that the doughnut industry is still viable. Then again, he is based in a college town and remembering back in the days, it didn’t matter how bad the food was for you as long as it was cheap and good. But it’s obviously doing well since it’s on track for gross revenue of 1.2 million this year. The website is actually kind of meh, but then again, who really buys doughnuts from a website?

Jessica Mah’s InternshipIN identifies high-quality internships for college students. This market is great due to the fact that most students are looking for job experience; the business model probably lies in the same one that most job engines provide, through the employer. The prospect of gaining experience is definitely enticing although having been on the recruiting end I have to admit that most employers are looking for not only provision of experience but also some tedious grunt work when it comes to interns. I love the straightforward look to this website.

Brian Laoruangroch of Missouri created Green Mobile, recycling cell phones and selling them for profit or donating them to charities. There is a website and they’ve grown out of a kiosk at their local mall into a storefront. With a half million in revenue, it’s not a bad business to be in especially with the current “green” run and many people trying to tighten their purse strings and keep their phones in active order instead of upgrading to a latest and greatest model. Their marketing isn’t bad with a superhero type marketing campaign on the front page, but there is a lot of Flash which prevents a lot of useful SEO from performing with search engines. Wouldn’t be bad if they pushed for sending out small plastic bags that allowed you to send phones in like many manufacturers and vendors currently do.

Times are definitely becoming rough and things aren’t going well for the larger businesses. But if these three youngsters have anything to show, it’s the fact that you can still make it with a good idea and some sweat equity on your own.

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