RIM has just announced that the BlackBerry OS 7.1 update is now available to BlackBerry Bold 9900 users in the Philippines which just started yesterday.
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The details are still sketchy but an insider has tipped us last night that Smart Communications will be launching mobile LTE (3GPP Long Term Evolution) this week with promised speeds of up to 6Mbps per subscriber. N
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About a year ago, I wrote about the state of the internet cafe business in the Philippines and why it’s a seemingly losing battle. A couple of days ago, I mentioned that I started venturing into the Internet Cafe with a friend. I got emails asking why I thought the net cafe is still a viable business and here’s my take.
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This is more like a wish list rather than a prediction for the year 2009 with specific focus on the Philippine tech landscape. Hopefully, we’d be able to see some of the items on the list become a reality before the year ends.
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During the SONA earlier this week, Pres. Arroyo proudly announces that she was able to convince the cellular companies to drop the rate of inter-network SMS down by half — from Php1.00 to Php0.50. What she failed to mention was that this an an orchestrated gimmick.
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An old friend sent me an email about his problems with Globe’ Kababayan SIM card when using it in Singapore. He tried to reach Globe CSR to no avail and requested if I could publish his letter here.
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This was one of the questions asked during the afternoon session of the 2nd day at the iBlog3 — what’s slowing mobile blogging in the Philippines?
Actually, Globe Telecoms (G-Blogs) and Smart Communications (AMBlog) have already entered into mobile blogging years ago. An old friend who works for Smart’s Marketing department approached me 2 years ago asking how much we would sell PinoyBlog for. I told him it wasn’t for sale. He then asked how much (monthly retainer) do we want for it to be re-branded as a Smart property allowing us to retain editorial control while the mobile company gets access to the content. Nonetheless, Connie and I didn’t push thru with the deal as we feel it doesn’t add much value to the service we’re doing. Obviously, Smart and Globe were already looking forward to the time when moblogging will be a hit in the country. Why it did not, I’d like to share a few thoughts.
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J Angelo wrote at the Blog Herald that he’s had a hard time explaining what he does for a living. To most people that he talks to, blogging or problogging isn’t even a career or is still nowhere near a form of livelihood. As for me, I’d always explain it in really simple terms that 99% of the people I talk to can understand — I’m in the Publishing business.
Here’s why:
- Think of me as a one-man newspaper. When I did a talk over at Nestle Philippines, I explained that as a problogger, there’s not much difference between me and say Manila Bulletin (print) or Inquirer.net. We’re all in the publishing business. They may have dedicated writers, editors, photographers, programmers, designers and an Editor-in-Chief. But I also have a writer, editor, photographer, programmer and designer on my blog. Just so happen that I alone do all those stuff and still manage to be the Editor-in-Chief and the Sales Manager as well.
- The business model is simple and has been around for centuries — advertising. Well, online advertising may be fairly new in this part of the region but everyone’s already familiar with traditional advertising. Let’s just say that the internet or new media is a growing platform, although I think the mobile media is way ahead of it in the Philippines. So, if you get a text message from Smart or Globe to download a ringtone or wallpaper, it’s no different from seeing an ad beside a blog entry. I think SMS ads are even worse since you can’t practically control what you get and when you get it. At least in blogs, you can choose not to read them or you can go and get the desensitized RSS version. Reminds me of Manny Pacquiao‘s boxing fights and how many advertisers wanted to have their logo stitched on his pants and jacket. Will that affect Manny’s performance inside the ring?
- The compensation package are almost the same. If bloggers get paid on a per post basis, magazine contributors are also paid the same. As a matter of fact, the going rates for bloggers on a per post basis is as good as a local magazine’s rate (that’s basing from experience with writing for both.) If sites like ReviewMe or PPP suggests what kind of review bloggers can write about a product or service, you’d be surprised that magazines also require an almost similar guideline. At least with ReviewMe, they don’t have the authority to edit your blog post. Your article contributions on a magazine will surely get one.
Ms. Malou Mangahas gave me a book about the media and journalism in the Philippines and I read there that there’s no governing body for media so anyone with money can put up their own newspaper. With blogging, the start-up capitalization in the publishing business has just become close to nil.
So to my fellow grassroot probloggers, when you’re asked what you do next time, just tell them you’re in the publishing business. 
Over at Web Worker Daily, Anne Zelenka writes about 10 New Ways to Make Money Online. Some of the items she mentioned have already been around for sometime while others have become too saturated as well.
I’m now thinking of ways to make money online that’s more relevant to our region (or specifically in the Philippines):
- Buy & Sell items in TipidPC. I look at TipidPC as somewhat like the eBay for the Philippines, even before eBay.ph came into the scene.
- Work as a Proxy Player. Some games require you to play a certain amount of time before you reach a level or number of points. I have been told by a friend that these players (students and office workers alike) would pay other people just to continue their game play (proxy-play) while they’re away. Rates go as low as Php20 per hour and the player also pays for the net cafe rent. Others do it from home too.
- Sell mobile wallpapers and ringtones. The telcos and CPs have already dominated this space but as an individual with talents, time and enough resources, this can be done. Here’s how I would do it. Create all your original mobile wallpapers and ringtones from scratch. Set up a small website to upload screenshots or demos of the products you created. Setup an SMS server on your PC (software costs as low as Php5,000 and all you need is a mobile phone and the cable). Start receiving request for downloads and get paid via Smart Money or Globe G Cash.
- Proxy blogger. I know some network bloggers are doing this. They have too many blogs to write for that they could not maximize their output for a day. So, if they’re being paid $5 per post, they would look for someone else to blog for them and pay them $2 or $3. They reach their daily quota and they still get a cut.
Lots of other niche industries not yet tapped around here.
