Clash of Clans, other games may generate USD7B by 2019

Southeast Asia's mobile gaming revenues are expected to grow six-fold to over USD 7 billion in the next five years thanks to smartphones and high-speed Internet access, an industry report said Tuesday.

Revenues only crossed the $1.0 billion mark in 2014 but are expected to rise at a compounded annual growth rate of 48 percent until 2019, making Southeast Asia the fastest-growing region for the industry, business consultancy Frost & Sullivan said.

The growth is being "driven by the rapid increase of broadband users, usage of smart devices and social media," it said in a press statement.

Southeast Asia's more prosperous economies such as Singapore and Malaysia largely account for the bulk of current mobile gaming revenues, but other countries are quickly expanding, the statement added.

"This is changing quickly, however, as markets like Thailand are now over 50 percent smartphone markets and Indonesia and Vietnam are also rising rapidly," the statement said.

"By 2019, we believe that smartphone usage will become mainstream in the region."

However, one major impediment to the industry's growth in Southeast Asia is the difficulty in making payments online.

"As a region, credit card penetration is extremely low," it said, noting that the credit card penetration rate is less than 10 percent in all countries surveyed excluding Singapore and Malaysia.

"This makes purchasing virtual goods extremely difficult for most gamers in the region," it said.

"Clash of the Clans", made by Finland-based company Supercell, is the favourite mobile game in Southeast Asia, mirroring the global trend, the consultancy said.

But Chinese and Korean games are also popular, the report said.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

10 years later, YouTube is a hit but faces challenges

WASHINGTON - Ten years after its launch, YouTube has become a household name for online video but faces an array of rivals in the market and lingering questions about its business model.

The first video uploaded April 23, 2005 -- an 18-second clip of co-founder Jawed Karim at the San Diego Zoo -- offered little indication the service would become the leader in Internet video and a key part of the Google empire.

A decade later, YouTube has more than one billion users, with localized service in 75 countries and 61 languages.

Some 300 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute, and "every day people watch hundreds of millions of hours on YouTube and generate billions of views," according to the YouTube statistics page.

Google is reserving its 10-year anniversary celebration for May 10, marking the day the site went public, a spokesman told AFP. But analysts and others were talking about the milestone.

"Everyone in the world knows YouTube, even my mom," said Dan Rayburn, analyst at Frost and Sullivan who also writes a blog about streaming media.

YouTube played a key role in the Arab Spring uprisings and other political movements. It has faced bans in some countries, notably for the distribution of a film about Muhammad which offended some Muslims, and has faced criticism for being used to distribute unauthorized copyrighted content.

Seeking a business model

Rayburn said that even though YouTube is immensely popular around the world, it is not clear if it has a real business model.

Google bought YouTube in 2006 for some $1.6 billion in stock -- raising eyebrows about what was then the Internet firm's biggest acquisition -- and now generates considerable revenue, but also has high costs.

"Even today, Google will not say if YouTube is profitable," Rayburn noted. "But 90 percent of analysts say it is not profitable."

Rayburn said that even though YouTube popularized the idea of online video, the videos are mainly "user generated content" that does not attract revenue from users or advertisers.

"To stream premium content like films and television programs, people go to Netflix or Hulu or iTunes," he said.

"YouTube has struggled to find its core business. The vast amount of content on it cannot be monetized."

But a report by Morgan Stanley analyst Benjamin Swinburne earlier this year said YouTube is "a high-growth, valuable asset" for Google with tremendous potential.

The report said YouTube generated some $4.7 billion in revenue in 2014, and that it can do even better by investing in premium content -- such as the paid video channels it recently unveiled and other kinds of subscriptions.

"Given Google's hefty resources, we have been surprised it has not been willing to invest more directly in premium content," the report said.

The research firm Trefis says in a recent report that YouTube represents about three percent of the value of Google but that its importance is growing.

"As the explosive growth in online video ads spending continues, YouTube will be able to leverage its popularity to buoy Google's revenue going forward," Trefis said.

YouTube may be the most recognized name in online video, but it is being challenged on all fronts: Amazon, Hulu and Netflix and Time Warner's HBO for "premium" paid content, and services such as Facebook for free uploads of user videos.

"YouTube has to decide what they want to be," Rayburn told AFP.

"Do they want to be a place where anyone can upload stuff?"

He said Google appears to be happy to leave YouTube as it is, consistent with the philosophy of the California firm.

"I don't think Google wants to monetize all of that," said Rayburn.

"The Google mantra is to help the world and allow anyone to upload anything. They want to keep everything free and open."

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Why companies should secure home-based workers

MANILA -- Seattle-based WatchGuard Technologies recently launched the WatchGuard Firebox T10 Unified Threat Management (UTM) solution for the small office home office (SOHO) environments.

“It’s no secret that attackers go for the weakest link when trying to get into a corporate network, and this is often a home office or small office user. Yet, many organizations continue to rely on little or no security,” said Mike Jude, senior analyst at Frost & Sullivan, in a press statement.

For the company, the introduction of the Firebox T10 is very timely as many employees are opting to work from home at least once a week. The company said the new solution allows network administrators to ensure robust protection of employees who work on sensitive critical intellectual property.

The Firebox T10 has the cloud-based Rapid Deploy capability, which instantly self-configures and begins reporting back to the administrator’s central console by simply plugging in the appliance.

“The ability to leverage the power of a UTM solution, like the Firebox T10, in remote locations and manage them from a single, central console, gives IT a powerful tool for administering and enforcing policy. And, it gives them a clear understanding of what’s happening across their network – sum total,” the company said.

According to a recent global WatchGuard survey of IT professionals, more than 82 percent allow employees to access the corporate network from a small office or home office location.

However, the company said nearly 30 percent don’t require a network security device. For those that do, only 23 percent require users to use security products similar to those used in the corporate headquarters, with features such as intrusion prevention, anti-virus, data loss prevention, application control, anti-spam and more.

WatchGuard also found that 56 percent think basic virtual private network (VPN) access provides the needed protection to SOHOs.

Scott Robertson, WatchGuard’s vice president of Asia Pacific, said there is a need for SOHOs to beef up their network because VPN access does not provide full security.

“VPN access has long been the standard for protecting communications for home-based employees,” said Robertson. “However, if your endpoint device is not protected at the same level as your enterprise network, the VPN tunnel simply provides an open window into your business. You need to protect both, and the Firebox T10 is designed to make that easy and cost effective.”

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com