Social Networking and Business 101

By Chester Ng, Sales Director (Southeast Asia) 
 
If you are a small business owner, you don't need to spend a lot of time or money to have a presence on the mobile internet. Free social networking tools are making it easy to create 'mobilised' content to attract and interact with consumers. You can also publish updates on your own, without having to depend on an agency or web developer.

Best of all, you'll reach a large market segment that depends on mobile handsets to access the internet.

In today's blog post, I'd like to share some examples with you of how major brands are using social networks. But whether you own a hair salon or a restaurant, work at a local retailer or manufacturer, you can apply these ideas to your own business in ways that will benefit your company's bottom line.

Some Advice for the Makers of White Box Phones (and the rest of us too)

By Michael de Souza, VP Media

Walk into a handset store in the popular shopping mall ITC Roxy Mas in Jakarta or District 1 in Saigon and there's a very good chance you'll find rarely heard of makes being sold alongside the international mass-market brands.  Some phones, though, like the Blueberry and ti-phone, have a familiar ring to them.

These generic 'white-box' phones are selling just about as well – sometimes better – than their big-name competitors and they now offer the same features, and then some, at a cheaper price.

Telecom carriers and brand-name manufacturers are taking a big hit, but if the no-name upstarts are to survive and flourish, they should take a few tips from the likes of the iPhone and Samsung. Otherwise, they'll be knocked off the block by the next company that can slice a penny off the cost of a chip or screen.