Colin Charles Agenda

It has been nearly half a year since I last wrote anything about group buying sites.

I see Darabif everytime I’m in town. It’s the store thats been around Damansara Uptown for quite some time. I came back recently and noticed a blank spot, and Sara & I debated what was there before. Then we remembered, it was Darabif.

She had purchased a group deal for that exact store recently; 349 others bought the deal too. Darabif’s cost? RM2,722.20. Darabif earned after the discount? RM1,221.50 (at a loss of RM1,500.70). But wait, there’s Groupon’s cut which is half of what Darabif was to earn, so Darabif really walked away with RM610.75.

RM610.75 to feed 349 people nasi lemak and teh tarik for breakfast. That’s RM1.75/pax. When they usually walk away with RM7.80/pax. That deal expired June 6 2011. They’ve wound up June 30 2011 (their Facebook fan page suggests the nearest location is now Tropicana City Mall). This is the third Groupon the branch had participated in.

I asked on Twitter if anyone (especially group buying sites) had done studies to see how business fared post-group purchases. No one came back with a response. Google shows many people “studying” this phenomenon in America, with one example being: 5,722 new customers – how can I not love Groupon? However, nothing definitive.

Are you a business that has participated in a group purchase? Did you notice an increase in your customer base after the initial group buying thrill?

After a hiatus of over a year, MyOSS meetups are back! It starts tomorrow, Tuesday July 12 2011 from 7.30pm – 9.30pm and is held at the awesome Mindvalley offices in Menara UOA Bangsar. We’re clearly moving with the times and we have a Facebook event page for MyOSS Meetup 2011.07: node.js co-creator Tom Hughes-Croucher.

We used to have a mailing list (which has really become general@lists.foss.org.my and ossig@lists.mncc.com.my). We’re trying to take the reboot further with Facebook Groups – check out myoss@groups.facebook.com!

My last few weeks have been spent in China, Korea and Japan. I’ve been roaming with my cellphone, with my data connection turned off. The question is for how long?

It’s interesting to note that in both China and Korea, you can roam, with unlimited data for about RM36/day (USD$12). This is common in Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Hong Kong and several other countries that have roaming agreements.

I landed in Korea and the first thing I heard? The familiar sound of Whatsapp. I’m sitting here now in Haneda, and it’s again the familiar sound of Whatsapp.

The way I see it, roaming data is becoming more affordable. It can only get cheaper.

Why is this big? The way Blackberry Messenger (BBM) has disrupted SMS amongst blackberry users is what I see Whatsapp doing as long as you have data.

Applications like Yes Life which gives you a real 018-number, and does SMS and work entirely over data? Brilliant, especially if you plan to send more than 36 SMS messages per day, or even want to entertain phone calls. Imagine forwarding your regular number not to voicemail, but to your 018 number. You pay a flat rate for data, and you enjoy really cheap call rates. Similar deals with pfingo (Singapore), PennyTel (Australia/Malaysia), and so on.

With data, you can also run Skype. That also does cheap calls and SMS messaging. Incoming calls work too via a real number, though there is no option to grab a Malaysian number.

Apps for mapping and navigation on iOS and Android? They will flourish with on-net connections, meaning there is little reason to cache.

Walking around Japan, we had a mifi, with an amazing battery life. Three connections, on-net, 6 hours! And it was close to 20mbps down, on a mifi!

I see lots of roaming companies (Flexiroam, for example) saying they provide foreign SIMs for cheap. I’d rather just always have a data connection, unlimited, for a flat rate anywhere I go. And a configured mifi. Maybe an extra portable battery pack ;)

I’ve been thinking about this in recent times. I like consuming media during ‘dead-time’, which helps me switch off, and feel refreshed when I have to switch back on. I think the way I’m watching stuff is next to no different from how the average Malaysian urbanite is watching stuff…

Lets divide media that I consume into two different categories: television shows (the form of a weekly series) and movies.

TV
I have a subscription to the satellite tv monopoly in Malaysia, ASTRO. I also have HyppTV via Unifi, and most channels on that are free for the first 2 years, since I was an early adopter. in theory, I have access to a lot of television shows as well as movies. I never watch free-to-air tv, despite it being available.

When I have down-time and I’m sitting at home on the couch (my weekend getaway), you can see me watching live sports (the F1 in general), catching up on CSI, NCIS, Bones, etc. I’m not religious in following these tv shows, so I don’t feel bad if I miss an episode (or ten). ASTRO takes care of this for me via Axn, Fox and sometimes Star World. Live sports is something cable is probably always going to give me, despite there being streaming services on the net.

However for shows that I do have a religious following to, say House, Lie to Me, Californication, Mad Men, I don’t catch these shows on cable tv. Why? For one, I enjoy watching these series either as soon as they come out, or back-to-back. Also, I dislike the censorship board mucking with my content (imagine a censored Californication?!?).

So what are my choices? I can wait to buy the DVD series on a per season basis on my trips to the USA. These used to be very easy when the Virgin store was open in San Francisco. When they closed, I moved on to buying things in Borders. Now even they are gone, so I have to pre-order via Amazon (which takes away the whole impulse purchase for me). Alas, this is my preferred solution, as I get to keep the DVD media for years on.

If I want to catch up with a show that all my friends are watching and talking about, it seems like my only option is BitTorrent. BitTorrent allows me to watch shows on my TV, iPad, or my laptop. And it allows me to be current. It’s flexibility.

I’ve tried rentals and purchases on the iTunes store (using my US-based account) and while the process is easier/streamlined, it’s not available in most regions.

Malaysia is commonly known for DVD sellers peddling pirated shows on disc. They cost RM8 a pop, they’re uncensored, and the quality generally varies, however you usually get a good copy. I asked on a little poll on twitter recently, and generally the tech-savvy folk have given up going to the DVD seller. He has been disrupted by the availability of fast bandwidth and BitTorrent.

I like rewarding production houses, so if I download something via BitTorrent, it’s because it’s something I enjoy, so I will buy the original DVDs when I’m in the USA. I very rarely watch these DVDs, so I’m not sure why I buy them, but maybe it’s just a sense of ensuring I’ve paid for the content I’ve pre-screened.

There are stores in Malaysia that sell original DVDs. I don’t go to them because those DVDs have been thru the hands of the censorship board, and I’m not about to pay USD$20-40 for censored content.

Movies
I enjoy the experience of going to a cinema and seeing a show on the big screen. I’ve become a bit of a cinema snob, preferring to only go to GSC Signature cinemas, as I find the rest of the seats generally too cramped. Most times the shows I catch are ok – but sometimes, the censorship board annoys me again. Recently I caught a movie titled ‘Love and other drugs’. It was so horribly censored that it took away meaning from the movie, and I was unhappy at paying for the tickets (despite getting a 1-for-1 deal thanks to CIMB).

I saw the same movie on a Lufthansa plane and it was so much better. I tend to watch a lot of movies on the plane. It’s free, and it’s uncensored. Screen sizes are getting larger, almost matching the size of the iPad in some airlines (this in coach, mind you). And I have my Bose noise canceling headphones, that work a charm.

For classics, BitTorrent seems to be the easy fix. You can’t walk into a store to buy it, and I’m almost certain the DVD peddlers have no interest in carrying such items. For movies that I really like, I automatically add it to my cart in amazon, for the next big pre-purchase.

Since I have ASTRO, I do flip channels to catch some content on HBO, Cinemax, and Star Movies. Now that they are offering some of this content in HD, I don’t mind watching a movie I’ve never seen before and might have good ratings on IMDB. Most of the time, I don’t notice heavy censorship, and when I do and the movie piqued my interest, the methods above are how I might catch it again.

Elsewhere
As you can see, in Malaysia, people are forced into using BitTorrent or visiting their pirated DVD seller.

There is no Netflix service (I used to be a Quickflix subscriber in Australia – loved the service). There is obviously no streaming on-demand service like Netflix offers in the USA. This is something Unifi is trying to do (video on demand) but the content is lacking/unappealing.

Ideally, I’d like to watch a show, uncensored, because there are ratings. Rate it, and then let the grown ups handle it.

Ideally, I’d get tv and movies on demand, via IP (IPTV is the buzzword in Malaysia for 2011 – watch that space). I can be billed at the end of the month for what I watch, and I get to keep the tv series and movies for a limited time in my library. Rather than artificial time limits, maybe a bookshelf approach as to how many items you can have on rent at any one time. And if I like it, I place an order for the DVD all via my tv. And since this is all IP based, I should be able to watch my content on my mobile phone, iPad, laptop, anywhere I am in the world, as long as I have bandwidth to spare. I should also be able to download a rented copy, so I can watch it while I’m in transit (following the same bookshelf rent method) and have no access to the Internet.

Will all this be possible in Malaysia before 2020?

People are always in shock & awe when they find out that DiGi, one of the largest three telcos in Malaysia, had an employee that went out of their way to help me solve a problem in February 2011. So I naturally wrote to their CEO, Henrik Clausen, on Charlie’s can-do attitude. This was sent on 22 February 2011 14:35:10 GMT+08:00. I’m publishing it here so I don’t have to retell the story at bars, meetups, etc.

Dear Henrik,

As I am about to get on the same weekly call that I got disconnected from last week, I figured now is the best time to write a quick can-do note for one of your employees who went out of their way to solve my problem – Charlie Chia.

A little backstory. I’ve been a DiGi customer since March 2009, when MNP was enabled. It seemed time to become an Enterprise customer, so that was what I decided on the 10th or 11th of February 2011. My DiGi assigned provider told me that the numbers that were to be ported in would need new SIM cards but the current DiGi numbers should be fine.

On February 14, he was rather frantic that the DiGi SIMs also needed to be changed, but there was no way he could pass me the SIM cards then. On February 15 at about 4.30pm while I was on a conference call, my line went dead it just said “emergency calls only”. It was a public holiday of some sort, but I work most times when I’m in the country (I’m sure you understand running a business is tough and requires commitment).

I tweeted at about 5pm, thinking nothing of it. The @DiGi_Telco account seemed to also be on vacation. But what happened later was what was most amazing. Twitter user @CharlieChia told me that he will solve this problem for me, and by about 10.15pm or so, he brought the SIM card to me at Royal Oak in Jaya One, where I was wrapping up my second last meeting for the night.

Now that is service. And a total Can-Do for Charlie Chia

On the morning of the 16th February, I received all the other SIM cards for my accounts. All is well. We’re happy DiGI Enterprise customers now

And I am your loyal evangelist, because I cherish good service, and I ensure it is rewarded

Since I last wrote about The 1Malaysia E-mail Project, Tricubes the company pushing it has come up with a FAQ. It has confirmed some of my thoughts and made me wonder even further how some things are going to work. I’m sitting on a plane now, with not much else to do, so why not write further thoughts…

What’s Possible (and some confirmed with the FAQ)

I initially put forward that I see this as more than just an e-mail project, and believe it to be related to being an ID-based project for one to use government services. I also posited that it would have an API similar to Facebook Connect.

With an ID that is tied to your IC number, you’re going to get single sign on (SSO) across all government services. It only makes sense, considering today to file your taxes, you have one login, to do stuff with the road transport department, you have another and so on. This is now confirmed in the FAQ.

And rather than have an email account that you will probably not use, you will see a floating toolbar, like the Google Friend Connect social bar (that ran on this site before, and was later disabled). When you login to perform your online banking (which may connect via the API), you will see these messages.

Let’s go even further. All Malaysians carry an IC, and its called a MyKad. This MyKad has a smart chip (it is essentially a smart card). Why not give out smart card readers to everyone with a 1Malaysia e-mail account, so that you get two-factor authentication automatically? I have seen smart card readers with fingerprint scanners sell for pretty cheap in bulk, so I doubt this is far-fetched as an idea. This is now generally confirmed in the FAQ.

Will citizens become more civic-minded now that they have easy access to contacting the government? If I see a pothole, am I more likely to send an email now? Will it then go into the correct queue in the customer relationship management (CRM) system that the government is running, and will my problem get fixed? Can I file police reports about break-in’s, and other crimes without spending an hour at the police station? This could be a good thing in a way ;)

Above, I did not address things like: terms of service, privacy policy, and even an ethics policy. If your bank had SSO with the same systems that the tax department had, it could do wonders for revenue collection, but at the same time, is not something people would want. Another thing I have not addressed if this whole two-factor authentication with the smart card reader+MyKad working with all operating systems — this is likely Microsoft technology, and Mac OS X and Linux users might be left out (which would be a step back if this happens).

Remember, all this has to happen by 2020, so Tricubes and their partners have a pretty long future ahead of them.

So while these accounts are not compulsory, the key performance indicators are such that every adult above the age of 18 get on this service by 2015, is quite achievable. If you want to deal with the government, you get an account. Plain and simple. And while you may not be paying taxes yet, you will very likely have an EPF account, and that alone is enough to give you this ID.

Just remember, no one is forcing you to use this for your own personal email.

Its called myemail

I’m glad it’s not called 1Malaysia email and you’re not foo@1malaysia.com.my. You really are using the service called myemail, and you are basically foo@myemail.my. That’s not too bad for an address, no?

There is a “What’s myemail” page which is well worth reading (when the site is up). It claims a lot of storage – 25GB for every user. You also get access to Microsoft Office Live as I initially speculated.

Some pickings from the FAQ

It’s a long read, but here are some quick thoughts:

1. “Malaysian Email” means the service is operated and hosted by a Malaysian company. Tricubes is Malaysian, but their partnership with Microsoft means that they’re getting lots of tech from them. Email, ID, possibly the API and more all seem to come from Microsoft, with maybe only the MyKad reader coming from Tricubes. Does this qualify that its operated and hosted by a Malaysian company? Currently its hosted overseas, but will we see data centers here in Malaysia by then?
2. Revenues seem to be generated by eating away the pie of POS Malaysia. I cannot imagine the postal service being too happy about this. But we are moving forward, and will this also mean that scanned receipts and documents are now going to be accepted by the government?
3. More revenues from advertising it seems. I presume this will be very much like how webmail like Gmail works — comb through your contents and habits and show you the most interesting ads.
4. Revenue from creating an online marketplace could be interesting. Today, eBay, Lelong, Mudah and others have no way to say you’re you. eBay has ratings but that doesn’t mean you’re you. Imagine if the API is extended so that your trading ID had a link to your national ID? No more back-out buyers! Again, we come back to security, privacy, ethics though… Elsewhere, imagine social purchasing — your neighbour just installed a water filter
5. On security… entire session works via data encryption, which basically is HTTPS/SSL. The end points, access to the server, etc. by administrators is of course possible, but I’m sure there will be checks and balances here (all large services do). Again, no one said you needed to use this for all communication, and let’s give them a chance to come up with a good policy first.

Concluding thoughts for the moment

No mention of how the API will work. Will they allow any agency or even GLC access to the API. Will they charge for access (this is quite likely)? How much data will be exposed? Will the user get to choose what is exposed (Facebook Apps ask you this today for example — users probably blindly click “accept”, but know there’s a choice available)?

I’d advise Tricubes to start getting into using social media a little more. People are liking their Facebook page just so that they could write hate comments on it. Plenty of social media consultants around who can help rehabilitate their image. Also, skip calling it an “email project” and call it an “ID project”. Or a “single-sign-on with two-factor authentication project”.

I’m still wondering where MyEG fits into all of this. There’s a story waiting there. An acquisition? ;-)