Open Web Asia ‘08 Conference in Korea

Thanks to Mobinode just came across a new conference coming up in October in Korea. Looks like an interesting program with a few friends appearing - Andreas and Loic - I wish them all luck!

The details:

Today, we are very happy to officially announce that Open Web Asia Conference ‘08, the first pan-Asia web technology event bringing together executives, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists from throughout Asia, will be held at 14th Oct 2008 in Seoul, Korea in association with the 9th World Knowledge Forum.

The one day conference will be divided into four sessions focusing on the following key areas: Insights and Best Practices, Innovations in Asia; Collaboration - An Introduction to Asia’s Social Web and East Meets West - The challenges of Internationalization To and From Asia. Some of the most experienced and knowledgeable people from the Asian Internet industry and a selection of business leaders and thinkers from outside the region will be there to share the insight of Asia web industry. The confirmed speakers include:

Kevin Day (CEO, Comsenz) (China)
Arthur Chang (VP of Global Sales, Alibaba) (China)
Yongjoon Hyoung (CEO of StoryBlender & Founder of Cyworld) (Korea)
Yongseok Jang (Senior Director, eBay Asia Pacific) (Korea)
Yozo Kaneko (Director and COO of ngi group, inc.) (Japan)
James W. Kim (CEO of Yahoo!’s Korea Region) (Korea)
Jimmy Kim (Executive Vice President, Nexon Corp.) (Korea)
Loic Le Meur (CEO, Seesmic) (USA)
Ram Lee (Head of Communities, NHN Corporation (Naver)) (Korea)
Kent Lindström (Senior Vice President, Corporate Development, Friendster) (USA)
Shusaku Maruko (General Manager, Corporate Strategy Department, Felica) (Japan)
Jean K. Min (Communications Director, Ohmynews) (Korea)
Akio Tanaka (Partner, Infinity Ventures) (Japan)
Bill Wang (VP of Overseas Business, Perfect World) (China)
Andreas Weigend (Consultant & Lecturer; Former Chief Scientist of Amazon) (USA)
Kwan Yoon (Partner, Bluerun Ventures) (USA)

The official web site has been set up on OpenWebAsia.com, and the latest news will be published on the conference blog. So please do check your schedule and come to meet the Asia web (see the Registration page). If your company and organization is interested in sponsoring or contributing to this event, please check the Sponsor page or just ping me. We are open to any suggestion and ideas.

Why Japan and Korea Dominate in Mobile TV

Government incentives in Japan and Korea boost mobile TV penetration, but also distort the market, according an article in the latest issue of The Asia Media Journal.

Japan: Regulation decreeing that broadcasts to mobile must be the same as those on TV, a measure that helped keep rival services from telcos at bay, was just lifted two months ago. A quirk in the Japanese law stops people recording programs on their home but allows them to do so on their mobile phones. While broadcasters transmit their channels live, many people are watching TV on their mobiles in a non-linear way.

Korea: Broadcasters offering free mobile TV services are governed by the same rules restricting advertising on free-to-air TV, leaving little scope to develop an advertising medium in its infancy. Advertising revenues on free mobile TV are tiny – just 0.38% of TV advertising overall as of December last year according to Korean TV sales house Kobaco – leaving little money to invest in areas such as original content that might extend the medium’s appeal.

Content Helps: One key driver for new media platforms is exclusive content that people can’t get anywhere else, one of the reason why video sites have become so popular online. Companies are looking at bespoke content for mobile TV too – Korea’s TU Media for example commissioned its own comic action movie, Once Upon A Time in Korea, to help energize flagging subscriptions. Such initiatives remain the exception rather than the norm. Creating bespoke content costs money, and with little proof people would be willing to pay for it and currently limited advertising prospects, few companies are taking a punt.

- Above from The Asia Media Journal