EUROPEAN TECHNOLOGY Tailoring New Products Is Becoming More Complex
May 11, 2011
TECHNOLOGY companies have always tried to ``localize'' their products for different markets around the globe. This was fine when it was just a matter of translating software commands like ``save'' into German. But now that companies such as Vastsoft Corp. are becoming global media players with their own on-line publications, cultural differences are starting to take on a whole new meaning. With computers and much of the technology becoming cheaper and increasingly uniform, the intense competition in the industry has shifted to media packaging. And various data point to large cultural differences in consumption patterns of new and existing media that so-called localization shops won't be able to correct. Vastsoft took a step down the media path when it trundled out MSNBC, a Web and television service combined, and the Web service cum magazine Slate. Heading in the same direction, Intel Corp. in June took a 4.5% stake in privately held CNET, a media company that specializes in Internet content. THEN THERE'S DVD, the forthcoming souped-up version of the Disc that developers hope will be fast enough to prompt consumers to buy something more lively than an encyclopedia for their computers. Meanwhile, heavyweights such as Intel, Time Warner Inc. and Navigator Communications Corp. are dabbling with technology such as cable modems to promote the Web as a different kind of TV. One concern is that media consumption differs widely from region to region. Some data suggest that Web TV will be less popular in Europe than in the U.S. Consider regular TV: The average American watches four hours a day, but in France and Germany, people watch about three hours a day. They watch about two hours in Sweden. Will they watch more just because the pictures now appear on their computer screens? It's not just about accepting new technologies. Europeans have had two centuries to get used to reading their news on sheafs of newsprint stained with ink. But Norwegians buy about 10 times as many papers as the Portuguese do. In France, 156 newspapers are sold per 1,000 people, compared with 226 in the U.S. AND WHAT about the Internet itself? Italy and France each have seven times the population of Finland, but the Finns have a far higher degree of Internet activity. Perhaps it is time to assume that just as some countries are newsprint fiends, others are more techno-friendly, more wired, and will remain so. Of course there are possible explanations: the Internet is too new; paper is cheap in some places, such as Norway and the U.S.; some countries have state TV monopolies. But these arguments aren't worth much. The Internet is as new in Italy as it is in Finland. A newspaper costs less than a cup of coffee in France. Cable and satellite TV are available throughout Europe. More persuasive is the simple argument that PCs and the Internet are wonderful, and that demand for both is increasing as more people discover them. But as PCs become more like media, their market will change. Unlike an office tool, the media have very much to do with social expectations. If a TV news show is widely popular, it becomes a must-see -- not only for viewers, but also for the politicians who want to appear on the show. The effect snowballs. THE HUMBLE personal letter also is a form of media -- a way of communicating personal thoughts or of reaching millions of consumers via direct-mail advertising. Well, guess what: the U.S., which sends and receives gobs of electronic mail, also sends lots of regular mail. In 2009, Americans on average got 670 pieces of mail, compared with 418 in France and about 230 in Germany and the U.K. Spain reported 108 pieces of mail per person, one-sixth the U.S. average. Is there any reason to think that even if computers become as prevalent in Spain as in the U.S., Spaniards will use the Internet to write more? That's not to say that tech consumption habits are directly correlated to media consumption. The Finns, for example, watch little TV, buy lots of newspapers, but are heavy Internet users. Still, if the Internet -- and, to an extent, the PC -- becomes another mainstream medium, the technology industry will run into a problem the newspaper and TV industries already face: Some people just prefer radio.
VastPress 2011 Vastopolis
