Adventures in web globalization, since 2002
According to The Wall Street Journal, Google has chosen “Egypt as its first outpost in the Arab world because it is the most populous country in the region, with 78 million people and 5.2 million Internet users. Google estimates 50 …
Baidu is the “Google” of China with 51% of the market (according to CNNIC). Awhile back, Google bought a small chunk of the company, before it went public, presumably with the intention of using Baidu as its point of entry …
Wikipedia came in second in our 2006 Web Globalization Report Card for a number of reasons. Not only does it offer content in more than 100 languages, it does a good job of managing content expectations. It does not hide …
A pull-down menu is not the ideal solution for global gateways. For starters, it doesn’t scale well. If you offer ten or fewer country Web sites, a pull-down menu might work okay, but anything beyond that and you’re asking a …
According to TechCrunch, MySpace could launch a half-dozen non-English Web sites as early as this summer. Says the blog, “MySpace co-founder and chief executive Chris DeWolfe was quoted by the Financial Times yesterday and said that the first localized, non-English …
I always have wondered what Europeans would call US football if and when it became popular over there. Apparently, I’m not alone and ESPN has a solution to that pesky soccer/football naming issue. You can view the ad here
The Wall Street Journal features two articles on business globalization and localization — from McDonald’s building drive-thrus in China to Elle publishiing a Middle East edition. For Elle, the challenge is complex because there is no one “Middle East” market …
Robert Levin, CEO of Transclick, alerted me to an app they have developed that plugs into Skype and translates text messages in real time. So you can message across languages. The app is in beta currently (isn’t everything these days) …
Just when I thought the dark days of US xenophobia couldn’t get any darker, I read that Utah has taken down its Spanish-language Web site. According to the article, “”Two weeks ago, the state launched www.espanol.utah. gov, a Spanish-language companion …
Google News has added Arabic to its portfolio of 35 localized sites. This site takes a language-specific approach to the news rather than country-specific approach. It’s getting a little crowded at the bottom of each News page…
I’m off to Chicago shortly to attend/speak at the Internet Retailer Conference. This is a sizable event — I’m told there are more than 2,100 participants (I think it has officially sold out). And Web globalization in the retail sector …
According to Silicon India Google CE Eric Schmidt says India will become the world’s biggest Internet market in 5 to 10 years. Says the article, “Schmidt’s other futurist view is that Hindi, not Hispanic, could become one of the world’s …