Great point, @nasimon: That's definitely a lucrative incentive to invest the necessary resources! I'd think it's also part of a brand's image. If you want to be considered a 'worldclass' brand, you have to be viable - and successful - in regions beyond your native language.
"How much does it cost to localize apps, Matt? And, I wonder, how much in lost opportunities does it cost companies if they don't localize."
@alison-No matter how much it costs in localizing the apps, I believe that it will definitely turn out to be one of the good and fruitful strategies overflowing your pockets .Take an example of Apple..what did they do ..Iphone 5's Siri facilitates the Chinese language which is the only reason that Apple enjoyed record breaking sales during the initial days of its release.
I vaguely remember reading an article that said user interface conventions vary between cultures. It's not just language -- an app that works fine in one culture might prove problematic in another, even after the language has been translated. I wish I could remember specifics.
Absolutely. We've seen many examples of companies failing when they venture from their native shores. I wonder how much partnership is necessary for apps, though, beyond technical support? And a sales network - a la Amazon, Google, and Apple?
Localization isn't just a matter of alphabet and language. It's also necessary to truly understand the native culture. Often, this requires a native partner.
"[T]he problem seems to be in half the system, forcing both a correct and an incorrect name to appear. This is typically how it works, by the way. It's correct 90 percent of the time, wrong in an annoying 10 percent of the site that uses an obscure code library."
How much does it cost to localize apps, Matt? And, I wonder, how much in lost opportunities does it cost companies if they don't localize. I know I don't like reading books or seeing movies set in England where characters use American phrases (like elevator instead of lift or trunk not boot) or vice versa. It's annoying. I would think it's seen as rude when a foreign business tries to sell its wares abroad and doesn't take the necessary steps to use the proper symbols or lingo.
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Social media has been with us for a decade -- but employer policies and the law are anything but firm about the most appropriate usage of this powerful tool.
Businesses often struggle to decide which domain to use. When it comes to purchasing a domain name, you have plenty of extensions to choose from, ranging from .com and .net, to .me, and even .mobi. But which one should you pick?
I've been writing about how the next evolution of the Internet might just be an advertising revolution, and how corporate IT can stay involved as the enablers and providers of the technologies that make this possible.
In the 1970 science fiction thriller Colossus: The Forbin Project, two giant supercomputers from the United States and Soviet Union secretly join forces to take control of the collective nuclear might of the two countries. In the film, the two machines discover each other's existence, communicate back-and-forth, share their collective data, and cut their human creators out of the process. It is the ultimate example of machine-to-machine communications, or M2M.
New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority is conducting a pilot test of digital kiosks to guide subway users to where they want to go more efficiently and at lower cost.
The whole Amazon.reader debate is a double-stupid. It's stupid to think that there's any e-book buyer who doesn't know Amazon's URL, and it was stupider to let ICANN launch the whole free-form TLD initiative to start with.
While NFC's original goal was to enhance mobile commerce applications, it is finding its way into a number of other uses, which is creating both opportunity as well as challenges for IT departments.
Enterprises would like to move to cloud computing but are hesitant because they are concerned about providers’ ability to secure company data. Here are some tips that help to ensure that if breaches occur, the business is not left holding the bag.
Edmunds separates customers into segments based on the info it collects on its site and from partners, and uses that to push out custom content, said Brian Baron, director of business analytics for Edmunds.com, at Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit.
The automotive website uses propensity modeling to target ads and customer registration forms, said Brian Baron, director of business analytics for Edmunds.com, at Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit.
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M2M: Rise of the Machines? Not Yet David Weldon In the 1970 science fiction thriller Colossus: The Forbin Project, two giant supercomputers from the United States and Soviet Union secretly join forces to take control of the collective nuclear might of the two countries. In the film, the two machines discover each other's existence, communicate back-and-forth, share their collective data, and cut their human creators out of the process. It is the ultimate example of machine-to-machine communications, or M2M. CLICK FOR MORE
M2M: Rise of the Machines? Not Yet David Weldon In the 1970 science fiction thriller Colossus: The Forbin Project, two giant supercomputers from the United States and Soviet Union secretly join forces to take control of the collective nuclear might of the two countries. In the film, the two machines discover each other's existence, communicate back-and-forth, share their collective data, and cut their human creators out of the process. It is the ultimate example of machine-to-machine communications, or M2M. CLICK FOR MORE
