The document discusses findings from an IDC survey on technology preferences of Asian consumers. It found that Asian consumers prefer mobile phones and other gadgets that are small in size and have stylish designs. They view these devices as status symbols and often replace their mobile phones within two years. Camera phones are particularly popular in South Korea and the Philippines. Notebooks are also preferred over desktop PCs, especially smaller sized notebooks with screens under 14 inches. Asian consumers believe smaller devices appear more advanced technologically.

1. ASIAN consumers are vain and
they like their gadgets small.
These are some of the find-
ings from an International Data
Corp (IDC) survey conducted
last year.
The survey comprised of
3,660 respondents from Aus-
tralia, China, Hong Kong,
Malaysia, Singapore, South
Korea and Taiwan.
Respondents cited “stylish
looks” as the first or second fac-
tor that influenced their deci-
sion to buy a new mobile phone.
About 40 per cent said they
would replace their cell phones
in less than two years.
“This is because Asians view
them as status symbols,” said
Mr Bryan Ma — IDC’s associate
director of Asia-Pacific Person-
al Systems Research — at the
IDC Asia-Pacific Directions 2006
Conference held at the Suntec
Convention Centre recently.
Camera phones are more
popular among Asian con-
sumers, especially in South
Korea and the Philippines, com-
pared to those in the United
States, Mr Ma said.
In South Korea, 89 per cent
of the mobile phones shipped
last year were camera-enabled,
compared to 41 per cent in the
US.
Bluetooth functionality was
the least important factor mo-
bile phone consumers.
IDC also discovered differ-
ences in consumer purchase pat-
terns when it came to personal
computers (PCs).
Last year, 58 per cent of
PCs shipped in Singapore were
notebooks, compared to 34 per
cent in the US during the same
period.
“One of the drivers of such
a trend comes from vendors who
come up with attractive pricing
deals for tertiary students in Sin-
gapore,” said Mr Ma.
Large-scale purchases by
tertiary institutions here also
drive the notebook market.
When it comes to the sizes
of portable PCs, consumers in
Singapore and Hong Kong pre-
fer notebooks with screen sizes
smaller than 14 inches. Buyers
in Australia prefer notebooks
with screen sizes larger than 15
inches.
Asian consumers tend to
prefer smaller screens because
smaller screens are more
“flashy”, said Mr Ma.
Smaller devices show that
they are further ahead of the
technological curve, explained
Mr Ma. —— EELLAAIINNEE NNGG
EELLAAIINNEE NNGG
elaine.ng@newstoday.com.sg
TO DRIVE productivity and improve
collaborative work, Microsoft Busi-
ness Division will make significant research
and development investments in unified
communication tools and business intelli-
gence technologies.
This was shared by Mr Jeff Raikes —
president of Microsoft Business Division —
who was in Singapore recently to meet
with government and business leaders.
Mr Raikes told TODAY, in an interview,
that the top priority of his division is to
enable role-based productivity — ensuring
that each worker does his job to the best
of his ability.
This is in line with Microsoft’s “People
Ready” vision, which focuses on providing
information workers with the right tools
and technologies to achieve desired busi-
ness outcomes.
Late last year, Microsoft went through
a major realignment that resulted in the for-
mation of three business divisions.
The Information Worker and Microsoft
Business Solutions units were combined
to form Microsoft Business Division, which
focuses on delivering software and soft-
ware-based services that improve worker
productivity.
The Microsoft Platform Products &
Services Division comprises Windows
clients, servers and tools as well as MSN.
The Microsoft Entertainment &
Devices Division focuses on digital devices.
Part of Microsoft Business Division’s
plan is to enhance its unified communica-
tion tools, which includes the expansion
of Microsoft Office Live Communications
Server — a product aimed at integrating
unified communications with business ap-
plications.
Microsoft plans to add on rich com-
munication capabilities such as presence to
the desktop environment, Mr Raikes said.
In addition, Microsoft Office Share-
Point Server 2007 — a server solution that
unifies portal and content management,
business insight and business process ca-
pabilities — will contain new functionali-
ties, including enterprise content man-
agement, business intelligence and
Web-based spreadsheet capabilities deliv-
ered through Excel Services.
With Excel Services, you can secure,
share and manage spreadsheets on the
server and view them on a Web browser or
download them to the desktop.
Enterprises can look forward to more
business intelligence offerings with the Mi-
crosoft Office Business Scorecard Manag-
er — a server-based business performance
management application.
“Business intelligence tools are large-
ly expensive, hard to use and inconvenient
to access,” Mr Raikes said.
Understanding these concerns, Mr
Raikes said Microsoft’s business intelli-
gence solutions would be more cost-effec-
tive and priced 25 to 30 per cent lesser
than that of traditional vendors.
The 2007 Microsoft Office system prod-
ucts—whichincludenewandimprovedsuites,
applications, servers and services — are ex-
pected to be available by the end of the year.
2266 TODAY • Tuesday • May 2, 2006
Infotechsolutions for business
SHORTCUTS
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Infor has launched the latest version of its enterprise asset management
solution, Datastream 7i. Manufacturing services companies, public sector
organisations and other service-delivery organisations can benefit from its
new call centre module, which integrates with existing call centre applica-
tions to enable data transfer between applications.
Call centre personnel can generate work orders in Datastream 7i based
on service requests and access a knowledge base of asset information –
ranging from repair status to facility locations and service information – to
help provide prompt and accurate answers to callers’ questions.
Datastream 7i features an enhanced budgeting module that enables
users to set up a budget calendar and structure, and track costs against
the budget automatically.
FFLLEEXXIICCAARRDD –– TTHHEE NNEEWW PPRREE--PPAAYY OOPPTTIIOONN FFOORR SSTTAARRHHUUBB SSEERRVVIICCEESS
StarHub has introduced a pre-payment option – called FlexiCard – for its
pay-as-you-use MaxOnline FlexiSurf 2000 service and Games-On-Demand
value-added service. These services could only be paid online via credit
card previously.
Available at StarHub shops and partner outlets, FlexiCard comes with a
stored value of $15 and is valid for three years. To begin using FlexiCard,
the customer simply scratches off the security foil to reveal the unique
string code and enters the code at the sign-up website. Up to five cards
can be combined for a single transaction. Any remaining value on the card
can be used for the next transaction. Go to www.starhub.com/hubvillage
for more information on FlexiCard.
RRSSAA SSEECCUURRIIDD PPRROOTTEECCTTIIOONN FFOORR DDEESSKKTTOOPPSS NNOOWW AAVVAAIILLAABBLLEE
RSA Security has announced the worldwide availability of RSA SecurID
Appliance 2.0 – an authentication solution that enables enterprise cus-
tomers to establish the identity of users accessing business resources.
The solution scales to 50,000 users and is pre-loaded with RSA
Authentication Manager 6.1, which delivers 802.1X-based security for
organisations with both wired and wireless environments.
RSA SecurID for Microsoft Windows 2.0 is included and enables cus-
tomers to protect Microsoft Windows desktops and networks. RSA
SecurID Appliance is available in pre-configured bundles for up to 250
users. A la carte pricing is offered for enterprises deploying authentication
to more than 250 users.
OOI BOON KEONG
TheITgiantplanstoenhance
itscommunicationtoolsto
helpbusinessesachievemore
Readying info workers the Microsoft way
Size equates to cool for IT consumers in Asia
TThhee ttoopp pprriioorriittyy ooff tthhee
ddiivviissiioonn iiss ttoo eennaabbllee
rroollee--bbaasseedd pprroodduuccttiivviittyy
–– eennssuurriinngg tthhaatt eeaacchh
wwoorrkkeerr ddooeess hhiiss jjoobb ttoo
hhiiss bbeesstt aabbiilliittyy..
— Mr Jeff Raikes (picture),
president of Microsoft Business
Division.