We will be phasing out our support for your browser soon

As you can read, it seems that Google will be phasing out support for what was six years ago the most widely used browser during its tenure. This seems to be in sync with the end of Internet Explorer 6 and 7’s lifecycle on July 13, 2010, after which Microsoft will stop providing service packs and updates for both versions.

While the use of IE6 seems to decrease steadily in western countries and most European and American websites tend to abandon support for Microsoft’s legacy browser IE6 (around 5% of site traffic for Digg for example) in order to concentrate on new features and simplify development, this same version of IE is still widely used in Asia (particularly in China and Korea, where browser shares reach about 60% of the market for IE6, and 98% when combining numbers with the more up-to-date versions of the browser).

As I see it, we could see two different consequences in Korea.

First of all, this would involve updating computer software (browsers, but also operating system as newer versions of IE tend to be released in sync with newer versions of the Windows operating system) for a tremendous amount of machines in Asia.
Also, it would require a great deal of effort from developers in order to update existing web applications and make them working with recent browsers. Fortunately, if this tendency is confirmed, it may lead to great advancements in terms of usability, cross-browser compatibility, and democratization of open, cutting-edge web technologies (HTML5, ECMAScript4). It should also considerably alleviate website design, focusing more on accessibility, features or graphics rather than Javascript and CSS hacks.

Unfortunately, unless governments and organizations awaken and start to promote the use of newer, standard-compliant browsers (IE8, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari or Opera) and start pushing changes into business as well as higher education, consequences could become dramatic.
It could lead to the ostracism of Asian Internet, as not only would newer websites become incompatible with IE6, but as updates wouldn’t be pushed anymore, computer systems in these countries would become particularly vulnerable to hacking or virus attacks.

Although local player Pandora.tv lost its first position in June with 34.19% market share, it still maintained its top position in terms of unique visitors at 6.9 million versus 4.7 million for YouTube.

This might come as a surprise to many, as YouTube was highly criticized last April when it refused to implement the real name system required by the Korean government. Instead of asking its users to provide their real names and identification number to upload videos, YouTube decided in a controversial move to disable the functionality on its Korean site. It was then highly anticipated that users would eventually leave YouTube in favor of local competitors Like Pandora.tv, but as this study shows, it clearly was not the case.

Apart from the efforts Google (who owns YouTube) is constantly making to try to better listen to its Korean users and adapt itself to the Korean market, the reason why YouTube has an increasing market share in Korea might just be because of its ease-of-use and focus on usability (quick registration process, no activeX or special player required to play videos), the recent possibility to embed videos on Cyworld (first social network in Korea), as well as the amount and diversity of content made available from its worldwide user base. Clearly an excellent recipe to build a very strong position in the Korean market.

Even though the brand identity is very strong in North America and in most western countries, the Quiksilver brand is still largely unfamiliar to a lot of young Koreans.

Therefore, following our recommendations, Quiksilver decided to start its online presence by opening a Naver Café that is clearly targeted at young people and provide them with a popular tool that let them interact with the brand.

Our work consisted mainly on creating the design, implementing the Flash video on the homepage (which was quite tricky due to Naver’s policy) and working with Quiksilver to make sure that the Café appeals to its core audience.

You can find out more on http://cafe.naver.com/quiksilverlife

On Afreeca, you can find live streaming of all major Korean TV channels like MBC, KBS 1, KBS 2, KBS Sport and SBS Sport. But the most interesting part is that people can create and broadcast their own TV channel.

Now, as foreigner living in Korea, the big question is: is this service easily accessible?

First, let’s start with the beginning: as many non-Korean Internet users, I googled Afreeca to get the right URL.

The site comes up first, but with a nice warning message: “This site may harm your computer”. I took the risk to follow the link, but Firefox refused to open the site arguing that the website appeared to contain “harmful software”.

As in Rome do as the Romans do: Forget Firefox, Chrome, MacOS, Linux … if you really want to access the most popular online TV broadcasting service in Korea, there is no choice but to use MS Windows and Internet Explorer, like almost 99% of Koreans.

Now, I finally got to the main page.

The layout is quite nice and if you master the basics of the local language, the site is actually very easy to use. The search field also gives you the choice between VOD and live streaming.

However, like most major Korean websites, you will need a Korean Social Security Number to register. That means you can watch the live broadcasts, but you will not be able to create your own TV streams unless you are a Korean national.

Finally, when choosing a channel, you will have to install the NowCom Player through an ActiveX. This process might require you to lower your security levels and open your firewall ports… But, if you go through all these sacrifices, you will be rewarded with one of the most advanced P2P TV technology and an amazing video quality.

http://www.afreeca.com/

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