According to a survey by iSHARE, 91.0% of Japanese mobile phone users are not planning to purchase Apple Inc’s “iPhone” mobile phone.
This research was conducted in the wake of the announcement by SoftBank Mobile Corp that it will release the iPhone in Japan (See related article). Targeting Internet users aged primarily 20 to 49, iSHARE asked questions about their intention to purchase an iPhone, as well as other questions and received 402 responses over the Internet.
The survey had been conducted from June 5 to 6, 2008, before pricing for an iPhone handset was announced. Of carriers that the respondents were subscribing to, NTT DoCoMo accounted for 39.8%, followed by au at 26.9%, SoftBank Mobile at 22.9% and the other carriers including Emobile and Willcom at 6.5%.
Asked if they have a plan to purchase an iPhone, 36 respondents (8.9%) said “I am planning to purchase one.” Nearly half of these 36 respondents were SoftBank Mobile users, iSHARE said.
To a question asking how they are planning to position the iPhone after purchasing, 6.2% said “as my primary handset,” while 2.7% said “as my second (or lower) handset.” By gender, the intent to purchase was much higher among male respondents. Meanwhile, respondents that are “not planning to buy one now” constituted 91.0% of all respondents.
iSHARE said it had also conducted an iPhone purchase intention survey in July 2007. At that time, 9.6% said “I’m willing to buy (replace) one,” while 62.2% said “I will consider buying one after examining the price or circumstances” if the iPhone is released from the carrier they are using.
Compared with these results, the intention to purchase an iPhone has greatly weakened and grown negative from a year ago, iSHARE explained.
The company also asked about consumer preferences on the replacement of a mobile phone battery. It asked this question because battery replacement is said to be unavailable for the iPhone, iSHARE said.
Respondents who said “I prefer replaceable batteries” accounted for 77.1%, while those who said “I don’t care if the battery is replaceable or not” made up 22.9%. Of respondents that have replaced a mobile phone battery before, 88.0% said “I prefer replaceable batteries.”
iSHARE determined that the unavailability of replacement batteries could be significantly weakening purchasing intention, considering the fact that a two-year subscription has been added to iPhone service in the US, for example.
Source
Tags: iphone, japan, japanese
Internet has become a major mode of sharing data and using a portal for business. As there are innumerable internet users, creating a unique identity becomes an essential aspect. Domain name is your unique identity on the World Wide Web. Domain name assures and distinguishes your site from the other internet users. If you are running a business over the internet, domain name becomes your online brand. This enables you to use the domain name as an online business card. Domain name creates your professional look for running the business in the world of internet. While using web hosting providers, you would come across multiple domains hosting by the web host. Multiple domain hosting offers you to have multiple websites, once you buy an account. If the plan provides you with ten domain names and you use only one of them, you will have nine domain names that can be used again. The advantage of multiple domain hosting is that you can resell rest of the names to your clients.
How domain name works?
A domain name acts like an address that helps in finding and identifying computers on the internet. Initially, Internet Protocol was used to find out computers on the internet. This is called as IP address that contains several numbers to provide uniqueness to the computers. However, remembering such big numbers has been a problem for many. Thus, to eliminate this problem and making the search more easily, domain name have come into existence. Domain names use specific names or phrases that differentiate the computer from other computers. For example, MP3.net is used as a domain name for the company MP3.net. When the users type MP3.net in the browser, the Domain Name System (DNS) will automatically translate the domain name into an IP address.
Acquiring an easy and correct domain name:
There are number of ways to achieve a domain name. You can either select your own domain name or ask for assistance to the web host or Internet Service Provider (ISP). If you want to choose a domain name of your choice, then you need to select a registrar. There are innumerable registrars available on the internet. A registrar is an ICANN accredited domain registration company. The easy way to get a domain name is through web hosting companies. Web hosting companies takes all the responsibilities to provide you the domain name. The advantage of getting a domain name from a web hosting company is that they carry all the required information ready at hand. This will not only help in giving you a correct and unique domain name but would also save a lot of time. If you are planning to use a domain name from your own side, follow the below tips:
- Always use a simple and catchy name.
- Domain name must be related to the website.
- If it’s a business site, use the name of the company.
- For personal site, domain name must be related to topic of your website.
- Shorter domain name is easy to remember.
Tags: domain names, domains, multiple domain hosting
These days, owning a website has become an obtainable goal to those with low-level designing skills, and minimal budgets as well. This is all made possible due to the current prevalence of the web hosting industry, along with the great features provided by individual companies. Even if you have no experience with programming scripts or designing a website, a good web hosting control panel can produce quality results that will make you look like a seasoned webmaster. While the type of control panel varies, cPanel is the most widely used and the preferred choice for many web hosts.
cPanel is a web-based application that allows you to control every aspect of your website. This program is now considered a standard due to its ease of use and extreme functionality. cPanel is highly compatible and works well on various Unix-like platforms along with popular web browsers such as Internet Explorer, FireFox and Opera.
Every feature provided by a web host can be accessed and administered within cPanel, giving you the ability to create a vibrant, interactive setting for family and friends to view or an e-commerce site to power your online business. Here is a brief overview of the amazing features included within cPanel.
Backup Facility
It’s easy to become so involved in running and promoting your business that critical aspects, such as data security, are overlooked. When using a web host equipped with cPanel, this will be something you no longer have to worry about. This control panel allows you to store backups of images, text and other essential content from your website, enabling you to recover quickly if an unlikely disaster happens to strike.
Email Management
Most web hosting companies provide their clients with multiple email accounts. Through cPanel, you can assign domains to your email accounts and also create autoresponders to enhance the level of customer service. cPanel also includes a spam filter to keep unsolicited messages of your inbox.
Statistics
You can actually measure the status of your website with useful tools such as Webalizer. This utility allows you to view the statistics of your site including the latest visitors, how long they stayed and how they found you. A powerful marketing tool, this handy component gives you the ability to analyze the amount of traffic on your site and make adjustments where needed.
Domains
Multiple domains is a great luxury offered by many web hosting companies. This feature allows you to create numerous web sites and manage them from a single interface - cPanel. For instance, you may want to separate the novels you’re selling from the web promotion services you offer. This is easy with cPanel as each of your services can be individually managed and designed with their own domain names.
Fantastico
One of cPanel’s best features is a dynamic utility called Fantastico. Fantastico works as an installer that allows you to implement a variety of programs such as Wordpress blogging software, and several content management systems likes Mambo and Joomla, increasing the functionality of your site with a simple click of the mouse.
Conclusion
The possibilities are endless when building a website with cPanel. This program is user-friendly on all levels with capabilities that exceed the norm. If you want complete control of your site, inquire within a web host to find if they offer cPanel.
Tags: cpanel, features, web hosting
URLmetrix.com brings in a quick and useful way to check your web site’s Online popularity via a slew of resources. Wondering what your Google PageRank is? How about your Google or Yahoo backlinks? Check them all out on this one single web site. Definitely a resource to bookmark.
Here are all the services they cover: Your web page title, Google PageRank, Alexa rank, Compete rank, Quantcast rank, Technorati rank, Google Indexed, Yahoo Indexed, Google Backlinks, Yahoo Backlinks and Delicious Links.
For each thing it scores it will also give you a link to go get more information 
Tags: site popularity, stats, urlmetrix
Here’s a quick start guide to starting your own web hosting company. I will show you how you can get up and running in 20 steps.
1 ). Come up with a company name. Make sure it is not trademarked or taken already.
2 ). Find a matching domain name for your business.
3 ). Register your business with your state and local authorities. Decide on the legal form.
4 ). Open a bank account. Deposit start-up funds.
5 ). Decide which services and what hosting packages to offer.
6 ). Sign up for a domain name reseller account.
7 ). Find a reseller Web host or lease/rent/buy a server with a Web control panel included or as an add-on.
8 ). Design product packages.
9 ). Build/design a Web site.
10 ). Sign up for a credit card merchant account or third party credit card processing provider. Implement domain name reselling except billing and credit card processing (see step 11 before deciding).
11 ). Decide if you are building your own tools for the sign-up process or if you would rather purchase billing/account setup software. Purchase software as necessary.
12 ). Purchase a SSL certificate.
13 ). Implement SSL for the signup process on your Web site.
14 ). Design and order business cards.
15 ). List your Web site with search engines and hosting directories.
16 ). Setup a help desk (optional: and create a support section with tutorials and F.A.Q.).
17 ). Have friends or family members test your Web site for complete functionality. Fix problems.
18 ). Design a marketing campaign and decide on where to do your marketing. Schedule your marketing efforts. Check for deadlines with publishers.
19 ). Hire staff and/or make additional preparations for customer support (remote e-mail solutions, cell phone, etc.).
20 ). Setup an accounting solution; hire an accountant, or make other preparations for your bookkeeping.
Your business is up and running and soon the first clients will be signing up. Sounds easy, doesn’t it. There is much more to it than what this quick start list can provide. CHRISTOPH PUETZ Has written a book about web hosting that i think you should check out. The book is called ‘The Web Hosting Manager’ and is available as an ebook or paperback at LuLu.com - I personally have read this book and so have a lot of my staff members. This book is definitely worth a read.
Tags: guide, hosting company, howto, reseller hosting, tutorial, web hosting
As the window to the Internet, the Web browser is arguably the most important application ever developed, and it will only become more important in the coming years, as applications continue their retreat from the local system and into Web frameworks built on Apache, IIS, Python, PHP, Perl, Ruby, and countless other languages and tools. Against this backdrop, today’s official introduction of Firefox 3 may in fact be a watershed event in the history of computing.
It’s no secret that Firefox isn’t the most popular browser. Internet Explorer, for better or for worse, enjoys a significant advantage in market share, but data gathered from all corners of the Internet show this advantage eroding. Judging by the traffic at a Web site that handles more than 100,000 unique visitors a day, Firefox gained almost 8 percent over Internet Explorer for the month of May, year over year, moving from just over 26 percent of all visitors to 33 percent. Internet Explorer lost a total of 9 percent to other browsers in that time frame.
Oddly, the difference seems to have been taken up by Apple’s Safari, which gained almost 3 percent. These numbers will differ depending on the site — for instance, sites focused on technology will have higher numbers for Firefox, since most tech-savvy users prefer Firefox over Internet Explorer — but the general trend shows that Firefox is making significant inroads all over the globe. Judging by the advances in Firefox 3, this is likely to accelerate.
Turning up the heat
Firefox 3 has been in development for years. While not exactly a start-from-scratch rewrite, it’s certainly been overhauled, and those changes are apparent in just about every aspect of the browser. The new look is more streamlined, less clunky, and the active elements such as the newly retooled location bar offer a new way to work with the Web. On the back end, the days of Firefox being a notorious memory hog may be over, or at least reduced, and the security measures in the new release are not only far better than any other browser, they also manage to be less intrusive than you might expect. The ease-of-use additions, such as the ability to save a session on exit, and the wonderfully implemented full-page zoom are instant winners.
I’ve been using Firefox 3 since the November beta, moving through to the very latest release candidates. While I’ve hit a number of issues over the months, they’ve all but disappeared in the past few releases. Over the course of the beta period, I’ve found it difficult to go back to Firefox 2, and certainly difficult to use Internet Explorer; they’re missing key Firefox 3 features that have become instantly indispensable.
Smart security
Browser security is of paramount importance. Particularly on Windows, browsers have served as a vector for an enormous number of realized and unrealized vulnerabilities. From malware and spyware to viruses and outright system exploits, all browsers have had their share of missteps. Generally speaking, user education could significantly reduce these occurrences, but that’s easier said than done. Firefox 3 makes a valiant attempt, however, with a bevy of new features tuned to the average user.
Clicking the Favicon in the address bar on Firefox 3 offers a quick view of the current site and a button for more detailed information, such as the SSL certificate data, how often you’ve visited the site, the use of cookies, and so forth. If you happen to come across a forged page (such as those used in phishing attempts), Firefox will block the page and display a surprisingly attractive warning screen explaining the problem and offering a link to return to your home page. There’s also a small link allowing you to continue to the content regardless of the warning.
If you browse to an SSL-protected site with a valid certificate, the address bar notes the verified owner of the certificate in a green highlight, giving immediate feedback on the validity of the site. If the site’s SSL certificate isn’t valid, Firefox 3 presents a method of either quickly navigating away from the site or an option to pull down the certificate and continue to the site. For those of us who use self-signed certificates, this is an extremely useful feature.
On Windows, Firefox 3 now integrates with Vista’s parental controls to prevent downloads and so on in accordance to the system-wide settings. Firefox 3 can also integrate with some anti-virus tools to initiate scans when downloading executable files.
On a smaller scale, Firefox 3 has improved add-on management. It will detect outdated add-ons and offer to update them if possible. Add-ons that don’t provide updates securely are disabled.
All told, these measures seem to effectively prevent novice or general users from hurting themselves while sacrificing very little for the power user — a goal that’s typically all but impossible.
Smooth moves
Firefox 3 has broken new ground in browser usability. The address bar has taken on a life of its own. Going far beyond address-matching as you type, Firefox 3 also matches your entered URLs against keywords within the title or tags of the page. It sorts by frequency and recency, and tunes itself as you use it. I’ve found that it gets the right page or link for me just about every time.
The combination of the smart address bar and the new page-tagging feature for bookmarks can make finding pages you’ve visited incredibly simple. Bookmarks are now organized in a database, not in a flat file, and thus are easier to manage and search. Smart bookmark folders can be created to automatically arrange bookmarks meeting certain criteria based on tags and other information. All of these features are impressively handy no matter what I seem to be doing with the browser.
On platforms other than Windows, Firefox 3 has made a great effort to integrate better with the host OS. Firefox 2 on the Mac platform, for instance, always had the feel of a foreign app. It functioned well enough, but it didn’t share the OS X look and feel. It does now, and it even supports OS X Widgets and Growl. On Linux, Firefox 3 uses the native GTK theme running on the system to provide a better visual fit.
As with Firefox 2, the customizable Search toolbar is right at home, offering any number of existing search engines from Google and Yahoo to Wikipedia, YouTube, and eBay.
As far as add-ons go, it might take a little while for all of your favorite accessories to come up to speed with Firefox 3, but I’ve had few problems in that area. In fact, Firefox 3 has led me to use some add-ons that I probably never would have discovered, all due to the Recommended page in the add-on manager.
Some of the most important add-ons for me, such as the simply indispensable Web Developer toolbar, have been Firefox 3 compatible almost since day one. Others will follow soon. Sadly, I can’t seem to find the Abe Vigoda status add-on anymore. Surprising that Abe outlived it, I suppose.
Binge browsing
The speed and resource requirements of Firefox 2 were a sore spot for many users. There were certainly instances where Firefox 2 behaved nicely, but those were overshadowed by the times when loading a page with certain embedded elements or other code would cause Firefox to crank up the CPU and start eating RAM like candy. Often, closing the offending page would reduce these symptoms, but sometimes quitting and restarting the browser proved the only solution. Firefox 3 hasn’t been free of these episodes, but the frequency has been greatly reduced.
Now I find that I can run with dozens of windows open and not take a terribly significant performance hit. Mozilla.com claims that the Gecko 1.9 rendering engine has improved CSS and SVG handling, as well as JavaScript performance. I’ve noticed that pages do seem to load faster, and the overall experience seems snappier in Firefox 3 than in either Firefox 2 or Internet Explorer. It might be a tie with Safari, however.
If the Web browser isn’t the most important application ever developed, it might be the most personal. If you’re working in a company that regrettably invested in Web-based applications that cannot function without using Internet Explorer, you have my sympathy. For those of you who have a choice, you no doubt want a browser that functions as an extension of yourself: customizable, quick, reliable, and stable. Firefox 3 meets all those criteria for me, and there’s no looking back.
Tags: firefox, firefox 3, opensource, review
