2.0

[Lynn Fredricks]

> One aspect that needs to be mentioned, and which skews all the 
> arguments, is that while Japan is a 2nd largest single-language 
> market, this language requires quite a bit of effort to support 
> natively, so not that many programs from small developers (like many 
> of Valentina developers are) are localized for Japanese. And that is 
> aside from Mac-Windows issues. And if we talk markets, Chinese seems 
> to be the rising star with potential to surpass Japan in future.
> 
> But the bottom line is that the markets for products from valentina 
> developers are likely to be somewhat different than markets for 
> valentina self.

In terms of this list, you are probably right, Robert. But that's no
different than saying the majority of REALbasic users on the REALbasic list
run by REAL probably wont target the Japanese market. Yet historically, the
Japanese market has been supremely good for REALbasic (which is fully
localized into Japanese) sales.

I don't see much changing in China for a few years in terms of software,
except I expect China to surpass India as the provider of outsourcing to the
US. Piracy is absurd in China. Its better if you can pair your product with
a hardware sale of some kind -- it's a little harder to duplicate -- but in
some cases, not impossible. ROM copying (got any old Nintendo games you
love?) is an ancient form of art there ;-) But when the Chinese market is at
a point where it can pay for software, we will be ready.

Don't mistake the fact that if evidence of a market isnt dripping into your
email box on a daily basis, that it doesn't exist or isnt worth pursuing. A
great many western vendors don't pursue it because they don't have any clue
how to do so, or are unwilling to take the risk to accommodate code changes
necessary to be competitive there.

Best regards,


Lynn Fredricks
President
Proactive International, LLC

http://www.proactive-intl.com