UX China July 15, 2009
Usability is important everywhere, but China seems unaware of it. One reason why is because "if you don't like it, there are another 1.3 billion that will". That's my quote, but it sums up the service industry, as well as usability issues in China. This is why I've decided to create case studies of bad usability examples I see in China, and how they could be addressed. Since I'm a foreigner, I'll focus on usability issues that impact foreigners in Shanghai. Stay tuned.
A highly successful, world class web application developed by a handful of Chinese guys. November 09, 2008
If you haven't heard of Hulu, then you will. Hulu is a video site that allows users to watch movies and TV shows created NBC Universal and Fox Corporation. The CEO, Jason Kilar (former Amazon exec), was asked by NBC and Fox to create a "YouTube killer"...which was a formidable task. What I find amazing by his success is that he was able to do just this with only a handful of people. His office was located in West Hollywood, but his development staff consisted of seven Chinese developers in Beijing. The Chinese developers knew web video, but they didn't speak English. So Mr. Kilar worked with a Mandarin speaking coworker to manage the application development in China. The site was launched about 10 weeks later and quickly became one of the top ten U.S. video sites.
The obvious point is that you can also develop a professional, highly competitive, affordable application in China.
Chinese Independent Music November 09, 2008
China's mainstream music scene is dominated by corporate boy bands and girl groups, so I was pleasantly surprised to find the Chinese inde music site Neocha. Neocha is a unique Chinese social network service that gives members the ability to upload a variety of artistic media in an effort to provide them with a platform in which they can promote it to a greater audience. Enjoy!
