Along the way, I discovered a rather interesting bug.

It’s not a huge deal, but a bug nonetheless. And one likely to cause a fair amount of confusion.

First of all, if you have never modified your language settings (The “International” button on the System Preferences menu)  then you won’t hit this bug.

If, however, you have made some changes to your language settings, read on…

Here is what my International settings menu looked like before the upgrade:

You’ll notice that I have U.S. English at the top of the list, followed by Japanese, followed by a “neutral” English. Normally, U.S. English would be followed by neutral English, which is the source of the bug.

When I began upgrading to Snow Leopard, I was presented with the usual legalese page — except that this one was in Japanese:

Apparently, Apple ignored my U.S. English setting and figured I had my computer set up for Japanese, hence the Japanese text.

To fix this, I simply bumped up the neutral English language setting ahead of Japanese.

NOTE: The same bug will appear if you have British English at the top of the list followed by a language other than English.

UPDATE: This bug may also impact the results of Spotlight as well. That is, you could see results in Japanese mixed with English. I haven’t been able to repro it myself but have encountered a few blog posts related to this issue.

The Kindle has gone international, sort of.

That is, Amazon is launching a new Kindle outfitted with a radio chip that works in most of the world’s cellular markets (100+) — as opposed to the US-only Kindle, which operates only on Sprint’s network.

Unfortunately, just because someone in, say, Russia will be able to download a book, doesn’t mean that the book itself will display Cyrillic characters.

You see, even though the Kindle may operate in much of the world, it is still a Latin-only device.

I learned this the hard way when I helped adapt Forgetting English for the Kindle. For example, in the short story First Sunday the Tongan line “Pou’li ā, Sione” came out as “Pou’li a, Sione” — minus the ā.

That’s because “ā” and many other extended Latin characters won’t display properly. Needless to say, Russian, Chinese, Arabic, and Japanese aren’t going to have much luck either. Based on my parsing the sparse documentation on the Amazon site, I understand the issue isn’t a lack of Unicode support but a lack of font support.

Apparently you can use this Unicode hack to get your Kindle to display non-Latin characters, but this is hardly a mainstream solution. People shouldn’t have to download their own fonts to display the books they want to read. Basic font support in an e-reader is, well, something you would expect to find installed by default.

I’ve since come across a number of people who develop books for the Kindle who aren’t exactly happy about the situation.

Why doesn’t Amazon include a Unicode-friendly font on its device? Perhaps this was by design, to save on memory. After all, a Unicode font can easily weigh more than several MB, which takes away from precious book storage space.

My opinion is this: Amazon didn’t design globallay from day one. And that’s a shame for readers and writers alike. When you compare the Kindle with the iPhone, which supports more than 30 languages, I can only say that I’m looking forward to the coming of the iTablet.

Here’s a video of it in action (with some rather odd musical accompaniment):

What’s particularly interesting is that this IME began on the iPhone.

Here is a screen grab of the Chinese IME on my iPhone — and my sad attempt at inputting a character:

It’s interesting to see innovations migrating from phone to PC, certainly a sign of things to come.

Turns out, most companies haven’t even registered Twitter accounts for their primary brands.

Like who?

Apple, for one.

Here we have someone who apparently likes apples but isn’t Apple:

It appear that Microsoft reserved its account early on, though nothing is there. Microsoft does have about a dozen Twitter accounts that do include content.

Coke — someone who drinks Coke, but not the company.

While Pepsi does have a Twitter account.

The Wall Street Journal has an article out about this domain name rush.

So many questions come to mind:

• Will Twitter enforce trademarks for valid holders? Usually, the WIPO does this with domain names, but this isn’t actually a domain name in the traditional sense.
• What percentage of the millions of new Twitter accounts being registered every day simply squatters hoping to make a quick buck? That is, how much of Twitter’s growth actual growth?
• And what about third-party domain marketplaces — will we see them emerge? Or will Twitter start its own marketplace?

In the meantime, if you’re thinking about reserving a Twitter domain, do it now before getting Twit-jacked…

That’s an impressive ratio of people to domains — one ccTLD per 5.3 people — and it the highest ratio of any country with more than five million residents.

Germany comes in a close second, with a ratio of roughly one ccTLD per 6.5 people.

Granted, many of the owners of these .nl domains are not Dutch. Rather, they are multinational companies like FedEx and Apple.

But even if you take this into account, the Dutch registry SIDO claims that the Netherlands still has the highest density of domains, roughly 28 .NL domains per 1,000 people — a still impressive ratio.

Why is this I wonder?

Big mistake.

On a Saturday afternoon one November, I decided to bike over to my office and then back again to figure out the route. I figured I was smart in planning ahead.

But I got a late start, a really late start, and by the time I got to Redmond it was dark. I was freezing, dehydrated, exhausted. And my wife had expected me home an hour ago.

I called her and told her I’d be a “little” late. She offered to come pick me up even though she had no idea where I was and, for the most part, neither did I. I hadn’t actually made it my office — that would have taken another half hour.

So I swallowed what little pride I had left and asked her to come get me. Now, there was just one problem with this situation — she didn’t know where I was. I had my iPhone so I was able to talk her over the bridge and eventually to the gas station where I was making myself home. But it wasn’t a pleasant experience, to put it mildly, and one she will never let me forget.

If I had only had the iPhone app that my brother just developed, things would have gone quite a bit more smoothly. The app allows you to email your current location to someone else so they can map out how to get to you. Simple. Easy. I’ll be sure to have it with me the next time to try biking to work…

You can download here.

Does this icon say “language” to you?

It doesn’t to me.

But the OMC design studio feels so strongly about it that it has launched a web site to promote this icon as a global standard.

I applaud the effort and I fully agree that there is a need for such an icon, but I don’t believe that this one should be it. I find that this looks like a floppy disk (and, yes, I’m aware that there is an entire generation of computer users out there who don’t even know what a floppy disk looks like).

If I were to vote for an international icon, I would vote for a generic globe icon. Companies such as Panasonic, Dow Corning, and Microsoft have used a globe icon to denote either language or country/region (or both).

Other companies use tiny maps, such as John Deere and Caterpillar.

I prefer the globe, but either will do the trick.

What do you think?

PS: I just discovered that I wrote about the need for a standard icon way back in 2004. I preferred the globe icon even back then.

I’m not very patient with games. Which is probably why I’m not very good.

My brother has concocted a tile puzzle game for the iPhone, shown below, that I still haven’t figured out — even at the easiest setting.

Maybe you’ll have better luck than I’ve had. The good news is that Chris has made it available for free here.

What I really like about the app is that you can use your own photos. I thought that my pics would be easier to unscramble than the default pics.

They weren’t.

For anyone out there looking for a great developer — proficient on both the iPhone and the PC — you can contact Chris at  chris@chrisyunker.com.

So after a slow start upgrading to the iPhone 2.0 OS on Friday, I’ve since had a chance to review a number of the apps and have been very impressed so far (though a few did cause the iPhone to crash).

As I reviewed the Apps in the iTunes store I began to notice that they were available only in English. Here is a screen grab from the AOL IM app:

Just to be sure about this, I also visited iTunes Spain and looked up the same AOL IM App. And as you see here, it is available only in English:

As far as I can tell, the only iPhone App currently available in a language other than English is Apple’s own Remote App, available in these languages:

I know it’s early yet. But keep in mind that the iPhone launched globally on Friday, which means there are a lot of markets that have a localized iPhone but only one fully localized iPhone App to use on them.

This means there is a HUGE opportunity for the software localization vendors of the world to help these software developers take these apps global. Apple says it sold one million iPhones over the past three days — and 10 million apps.

Here are some of the companies that currently offer non-localized apps: eBay, MySpace, Bloomberg, Travelocity, MLB.com, Oracle, and Salesforce.com.

If you spot any iPhone Apps that have been localized outside of English, please let me know. This will be very interesting to follow…

UPDATE: Adam Houser just alerted me to  Anime Match by Jirbo, shown here:

This app is available in Japanese. It’s a catchy little game actually — and free!

I have the old iPhone and tried to upgrade this morning. Apparently I’m one of many thousands of people (or more) who have received nothing but error messages. Here is one of them:

Apple had to know the strain to its servers would be huge this morning. Why the company decided to roll out its new 3G iPhone while also upgrading all current iPhone software on the same day is beyond me. They should have handled the upgrade a day early to better distribute server loads globally.

It will be interesting to see if Apple steps up and admits its mistake or just ignores its growing global user base. This is a critical point in Apple’s evolution and it would be nice to see the company get more customer friendly, though I’m not holding my breath.

UPDATE: Well, it’s two hours later and I have another error screen to add to my collection:

Based on what I’m hearing from others, there are two main errors: -4 and -9838. Both appear related to some bug or some traffic issue with the iTunes servers. I was finally able to upgrade to the 2.0 OS, and it seems to be working fine, but I just can’t sync to iTunes.

Still no official word anywhere on the Apple Web site that there is a problem. Companies are judged not just by their successes but also by how they handle their mistakes. Apple is losing big points today.

SUCCESS! About seven hours after I began the upgrade process my iPhone is now officially upgraded. I just took a stab at using Facebook and Twitterific. With each new app this phone — despite my earlier grumblings — is just going to get more and more valuable.

Fortunately, Apple supports a consistent design across its many country Web sites. So when it came time to go live with the translated Web content on 22+ local websites, the process was a relative breeze. Here are four country home pages:

Imagine how difficult this undertaking would be if each country had it own unique Web design requiring the redesigning of visuals for each site.

When it comes to global rollouts, it’s hard to argue with the efficiency of using a global template.

A globally consistent product requires a globally consistent Web site.

Having said this, Apple could still improve a great deal when it comes to Web localization. That is, a number of the local Web sites really aren’t all that local. Like this clip, from the Japan site — an A/V demo of the new MobileMe service — which is available in English only.

But if you visit the Chinese home pages of these five companies, you’re going to see the following:

Although white more commonly signifies death and mourning in China, black is a more effective way of expressing grief on the white background of a Web page.

Google China and Baidu have turned their logos black as well.

It’s just a shame more of the world won’t see these sites — as I found them quite moving. Everything about China seems to be beyond comprehension, including, unfortunately, this earthquake.

So here are the top 10 posts of 2007 based on traffic:

1. The Best Global Web Sites of 2007
2. Starbucks CEO on Globalization: Don’t Go Changing This quote from the Starbucks CEO speaks volumes about the company’s success around the world.
3. Which Country; Which Language? A guest article by John Greenwood of InterPro Translation Services continues to be very popular.
4. The Best Global Web Sites (and why) This entry is a nice summary of some of the best practices exhibited by the top sites in the 2007 Report Card.
5. Register.Me Montenegro is getting its own country code (.me) and one can imagine the entertaining possibilities this domain presents for creative URLs.
6. Staples: Asi de Facil Hardly a week goes by that I don’t press my “That was easy” button, translated in Spanish. They sell a lot of these here in San Diego. I’m still waiting for the Chinese version.
7. If The World Were 100 People This is a personal favorite.
8. Scaling a Great Wall: Top 5 Tips for Learning Chinese This is another guest article, by Saul Gitlin of Kang & Lee, and a very hot topic these days.
9. Just Don’t Do It: The Art of Slogan Translation
10. The Localization of iPhone

So there you have it — the top 10 entries out of the 99 entries posted in 2007. Yes, I know I’m not the most active blogger as bloggers go. But I only blog when the urge strikes and sometimes it just does not strike. Which is probably a good thing.

As Abraham Lincoln once said: Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.

And on that note I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year!

Awhile back I wondered how Apple would localize its Web keypad, which features the .com button to accelerate the input of URLs. I own an iPhone and really do make use of this button.

So I took a look at the German keypad demo today and here is what I found. If you look closely here, you’ll see that if the user presses and holds the .com key the .de button also appears:

This is an interesting way to provide two such shortcuts.

But I think Apple made a big mistake here. The .de key should not be the optional button, it should be the default button; .com should be the optional button.

After all, the most popular German Web sites all have .de extensions. Even American companies that are successful in Germany, such as Google and Amazon, use the .de domain.

Now what about UK? Is there an optional .co.uk button available by pressing .com? Oddly, no.

What this says to me is that Apple either:

1. Apple was in too much of a hurry to launch in Europe that it didn’t really put the time and thought into localizing the interface correctly.
2. Apple did indeed take its time localizing for these two markets, but the folks in charge inherently believed that .com is more important than local domains.
3. Apple tested the interface both ways in both local markets and found that this solution is indeed whats users want.

I vote for scenario number 2. What do you think?

One of the things I first noticed (and love) about the Web browser is the .com button on the keypad, shown here.

Of course, this little shortcut isn’t so handy if I want to visit a .org or .edu Web site.

It’s also not much use for visiting country-specific Web sites, such as www.yahoo.fr.

Which is why the localization of this interface is going to be an interesting thing to watch evolve.

It is just a matter of time before we see the iPhone launched around the world. So does that mean the .com key will be replaced by .de or .fr keys? I imagine so.

This will give companies yet another good reason to register country code domains. While a Web user in France may first go to acme.com and then navigate to acme.fr when visiting a Web site. Using the iPhone, it’s likely that person will simply go to acme.fr, an example of a new interface changing user behavior.

The other interesting thing I’ve noticed on the iPhone so far is that it doesn’t appear to be using a “conventional” Unicode font. That is, I’m finding that the interface displays Chinese and other Asian scripts just fine — as well as Cyrillic — but it can’t display Arabic or Hebrew scripts. What this says to me is that Apple doesn’t have the Middle East on its near-term global expansion plans. My guess is that it’s using the scaled-down font to conserve drive space. Documentation is hard to come by so far so I’d love to hear from anyone out there who knows more about this.

I’ve been to Europe once so far and the iPhone held up quite nicely; AT&T didn’t hit me up for too much in roaming fees. It is interesting — though not surprising — that you can’t de-activate cellular roaming and just rely on Wi-Fi. I did have a faulty power adapter but got that replaced at the Apple store with no resistance.

But back to the Web browser. I know this has been said many times before, but this is the first phone that makes browsing the Web about as easy as it is on a computer. And I suspect that over time this will have an impact not only on how companies develop Web sites in the US, but how they localize these sites for markets around the world.

The company is focusing on those markets where it currently does not lead. It looks like the new Web designs for Taiwan and Hong Kong will follow Korea’s lead — with more content, more animation, more everything.

Google cites the need to take advantage of the higher broadband speeds, which is certainly one good reason. But there is also the simple fact that austere Web designs have not (to this point) gone over very well with most Asian countries.

Does this mean that Google is sacrificing its identity to succeed in Asia? Perhaps. If, five years from now, tastes in Asia veer toward the austere, Google could find itself out-Googled by someone else.

It’s easy to be austere when you’re a one-trick pony, as was the case for Google six years ago. But it’s hard to be austere when you have so many different applications to offer. Even the new Apple iPhone, which is widely praise for its simplicity, features 16 icons on its home page (with more to come).

Perhaps feature-creep is just a fact of life for maturing Web sites. It wasn’t that long ago that Amazon featured only books on its home page and Yahoo! was little more than a one-column layout.

Although every Web site is global by nature, few Web sites support enough languages to be understood by the majority of the world’s Internet users.

But translation is just one aspect of a successful global Web site. As the practice of Web globalization has become mainstream, so too have a number of best practices.

In an effort to identify and understand these established and emerging best practices, in 2003, I began benchmarking the Web sites of hundreds of global companies and organizations. I tracked language use, navigation techniques, and global consistency, and interviewed hundreds of executives who manage these global Web sites. This information formed the basis for The Web Globalization Report Card of which the 2007 edition was recently published.

This article lists the top 10 Web sites from the report and explains some of the best practices that these Web sites have in common.

The Best Global Web Sites
Let’s get right to the top 10 Web sites for 2007:

Google has made itself at home at the top of this list for the past few years. The reason Google excels is not just due to its 115-language search interface. Google has also rapidly localized its many Web-based applications — from Blogger to Adwords — in up to 40 languages.

Wikipedia can lay claim to being the most global Web site on the Internet, offering content in more than 250 languages. Wikipedia proves that you don’t need to be a big corporation to create a wildly successful global Web site; you do, however, need a few thousand very motivated volunteers.

Cisco Systems and Philips both improved their global navigation over the past year, improving their scores. Microsoft recently added a Spanish site for the US market, bringing the number of languages it supports to 40. And American Express supports 29 languages, more than any other financial services company; within the past year, the company added localized sites for Romania and Slovenia.

Although the Web sites on the list reflect a wide range of industries and audience types, you will find they have a number things in common related to Web globalization.

What Makes a Great Global Web Site?
The grading criteria of the The Web Globalization Report Card can be distilled into four best practices:

1. Languages: To reach 80% of the world’s Internet users, you must support at least 10 languages. The best Web sites support many more.
2. Localization: Not only is depth of localized content essential to success, but so is the localization of elements such as search engines, promotions, icons, and photos.
3. Global Navigation: Users must be able to find their local Web sites even if they don’t speak English.
4. Global Consistency: Global design templates not only support the global brand, they are quite simply a lot easier to manage internally.

Languages: Not Standing Still
It wasn’t very long ago that you could call your Web site global when it supported FIGS (French, Italian, German, Spanish) and Japanese. But rising Internet penetration, the globalization of business, and higher user expectations have given rise to the 30+ language Web site.

While the demand for more languages is hardly surprising, the pace at which many companies are moving is impressive. In the just two years, the following companies have all increased the number of languages they support:

Languages Supported: 2005 to 2007

Based on the Report Card, the average number of languages supported by the 200 Web sites studied is 18 — a 23% increase from 2006. By this time next year the average could very well surpass 20 languages.

Localization: Giving Web Users What They Want
Web localization typically evolves in stages. First, the marketing folks have their way at creating localized Web sites. These mini-sites typically function like brochures — promoting the newest products and services and saying a bit about the company.

The danger with this approach is that the localized Web sites may create the impression that the entire Web sites have been translated, resulting in disappointed users. However, if Web sites are transparent about what they content they support and do not support — the sites have proven to be a positive step forward in Web localization.

Consider Intel’s localized site for France. While a great deal of content is available in French, some content remains in English. Instead of removing the links to the English content, Intel inserts icons to alert the user to English content:

This is a smart strategy because it gives the user a sense of control and also gives bi-lingual users access to all available information, instead of having to jump back and forth between the US and French Web sites.

Rarely do companies translate all of their content for all markets they serve — the costs are simply too high. The emergence of machine translation will certainly help companies fill in these content gaps, but this too will take time. Until then, a tiered approach to Web localization is the way most companies proceed.

A tiered approach to Web localization aligns resources with potential returns. Managing internal as well as external expectations. It also allows a company to get into a market quickly without risking too much upfront.

Provided the Web site does not create the impression that there is more content beneath the marketing facade, these sites can be successful. Companies may use them to test market demand, generate leads for the local sales team, or simply to appease the local sales offices.

Ultimately, companies will need to spend real money on translating lots of content and localizing the applications that consumers want. And this is where the real work begins.

For example, consider the localized room reservation engine at Starwood Hotels. Shown here, you can see a few details that must be addressed in the localization of this application — such as text expansion from English to German and date formats.

The localization of reservation engines, search engines, shopping carts, and order tracking engines are where the best localized sites distance themselves from the competition.

Truly Global Navigation
Localized Web sites are of little value if the Web user cannot find them. Many global companies find that more than half of the traffic to their .com sites originates from outside of their home market. The challenge then becomes one of directing these Web users to their local sites — something that is easier said than done.

A “select country” pull-down menu on the home page isn’t by itself good enough. Here are the major elements a company may employ to direct Web users to local Web sites:

• Country domain name (like .fr for France)
• The splash global gateway
• The permanent global gateway
• Language negotiation
• Geolocation

The splash global gateway and permanent global gateway are illustrated here.

The splash gateway is a valuable device for ensuring that first-time visitors select their locale before they have a chance to get lost. On each country site is a permanent gateway icon that links back to the splash page so Web users can change locale settings at any time.

Nearly 30% of the 200 Web sites studied now deploy splash global gateway pages to direct Web users to local content. At this rate of growth, I expect the number of Web sites using splash gateways to surpass 50% by the end of 2008. What’s the reason for this increase? For starters, a splash global gateway, properly executed, is an excellent navigation tool. Second, as more companies begin supporting 20+ or 30+ country Web sites, they find they cannot get by simply using a pull-down menu.

A splash global gateway is not for everyone. Google, for one, does not use one. However, it does use geolocation and language negotiation to detect the user’s language preference and location so it may seamlessly take the user to a specific localized site.

There is no one perfect global navigation strategy. In fact, as companies add more localized sites, their strategies and evolve as well. But here are three general best practices that all companies should follow:

1. Flags should not be used to indicate language.
2. Language and country names should be presented in their native language and script.
3. Companies should not show favoritism for any country over another.

Global Consistency: Web Designs that Travel
Companies often don’t enter Web globalization thinking that they’ll one day be supporting 100+ local Web sites. As a result, they often do not think about how to develop Web templates that can scale quickly to accommodate many localized sites while remaining easy to manage. It’s much easier to train your global Web team, and share ideas, if everyone is working with the same templates and on the same platform.

As shown here with Apple, a consistent global template allows the company to more efficiently deploy global promotions. Local offices aren’t required to resize images or redesign layouts. The elements need only be localized.

Global design templates are used by all Web sites in the top 10. In fact, nearly half of the Web sites studied for the Report Card either support consistent global templates or are on their way to doing so.

Global templates need not restrict local sites from offering their own content. The best global templates generally reflect less design, that is, fewer elements and minimal screen real estate.

To Become the Best, Study the Best
If there is one key takeaway from this article it is this: If you want to improve your company’s global Web site, look outside of your industry. Web globalization best practices may emerge from anywhere, so it’s always important to study those companies that have done a particularly good job of communicating with the world. From the splash gateway used by Caterpillar to the geolocation used by Google, by keeping an eye outside of your industry, you’ll be better prepared to stay ahead of the competitors within your industry.

Relevant Reports:

The 2007 Web Globalization Report Card

The Art of the Global Gateway

The Brazil Localization Report

The Russia Localization Report

- There was a lot of buzz around machine translation (MT). Both Systran and Language Weaver are here and there were (at least) four sessions devoted to integrating Idiom WorldServer with MT. More important, the translation agencies and clients appeared serious about using MT, or at least seriously interested in what it can do.

- The Idiom LSP (language service provider) partnership program appears to be doing very well. There were quite a few translation agencies here who are very happy with WorldServer. And there are a number of other agencies I met with who were in the process of becoming LSP users of the product. More important, there is a sense that a community is forming among LSPs around WorldServer.

- New Idiom clients over the past few months include Bank of America, Mattel, and Apple.

- Old and new acronyms were abundant this week. idiom used MTM to refer to using integrated MT/TM (translation memory) tools. Jaap van der Meer, head of TAUS, used the acronym FAUT: fully automatic usable translation to refer to machine translation. Alan Melby countered with HUTTA: human-understanding translation with technology assistance. I heard DITA used lots over the past two days — and I won’t even bother trying to explain what this acronym stands for because it still won’t make any sense. What do all these new acronyms mean? In addition to making my head numb, I take them to mean that there are significant changes afoot in this industry and these new acronyms are attempting to describe not only the new technologies by the new paradigms that are evolving.

- Finally, after my presentation on Web globalization, I spoke with one executive regarding the challenges of migrating the US Web site to the .us country code domain. A small number of large corporations have done this already and I have heard reports of frustration with Google because Google.com isn’t spidering the .us sites in a way that gives the US sites good placement in search engine results. This I think could become a growing issue. In theory, companies should be hosting their US-specific sites at the .us domain, freeing up .com for global content and/or global navigation. But unless Google reworks its algorithms to effectively encourage companies to pursue this approach, I fear that Google will only encourage companies to do nothing at all. There is currently no uniquely labeled Google US search engine. While I have a feeling that Google will ultimately make the necessary changes, I hope this happens sooner than later.

But before reading my take on the year ahead, let’s see how I did on my 2005 predictions:

2005 Predictions Scorecard

Web Globalization Goes Mainstream – Correct
While Web globalization isn’t exactly front page news of The Wall Street Journal, it is now viewed as a key component for growth in the years ahead. We have China and Tom Friedman to thank for this.Amazon Adds Spanish for the US – Incorrect
Apple Launches iTunes Korea – Incorrect
These two predictions were a bit optimistic in regards to timing. While I still believe both will happen, it appears that licensing (in the case of iTunes) and budget (in the case of Amazon) remain roadblocks.The Global Gateway Finds the “Sweet Spot” – Correct
I’m particularly pleased to see so many Web sites positioning or re-positioning their global gateways in the upper right corner of the Web page. This was the year that many, many companies began to invest in understanding how users around the world find their localized Web sites. There is still plenty of room for improvement, but 2005 was a good year.

I got two out of four predictions correct — a .500 batting average. I can live with that.

So, with this batting average in mind, here are my predictions for the year ahead…

2006 Predictions

eBay Launches eBay Japan
eBay ceded Japan to Yahoo! years ago but it can’t ignore this massive ecommerce market forever. Now that eBay is sinking $100 million into China it cannot afford to overlook the potential cross-border transaction revenues between China and Japan. Looking back, eBay probably should not have given up on Japan, but that’s water under the bridge. It needs to get back there and I think 2006 will be the year it does so.Chinese Becomes Number One Translated Language
This is an easy one. Chinese was already one of the hottest languages in the translation industry this year. But next year it will get hotter. I recently asked my newsletter subscribers about this and a whopping 87% agreed — Chinese is the “it” language in 2006 (and beyond).,EU used to host Corporate European Web Sites
With more than 100,000 pre-registrations, the new .eu domain is sure to make registrars a nice profit. But will it be a practical domain for businesses? I think so. In fact, we believe that by the end of this year a number of multinationals will begin hosting their European Web sites at this address. Few multinationals offer localized Web sites for every EU country, so this domain provides a nice way to “fill in the gaps” so to speak. It’s not a perfect solution by any means, but it’s a nice workaround.

The Large CMS Vendors Discover Globalization Workflow
I have long wondered why the large content management vendors like Documentum and Interwoven have resisted building globalization workflow into their products, instead choosing to partner with other vendors, such as SDL and Translations.com. The reason for this is that for years globalization workflow was not as critical to selling the CMS product. However, this will change in 2006 as the big CMS players notice that smaller players like Clay Tablet, Vasont, and Hot Banana are winning clients based on globalization workflow features.

Corporate America Discovers Machine Translation
I don’t expect 2005 to be the year that hundreds of CIOs run out and buy, say, Language Weaver’s statistical machine translation (SMT) software. But I think a handful of forward-thinking executives will take the plunge and I believe they will see a positive return on their investments. Despite all the inherent baggage that MT carries (some of it deserved), the demand for MT will continue to push innovation and increase quality, particularly along industry verticals. I believe SMT is going to be just the ticket for a number of large multinationals. As more multinationals viewed translated content as a competitive advantage rather than a chore, MT will be taken more seriously. Translators are in no danger of losing their day jobs, but I do believe that their jobs will change in the years ahead — and in a very good way.

Lionbridge Acquires Another Translation Company
Lionbridge has expanded production facilities overseas and will be doing well cash-flow wise next year. Now all it will need is more business, some of which it will get through acquisition. Organic business development takes time and Lionbridge needs to maintain a rapid growth curve. I honestly don’t know what agency Lionbridge will acquire but I do believe at least one services acquisition is forthcoming. So who will Lionbridge acquire? Companies that look like good targets to me include Welocalize, Simultrans, McElroy, Luz, Translations.com, ForeignExchange, and VistaTEC. The rumor mill points toward Welocalize; I’m not sure Smith Yewell is ready to cash out just yet, but you never know. I’d like to see the Translations.com acquisition because it would place Lionbridge firmly in the Web globalization space, but the price might be too steep at this point.

I got some emails about my initial posting regarding Lionbridge’s debt, which is sizable. But I do think the company will have a very good first half of 2006.

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Full Disclosure: I do not have a financial stake in any globalization services or software firm. You can read Byte Level’s policy here.

Anyone care to guess how long before a New Zealand iTunes store launches?

iTunes 4 (Germany)

iTunes 5 (US)

Apple no doubt wanted to free up that valuable real estate at the top of the page to promote more products. And, because users cannot purchase songs across borders, the global gateway is of somewhat less importance. The way things work now, if you want to purchase songs from different country stores, you need to set up separate accounts. I’m sure this is completely driven by license limitations.

“iTunes Music Stores were launched in the UK, France and Germany in June 2004, and now operate in 17 European countries including Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. The European iTunes Music Stores have catalogs of over one million songs each, and feature content from all major music companies and over 1,000 independent record labels.”

Now we wait for Apple to tackle Asia. Sites for Australia, New Zealand, and Japan are expected this year.

In December there were 14:

And in September of last year there were just four; that’s right, just four:

There must be some awfully tired localization managers at Apple…

According to the Courier-Mail:

A source said yesterday Apple had planned to launch an Australian version of its popular online music store last Thursday, as widely touted, but the launch was thwarted by one unnamed major record company that refused to sign an agreement in time.The hurdle reportedly forced Apple to cancel radio advertisements ordered for the date, and it is expected to delay iTunes’s launch by days, or possibly weeks, as song and album prices and payments are negotiated with the holdout label.

And unlike the UK, this time Apple owns the Australian domain name: itunes.com.au.

I even checked just to be sure:

What makes the Australian site significant is that this is the first Asia-Pacific site. I also expect to see Japan this year and possibly even Korea.

This is where itunes.co.uk takes you now…

According to this article, the owner of QuidPro is appealing to the High Court. And I think he has a shot at keeping the name; after all, he did register it first and it he doesn’t appear to be a “squatter.”

Still, can’t the folks at Apple cough up a little cash to buy him out?

According to the WSJ the EU is investigating whether iTunes overcharges UK customers. The price of a song in the UK is about 20% more than it is on the continent. And because iTunes does not allow cross-border transactions (CBT), this has become something of or sore spot.

Personally, I’d love to see iTunes embrace CBT. It sure works well for eBay.

And now for the good news…

According to CNET, Apple won the iTunes.co.uk domain after a lengthy battle with a company it had accused of cybersquatting. I’m not sure this is over just yet, as appeals may yet reverse the ruling, but for now it qualifies as good news for Apple.

Web Globalization Goes Mainstream
Based on surveys I�ve conducted, discussions with executives at Fortune 500 companies, and a few recent discussions with reporters, the signs are pointing toward a very public year for the field of Web globalization. You may remember that Web globalization was a hot topic back in the heady days of 2000. But this time around, growth will be driven by real revenues. Amazon could see more than half of its revenues come from outside the US by the end of 2005, and definitely by 2006. And it won�t just be the virtual companies that embrace Web globalization; we�ll see companies from industries such as hospitality, retail and financial services launch multilingual Web sites � another sign that this emerging field has crossed over from luxury to necessity.

Amazon Adds Spanish
The CFO of Amazon said recently that the globalization of Amazon.com is a �significant opportunity� and promised additional local Web sites. The question is: What new Web sites and when? The company did acquire a Chinese bookseller, Joyo.com, over the summer, but has largely been quiet otherwise. Many people don�t know that Amazon already sells around the world � shipping goods from its many local stores to more than 200 countries; the more languages Amazon supports, the greater sales it will do. Next year, I expect Amazon to begin supporting Spanish for the US market. They simply cannot afford to ignore the 30+ million native speakers of Spanish; furthermore, the language gives the retailer a platform on which to expand into Latin America. I also will not be surprised to see Amazon enter the Korean market, although I suspect they are predisposed to a local acquisition. Amazon spent enormously to get the Japanese Web site off the ground, and it is treading much more cautiously these days. But Spanish for the US market is one area the company can get off the ground relatively cheaply and see immediate results.

Apple Launches iTunes Korea
We�ve been told that Apple will be launching iTunes Japan in March 2005, but Apple has been silent about the rest of Asia. Korea is a natural next step and will be particularly important should Apple release the much-rumored iPhone handset. This all is a run-up to the ultimate launch of iTunes China, which will be led not by the iPod but by the iPhone.

The Global Gateway Finds the �Sweet Spot�
Six years ago I coined the term �global gateway� to refer to the pull-down menus that companies were just beginning to use to direct Web users to their specific languages or countries. Over the years, the global gateway has evolved dramatically, although until recently most companies still largely overlooked its importance in driving traffic to localized Web sites. But based on conversations I�ve had over the past few months with a wide range of companies, I believe 2005 will see the global gateway become a priority on a larger number of Web sites. The �sweet spot� for a global gateway is the very top of the Web page, usually to the right side. We�re going to see more and more Web sites �promote� their global gateways to this location; this is a positive development for companies and Web users alike.

Apple wants that domain name real badly and is using all legal means it its disposal. Unforunately, according to this article, Apple was simply too late in registering the name.

Just four stores were live in September. Talk about rapid globalization.A Japan iTunes store is in the works, but that country won’t be as simple as Canada. Character set challenges are never easy, particularly when it comes to text input, output and search engines. Nevertheless, Apple is going at a blistering pace and I won’t be surprised if I see 30 stores by the end of 2005.

As I reported a few weeks agoiTunes is already localized for 12 European markets. Japan, however, will not be quite so simple due to the inevitable character set challenges.

Also, here are my initial thoughts of how effectively Apple is localizing each store.