My new challenge - feel the touch screen buttons.

iPad2 in gorgeous red - the smart cover + back cover case costs me more than RM400!

My wife just got her new toy, an iPad 2. The touch-screen keyboard is the challenge thingy that I need to adapt.

I have been trained to use a typewriter and keyboard since secondary school, I can type notes without looking at the screen while in meetings.

To stay in trend and to be competent, I really need to put in effort to be more efficient in using the touch-screen technology gadget such as iPad 2 – to feel the touch screen buttons!

MacBook Air is actually my preference, at least there’s a keyboard for the old-school me.

I bought my spouse a Samsung Galaxy Tab three weeks ago. Last week, we returned to Lawyat Plaza and bought another unit of Samsung Galaxy Tab for my mom-in-law as her birthday + Christmas + wedding anniversary gift.

The market price for Samsung Galaxy Tab P1000 with 16GB is RM2,699 and I got it at RM2,680 with a FOC screen protector and some Android market software/apps like games, GPS, Documents to Go and etc. I also upgraded the expandable storage from 2GB (came with the box) to 32GB and a Bluetooth headsets Jabra EasyGo.

I am not Google Android fans neither Apple lover. The reasons I preferred Samsung Galaxy Tab compare to Apple iPad because of the below Pros and Conds:

Pros:
- Size and weight (convenience to carry and hold)
- Phone feature
- Adobe Flash (version 10.1) support!!
- Camera
- Android market software/apps
- Expandable storage
- Greater RAM: 512MB
- Normal SIM card compatible (I have tried Maxis and Celcom’s 3G SIM card and it’s workable. iPad has to change the SIM card to Micro SIM)

Conds:
- Expensive than Apple iPad by RM700 (iPad market price is RM1,999 with WiFi + 3G)
- Samsung Galaxy Tab’s screen size is smaller (7-inch : 9.7-inch iPad)
- Samsung Galaxy Tab’s battery life is shorter (7hrs : 10hrs iPad)
- iPad has variety of accessories in the market

Both Samsung Galaxy Tab and Apple iPad has its own unique attractiveness. It depends what you want, Samsung Galaxy Tab is a real ‘big-size smart phone cum small-size tablet’ and Apple iPad is a real tablet.

Samsung Galaxy Tab has strong potential in the market, otherwise MAXIS would not carries this product with their bundle plan (http://www.maxis.com.my/personal/android/Android_Phones.asp)

More Pictures:

Samsung Galaxy Tab P1000. I bought two units from SAMSUNG booth/stall right in front the MAXIS service centre in Lowyat Plaza ground floor. The saleperson name is CS, he is quite a helpful and reliable person.

Samsung Galaxy Tab Red Leather Case Folio - Red is my spouse's favourite colour. I bought it from Amazon.com, a real lether case cost RM170 with expedited shipping (delivered within 7 days). I can't find any real lether case for Samsung Galaxy Tab in Malaysia, all cases found are made by PVC or silicone.

Jabra Easygo headsets - Work well with Samsung Galaxy Tab. Market price RM75.

Samsung Galaxy Tab and Apple iPad Comparison by PCWorld

‘Yes’ is YTL Comms’ brand name, same as P1 by Green Packet Berhad. YTL Comms engaged with AGENDA for its product branding and website design including the selection of website address.

My first thought to ‘yes’ is YTL E-Solution- YES, because YTLE is YTL group’s IT arm and has been established for a longer period compare to YTL Comms.

Why ‘yes’ as brand name?

YTL Comms believe in creating positive change. And they believe they have achieved that through a faster, better and more affordable Internet experience for all Malaysians.

Why domain name yes.my?

YTL Comms has registered ccTLD ‘yes.my’ and ‘yes.com.my’. If TLD ‘yes.com’ is available, I believe their brand is now ‘yes.com’ instead of ‘yes.my’. However, ‘yes.my’ is short and ease to remember domain name, they have chosen the right name.

Every Yes account comes with a 018 number

You can use this number on your phone, laptop, or computer. To pre-register for your desire Yes ID with 018 number you may visit their website.

Pay as per you used

YTL comms’ product pricing concept is simple, you pay the amount of the bandwidth you have used. ‘Yes’ would be very much focus on the bundle plan in the near future, for instance bundle with computer or smartphone.

Speed

YTL Comms claimed that their service is 3 to 5 times faster than 3G. I believe it depend on the coverage area and the weather conditions. If you are P1 WiMAX users, you should know the result well. Time will proved it.

YTL Comms ‘Yes’ Flagship

The Yes flagship is just right in front the Lot 10 shopping mall in Bukit Bintang, KL. A small stand alone building feature modern and art design.

YTL Comms’ Office Address and Contact

YTL Communications Sdn Bhd
7th Floor, One Oriental Place, No.1 Jalan Hang Lekiu, 50100 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: +603 2027 8888

YTL Comms’ Key Personal/Management

Mr. Wing K Lee – Chief Executive Officer
Email: wing@ytlcomms.my

Mr. Yap Kok Leong – Chief Marketing Officer
Email: kl.yap@ytlcomms.my

Mr. Leong Chee Sung – VP CRM
Email: cheesung.leong@ytlcomms.my

Mr. Joehan Martinus – VP Marketing
Email: joehan.martinus@ytlcomms.my

‘YTL Comms’ NOT ‘YTLC’

Do you know why YTL Communications Sdn Bhd using ‘YTL Comms’ instead of ‘YTLC’ as their short name?
‘C’ in Chinese Hokkien means ‘Die’. If you are the boss of the company, do you want to hear people say YTL ‘C’? They can use YTLe for YTL E-solutions but not YTLc for YTL Communications.

Bottom line

If you want to register the Yes plan, I would suggest to wait for another few more months. Let’s we hear what the users feedback first.

P1 has a strong competitor now, what strategy do they have to compete with Yes? I realised P1 spent a lot of money on press advertisement these few weeks…

Related Post: Malaysia’s First WiMAX-enabled Smartphone Will Be Launched in End 2010

Is It Illegal Using the Credit Card for Online Gambling?

One of my friend asked me the above question and if my answer to him is ‘yes’, then he would like to know what’s the best way to avoid going against the law.

First, to answer his question- is it illegal using the credit card for online gambling?

For Malaysian, the answer is yes- it is illegal. You can refer to your credit card issuing bank’s terms and conditions. There’s a statement in T&C section mentioned like this:
Any card issued to me / us shall not be used by me / us for any unlawful activity or purpose (including without limitation online gambling), whether in whole or part.

Solution to avoid going against the law

I have asked him for the gamble website address to further study and research in order to provide him the right answer and found that there’s a way gambler can ‘deposit’ money into the gamble account from the credit card without going against the banking T&C. The gamble website normally accept third parties e-money/e-wallet such as Click2Pay and Neteller.com. We called these third parties ‘payment gateway service providers’, what a gambler can do is to deposit the fund into the gambling website via these third parties. Of course, there will be a percentage of transaction fee charges that needs to be paid from 3% to 5%.

Problem withdrawing the money that you won

Credit card does not accept fund deposit. Alternatively, the gambler can withdraw the money through a few way:
- Cheque
- Transfer to your bank (bank, account, name and etc are required to be provided)
- WesternUnion

Well, with the convenience of Western Union, the advantage is that people can withdraw the money earned from the Internet (such as trading and blog ads); the disadvantage is that an easy way for money laundering.

Bottom line

Gambling is not good for life, getting addicted to this game can cause a lot of bad effects. With the convinience of Internet, people can sit right in front the computer losing thousand of dollars.

I have worked on various e-commerce projects that accepts online payment. However, most of the medium-to-large size organization in Malaysia do not incorporate PayPal into their payment method options. Majority of them is because their finance unit is restricted with payment policies, legal and audit issues. This is beyond the website strategies and lies on the business operations.

I do use PayPal for online payment, and would prefer that online merchants has this option

I call PayPal as e-wallet. It allows me to withdraw (purchasing) and deposit (through selling) money. I usually do not withdraw funds from PayPal as I prefer to use it to buy something online instead of using my credit card, as some small online stores only accept PayPal, WorldPay or Moneybookers; another reason which I feel uncomfortable or insecure in using my credit card when purchasing from small website, even though it is VeriSign secured.

I believe in Internet transaction security and understand the payment system process flow, but what we don’t know is whether they (merchants) capture our sensitive data or not. This is the most worrying part of Internet transaction- privacy. Their system may be very good and secure, but are their staff trustable and reliable?

I trust the online payment system security but not the people

I used to work in an organization 11 years ago where they do not process online transactions in real-time, their secured web pages (https- SSL) captures customers data into a database and forward the request to respective personnel to process the purchase with a merchant machine. This is not the right way in processing online transactions and customers data should not be viewed by any parties. Think about the consequences, what if the respective personnel discloses customers data?

I used to work in an international bank, practices very good security where staffs are not allowed to print, email, copy and even carry handphones or any computer devices during work, customers data is only accessible by higher level staff. Furthermore, the computer is well secured with customized OS, website access limitation and all external ports are disabled. Unless you’re an expert, or else stealing data from bank is not easy, this is how the bank build its trust and reputation.

What consumers want and how can you solve their problem?

As an online consumer, I want a secured, trustable payment service and options.

As a merchant, I would want to provide as many payment method as possible. This will be my website’s value, which is solving the people’s problem- allow PayPal users to utilize their e-wallet money to spend on something that they don’t need to use credit card.

Bottom line

The growth of the online consumers and PayPal users are rapidly increasing by the days. According to the survey conducted by third party, there are more than 15% of online consumers in Malaysia using PayPal for online payment. If you want a bigger piece of cake then please consider the 15% of online consumers’ preference on the online payment options.

PayPal Malaysian launch party on Friday, December 11th, 2009 from 7pm until late. Location at Neo restaurant (opposite equitorial hotel, KL).

This party is by invitation only. Closing date on December 8th and seat is limited.

Condition:
(1) You are PayPal User (PayPal account email address is required for verification) or
(2) You are the guest that invited by PayPal User.

If you are PayPal User, please send an email to sea_marketing@paypal.com include your full name, PayPal email addresss, eBay ID (if applicable), country of residence, total number of guest (max 2 – you + one guest) for registration.

Below is the invitation… see you there.

PayPal Malaysia Launch Party Invitation

Number of Broadband Subscriptions by Technology - MCMC 3rd Quarter 2009 Statistics

According to MCMC source above:

Fixed line broadband subscriptions: 1,483,100 (1.48 million)
Wireless broadband subscriptions: 871,900 (0.87 million)
Total broadband subscriptions: 2,355,000 (2.35 million)

Malaysia population is 28.31 million as of today. If we assume each family has 5 persons then there are 5,662,000 (5.66 million) families in Malaysia, means 58% ~ 3,307,000 (3.3 million) families have not yet subscribe to broadband service.

So who is going to earn these people money by providing them broadband service?

Technically, WiMAX speed is much faster then 3G. Unfortunately, there’s no WiMAX-enabled computer available in the Malaysia market, so don’t even mention WiMAX-enabled Smartphone.

But things will be changing next year. YTLe has entered into an contract with SAMSUNG to implement a nationwide WiMAX network, SAMSUNG will not only provide a network solution but more importantly, will be supplying the World’s 1st WiMAX-enabled Smartphone. This Smartphone will allow subscribers to have access to a high-quality, converged voice and high-speed broadband network all over the country. The YTLe’s WiMAX implementation is expected to be completed in July 2010.

Resulting, YTLe’s WiMAX to increase its broadband penetration and a benchmark in Malaysia wireless broadband market. According to sources, YTLe will be offering data download speeds of 8 Mbps and 2 Mbps for uplinks, where user can download a 10MB YouTube movie clip in just one second! This will change the Malaysian experience and allow us to have an experience like never before.

If you are planning to buy a wireless enabled handheld device that able you the best speed of service and a wider area coverage, then a 3G-enabled, WiMAX-enabled Smartphone may be a right choice for you. I have been waiting for the WiMAX-enabled Smartphone for 2 years. Although there are various well-known 3G technology handheld devices such as BlackBerry, Apple iPhone 3GS and Nokia N95/N96/N97 available in the market, but none of them able to beat the speed of WiMAX and cover the area of nationwide.

SAMSUNG SWD-M100 Mondi was announced in Feb 2009 as the first handheld WiMAX device in the World. The device features a touch screen, QWERTY keyboard, Bluetooth, WiFi and OS by Windows Mobile 6.1 Classic.However, I believe the Malaysia version of SAMSUNG WiMAX-enabled Smartphone will be different from above pictures.

More pictures for SAMSUNG SWD-M100 Mondi from jkkmobile.blogspot.com:

Chargebacks

A chargeback occurs when an individual credit card holder contacts the credit card issuing bank to deny and claims that he or she did not authorise a transaction made and request to dispute the charges. The credit card issuing bank will then take the money back from the acquiring bank (merchant bank). Chargebacks are typically reported on a weekly or bi-weekly basis by the acquirer to the merchant, costs to the merchant when this happens include:

• Loss of merchandise
• Loss of revenue
• Per-chargeback administration fees (such as RM45)
• Fines for chargebacks (depends on the number of disputed transaction incidents)
• Risk of losing merchant account due to high chargeback rates, and associated loss of ability to accept credit cards payment online.

The above diagram is a typical Internet credit card transactions process flow model

Approaches to managing fraud

When you are setting up or selecting a billing system on your e-commerce website, ensure the following approaches are implemented:

• Address Verification Service (AVS)
  Request for the billing address (statement address) to be submitted for credit card issuing bank’s verification. It can help reduce fraud when the perpetrator does not have a billing address.
• Details As Per Statement
  Request for the credit card holder’s statement name instead of name on card to be submitted for credit card issuing bank’s verification.
• Card Verification Code/Value (CVC/CVV/CVV2)
  Request for the CVV (3-4 additional digits which is printed on the back of the credit card) to be submitted for credit card issuing bank’s verification. These digits do not appear on credit card statements, it indicates the purchaser has the physical card or its details.
• Image Verification Service (IVS) / CAPTCHA
  Request purchaser to enter the random image for authentication. Because IVS requires a humans to type the random words that appear, it can prevent the Internet auto-submission-bot attack.
• Rules-Based Systems / Manual Review of Orders
  Create your own rules-based system for automating the review of orders before submiting for credit card issuing bank’s verification. If the transactions amount (such as large orders or expensive items) has exceeded your rules set, the purchaser information will need to be verified (such verifications like- is this a new customers? is this shipping address same as billing address? does this order required manual review? etc).
• SecureCode Verification by Credit Card Issuing Bank
  Many local credit card issuing bank have already implemented the SecureCode verification as the 2nd layer authentication on Internet credit card transactions. To obtain this SecureCode, the credit card holder is required to submit other P&C information for process (such as mother name, mobile number, home branch and etc).

One of the local cinemas' e-ticketing system, which perpetrator needs only a few of credit card details- card number, name on card, expiry date and CVC. This type of simple authentication form which can make fraud easier.

Bottom line

Although each of above approaches can help, but remember that the Internet transaction is considered a “Card-Not-Present” transaction by the credit card issuing bank. The merchant is still wholly responsible for the fraudulent transaction, even if the merchant has proof of signature during the delivery.

In any Internet fraudulent transaction incident, the merchant is always on the losing side. So selecting a good e-commerce plan and a reliable payment gateway service provider is pretty important.

When you received credit card statement and there’s an unathorised Internet transaction billed to your credit card…

Don’t panic when this happens to you. This is not your responsibility to bare the transaction billed amount*, follow the procedure below and you will get it adjusted:

1. Identify the transaction billed- merchant name, transaction date, amount and statement.
2. Confirmed the transaction billed was not made by anyone like family members, boy/girl friend or colleague that you authorised to use your credit card details.
3. Call your credit card issuing bank and speak to the customer representative to report Internet fraudulent transaction on your credit card. Request them to fax / email / post you the “Disputed Transaction Form“.
4. Consult the customer representative on whether there is a re-issue of a new credit card is required. (charges may apply to some bank)
5. Fill out the form then fax / post it back to them. Call your credit card issuing bank again to ensure they have received your form.
6. The administration and investigation process will usually take about a month to complete, the transaction billed amount shall be credited into your account and stated in your next month statement.*
7. No finance charge and/or investigation charge shall be levied.*

* In the event that the investigation reveals that you- the credit card holder is not liable for any of the disputed transactions.

Do you know?

When merchants (online store) accept credit cards over the Internet, the transaction is considered a “Card-Not-Present” transaction by the issuing bank (your credit card bank), because the merchant doesn’t see the physical card or signature.

In “Card-Present” transactions, the issuing bank usually covers the cost of the transaction, sometimes after charging the credit card holder a minimum fee (such as RM20). With “Card-Not-Present” transactions, the merchant is wholly responsible for the fraudulent transaction, even if the merchant has proof of signature during the delivery.

So, credit card fraud is a significant challenge for Internet merchants. Fraud can end up being very costly especially to merchants that are selling tangible products and can even result in loss of a merchant account.