Sure, we have social networking in Europe. Here in Hungary, last year, everybody I know was signing on to IWIW. Earlier this year, the pan-European Xing began holding face-to-face events here, too. But these services pale when compared to the juggernaut that is Cyworld. (I’m now finishing research for eMarketer’s South Korea Online Overview.)
One third of South Koreans have used Cyworld and 90% of those in their 20s have an account. Cyworld earns $300,000 each day through the sale of virtual goods. Users upload 6.2 million photos each day. The service rivals iTunes in music sales, and serves more video than YouTube. Cyworld is addictive as hell, and it’s launching in Germany soon.
“While efforts to make it easier for Europeans to set up their own company are starting to pay off,” Euractiv reports, “a majority of EU citizens continue to hold back for fear of going bust. The Commission is now proposing taking action to reduce the stigma attached to business failure and encourage non-fraudulent bankrupts to make a fresh start.”
Small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) account for 99% of all businesses in the EU, employ 77 million people, create one in every two new jobs.
Continue reading ‘Removing the stigma of bankruptcy in Europe’
In late 2005, we published a list of Central European ‘companies to watch’ which you’ll find at the top of the nowEurope links page. The list consists of technology companies based in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. The main selection critera was the subjective opinion of the NETIES consortium team members in each of these countries.
It’s now time to review the list and consider whether those companies are still worth watching. And what better way than CoolSW, a new service launched by Intel which Wired Magazine describes as a DIGG for software companies.
The burning question: Are Central European software companies ‘cool’?
Continue reading ‘Is Central European software ‘cool’?’
Please excuse the dust while we move things around today.
Wordpress.com has just upgraded to the 2.3 version of their service and in the process the ‘tags’ and ‘categories’ features have undergone changes. The result is that this site design no longer works as originally intended.
As a result I’ve decided to move nowEurope to my own server where I can tinker and change the design until it works the way Vlastimil and I like it.
I expect these changes to be finished by noon today CET.
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