• More on Firefox in the Philippines

    September 22nd, 2009 by seth bindernagel with 4 comments »

    While we were in the Philippines, Gen and I learned quite a bit about the local Internet landscape there.  I thought I would share some more information that I picked up from the trip.

    • Population is 92 million, online population is between 20-24 million
    • English is one of the official languages of the Philippines.  Tagalog is spoken by roughly 22 million people in and around Manila.  Cebuano is another language spoken by nearly 20 million Filipinos south of the Luzon region (where Manila is located).
    • Depending on what factor we use as a multiplier for our blocklist/AUS ping data, we can estimate that between 3 and 6 million Filipinos are using Firefox.  That is a rough guess, but it places Firefox market share at a low-end of 12.5% and a high-end of 30%
    • Most people we spoke to browse the Web in English (Firefox US version), but some did suggest that a local version would have appeal.
    • Even further debate arose on whether a Tagalog version would have traction, with an audience of bloggers at Wordcamp responding collectively that it might not.

    That latter point does not rule out Mozilla shipping a local version of Firefox.  But, like every other localization, if we were to ship something localized to the Philippines, it will be because a local community member(s) responds to my call to action and decides to help us complete the body of work.

    Obviously, Mozilla Firefox is taking off in the the Philippines, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see if the nascent community stepped forward with an offer to localize Firefox.

    Finally, take a look at some stats about Firefox in the Philippines.  (All numbers are based on our blocklist data.)

    Growth of blocklist pings over one year

    Growth of blocklist pings over one year

    The Philippines is #4 on the list

    The Philippines is #4 on the list

    Usage in the Philippines by local geography

  • Presentation at WordCamp Philippines

    September 18th, 2009 by seth bindernagel with 5 comments »

    Gen and I attended WordCamp Philippines and I presented today to the audience of about 100-150 people. The purpose of our visit and participation was straightforward:

    1. To gain further insight into the landscapeof the Web and Internet in the Philippines;
    2. To assess whether or not a localized version is something our community here mightpursue;
    3. To meet our community of campus reps and others.

    It’s been a steamy (as in the humidity), but amazingly kind reception here and we booked our schedules full with meetings and events. That’s all Gen’s amazing work.

    As for my WordCamp chat, here is my presentation. I started by taking the audience through our open web demos (video, canvas, svg, css, js etc. thank you Paul Rouget…), and then honed in on describing our Mozilla community, using localization as an example of how we are a global community of passionate contributors working to promote Mozilla’s mission.

    My call to action was two-fold: the blogging community can help promote the Open Web through their blogs, AND, if people feel empowered to do so, let’s start a localization for Filipino users.

    Feedback from these local bloggers was energetic, questions were poignant, and the message was embraced. My prediction, a Mozilla community here is going to take off if we continue to nurture, empower, and participate.

    I am trying to embed the presentation here, based on some code that Gen shared with me, but it looks like it is not working.