Facebook is partnering with a Malaysian company to sell credits at retail outlets across Asia for the first time, aiming to make it easier for millions of people to purchase virtual goods and play games on the social networking site while boosting revenue for developers.
Electronic payments company MOL — part of the business empire of tycoon Vincent Tan (陳志遠) — will offer the online currency from Aug. 1 at more than 500,000 outlets including 7-Eleven stores and Internet cafes in five Southeast Asian countries, India, Australia and New Zealand, company spokesman Nor Badron said yesterday.
The move is targeting people who don’t have a credit card, particularly younger Facebook users, and those who don’t want to take the risk of making payments online.
“Asia has a huge gaming community, and it’s typically young people,” Nor said. “The penetration for credit cards is very low ... so the developers are not making money and missing this opportunity.”
Nor said MOL already sells prepaid credits for other online games at its established network of stores, but it will be the first time that consumers can buy credits for Facebook’s applications, including such popular games as Mob Wars and FarmVille, without credit cards.
MOL, which last year bought social networking site Friendster, announced the partnership with Facebook in a press release on Thursday.
“We view this agreement as a major opportunity to broaden the availability of a simple, unified currency that can be used in games and applications across Facebook,” said Vaughan Smith, director of business and corporate development at Facebook, in the press release.
In Southeast Asia, the credits will be sold in Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines.
Meanwhile, Facebook on Thursday acquired a start-up called Nextstop, which provides online guides for finding new places to visit.
The Palo Alto, California, based company has purchased most of Nextstop’s assets, Jonathan Thaw, a Facebook spokesman, said in an e-mailed statement. Thaw called the deal “a small talent acquisition.” Terms weren’t disclosed.
“We’ve admired the engineering team’s efforts for some time now and we’re excited to have them join Facebook,” Thaw said.
Facebook has used acquisitions to bring in new employees and improve its services. Last year it bought FriendFeed, a social networking site, and this year named FriendFeed co-founder Bret Taylor its chief technology officer.
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
RSS