Fortune keeps smiling on internet pioneer

Arthur Chang has been a pivotal IT force in the region, where his latest start-up company Green Tomato is ripe for success It sounds odd to hear Arthur Chang Che-hang describe himself as a veteran in an industry as young as information technology but with 15 years of experience at blue-chip IT companies and two start-ups of his own, that is what he is. Armed with a degree in computer studies from the University of Hong Kong in 1988 and an MBA from the Chinese University, he predicted very early that the information superhighway would revolutionise how people lived and worked. He has been a catalyst for the development of online services from as early as 1994, when the internet had just started to take off in the Asia-Pacific region. That year he co-founded Asian Information Resources, a law online and Asian business content company, now listed on the GEM board of the Hong Kong stock exchange. He was so committed from the beginning to developing the internet that he became a leading light in the internet and networking group of the Hong Kong Computer Society, of which served as chairman in 1995 and 1996. Mr Chang, 39, moved to Beijing early in his career to work on the first joint venture of General Electric Information Services on the mainland with China Telecom and telecommunications software provider Asiainfo. Mr Chang enjoyed the capital but his wife's preference for living in Hong Kong proved a stumbling block. 'I hoped to convince her of the attractions of Beijing but had no success,' he said. As a result, the family is based in the territory. Upon his return, Mr Chang became involved with digital certification company Network Solutions, a dotcom name registry which he describes as one of the few early profitable internet companies. Working with the US Department of Commerce, it listed on the Nasdaq. When digital certification company VeriSign acquired Network Solutions in 2000, Mr Chang became managing director of VeriSign's Asia-Pacific mass market division. But after two years of integration the company had strategy issues, he said. He declined the offer of a move to the US, believing his strengths lay in Asia. He started his second start-up, Green Tomato, in 2003. With a mainland office at Guangzhou, Green Tomato is a mobile game, application service and corporate solution provider with headquarters in Hong Kong. Mr Chang tags the company 'the mobile evangelist' on its website (www.g-tomato.com) and it is easy to see why, as he expounds his theories on everything from subscription-based internet information services to every conceivable add-on mobile phone function. 'I worked out online services could be very profitable,' he said. The problem with the internet has not been getting people to use it but educating them that there are certain services they need to pay for, such as indexing and directories. 'Now people such as corporate users understand the value of organised content. There's a lot of free content but of what value is it and is it trustworthy?' There are many ways to add value to content, he said, but people are not prepared to pay for general news and information. People appreciate value-added services Mr Chang said. 'The internet is a pipe, a channel for delivery and people are prepared to pay for convenience. Even in China' he said. When it comes to Green Tomato's niche of telecommunications services, people are already used to paying. 'They know they pay $30 for voice mail, there's no need to do education there,' Mr Chang said. Hong Kong has 100 per cent mobile penetration, so his sights are set on the mainland's potential in this area where mobile phone use has jumped from 100 million users in 2003 to 350 million users now, with forecasts of 500 million users by 2007. 'We see the future is in China for paid-for mobile services.' The medium is not important, he said. 'Whether it's [content is] via a mobile or computer is irrelevant; it's all a pipe for delivering online services.' The target for mobile users is consumer applications, especially bracketing entertainment with content such as news, weather, horoscopes, interactive games and ring tones. 'We can mix branding with entertainment, making it a valid service for the end-user.' This is done on a revenue-sharing basis with the operator. A driver behind Green Tomato, which has 40 employees, is strategy that is set in terms of total solutions, including the underlying services and platform to manage the mobile value-added services. Mr Chang is a council member of the Innovation and Technology Association and an advisory board member of the Hong Kong Wireless Development Centre. But if anyone is qualified to be a soothsayer in this area it is the internet evangelist himself.