Into the Digital Light

The Piso Net as a business model is taking off and the proof of this is that big companies are taking notice and started creating a marketing campaign based on this model. The Piso Net model involves setting up of internet kiosk terminals in different places where people could get internet access. The computer units are individually placed in specially built cabinets and is managed by a coin operated timer that turns off the monitor once the time is up. Need more time just insert more coins in the system. Depending on the preference of the operator the Piso Net system accepts One Peso, Five Peso, Ten Peso or all of these coins. For a One Peso coin one could get on the average about four (4) minutes of internet access. Some internet cafe owners have opted also to operate a Piso Net system along side of their regular internet cafe. Through a 60 – 40 percent partnership arrangement with the site owner they are able to operate more internet access sites with a minimum sup...

Basically through the years there have been a lot of things that has been written on how to succeed in this industry.   Mostly it was very technical but failed to discuss the most important thing. Have a clear vision of your target market.   One of the factors why most internet cafés fails is that they are only catering to a particular target market which is gaming.   This is understandable since this is the traditional target market of internet cafes but if you are going to go to that market one must understand how to attract gamers who will pay extra for the services that you would offer.   One of the biggest mistakes of an internet café owner is thinking that there is only a Php10.00 market and they could not raise their prices on computer rental per hour.   Once your frame of mind is based on this then you would only attract the kind of market that you thought that only existed.   The challenge is how to attract those people who are willing t...

Spend some time to learn about software licensing – this is one area in which internet café owners spends so little time with not unless they encounter a problem with the Pilipinas Anti Piracy Team for the use of pirated software. Most internet café operators have very little interest in software licensing since it is additional cost and it is something that they could not associate since software is an intangible product.   They are very much interested in the computer hardware specifications since this is something that they could see and touch.

                Every now and then I surf the web trying to find articles or blog post about the internet café industry in the Philippines.   Sadly postings that I came across mostly wrote about the bad experiences of operating an internet café.   With all of these bad things written about internet café industry, one might wonder is it still a viable business venture that once could invest in.   My usual answer is “Yes but you have to do it the right way from the very start in order for you to succeed.”

Another Repost that I found online  It was written sometime in 2009 . Bringing The ICT Benefits To The People Through I-Cafes By: Gener Morada The internet café industry has been around for more than two decades now if we take into consideration the establishments of LAN gaming centers in the late 1990’s but it is sad to say that it has never really asserted its leadership in the field of community ICT access in the country. In a recent study by Yahoo Philippines and Nielsen entitled “Internet Habits Study for the Philippines” it was found out that the Philippines has one of the smallest computer penetration rate in South East Asia which stands at 14 percent of the total population having computers at home. Despite of this, Filipinos are one of the most active users of the internet in which 28 percent of the Filipinos living in urban centers have accessed the internet in a particular month or on an average of 5 percent of our total population uses the internet...