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PAISAL CHUENPRASAENG
THE NATION
Asiasoft offers its fie million players a cheap, effective and undemanding anti-bug app
Asiasoft Corp, a major online game operator in Thailand, has tapped the Internet's viral appetite to distribute its anti-virus software, using ita huge base of registered players in direct sales.
As a result, says deputy managing director Kittipong Pruek-aroon, the Kingsoft Internet Security Version 9+sells for just Bt189 a year, a fraction of the Bt800 annual fee required for most anti-virus applications.
Kittipong says China's Kingsoft was selected because it's also an online-game developer, so its knows what the players want.
"They want an antivirus application that doesn't take much power or memory so their machines won't be slowed down while they're playing".
Asiasoft spread the world about the Kingsoft appamong its five million registered players, offering free one-month trials with the down-load from www.Kingsoft.in.th.
People who liked it could then buy it using the same A-cash airtime cards from 7-Eleven needed to pay for online gaminig and other required items.
Word spread among the players about the effective, low-cost security application, Kittipong says, and with its success, Asiasoft is now aiming at the non-gamer markets.
It's now letting people distribute the Kingsoft software on its behalf, ensuring that the price will stay low. Friends can, for example, introduce others to the product on social networks like Facebook.
Kingsoft Internet Security protects computers against viruses and spyware and also works as a personal firewall, alerting users when spyware tries to steal transaction information.
Asiasoft has rewritten the application menu in Thai for easy use.
The application uses only about 61 negabytes of hard-drive space and updates virus definitions about three times a day.
It also encrypts chat messages on the popular Windows Live Messenger to block hackers from eavesdropping.
THE NATION
25 December 2010
