One of the exciting aspects of business is taking ideas and turning them into operating businesses. Our launch of Photos.jp in Japan last week typifies this thrill. While I cannot guarantee the success of any new business venture, Photos.jp has great potential for success.

The stock photo industry has witnessed the development of a rapidly growing segment called micropayment Web sites. There are numerous examples around the world including the site we have an investment in - Stockxpert.com. It will take at least another year to understand the impact of the micropayment sites on the traditional buying patterns of purchasers of stock photos, but certainly the segment is here to stay.

Our launch of Photos.jp in Japan is interesting because it is the first micropayment site to be produced for the Japanese market. It is not uncommon for stock photo sites to be translated into a variety of languages, but of course merely translating a site into Japanese does not ensure success. And with the micropayment segment which, to be profitable, requires the photographer to keyword submitted photos, an English language micropayment site (for example) would not be viable for the Japanese. With Photos.jp, all submitted photos will be produced by photographers who are facile with the Japanese language.

As stated at the top of this post, ideas into businesses is exciting. Let's see what happens with Photos.jp?