Did Google sell out in China?

Google Video: Did Google sell out in China? - Rebecca Mackinnon former CNN China Correspondent, Timothy Wu Columbia Law School professor and author of "Who controls the internet?"

TOM obtains 19.5% of Sina.com stake from Shanda

From ChinaKnowledge:

"TOM Outdoor Media Group (OMG) will buy a 19.5% stake in Sina.com from Shanda Interactive Entertainment Ltd., according to Xiaoxiang Morning Post on Monday this week.
TOM will pay US$370 million at US$35 each share for the stake. Last year, the 19.5% equity of Sina.com cost Shanda around US$200 million. Shanda stands to earn US$170 million or so from the deal."

Tom Group to buy Shanda's Sina stake?

From Reuters:

"Hong Kong media company Tom Group is seeking to buy the 20 percent of leading China Web portal Sina Corp. held by China's top online game firm, Shanda, a newspaper said on Friday.

Shanda Interactive Entertainment Ltd. bought nearly 20 percent of Sina shares on the open market last year in a hostile takeover bid that ended in stalemate after the two sides failed to agree on a price, according to previous reports."

"A Shanda spokeswoman said the company does not report on market rumours, and a Tom Group spokeswoman was not immediately available for comment."

Nokia is No.1 in China and India

From BusinessWeek:

"In both China and India, the Finnish company (Nokia) is the top brand. In China last year, it had nearly 31% of a crowded market, well ahead of the 10% controlled by No. 2 Motorola Inc. Nokia's sales in Greater China (the mainland, Hong Kong, and Taiwan) jumped by 28%, to $4.5 billion. The region today is the company's biggest market, accounting for 11% of global revenues, compared with 8% in the U.S. In India, Nokia has a 60% share, with sales last year of about $1 billion. By 2010 the company expects India to be its No. 2 market."

"The company that can control Asia's Big Two will have a lead in the global handset wars. Today, China is the world's No. 1 cellular market, with some 400 million users and growth last year of 20%. While India is far smaller, with just 81 million users in February, handset sales are expected to double this year and total users could hit 500 million by 2010."

Related:
Baidu, Nokia Collaborate On Chinese Mobile Search
Ningbo Bird Becomes Top Chinese Mobile Phone Exporter

Sohu & SMGBB.cn Cooperate to Broadcast World Cup Online for Free in China

From Interfax China:

"Nasdaq listed Sohu.com Inc. and SMGBB.cn, a broadband service provider under Shanghai Media Group (SMG), announced Thursday it will broadcast the 2006 World Cup in China free of charge.

"Instead of charging broadband users for the broadcasting, we will mainly make profit from online advertisement and wireless value-added services business, both of which can generate a large amount of revenue," Zhang (SMG's Vice President and General Manager of SMGBB) said."

VoIP Blocked in China

From The Inquirer:

"Chinese Mandarins have got the pip over Voice over IP and have banished the technology from the Kingdom for two years.

According to the Financial Times, the move has come as the Chinese government has started to wake up to the fact that its state run telephone company might be a bit inefficient and expensive.

To protect the outfit, the government has decided to prevent Tom Online, which is backed by Skype, from getting a licence to run computer to telephone calls."

China Net Investor: Computer to computer Voice over IP calls will not be affected (so far?) by this decision

More from Business Week: China Puts VoIP Providers on Hold Until 2008

It's Official: China Has 400 Million Mobile Subscribers

From Webwereld:

"The number of Chinese mobile subscriptions reached 404 million at the end of February, according to statistics released Wednesday by China's Ministry of Information Industry (MII)."

"However, the figures released by MII do not mean that 400 million people in China have mobile phones, said Ted Dean, managing director of telecommunications consultancy BDA China Ltd. "This basically counts the number of SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) cards out there," he said. Many Chinese mobile subscribers have more than one SIM card, Dean said. Even so, China is the largest mobile market in the world and the latest figures extend its lead over other countries, such as the U.S. and Japan, he said."

China is a Goldmine for Dell

From Red Herring:

"Dell’s shipments to China are expected to grow more than 40 percent in the first quarter of 2006, CEO Michael Dell said Wednesday, indicating there’s still a market for the company’s signature low-cost PCs.

Mr. Dell, who is traveling in Asia this week, told journalists in Shanghai that the company’s growth will be greater than the broader China PC market’s expansion of about 15 percent, a Reuters report said."

"The company counts the United States as its biggest market and is the No. 3 vendor in China, according to IDC."

China Net Investor: Lenovo Group Ltd and Founder Technology Group Corp are leading China's personal computer (PC) market (According to Analysis International)

UTStarcom Faces Delisting from Nasdaq

From PR Newswire:

"UTStarcom, Inc. (NASDAQ: UTSI) , announced today that on March 20, 2006, it received a notice from the staff of The Nasdaq Stock Market indicating that the Company is not in compliance with Marketplace Rule 4310(c) (14) because it has not yet filed its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2005 (the "2005 Form 10-K"). The notice indicated that due to such noncompliance, the Company's common stock will be delisted at the opening of business on March 29, 2006 unless the Company requests a hearing in accordance with the Nasdaq Marketplace Rules.

The Company intends to request a hearing before a Nasdaq Listing Qualifications Panel (the "Panel") to review the Nasdaq staff's determination. The hearing request will stay the delisting of the Company's common stock pending the Panel's decision. There can be no assurance that the Panel will grant the Company's request for continued listing."

Baidu, Nokia Collaborate On Chinese Mobile Search

Press Release

China's Leading Search Engine Provider and Nokia Make Mobile Search Easy in Chinese

Beijing, China - Baidu.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU), the leading Chinese language Internet search provider, and Nokia, the world's leading mobile communications manufacturer, today announced that they are collaborating to make mobile search easier and more convenient in Chinese-speaking markets, including mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.

As a result of this collaboration between Baidu and Nokia, users of the Nokia Mobile Search Application on the high-end Nokia N70, Nokia N90 and other select S60 Nokia devices, will be able to access Baidu wireless search services via a user friendly search icon on the screen interface.

SOURCE Nokia Communications

Google Expects to Take Lead in China's Online Ad Market

From Forbes:

"Google Inc said it expects to edge ahead of rival Baidu.com and become the leader in China's online advertising market. The head of the company's AdWords service for Asia Pacific, Griffin Golamco, told XFN-Asia: 'China is still a small portion of global revenue but we anticipate that it will grow pretty quickly.' "

"'In the US it's a big market and there are big players who are willing to bid up to two usd per click. In China we are seeing the average click prices being a lot lower than what they are in the US and Europe.'

He said that for popular keywords in China, such as those relating to travel, the company may be able to auction words for 30-40 cents per click but, he added, 'it would still be double or triple that price back in the US'. "

Related:
Search Engine Strategies Conference and Expo China - Johnny Chou (Google President, Sales and Business Development, Greater China) Keynote Address
Baidu.com Profit Rises Fourfold as Web Ads Surge

Alibaba Makes US$750 mln from Yahoo! Vanish

From ChinaDaily:

"Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba.com has spent three-fourths of US$1 billion in cash that Yahoo! Inc, paid for its 40 percent stake last summer, Alibaba CEO Jack Ma said.
Speaking at a search engine conference in Nanjing, Ma said " US$1 billion was paid in but we have spent some US$750 million."


From Interfax China:

"Alibaba.com the largest B2B portal in China, has spent USD 750 mln of the USD 1 bln investment from Yahoo! last August, paying venture capital firms and employees that have been working with the company for years, CEO Jack Ma said at a conference Friday.

"Softbank has cashed out its stake in Taobao, some VCs, who have been with us for more than five years have cashed out, and some of our staff members have cashed out," Ma said. Taobao is a C2C subsidiary of Alibaba.com."


Related:
Search Engine Strategies Conference and Expo China - Jack Ma's Keynote Address

China's Instant Messaging King Tencent Launches Auction Site

From CCTV:

"Tencent, China's largest online instant communication operator, has started business operation of its C to C platform Paipai.com, after six months of trial operation."

"Backed by Tencent's influence in instant communication business, Paipai.com has been ascending in the market quickly. The quantity of its online goods has exceeded two million. Now Tencent is planning to combine the function of its chatting software QQ with the trading platform."

Related:
Tencent Dominates China's Fast Growing Instant Messaging Market
eBay Says Wins Market Share from Alibaba
Taobao Beats Ebay China in 2005 Transaction Volume

China Mobile May Bring BlackBerry To Mainland Market

From ChinaTechNews:

"World's wireless solution provider Research in Motion is discussing with China Mobile about launching a BlackBerry service in the mainland market.

Katie Lee, a spokesperson for RIM, has told Hong Kong media that the company is quite interested in the mainland market and is negotiating and testing the service with China Mobile. However, there is not a definite date for the formal launch of the service."

Interview with Sohu CEO Charles Zhang (video)

From Forbes:



Video: Leading The Charge In China

eBay Says Wins Market Share from Alibaba

From Reuters:

"Online auctioneer eBay Inc. believes it is winning back share from rival Alibaba in the fast-growing China market, following its recent elimination of many fees, eBay's China chief said on Thursday.
U.S.-based eBay has spent much of the last two years fending off advances in China from Alibaba, the company backed by Internet giant Yahoo Inc., which offers online auction services for free."

"In the fourth quarter, TaoBao, the Alibaba service that competes directly with eBay, added 3.9 million users compared with an increase of 2.8 million by eBay.
The U.S. online giant has 19 million users at the end of January in the fast growing Chinese economy, up 85 percent from last year, Wu said.

The company previously said it had 17.9 million users in China at the end of the year, while TaoBao had 13.9 million."

Related:
Taobao Beats Ebay China in 2005 Transaction Volume
eBayEachnet vs. Alibaba's Taobao.com - Latest Numbers
EBay China to Waive Transaction Fees amid Stiff Competitione
eBay China to Provide Free Services for Cyber Shop Owners