China Tech Roundup - January 27, 2007

China Internet and Technology Roundup provided by Chinamemes.com:

Google Building Virtual World akin to Second Life in China?
From GigaOM: "...our sources in China say that Google has teamed up with a Chinese company to develop the “virtual people” or avatars, while an internal team develops the virtual world internally.

3G Still A Long Shot In China
After Chinese government officials stoked hopes that 3G would be released in the first half, that possibility is fading fast as insiders note that network testing will continue into the fourth quarter.

China Mobile Begins Overseas Acquisition Spree
China Mobile, which generated more than $2bn in profit last year, could be about to start an overseas shopping spree, analysts predict. The world's largest mobile phone operator's purchase of a small Pakistani operator is probably just the first of many overseas takeovers, according to analyst firm Ovum.

Google Founders Admit: "China Censorship Damaged Us"
Google's decision to censor its search engine in China was bad for the company, its founders admitted yesterday at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Google Is Clearly King of Search -- Except in China
The Google of China is a local search engine called Baidu.com that increasingly dominates the world's second-largest online market of 132 million internet users despite Google and Yahoo's best efforts to fight back.

World Economic Forum: Who Will Shape the Agenda?
Jack Ma Yun, founder and CEO of Chinese Web and electronic commerce giant Alibaba.com, suggested that outsiders often overstate China's controls and regulations of the Internet. While many complain about government censorship, "to me it's not that serious," he said.
He suggested the Web cannot be fully controlled and said his company has managed to educate the Chinese government about its benefits and to demonstrate to the country's people how it helps them. "You create value and show the government it works," he said.

AMD Inks Strategic Chinese Partnership With TCL Computer
AMD says that TCL Computer, one of China's fastest-growing PC manufacturers, will offer customers a range of commercial notebooks and desktops based on high-performing AMD64 processors.

UTStarcom Expands IPTV In Shaanxi Province
UTStarcom (UTSI) has signed a contract with China Telecom to deploy its RollingStream end-to-end IPTV solution for a new commercial IPTV network in Shaanxi Province.

China's Top Travel Site Ctrip Partners with MSN
China's largest online travel agent, Ctrip.com, is partnering with software giant Microsoft Corp. and will build a travel channel for MSN.

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China Tech Roundup - January 23, 2007

China Internet and Technology Roundup provided by Chinamemes.com:

China Mobile Subscribers Top U.S. Population
With over 301 million wireless subscribers, Chinese operator China Mobile now has more mobile customers than there are people in the entire United States of America.

China Netizen Population Leaps
The number of Internet users in China made its highest recorded jump to reach 137 million at the end of 2006, a state information centre said on Tuesday.

China's netizens grew by 26 million, or 23.4 percent, year on year -- the highest jump since the report began in 1997 -- to reach 10.5 percent of the total population, China Internet Network Information Centre (CNNIC) said in its 19th Internet Development report.

Baidu Receives License to Provide News
China's search leader Baidu won approval to become an online news portal, government and industry sources said today, heating up a rivalry in the world's second-largest Web market.

China's Growing Blogosphere Turns on US coffee Icon Starbucks
Article that describes the growing influence of weblogs in China. "[it's] becoming a pattern ... bloggers create the issues, and the mainstream press follows."

US and China Behind Two-thirds of Computer Security Threats
Computer security firm Sophos said 34.2 percent of the so-called malware last year originated from the United States, and 31 percent from China. Russia was third, accounting for 9.5 percent of the threats.

China's Leading Auction Website Reports Surging Transaction Volume
The transaction volume of Taobao.com, a major Chinese auction website in China, more than doubled to 16.9 billion yuan (2.11 billion U.S. dollars) last year, up 110 percent from the 8.02 billion yuan in 2005.

China Now Has PCs with Homegrown CPU
Lemote Technology, has said the first batch of 80 computers powered by home-grown Chinese CPUs are undergoing user tests. This means the home-made chip, Godson II E, is out of the lab and moving into at least a small commercial operation followed by the big time.

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China Tech Roundup - January 17, 2007

China Internet and Technology Roundup provided by Chinamemes.com:

China Worries about 2 Million Teen Webheads
Of China's 18,3 million teen Internet users, more than two million were addicts, with "good kids who impress their parents and teachers" the most vulnerable to the affliction, the China Daily said, citing a study by the Communist Youth League.

Lenovo, Hai'er, Huawei Top China's Information Technology Firms in Revenue
Lenovo Group, Hai'er Group and Huawei Technologies Co, have topped China's information technology firms in revenue in the first 11 months of 2006, Sina.com reported today, citing the latest data released by the Ministry of Information Industry.

Chinese Xbox 360 Coming Soon
Microsoft is planning the Chinese launch of their Xbox 360 console.

China's Virtual e-Commerce Currency
The volume of virtual currency has reached several hundred million USD a year in China. China’s major internet portals are battling with each for command of the market. Aside from Tencent, SINA (SINA) has U coins, Netease (NTES) has POPO coins, and Baidu (BIDU) also has its own currency. Right now the Q coin is the most widely used form of virtual currency in China.

Baidu Launches Online Music Streaming Service with EMI Music
EMI Group Plc., which lost a copyright infringement lawsuit against Baidu.com Inc., will drop its appeal and work with the Chinese Internet search site to win advertising by offering free online samples of its music.

Internet: Both Bust and Boom
Shanghai based journalist Fons Tuinstra analyzes the latest "Internet Users Spending" numbers.

The problem with Made in China
The Economist describes the reasons why many big manufacturing companies chose to avoid China's thundering economy in order to put their factories elsewhere in Asia.

2006 IT Awards in China
The top 10 IT firms in China: Alibaba, Google China, Gome, Lenovo, Hasee, Shanda, Tencent, Tom.com, Xunlei, and Intel China. (according to the Sina.com “2006 IT Awards”)

Times Coverstory - China Takes on the World
The Times Magazine's coverstory on China. "Already a commercial giant, China is aiming to be the world's next great power. Will that lead to a confrontation with the U.S.?"

Summary of VC Investment in Chinese Video Sites
ChinaVenture report on vc investment in video sites in China.

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China Tech Roundup - January 13, 2007

China Internet and Technology Roundup provided by Chinamemes.com:

China Is No. 2 Online
The growth in China's Internet population (now the world's second largest behind the U.S.) has driven a 47% surge in total online spending, to $35.5 billion, according to a new survey.

China Had 20.8 Million Bloggers by 2006
A recent survey conducted in China has found that the number of bloggers in the country reached nearly 20.8 million by the 2006-end, out of whom nearly one-seventh are active authors.

Lenovo Opens an Innovation Center in India
Lenovo has announced the launch of its first innovation centre in India. This is Lenovo’s third innovation centre, the first two are in the United States and China respectively.

China 2006 Internet Users Spending up Almost 50 pct
Users in China spent 276.76 bln yuan on internet services in 2006, up nearly 50 pct, the official China Daily reported, citing the Internet Society of China.

Sohu No Longer in The Top 3 Portals in China
Sohu is no longer in the top 3 portals in China, but has been knocked out by Tencent according to a new China Internet Survey Report. 55% of Chinese Internet users used Sina last year; 51% hit Netease; 48% used Tencent.

China Tech Roundup - January 10, 2007

China Internet and Technology Roundup provided by Chinamemes.com:

U.S. Commerce Secretary Slaps China for 3G Stance
Secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce Carlos M. Gutierrez Tuesday criticized China for delaying the creation of a 3G (third generation) wireless network in that country, saying it is thwarting global technology innovation by not embracing standards.

Baidu's Most Popular Questions of 2006
Baidu Knows' (China's version of YahooAnswers) 2006 top ten questions list.
Top Ten "How" questions:
1. How to lose weight?
2. How to reset a system?
3. How to make money?
4. How to get pregnant?
5. How to build a harmonious society?

Lenovo to Give IBM a Quiet Burial
Lenovo is moving far more swiftly to remove the IBM name as a part of its brandbuilding venture, leaving many wondering if Lenovo has abandoned the IBM brand too quickly.

Chelsea Target 100m Chinese Fans in Global Campaign
Chelsea Football Club's tie-up with China's biggest portal Sina.com adds more than 100m people to the club's potential fanbase.

Computer Game Operators Unite To Fight Against Online Thieves
The leading computer game operators in China have together asked Chinese policy-makers and law enforcement departments to work together to stiffen penalties for virtual asset crimes and to maintain a healthy development of the computer game industry.

Alibaba's Software Strategy Could Hurt eBay in China
eBay's Chinese competitor Alibaba launched a new software division, Alisoft, to provide its Chinese customers with various ecommerce software.

Yahoo China to Evolve into Business-Oriented Search Engine
Yahoo's China portal will be reorganized as a business-oriented search engine, the company's head announced Monday, saying it had to change or fail amid intense competition from domestic rivals.

Chinese Websites Will Adopt Blog Real Name Mechanism
The real name mechanism means that users will need to provide their true name and identification number in order to register for a weblog on blog service providers in China.

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China Tech Roundup

China Internet and Technology Roundup provided by Chinamemes.com:

Bring on the Games!
According to the China Internet Network Information Center (CINIC), nearly 32% of the nation's 132 million Internet users played games online in 2006, while iResearch estimates that China's online gaming market will reach close to $1 billion in 2007.

Spotlight: Jack Ma, co-founder of Alibaba.com
International Herald Tribune: Portrait of Jack Ma, CEO of Alibaba.com (Alibaba, Taobao, YahooChina) and China's most popular Internet entrepreneur.

China: Falling Hard for Web 2.0
The BusinessWeek describes China's Web 2.0 sphere. Companies mentioned: Yoqoo, Mojiti, Qihoo, MySpace, Digg, YouTube

Is China's IPv6 Link World's Fastest?
China's is IPv6 40 Gigabits per second (Gbps) link on the long haul between Beijing and Tianjin is considered one of the fastest links anywhere on Earth and is a key element of China's Next Generation Internet (CNGI) IPv6 infrastructure.

Japan's "Amazon" Rakuten to Venture into Chinese E-Commerce
Japan's Rakuten Inc. plans to launch an online shopping mall in China in 2007. They will compete against Alibaba.com, China's largest e-commerce company.

China Mobile Content 2.0 - Research Report
WRHambrecht&Co. Research Report on China's Mobile Content Providers. Companies mentioned: Tom.com, Kongzhong, Hurray!, Sina, Linktone.

Surprise, Surprise! China Economy May Accelerate
Bloomberg News columnist William Pesek thinks that in 2007, the odds favor China accelerating rather than trying to cool down the world's fastest-growing major economy.

Google to buy stake in Chinese P2P network operator
Google Inc., will be buying a stake in Xunlei Networking Tech. Xunlei is a Chinese peer-to-peer file sharing network operator which attracts more than 50 million visitors a day.

China Mobile Gets Google Search
China Mobile and Google have joined hands to provide mobile and Internet search services in China.

Sohu.com Upgrades Internet Search Service
Chinese portal website Sohu.com (SOHU) says it has launched Sogou 3.0, a new product upgrade version for its proprietary Internet search engine, Sogou.

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China Tech Roundup

China Internet and Technology Roundup provided by Chinamemes.com:

China's TD-SCDMA to see judgment day in 2007
2007 will see the rollout of the country's 3G standard, TD-SCDMA.

The Real Firefox-Killer
The new competitor is called Maxthon, and comes from China. Maxthon (holds around 30% of the Chinese browser market) is going to be being pushed aggressively outside China this year.

Investing In China's Online Gaming Sector
Shaun Rein of the China Market Research Group analysis China's booming online gaming sector. Companies mentioned: Shanda, The9, Netease

China's newest shopping craze: 'team buying'
An overview on Chinese "Team Buying" (Tuangou) websites where strangers arrange to organize buying teams (smart mobs) in order to get discounts on specific products from retailers.

Citizen journalists view of the Chinese police
The "Virtual China" Blog describes a citizen journalist site which has a special section called "Chinese City Management in the Eyes of Netizens," which collects both positive and negative on-the-scene photos of policemen.

China-based Browser Maxthon Going Global in 2007
Maxthon is a very popular browser in China (30% market share) second only to IE and ahead of Firefox. With its success in China and the brilliant features in Maxthon 2.0, Maxthon is ready for the worldwide market.

Previewing 2007: Baidu
The Motley Fool's Aristotle Munarriz addresses some of the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for Baidu.com in 2007.

Asia Pacific region will lead the global revolution in IPTV
California-based market research firm iSuppli has released a study that predicts that China will be the future IPTV dragon due to rapid urbanization, fast growing economy and expanding middle class.

Innovation, Chinese Style
Alarmed by the increasing dominance of foreign firms in China's high technology industries, Beijing is pouring money into research and development institutes and subsidies for Chinese companies.

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