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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