China Net Investor

Meet the Founders of "China's YouTube" Tudou.com

2007-10-04T14:28:00.000-07:00

Interview with Gary Wang and Marc Van der Chijs, founders of Tudou.com - China's most popular video sharing site. (Tipped off by Startupplay.com)

According to Gary Wang Tudou.com is already streaming more minutes of video content every month than YouTube (15 billion minutes per month vs. 3.5 billion). As Wang says, "those numbers are never accurate", but considering the fact that Chinese video sharing sites have become magnets for full-lenght movies from around the world (Read: "Chinese sharing movies for the world"), I can imagine that they are streaming many, many minutes of video content.

China's Leading Internet Companies

2007-09-26T01:01:00.000-07:00

Due to Baidu's flying shares, the interest in Chinese Internet companies has increased a lot in the last few weeks.
As a consequence many visitors have come to my weblog to find information about other promising web companies from Middle Kingdom. So I've decided to make a short overview on China's leading internet companies for those not yet familiar with China's online sector.

Portals, Search, Online Media

Baidu.com (BIDU)

Baidu is the leading Chinese search engine with a market share of almost 70% (Google 23%, Yahoo 3%). Besides the search engine Baidu also operates very popular search query-activated message boards (Baidu Post Bar), a social question & answers service (Baidu Knows) and an online collaboratively-built encyclopedia similar to Wikipedia (Baidu Baike).

Sina.com (SINA)

Sina is the leading internet portal in China. Most of China’s netizens go and check Sina for breaking news at least once a day, giving Sina a similar position in the news market like CNN and MSNBC in the US.
Sina is also one of the biggest blogging service providers in China(Blog Sina) and together with China Telecom they are operating the fast growing video sharing platform Sina-Vnet Podcast.

Sohu.com (SOHU)

Sohu.com is a well established online brand in China and Sina's archrival. Sohu’s most important web properties are Sohu.com (portal); Sogou.com (search engine - market share 2%); Chinare n.com, an online alumni club; 17173.com, a games information portal and Focus.cn, a real estate website. In an attempt to gain an edge over its competitors, Sohu bought the right to create the official 2008 Beijing Olympic Games website and to use the logo in marketing.

Tencent QQ (SEHK:700 Hong Kong; not traded on Nasdaq)

Tencent is China’s instant messaging (IM) king. Its flagship product Tencent QQ, generally referred to as QQ, is the most popular free instant messaging service in China with a market share of almost 80% (over 250 million subscribers). Tencent is quickly leveraging its IM leadership into other business lines, including online media (QQ.com Portal), mobile & telecommunications value-added services , online gaming, e-commerce (Paipai.com C2C auctions; Tenpai.com online payment ) and online advertising services.

Tom.com (TOMOY.PK)

Tom Online is a leading mobile Internet company in China that offers an array of wireless internet services such as SMS, MMS, WAP, wireless IVR (interactive voice response) services, content channels, search and classified information. Tom Online is also operating the quite popular Internet portal Tom.com. In 2005 Tom Online partnered with Skype to provide Skype Voice over IP (VOIP) communications services in China. Tom Online also holds a 51% stake in Eachnet.com (formerly known as EbayEachnet) - a joint venture created with eBay in 2006.

Tudou.com

Tudou.com, known as "the YouTube of China", is the leading video sharing website in China. As of August 2007, Tudou had 28.84 million weekly unique visitors and 360 million weekly clip views according to Nielson/NetRatings.

However, it is not clear yet if Tudou can keep its leading position in the future as China’s internet giants Sina and Tencent have launched their own video sharing sites – and not to forget the fact that there are already at least 150 similar services available in China.

E-Commerce

The Alibaba Group

The Alibaba Group is the largest e-commerce company in China and operates the world's largest online business-to-business marketplace.

As of September 2007, the Alibaba Group is made up of 5 companies:

1.) Alibaba.com: Alibaba International is now the world's largest online business-to-business marketplace, with more than 500,000 people visiting the site every day and 3 million registered users from more than 200 countries.
Alibaba China is the largest B2B marketplace for domestic China trade. As of June 30, 2007, it had nearly 21 million registered users across China.

2) Taobao.com: Within three years Taobao has dethroned eBay as China’s auction king and is now the largest C2C online auctions platform in China with a market share of between 70% and 80%.

3) Yahoo! China: In October 2005, the Alibaba Group acquired Yahoo! China and formed a long-term strategic partnership with Yahoo! Inc.. Under the agreement, Alibaba owns and operates Yahoo! China, with exclusive rights to use the Yahoo! brand and technologies in China. (In exchange, Yahoo took a 40 percent stake in Alibaba.)

4) Alipay: A service similar to PayPal and now one of the leading Chinese online payment systems.

5) Alisoft: Alisoft provides web-based business software services for SMEs in China.

Ctrip.com (CTRP)

Ctrip is the leading online travel service company in China with a market share of almost 50% (Zacks Equity Research). Ctrip provides all kinds of travel related services including hotel reservation, air-ticketing and packaged tour services. Other activities include Internet-related advertising services and hotel management operations in China.

Dangdang.com

Dangdang.com is China's version of Amazon.com. They are the biggest online bookstore with a market share of around 27%, slightly ahead of Amazon’s Chinese subsidiary, Joyo.com, which the Americans purchased in 2004.

Online Gaming

Shanda Interactive Entertainment (SNDA)

Shanda is one of the leading operators of online games, especially massively multiplayer online role-playing games ( MMORPGs), in China. They were the first company in China to license and operate online games from abroad.
Shanda has recently aquired Chengdu Aurora Technology Development, a Chinese developer of 3D online role-playing games and also increased its stake in Korea's MMORPG developer Actoz Soft Company to 50.1%.
The most important MMORPGs that Shanda operates at the moment are The Legend of Mir II, Dungeons & Dragons Online and The World of Legend.

NetEase.com (NTES)

NetEase online games business focuses on offering massively multi-player online role-playing games to the Chinese market, known as MMORPGs. Unlike its main competitors Shanda and The9, Netease has developed most of its games in-house. Netease’ flagship product Fantasy Westward Journey is the most popular online game in China.

Besides its online gaming business NetEase also operates 163.com, the third most popular web portal in China.

The9 (NCTY)

The9 Limited is a Shanghai-based online game operator with the exclusive license to operate and distribute World of Warcraft in mainland China. Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft is the world's largest MMORPG in terms of monthly subscribers. As of June 30, 2007, approximately 8.3 million accounts have been registered and activated for the World of Warcraft game in Mainland China.
The9 has also obtained exclusive licenses to operate additional MMORPGs in China, including Granado Espada, Guild Wars, Soul of the Ultimate Nation and Ragnarok Online 2.

China Tech Roundup - September 05, 2007

2007-09-05T09:11:00.000-07:00

China Internet and Technology Roundup provided by Chinamemes.com:

MSN's China Partner Wants out of Joint Venture
The state-owned Chinese partner of MSN, Microsoft's online services group, is looking to sell its 50 percent stake in MSN China due to its dissatisfaction with MSN China's revenue model.

CDC Games Launches U.S. Operations
CDC Games a pioneer of the "free-to-play, pay for merchandise" model for online games in China, has launched operations in the U.S. under a new business unit called CDC Games USA.

Chinese Military Hacked into Pentagon
The Chinese military hacked into a Pentagon computer network in June in the most successful cyber attack on the US defence department, say American officials.

Novoking: A New 3D Virtual Community in China
A new virtual 3D world akin to "Second Life" will start its private test in coming September.

China Puts Cartoon Cops on The Internet
Cartoon police officers are to appear in "pop-up" warnings on the internet every half hour to warn Chinese users that they must steer clear of unapproved websites.

Alipay Takes World to Chinese Shoppers
China's leading online payment service Alipay on Tuesday launched a new international service that will allow consumers in mainland China to buy directly online from global retailers.

China Tech Roundup - August 28, 2007

2007-08-28T04:45:00.000-07:00

China Internet and Technology Roundup provided by Chinamemes.com:

The9 Announces September Launch for "Burning Crusades" World Of Warcraft Expansion
The9 announced today its plans to release the expansion pack "The Burning Crusade" for its licensed MMORPG World of Warcraft's in September.

Acer Takes on Lenovo with $710m Gateway Buy
After the $710m Gateway Buy, Acer replaces China-based Lenovo as the world's number three PC vendor.

eBay's Market Share in China Falls Below 10%
EBay China's market share fell from 16 per cent to 7.2 per cent during the first six months of this year. eBay's Chinese competitor Taobao increased its share from 74% to 83%.

Chinese Seek to Buy an American Maker of Disk Drives
The CEO of Seagate Technology, one of the two remaining U.S. drive makers, disclosed that a Chinese technology company has expressed interest in buying a U.S. maker of computer disk drives.

Chinese Hackers Target German Government Computers
German news magazine Der Spiegel reports that Chinese hackers have infiltrated German government computers with spy programmes.

Yahoo!, Microsoft Agree to Strict Blogging Rules in China
At least 20 blogging services, including Yahoo!.cn and MSN.cn, have agreed to the new "self-discipline pact" laid down by the Internet Society of China, a spin-off from the Information Industry Ministry. Under the pact, the services are encouraged to store the real names and contact details of Chinese bloggers and delete "illegal and bad" information from user comments.

BBC Learning English launches on Chinese portal Sina
Visitors to Chinese web portal, sina.com.cn, can now learn English with the BBC. The site offers its users direct access to the BBC Learning English content specially tailored for Chinese-speakers.

8 Quick Tips to optimize your site for Baidu
Tips to improve your site optimization for Baidu and Chinese search engines in general.

New Social News Aggregator for Chinese Hi-Tech and Internet Sector

2007-08-27T06:20:00.000-07:00

Chinamemes.com is a social news aggregator dedicated to the Chinese technology sector. The website allows you to submit an article that will be reviewed by all and will be promoted, based on popularity, to the main page. When a user submits a news article it will be placed in the "unpublished" area until it gains sufficient votes to be promoted to the main page.

China Tech Roundup - August 23, 2007

2007-08-23T09:30:00.000-07:00

China Internet and Technology Roundup provided by Chinamemes.com:

Baidu Spanks Google in China's Online Ad Market
Baidu retained its position as ad sales leader in the last quarter with 23.5 per cent of the market. Google ranks only fourth with about 10 per cent of the country's total online ad revenues.

Alibaba Prepares its own "AdSense" Advertising Distribution Network
Alibaba has recently begun a beta test on its new online advertising distribution website Alimama (www.alimama.com), which is scheduled to be formally launched in the second half of this year.

Google China Blog Search Goes Live
Google China now has a blog search engine among its array of sites.

China Mobile gets even bigger
China Mobile, the world's largest mobile phone operator by number of subscribers, grew by more than 20 per cent in the first half of 2007.

The company claimed that it signed up more than 31 million new customers to bring its total to 332 million.

Google Rolls Out Laiba, Competing With Baidu Postbar
Google China Rolls Out "Laiba" - a product similar to Baidu Postbar, which enters or generates discussion board based on search keywords.

Sina Obtains Broadcasting Rights for European Soccer
Sina.com has obtained online broadcasting rights in China for soccer matches of the English Premier League and Italian Series A.

Google-powered Questions & Answers for China
Google rolled out a free Q&A service in China in cooperation with Tianya.cn, a popular Chinese net forum.

Google reveals stake in Chinese social Web Tianya
Google revealed on Monday that it had acquired a stake in Chinese community Web site Tianya.cn, indicating a foray by the global search leader into social networking in China.

Chinamemes.com - Observing China's Digital Revolution

China Tech Roundup - February 24, 2007

2007-02-24T09:03:00.000-08:00

China Internet and Technology Roundup provided by Chinamemes.com:

Dell Grows in China, Lenovo Losing Steam
In the fiscal third quarter of 2006, Dell reported a 33% growth in the number of computers it made and sold in China - roughly double the pace of China's overall market growth. In China, Dell is the fastest-growing player and in less than a decade it has grown to be third-largest PC vendor with a 10% share, behind home-grown Lenovo, which has more than a third of the domestic market, and Founder Technology.

Looking at Tencent
Travis Johnson from the "One Guy's Investments" Blog analyzes China's Instant Messaging services King Tencent.

Report: China will not issue 3G licenses before 2008
The Chinese government will not issue licenses for 3G (third-generation) mobile services until the first quarter of 2008, according to a Chinese report. Delaying the release of the 3G licenses will give China's homegrown 3G technology TD-SCDMA and its backers additional time to close the gap with more mature 3G technologies, WCDMA (wideband CDMA) and CDMA2000 EV-DO (evolution data optimized).

Can Baidu Survive Google's Ferocious Uppercut?
Google vs. Baidu - with the hometown hero decisively winning the first few skirmishes with the global godzilla waking up from its slumber and getting down and dirty, real fast.

QQ - China IM Service Goes Web 2.0
Tencent is now recognized as the leading provider of Internet, mobile & telecommunications value-added services in China. QQ, Tencent's instant messaging service platform, officially launched in Feb 1999 and announced in its 2006 Q3 report that it has 221.4 million active users. What's more, the total registered user accounts has climbed to 572.3 million!

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China Tech Roundup - February 17, 2007

2007-02-17T06:11:00.000-08:00

China Internet and Technology Roundup provided by Chinamemes.com:

Social Bookmarking in China
China Web2.0 Review on Chinese Social Bookmarking Sites.

Baidu Thinks It Can Play in Japan
Faced with slower growth at home, China's No. 1 search engine looks to its island neighbor for new growth opportunities. Will it translate?

BBC in Content Deal with Chinese Portal
Users of Chinese web portal QQ.com can now learn English directly from the site thanks to a partnership deal with BBC. It is the first Chinese portal to enter content partnership with the BBC.

Ebay's Deal with Tom Online Offers Some Timely Lessons for Managers of Global Online Companies
Knowledge Wharton China looks at why eBay failed in China, quoting China experts Dwight Perkins, professor of economics at Harvard University.

China Gaming: Shanda's Back in the Action
The online-game producer is in the black again as its free-entry model, and sale of avatar accessories, clicks with young Chinese gamers

Chinese Netizens' Online Time Increases By 56% Annually
The "Report on the Internet Use of Netizens In Chinese Cities In 2006″ from CTR Market Research says that the time Chinese netizens spend on the cyberworld per day has increased from 88.2 minutes in 2002 to 137.8 minutes in 2006, an increase of 56% annually.

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China Tech Roundup - February 9, 2007

2007-02-09T09:36:00.000-08:00

China Internet and Technology Roundup provided by Chinamemes.com:

Shanda to Sell 4 mln Sina Corp Shares for 129.6 mln
China's online game operator Shanda Interactive Entertainment Ltd. said it agreed to sell about 4 million shares of online media company Sina Corp. to Citigroup Global Markets Inc. for $129.6 million. Following the sale, Shanda will continue to hold 2,118,278 SINA shares, representing approximately 3.9% of the issued and outstanding share capital of SINA.

An Open Letter to Google Founders--- to save Google in China and save Internet in China
By Venture Capitalist Isaac Mao: "I'm writing you the short letter on behalf of many Internet users in China to have some suggestions to resolve the current dilemma for Google in China ..."

Chinese Cozy Up to E-Commerce
China Market Research Group's Shaun Rein says a new breed of younger, more affluent consumers will drive e-commerce on the mainland.

Huawei Sales Hit $11B
Chinese Telecom Equipment Supplier Huawei announced that its global contract sales for 2006 reached USD11 billion, 65% of which comes from overseas market. 2006 global contract sales representing a year-over-year growth rate of over 34%. The increase is a result of continued market growth in the product areas of mobile network, next generation network ("NGN"), optical networks, data communications, software and applications and IP.

IBM sells 3.5% stake in Lenovo
Following an almost 10% run-up in Lenovo’s share price over the past few days, Citigroup executed a private placement on behalf of IBM on Monday afternoon and evening. The 300 million shares sold in the transaction amount to a 3.5% stake.
Following the sale, IBM – which sold its personal computer division to Lenovo in April 2005 in return for cash and a 15% stake in Lenovo – faces a 90-day lockup.

China Businesscast: Interview with James McGregor
Interview with James McGregor, author of the book "One Billion Customers, Lessons from the Front Lines of Doing Business in China". Topic: China's media industry and failures of foreign web companies.

China Mobile Wants to be a Big Face in the Global Market
China Mobile may already be the world's biggest wireless company in terms of both subscribers and market capitalisation, but the cash-flush company has not been shy about its plan to look for opportunities abroad to boost its earnings and scale.
To name a few, the Chinese company in the last two years has been linked to CSL, a Hong Kong-based mobile operator, China Resources Mobile, another Hong Kong firm, Pakistan Telecom, Reliance Telecom of India, Millicom, the emerging market mobile company.

Internet Boom in China Is Built on Virtual Fun
New York Times article on China's hottest Internet company Tencent which reaches more than 100 million users, or nearly 80 percent of the market.

Chinamemes.com - Observing China's Digital Revolution

China Tech Roundup - February 2, 2007

2007-02-02T10:09:00.000-08:00

China Internet and Technology Roundup provided by Chinamemes.com:

Lenovo To Sponsor Williams Formula One Team
Chinese computer manufacturer Lenovo officially signed on today as a sponsor of the Williams Formula One racing team in the United Kingdom.

Huawei Chosen by France Telecom to be UMTS Mobile Equipment Suppliers
The Chinese firm Huawei Technologies has been chosen by France Telecom to be one of its UMTS mobile equipment suppliers.

Mozilla Sets up Shop in China
Mozilla.org, which makes the open-source Firefox browser, is opening a China office to do battle in the world's second-largest Web market.

IPTV In China Will Exceed 23 Million Subscribers By 2012
China’s flourishing broadband environment paves the way for IPTV to reach out to the potentially huge addressable market. In a new study, ABI Research forecasts the IPTV take-up in mainland China to pass the 23 million-subscriber mark by 2012.

Web Giants Urge State Dept. to Fight Censorship
After being criticized for bending to Internet censorship demands in China and other countries, Google, Yahoo and Microsoft defended themselves Tuesday and appealed for help from the U.S. government.

The9 Announces WoW Expansion
Chinese online game operator The9 announced on Tuesday that it has signed an amendment with Vivendi Games to release the expansion pack The Burning Crusade for MMORPG World of Warcraft in China.

Pirated Vista beats Microsoft to China's PCs
At least a week before the rest of the world got its first look at Microsoft Windows' new Vista operating system, bootleg copies of the software were widely available in China. The the pirated Chinese version of Vista was priced by vendors from $1.30 to $4.

Microsoft Setting up China R&D
Software giant Microsoft is setting up a $20 million research and development center in Shanghai for its online MSN service, its first such center outside the United States, sources familiar with the plan said on Wednesday.

China Readies 4G for a Mobile Revolution
China might ignore the 3G standard for mobile phones and go directly to 4G. In theory the new technology, developed by ten "leading domestic institutions" calling themselves collectively the "FuTURE Project", will allow data transmission at up to 100 megabytes per seconds — several times faster than current technology.

MySpace Set to Launch in China
News Corp. is finalizing a deal with partners, including private equity heavyweight IDG, to launch a networking Web site venture in China within a few months, financial and Chinese government sources said Friday.

Chinamemes.com - Observing China's Digital Revolution

China Tech Roundup - January 27, 2007

2007-01-27T05:59:00.000-08:00

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.

Chinamemes.com - Observing China's Digital Revolution

China Tech Roundup - January 23, 2007

2007-01-23T07:43:00.000-08:00

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.

Chinamemes.com - Observing China's Digital Revolution

China Tech Roundup - January 17, 2007

2007-01-17T07:57:00.000-08:00

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.

Chinamemes.com - Oberserving China's Digital Revolution

China Tech Roundup - January 13, 2007

2007-01-13T04:11:00.000-08:00

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

2007-01-10T09:12:00.000-08:00

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.

Chinamemes.com - Oberserving China's Digital Revolution

China Tech Roundup

2007-01-06T06:18:00.000-08:00

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.

Chinamemes.com - Oberserving China's Digital Revolution

China Tech Roundup

2007-01-03T08:45:00.000-08:00

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.

Chinamemes.com - Oberserving China's Digital Revolution

China Tech Roundup

2006-12-29T09:06:00.000-08:00

China Internet and Technology Roundup provided by Chinamemes.com:

Xunlei Network Technology Confirms Google Investment
Shenzhen Xunlei Network Technology, the Chinese P2P video software company has confirmed that Google will become an investor in the company, according to a Bloomberg news report.

Haier to Acquire Founder as China`s Second Largest PC Maker
The Haier Group, mainland China`s largest home appliance manufacturer, has confirmed its acquisition of the Founder Group, China`s second largest maker of personal computers.

The Chinese Discover Central Europe
In a strange paradox of globalization, mainland manufacturers are spending millions to establish factories in EU member countries.

Sohu Loses Illegal Movie Download Suit
A local Chinese judge has sentenced web portal Sohu.com (SOHU) to pay over RMB1.08 million (about $ 140.000) as compensation to five international entertainment companies because the portal provided illegal downloading of the companies' films to Internet users.

China has 830 million phone users, 132 million online
The number of Chinese fixed and mobile telephone subscribers has hit 830 million, while 132 million use the Internet, the state-run Xinhua news agency has reported, citing government statistics.

Earthquake disrupts Internet access in Asia
In what local analysts are blaming on the 6.7 earthquake off the coast of Taiwan yesterday, communications and Internet access throughout Asia have been disrupted.

Google, China Mobile to launch mobile search service
Google Inc and China Mobile will launch a mobile search service in 2007.

Chinamemes.com - Oberserving China's Digital Revolution

China Tech Roundup

2006-12-23T08:59:00.000-08:00

China Internet and Technology Roundup provided by Chinamemes.com:

For eBay, It’s About Political Connections in China
While eBay’s new partner, TOM Online Inc., has suffered a series of commercial setbacks in the last three years, no one questions that it knows the Chinese market and has political influence.

Chinese "Smart Mob" saves a life via the Internet
More than 1000 Chinese people collaborate on the Internet to save the life of a student who had almost commit suicide.

Google not interested in a Chinese partner
Google Inc., the most-used Internet search engine, said it won't take on a Chinese partner as the U.S. company fails to gain market share from Baidu.

Shanghai IPTV Users Break 60000 In Three Months
Shanghai now has more than 60000 IPTV users since the IPTV number issuance in September 2006 and the user number in the city is expected to at least double in 2007.

China Mobile adds 4.67 million new users in one month
China Mobile received 4.67 million new users in November which made its total user reach 296.4 million by the end of the month.

Mainland China to Have over 32 Million Mobile Video Users in 2008
The mobile video market in China will take off in 2008, driven by interest in the Beijing Olympics. A new study from ABI Research forecasts total mobile video users at more than 32 million in 2008.

Chinamemes.com - Oberserving China's Digital Revolution

NEW! Social (Web2.0) China Technology News Site

2006-12-20T15:10:00.000-08:00

The China Net Investor Goes Web2.0!

Please Visit (And Join!) My New Website at

CHINAMEMES.COM

China's Virtual Currency Threatens the Yuan

2006-12-07T11:49:00.000-08:00

From Asia Times Online:

"The so-called "QQ" coin - issued by Tencent, China's largest instant-messaging service provider - has become so popular that the country's central bank is worried that it could affect the value of the yuan. Li Chao, spokesman and director of the General Office of the People's Bank of China (PBOC), has expressed his concern in the Chinese media and announced that the central bank will draft regulations next year governing virtual transactions."

"Tencent argues that Yang and the PBOC are overreacting, and some Internet analysts agree. Nevertheless, there is no question that the virtual-currency trend is catching on in China, and the endgame is unclear.

Tencent boasts more than 220 million users, and its QQ coins can be purchased with a bank, telephone or "QQ" card at an official price of 1 yuan (12.5 cents) per coin. Originally, the virtual coins were designed to pay for Tencent services such as electronic greeting cards, online games and anti-virus software. Now, however, they have reportedly developed into an alternative currency traded on the black market and used for other, less savory services, such as online gambling and private chats with "QQ girls"."

Telefonica Plans to Raise China Netcom Stake to 9.9%

2006-12-07T11:44:00.000-08:00

From MarketWatch:

"Spain's Telefonica SA (TEF) has confirmed plans to raise its stake in Chinese telecommunications operator China Netcom Group Corp. (Hong Kong) Ltd. (CN) to 9.9%, a company spokeswoman said Thursday."

"Telefonica, the largest telecommunications company in Spain and Latin America, will also receive the right to appoint a second member to China Netcom's board of directors, the spokeswoman added."

Baidu.com May Link up with Microsoft, China Telecom, China Netcom

2006-12-07T11:39:00.000-08:00

From Forbes:

"Chinese-language search engine Baidu.com Inc is expected to sign an agreement with Microsoft, China Telecom and China Netcom to provide them with search services, the official Shanghai Securities News reported citing unnamed sources.

The report cited one analyst as saying that the agreement will likely translate to 10-20 mln usd in additional advertising revenue for Baidu."

China Has Nearly 20 Million Bloggers

2006-12-07T11:26:00.000-08:00

Form The Age:

"China had 19.87 million bloggers at the beginning of November - a 24 percent increase over the past 12 months.

While more than 15 per cent update their blogs at least once a week, only 4.6 per cent do it daily, Baidu found. Blogs devoted to medicine and education are particularly popular, the Xinhua news agency said Wednesday, quoting a study by search engine Baidu."

The Chinese Internet

2006-12-07T10:45:00.000-08:00

From Line56:

"When it comes to the Internet economy, China is the elephant in the room.

Sometime this year, according to sohu.com's Dr. Charles Zhang, Chinese Internet users surpassed U.S. Internet users in number. We have roughly 154 million Internet users and China could have as many as 200 million."

"The Chinese government realizes the importance of developing the country's infrastructure so as to enable the growth of the Internet. China has committed $127 billion to advanced telco development over the next five years. By way of contrast, this is about how much money the U.S. spends annually to prosecute the war in Iraq (minus hidden and indirect costs)."

Baidu to Enter Japan's Web Search Market

2006-12-04T13:35:00.000-08:00

From Reuters:

"Chinese Internet search leader Baidu.com said on Monday it would enter Japan's search market in 2007, prompting a 2 percent rise in its shares, but analysts questioned whether the expansion would succeed.

The company said its decision, which followed a six-month study into Japanese-language search technology, was based on a high level of Internet use in Japan and some similarities between the Chinese and Japanese languages.

Baidu, which claims 60 percent of China's Web search market, did not detail its plans to enter the Japanese market, where competitors will include market leader Yahoo Japan Corp., Google Inc., and Microsoft Corp.'s MSN."

Mobile Phone Sales Rise as Chinese Brands Suffer

2006-12-04T13:27:00.000-08:00

From ShanghaiDaily:

"China's mobile phone sales grew by 3.88 percent in the third quarter but the market share of Chinese brands dropped below 30 percent for the first time, research companies said yesterday."

"The market share of local brands fell to 29.2 percent by September, from 38 percent in December last year and 55 percent in 2003, said Beijing-based CCID Consulting, a research firm under the Ministry of Information Industry.

Nokia and Motorola held more than 55.6 percent of the market. In the third quarter, Nokia's market share was 33 percent, followed by Motorola's 22 percent and Samsung's 8 percent, according to Sandy Shen, a Gartner's analyst.

Top Chinese handset makers are Ningbo Bird and Lenovo, each with 5 percent of the market, said Shen."

Huawei Forecasts $11B

2006-12-04T13:20:00.000-08:00

From Unstrung.com:

"Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. ("Huawei"), a leader in providing next generation telecommunications network solutions for operators around the world, today announced that it expects full-year contract sales to reach USD 11 billion by the end of 2006. As at 1H2006, Huawei recorded contract sales of USD 5.2 billion, an increase of 29 percent compared to the same period last year. The value of contract sales from international markets reached USD 3.4 billion, an increase of 36 percent over the same period in 2005. The international market represented 65 percent of total contract sales generated in 1H2006."

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Lenovo Still the Mainland's Main Choice

2006-12-04T13:02:00.000-08:00

From BusinessWeek:

"Ever since Legend Computer took the lead in PC sales in China back in 1997, competitors and analysts have been predicting that its rule would eventually come to an end. The pressure from global players would simply be too hard to stave off.

That hasn't happened. As of the second quarter, the company, now called Lenovo, held a commanding 35% market share, more than twice that of its nearest competitor."

"The main worry for Lenovo is Dell (DELL), which has gradually been gaining share in China since it entered the market eight years ago. It now ranks third, behind domestic PC maker Founder, with a 9.8% market share."

Cisco CEO 'Would Love' to Team With Huawei

2006-12-04T12:55:00.000-08:00

From CIO.com:

"John Chambers, Cisco Systems’ president and chief executive officer, would partner with Chinese rival Huawei Technologies if the opportunity ever arose.

"I would love to partner with Huawei," Chambers told reporters during a news conference at the Telecom World 2006 conference and exhibition organized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Hong Kong.

"That may or may not happen in the future," he said.

Huawei is based in Shenzhen, just across the border from Hong Kong, and has built a growing business on sales of telecommunications and networking gear. In addition to providing equipment to operators in China and in developing nations, Huawei has won significant deals from operators in Europe. In 2005, the company signed contracts worth US$8.2 billion, of which 58 percent came from outside China."

The Battle for the Hearts and Searches of China’s Web Surfers

2006-12-04T12:37:00.000-08:00

From Chicago Tribune:

"The Mountain View, Calif.-based behemoth [Google] has set its sights on capturing the vast and lucrative China Internet market, the world’s second-largest. But Baidu beat them to it, and the canny, swift-footed competitor is proving exceptionally tough on its home field.

Baidu has virtually copied Google’s clean-screen look, but the rest of the Baidu game plan is original. It plays to nationalist advantage by attacking Google as a foreign invader. It promotes itself in such splashy ways as a huge neon sign on the banks of the Pearl River in Shanghai. And it has flourished by aggressively marketing itself in ways verboten at Google: Baidu lets advertisers pay for placement in its search results.

The formula is working. Despite a big marketing push from Google over the last year, Baidu is the first choice of 62 percent of Chinese users, up 15 points over 2005, according to a study released in September by the China Internet Network Information Center. Google’s share dropped eight points, to 25 percent - a rare setback."

Are You Reaching Your 1.3 Billion Customers?

2006-11-29T14:51:00.000-08:00

From ChinaBiz/China Herald:
By Fons Tuinstra

"Twenty percent of the so-called media time is the Chinese on average spending on the internet. Since only ten percent of the population is online, those figures will vary enormously. Compared to that the ad revenue flowing to this medium, 0.8 percent, is tiny. Online marketers argue that there should be at least a connection between the time consumers spend on a medium and the revenue stream. In China the gap is gigantic and the advertisement bucks are not spent where the consumers are. In the next five to ten years the number of online users is expected to double to about 250 million, putting more pressure on the old media.

On top of that: most of that 0.8 percent is going to the big three ones, Netease, Sohu and Sina, leaving out the largest part of the internet as a way to get to your consumers."

Yahoo China President Resigns

2006-11-29T14:25:00.000-08:00

From Red Herring:

"Yahoo China President Xie Wen resigned his position after only 40 days in office, amid rumors that Yahoo headquarters disapproved of his plans to take the site in a Web 2.0 direction.

Jack Ma, chief executive of Alibaba.com, which took control of Yahoo China in October 2005, announced Mr. Xie’s departure on Monday evening."

"Chinese web site Sina.com, citing insiders close to Mr. Xie, reported that Mr. Xie and Mr. Ma made a trip to the United States in early November to meet with Yahoo founder Jerry Yang, bringing with them a plan authored by Mr. Xie that did not meet with Mr. Yang’s approval."

Lenovo CEO Has Global Ambitions

2006-11-21T04:37:00.000-08:00

From CHINAdaily:

"Bill Amelio, the American running the biggest computer company operating in China, has an ambitious agenda. In the next year, the chief executive of Lenovo Group Ltd. aims to boost the company's brand in the US and break into key emerging markets -- and beat the company's Chinese chairman, Yang Yuanqing, at ping pong." Interview

Wikipedia Ban Back On In China

2006-11-21T04:24:00.000-08:00

From webpronews.com:

"Only one week after the Chinese government released the ban placed on encyclopedia site Wikipedia, the ban appears to be back in effect.

Wikipedia had only regained the ability to reach Chinese viewers with their free encyclopedia site one week ago, however the good news was short-lived. The site has been reportedly blocked in some parts of China again."

WR Hambrecht Research Report on Baidu

2006-11-21T04:11:00.000-08:00

From WR Hambrecht:

"We are initiating coverage of Baidu.com, Inc. with a Buy rating and a 12-month price target of $130 per share. The company is the largest search engine in China, leveraging its large traffic volume to drive online advertising revenues. We believe the company is well positioned for expected positive trends, including the greater adoption of paid search by SMEs and brand advertisers, the growth of e-commerce, and the emergence of user-generated content. In addition, Baidu's local know-how and attentive customer service create barriers for its competitors. Lastly, we believe our long-term forecast could be too conservative based on a sensitivity analysis of SME adoption rates. Our price target is based on 40x our 2008 EPS estimate of $3.15 (ex-FAS123R) plus net cash, which we believe is reasonable compared with our expected long-tem growth rate for the company."

Full Report - PDF

Record Companies Lose Lawsuit against Baidu

2006-11-21T03:40:00.000-08:00

From Forbes:

"A Beijing court has ruled in favor of Baidu, China's biggest Internet search company, in a copyright suit brought on by seven global music companies, the official China Business News reported.

Ren Xuyang, assistant to Baidu's president, was quoted as saying that the ruling is the first positive development for Baidu since it was sued for its MP3 search technology, which provided links to illegal downloads of copyrighted music."

Baidu and eBay to Collaborate in China

2006-11-08T08:25:00.000-08:00

From BusinessWeek:

"Chinese Web portal Baidu Inc. said Wednesday it signed a multi-year, cross-promotional partnership with eBay EachNet, a Chinese commerce site that was bought by eBay in 2002.

Under terms of the agreement, Baidu will promote PayPal Beibao, PayPal's service in China, as the preferred payment method on Baidu. In return, eBay EachNet will use Baidu as the exclusive search provider on eBay EachNet."

China Buys $1.9 Bln of Africa's Ores, Builds Network

2006-11-07T11:31:00.000-08:00

From Bloomberg:

"Chinese companies including ZTE Corp. and Huawei Technologies Co. today signed 16 contracts with 11 African nations to buy minerals, build infrastructure and phone networks, in the country's biggest investments on the continent.

ZTE signed two $30 million contracts to provide phone equipment to Lesotho and Ghana, while Huawei will help Ghana set up village phone networks for $30 million and help Kenya set up an Internet-based electronic government network, according to contracts signed today in Beijing.

China, the world's fastest-growing major economy, is increasing investment in Africa, as it seeks more supplies of oil, iron ore and other resources to meet local demand. Chinese President Hu Jintao yesterday pledged to double aid to Africa in three years by extending more credit and waiving tariffs on more of its exports to strengthen economic and political ties."

Shanda Cashes in on Sina Shares

2006-11-07T11:13:00.000-08:00

From ShanghaiDaily:

"Shanghai online games company Shanda Entertainment Ltd said yesterday it would sell part of its stake in Sina Corp to Citigroup, in a move that shows it has finally given up on attempts to acquire Sina and form China's biggest online firm."

"Shanda bought a 19.5 percent stake in Sina in February last year in an attempt to merge and become the country's No. 1 online firm. But Shanda's plan failed after Sina launched a "poison pill" measure in which it put more shares on the market."

First Vodafone-branded 3G Phone Manufactured by Huawei

2006-11-07T11:01:00.000-08:00

From 3G.co.uk:

"Vodafone has started to market the first mobile phone under its own brand in Portugal."

"The Vodafone 710 is the first mobile phone manufactured for the Vodafone Group by the Chinese company Huawei Technologies as the result of the strategic alliance between them was signed in February 2006. Apart from Portugal, the phone will be launched in Germany, Greece, Holland, Ireland, Italy, Romania, Spain and the United Kingdom."

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China's Communications Industry Soars

2006-11-07T10:50:00.000-08:00

From Asia Times Online:

"China's communications industry registered 1.11311 trillion yuan (US$141.3 billion) in business volume in the first nine months of 2006, increasing by 25.1% year on year.

In a breakdown, telecom business revenue reached 1.05892 trillion yuan, up 25.5% year on year, and services business revenue rose by 17.9% year on year to hit 54.19 billion yuan."

"The number of fixed-line phone users in China increased by 18.861 million to reach 369.306 million by the end of September."

"Meanwhile, the number of mobile-phone users increased by 49.748 million in the January-September period, hitting 443.154 million by the end of September."

"The communications industry completed 144.31 billion yuan in fixed-assets investment in the first nine months of this year, 17.7% higher than that in the same period of 2005."

TCL to Close European Operations

2006-11-02T11:41:00.000-08:00

From CHINAdaily:

"TCL Multimedia Technology Holdings, which reported a nine-month loss of HK$1.52 billion (US$195 million), said Tuesday that it would shut its European unit in an effort to return to profit. "

"TCL Multimedia joins Asian companies including Lenovo Group and Benq in posting losses after making overseas acquisitions."

China Net Investor: TCL Corp., is China's biggest publicly traded consumer electronics maker. Three years ago, TCL became the world's biggest TV maker when it bought the television division of France's Thomson SA. This year TCL tumbled from the top TV spot as LG Electronics and Samsung surged ahead. (Source: iSupply)

Lenovo Ready to Pull Plug on IBM

2006-11-02T11:30:00.000-08:00

From ZDNet Asia:

"Lenovo is now ready to remove the IBM logo from its products, 18 months after finalizing its acquisition of IBM's PC division, according to a senior company executive.

The Chinese PC giant intends to keep the IBM logo on its computers for consumers, while its large enterprise customers will have the option of having the IBM logo removed by the end of this year, Deepak Advani, senior vice president and chief marketing officer of Lenovo, said at a media briefing held here last week."

Yahoo China to Be Community-Based Portal

2006-11-02T11:22:00.000-08:00

From cio.com:

"Alibaba.com plans to turn the Yahoo China website into a community-based portal that relies on users for the bulk of its content, the company’s top executive said Wednesday."

"Alibaba acquired Yahoo’s Chinese operations in 2005 as part of a deal that saw Yahoo invest more than US$1 billion in the Chinese e-commerce company."

Sohu To Broadcast NBA Games

2006-11-02T11:14:00.000-08:00

From Sun-Sentinel.com:

"Fans in China will have a chance to watch a webcast of the Heat's opener through a partnership the NBA has with Internet company NuSports, which along with another Internet firm, Sohu, will stream 87 games in Chinese this season on NBA.com/China. Online visits from China make up 20 percent of traffic to NBA.com -- the largest after U.S. fans, the league says."

China Goes it Alone on Mobile TV Standard

2006-11-02T11:06:00.000-08:00

From electronicsweekly.com:

"China is reported to be going its own way on mobile TV with the announcement of a home-grown, recommended standard for the technology.The standard, called GY/T220.1-2006, is expected to be formally implemented by China’s State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) on 1 November 2006."

"This is not the first time China has gone its own way on technology standards. It also put forward its own standard, TD-SCDMA, for 3G mobile telephony, competing with W-CDMA and CDMA2000."

Alibaba Invests in Classified Listings Web Site

2006-11-02T11:00:00.000-08:00

From Red Herring:

"Alibaba.com, China’s largest e-commerce company, said Monday it had made a strategic investment in Koubei.com, a classified listings and community web site based, like Alibaba, in the East China city of Hangzhou."

"Koubei.com, founded in 2004, offers local classified ads and discussion forums in major Chinese cities. The site, the name of which means “word of mouth” or “reputation” in Chinese, encourages users to rate and comment on local businesses."

Tencent Makes Investments to Rival Alibaba and Ebay

2006-10-25T02:26:00.000-07:00

From ChinaKnowledge:

"Tencent Holdings Ltd., China’s biggest online chat-service provider, plans to invest RMB 100 million to develop internet services as it competes with Alibaba.com and eBay. It aims to increase revenue by selling more services to its QQ Internet messenger users, and hopes that the new technologies help it win market share from the two internet giants.

The firm will set up an Internet research institute, the first of its kind in China, with centers in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen that will work with universities to develop technologies."

Oak Buys China’s Facebook

2006-10-25T02:07:00.000-07:00

From Red Herring:

"Consolidation on the highly fragmented Chinese Web 2.0 scene took a step forward when Oak Pacific Interactive (OPI), a Chinese Internet consortium, said Tuesday it had acquired Beijing-based Xiaonei.com China’s leading collegiate social-networking site.

Xiaonei, which means “on campus,” will merge with OPI’s own collegiate social network site, 5Q. The combined entity will take its place beside other OPI properties, including the entertainment portal Mop.com, news site DoNews.com, YouTube clone UUMe.com, and classified ads provider RenRen.com."

Compare Search Results: Yahoo China vs. Baidu

2006-10-25T01:54:00.000-07:00

From China Web2.0 Review:

"Yahoo China vs. Baidu: Yahoo China launched an interesting campaign to promote its search service. Yahoo China presents both the search results from Yahoo China and Baidu in the same screen for users to choose which one is the results from Yahoo. Users are allowed to input any keyword for comparison. I tried it and I have to admit that it is not easy for me to differentiate their results."

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Baidu's Chief Technology Officer Resigns

2006-10-25T01:41:00.000-07:00

From Reuters:

"Technology veteran Jerry Liu, who helped develop China's Internet search firm Baidu.com Inc. into a Nasdaq hot stock from a start-up, may be considering launching his own business.

Liu's resignation from the company dubbed "China's Google", effective Dec. 19, was "not a huge surprise", said Lesley Zhang, senior manager of Baidu's investor relations department."

" Baidu said in a statement late on Tuesday that Liu, who was Baidu's first employee and had been the company's vice president of engineering since January 2000 before becoming CTO at the beginning of 2006, resigned for "personal reasons"."

China Eases Ban On Wikipedia

2006-10-22T05:01:00.000-07:00

From All Headline News:

"After a nearly yearlong ban, China has eased restrictions on the access to the English-language site of Wikipedia, the reader-edited online encyclopedia. However, the access to the Chinese version of the site remains "spotty," a Chinese-American researcher said in his blog this week.

Andrew Lih, who has worked at Columbia University and Hong Kong University, said that Beijing authorities began opening up access October 10, and that access "is not uniform across the country, and depends on specific municipality and ISP (Internet service provider)."

Citing two Chinese contributors, Wikipedia on its Website confirmed the news but said that Chinese version of the online encyclopedia remains inaccessible."

Lenovo Scores NBA Deal

2006-10-21T07:15:00.000-07:00

From internetnews.com:

"Building on its sponsorship of the Olympics, Lenovo will trumpet another sports marketing link when it announces a major deal with the National Basketball Association.

The multi-year global marketing partnership is scheduled to be made official at an event in New York on Monday at the NBA Store, according to a Lenovo press release obtained by internetnews.com ahead of time."

3G Nears Reality in China

2006-10-21T07:08:00.000-07:00

From Unstrung:

"China is nearing completion of trials of its homegrown 3G networking technology, and carrier licenses for "TD-SCDMA" networks could be issued as soon as the end of the year, according to reports this week.

That would be long-awaited news for Western telecom equipment makers who have placed big bets, in the form of partnerships with mainland operators and suppliers, on the 3G rollout in the People's Republic. It would also mean that, in some form, the new 3G services could still be ready in time for the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, on August 8, 2008."

China Gears up for Mobile TV Bonanza

2006-10-21T07:01:00.000-07:00

From IT Week:

"More than 22 million people in China will be watching TV broadcasts on mobile devices within four years, according to a new forecast published this week.

Mobile TV broadcasting in China is currently in its infancy, at fewer than one million viewers, Beijing-based research consultancy Analysys International reported."

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China's Internet Mess

2006-10-21T06:15:00.000-07:00

From Newsweek:

"... the lawsuit underscores the murky nature of the Internet in China, where search-engine companies, in an effort to grab a slice of the Internet advertising pie, resort to tactics that would not be tolerated in the West. In particular, Baidu and Yahoo, two of the biggest search firms in China, are accused in lawsuits of routinely using spyware—a type of software that installs itself surreptitiously on users' PCs—as a way to drive users to their sites.

Although spyware is not illegal in China, its rampant use has turned Web surfing into a supremely frustrating experience. And because spyware is associated with illegal activities like identity theft in addition to the merely annoying pop-up ads, it may be undermining consumer confidence in the Web."

MTV, Baidu.com to Offer Videos in China

2006-10-18T04:07:00.000-07:00

From New York Times:

"Viacom said on Tuesday that it had struck a deal to provide television and music video content to Baidu, one of China’s biggest and fastest-growing Internet companies.

The alliance between Viacom’s MTV Networks and Baidu.com, one of the world’s most heavily trafficked Web sites, is the biggest effort so far to introduce American television and entertainment content and programming into China."

Google China Ditches Guge Logo

2006-10-08T12:49:00.000-07:00

From Search Engine Journal:

"Google China has ditched their Guge logo and retracted to their well known “Google” logo. ... Google launched Google.cn in April 2006 and called it Guge, meaning Harvest Song. The Chinese Google version is officially sanctioned by the Chinese government as can be seen by the ICP license it carries on the homepage. Searches on Google.cn are censored for terms deemed “sensitive”."

Related:
Google's China Problem
Google's Market Share Declining more than 10% in China
Google's China Office Unveiled

Huawei Signs Up Former BT Guru

2006-10-04T11:22:00.000-07:00

From Light Reading:

"Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. has scored something of a coup by signing up former BT Group plc group technology officer Mick Reeve as an advisor and public representative.

Reeve, who retired from BT in May this year, was one of the British carrier's best known and most respected executives, with a wealth of knowledge and experience of network infrastructure and OSS. He has also been an influential mover and shaker in industry standards bodies such as the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and TeleManagement Forum."

Microsoft to Invest 100 mln USD in China over Five Years

2006-09-29T02:36:00.000-07:00

From ChinaTechNews:

"Microsoft China announced at its 2007 fiscal year media communications conference that it would continue to enlarge investment in China and work to push forward the development of the local software industry by cooperating with the Chinese government and local business partners.

Microsoft China says that in the next five years, it will complete US$100 million strategic investments and US$100 software outsourcing investments in China and train about 80000 software talents as an effort to carry out an agreement reached with the Chinese government."

Lenovo Recalls 500,000 Batteries

2006-09-29T02:22:00.000-07:00

From BBC News:

"Chinese computer-maker Lenovo has announced the worldwide recall of more than 500,000 laptop batteries made by Sony because of a fire risk.

The problem affects ThinkPad laptops sold from February 2005 both under its name and the IBM brand.

It follows earlier recalls of Sony batteries by Dell, Apple and Toshiba over the same fire risk."

China Telecom Teams up with Microsoft

2006-09-26T12:27:00.000-07:00

From CRIEnglish:

"China Telecom, a leading fixed-line phone operator in China, has joined the country's fierce Internet search engine competition with Microsoft as its technical partner.

A search engine titled "114", an established telephone inquiry service in China, has appeared on China Telecom's partner website, http://www.vnet.cn/..

The service is still in trial period and formal service will be started in early October, a source at China Telecom told Xinhua Thursday."

China Rolls Out Next Generation Internet

2006-09-26T12:09:00.000-07:00

From International Herald Tribune:

"China has built its own version of an ultrafast next-generation Internet network that promises to reduce the country's dependence on foreign companies, the state news media reported Monday.

The China Education and Research Network has linked 167 institutes and departments at 25 universities in 20 cities through the Internet Protocol Version 6, China Central Television reported."

"The new protocol can work at speeds of 2.5 gigabytes to 10 gigabytes of information per second, around 100 times current Internet speeds, the report said."

eBay May Exit China, Rumors Abound

2006-09-26T10:52:00.000-07:00

From Auctionbytes:

"eBay will sell its China division and PayPal service to Tom.com, the Shanghai Daily reported, citing the 21st Century Business Herald. However, Pacific Epoch said eBay is negotiating with Tencent about an acquisition, citing a rumor reported by Sohu. Pacific Epoch also reported another rumor that eBay Eachnet is for sale, and Tencent is an interested buyer."

The Rise of Baidu (That’s Chinese for Google)

2006-09-20T03:54:00.000-07:00

From The New York Times (tipped by China Herald):

"While Baidu continues to gain market share in China — and does so with a Web site that the Chinese government heavily censors and that gives priority to advertising rather than relevant search results — some analysts question whether Baidu can withstand competition from Google and Yahoo, which possess superior technology and global work forces.

But Baidu’s evolution, and Mr. Li’s journey as an entrepreneur, offer textbook examples of the payoffs and perils of doing business in China and suggest that Baidu may prove to be far more resilient than some analysts believe. China has a population of 1.3 billion, about 130 million of whom are Internet users, an online market second in size only to the American market. Because China is the world’s fastest-growing major economy, analysts consider it the next great Internet battleground, with Baidu uniquely positioned to prosper from that competition.

In exchange for letting censors oversee its Web site, Baidu has sealed its dominance with support from the Chinese government, which regularly blocks Google here and imposes strict rules and censorship on other foreign Internet companies."

Google's China Problem

2006-09-20T03:26:00.000-07:00

From CBIZ.CN:
By Fons Tuinstra

"When a huge an successful company comes to China and screws up in a massive way, I tend to be fascinated. For nobody the China market is a sure win and everybody is allowed his or her share of mistakes. But then, when you are as huge and successful as Google, the expectations might also be high. But then, I'm not much of aclearvoyant but the current downturn in its Chinese fortune does not come as a surprise."

"Earlier other US-based internet companies like Ebay and Yahoo dramatically underperformed in China. In those cases increased domestic competition was one reason. Another was that the American management just did not want to get they had to play in China a fully different ballgame."

Google's Market Share Declining more than 10% in China

2006-09-14T09:48:00.000-07:00

From ChinaTechNews:

"The 2006 CIC China Search Engine Market Survey Report has just been released and it shows that Baidu's market share has increased dramatically in the year by taking up 60% of the market share in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. Google's market share has declined by more than 10% compared with the same period of last year."

From Red Herring:

"Google is not the only search provider likely to be ruffled by the results: the search engines of portals Sina and Sohu both saw their market share shrink to 3.5 and 3.4 percent, respectively, while Zhongsou.com, which has been pushing its integrated search desktop Internet gateway aggressively in the last year, hardly even registered in the survey results.

Besides Baidu, only Yahoo China made any measurable gains, with a 1.7 percent increase to 5.4 percent market share."

From China Tech Stories:

source: it.sohu.com

Among school users, 77.1% use Baidu, 13.4% use Google
Among office users, 54.3% use Baidu, 29% use Google
Among enterprise users, 64.7% use Baidu, 31.0% use Google
For all users, 64.7% uses Baidu, 20.7% use Google

Related: Google's China Office Unveiled

Alibaba Reveals Plans to Go Global

2006-09-12T05:36:00.000-07:00

From ChinaKnowledge:

"Alibaba.com Corp., China’s largest e-commerce company, plans to expand to India, Southeast Asia, and even Europe, Porter Erisman, vice-president of international marketing and business development, was quoted as saying in a report by the South China Morning Post.

The Hangzhou-based company plans to expand in the new regions in the next one or two years, and will triple the size of its overseas staff. It currently employs about 4,300 staff, including 40 in Hong Kong and 10 in foreign centers."

Google's China Office Unveiled

2006-09-09T11:30:00.000-07:00

The People's Daily Online unveiled a couple of pictures from Google’s new office building in Beijing, China.

From the site: “Google’s China Office moved into its permanent office building in Tsinghua Science Park, Beijing, on September 4 after temporarily operation out of Xinhua Insurance Mansion and Tsinghua Science Mansion.”

Details:

More pictures:
Google's China Office 1
Google's China Office 2

Dell's Pain Is Lenovo's Gain

2006-09-08T04:27:00.000-07:00

From TheStreet:

"During a sultry August in Beijing, local PC giant Lenovo was kicking the heat up even higher on a struggling Dell.

In less than a month, Lenovo has poached nearly half a dozen of Dell's key Asia executives -- a move likely to bolster its standing outside its home market and deal a setback to Dell.

"It's a coup for Lenovo," says Victor Ma, a Hong Kong-based analyst for Morgan Stanley. "Given that [Lenovo CEO] Bill Amelio came from Dell, it's within expectations that he would take some of his troops to the new company. But the surprise is how many people have left, which is obviously symptomatic of the problems Dell's having."

Huawei Takes Alcatel's Optical Crown

2006-09-08T04:16:00.000-07:00

From TELEPHONYonline:

Alcatel was bumped from its spot as the world's leading supplier of optical networking hardware for the first time ever in the second quarter, according to Infonetics Research.

Huawei Technologies took the biggest share of the $3.1 billion optical hardware market in the second quarter, jumping from fourth place to first as its optical revenue jumped 83%. Infonetics principal analyst Michael Howard called the leap "a rare feat.

Rounding out the top four were Nortel Networks and Tellabs, in that order."

What is Huawei? If You're In Comms, You'll Be Finding Out

2006-09-08T04:07:00.000-07:00

From Digital-Lifestyles.info:

"In the west the initial push has been towards core networking equipment for carriers and ISPs (markets which have historically been dominated by Cisco)."

"If you're in any form of communication business, don't kick back and think, "Well Cisco needs a competitor. We should be OK." Huawei's plans extend far beyond merely eating Cisco's lunch.

If you get a chance to wander into Huawei's showroom in China, you may be lucky enough to get taken into a hangar the size of a football field. In one small area there's the ISP/Telcocore kit, we've mentioneed. The rest of the space is filled with other technologies such as IN (Intelligent Network - the brains behind telco voice networks), GSM, GPRS, Edge, 3G, NGN (Next Generation Networks i.e. IP-based voice and data networks like BT's 21CN), xDSL (both end-user and network), optical (driving fibres), routers and LAN switches and of course consumer devices for it all."

DSL Prime: China as Number One

2006-09-08T03:22:00.000-07:00

From ISP planet:

"China will soon pass the U.S. as the country with the most broadband users, probably mid-2007 at 55 million to 60 million. Almost all is DSL. China Telecom's 23.5 million subscribers are more than the entire U.S.; China Netcom 13.5 million makes them the world's second largest DSL carrier. China also has 365 million land lines and 426 million wireless subscribers."

"The majority of DSL manufacturing has moved to China in the last five years. The largest DSLAM maker, Alcatel, has moved manufacturing from North Carolina to Alcatel Shanghai Bell, and Huawei is a growing number two. Most modems are also manufactured in China, even if the name on the box is Siemens or Alcatel. An increasing proportion of DSL engineering now comes from China as well. Key Alcatel work on AT&T Lightspeed is performed in inland China."

No Alibaba IPO Soon

2006-09-08T02:34:00.000-07:00

From Reuters:

"Jack Ma, Alibaba's founder and chairman, .. told Reuters at the China Century Summit that he has frozen plans to go public because he wants to focus on building the business rather than on financials. He said Alibaba will roll out a new service in the next month but declined to give details.

"We still need to do a lot of things and we only have two investors and they don't push me," the wire-thin executive said at the Reuters office in Beijing. "With an IPO ... I don't think investors will listen to me."

"Ma, who aims to build Alibaba into one of the world's top three most powerful Internet companies in the coming decade, wants a global listing when Alibaba finally does pull the trigger on an IPO."

Chinese Gov Takes on Alibaba

2006-09-08T02:25:00.000-07:00

From Red Herring:

"If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then China’s leading B2B e-commerce platform, Alibaba.com, should feel complimented indeed.

On Monday, the China Internet Information Center, a government agency under the State Council Information Office, launched “China Suppliers,” a web site billed as China’s largest government-run e-commerce platform. The site has a pearl of a URL—www.china.cn—and a slick layout.

That layout—along with the site’s list of product categories and all its core functions—is a near-perfect replica of Alibaba’s."

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Asian Trader: A Promising’ Net Bet in China

2006-09-05T05:19:00.000-07:00

From The Wall Street Journal Asia:

"Ask fund manager Ryan Jacob what he thinks about Chinese Internet stocks, and you'll get a quick answer: "One of the best long-term growth opportunities."Volatile? Yes. Politically and economically risky? Natch. "But still, dollar for yuan, one of the best plays on China's present and future growth," he says.

Jacob should know, since he's bought and sold Internet stocks all over the world in his near-decade as a money manager. His Jacob Internet Fund (ticker: JAMFX) was one of the hottest-air balloons around in the late 1990s, but assets under management, which peaked at about $300 million in 2000, later plummeted to $10 million."

Lenovo Not yet Ready to Do Global Mobiles

2006-09-05T05:14:00.000-07:00

From silicon.com:

"Don't expect Lenovo-branded mobile phones outside of the Chinese PC giant's home turf yet, according to the company's head honcho William Amelio.

Speaking at an industry-sharing event held in Singapore on Friday, Amelio admitted Lenovo did "entertain some ideas" about making its mobile phones available beyond the Chinese market. However, he noted, the time is not ripe, even though Lenovo's mobile business has gained traction steadily within China."

Microsoft Chairman Replaces Mao in China

2006-09-05T05:05:00.000-07:00

From The New York Times:

"When high school students in Shanghai crack their history textbooks this fall they may be in for a surprise. The new standard world history text drops wars, dynasties and Communist revolutions in favor of colorful tutorials on economics, technology, social customs and globalization.

Socialism has been reduced to a single, short chapter in the senior high school history course. Chinese Communism before the economic reform that began in 1979 is covered in a sentence."

"The new text focuses on ideas and buzzwords that dominate the state-run media and official discourse: economic growth, innovation, foreign trade, political stability, respect for diverse cultures and social harmony.

J. P. Morgan, Bill Gates, the New York Stock Exchange, the space shuttle and Japan’s bullet train are all highlighted."

Telstra Buys China's SouFun

2006-09-05T04:45:00.000-07:00

From iTnews:

"Australian telecoms giant Telstra has paid US$254 million to buy a controlling stake in Chinese website SouFun.com, the company announced today.

SouFun is a news and information portal and business directory aimed at China's real estate sector and related markets. An approximate transliteration of the Chinese words for 'house search', SouFun has tapped into a booming real estate sector and a growing home improvement market in the nation of more than 1.2 billion people."

China to Lead the Broadband World

2006-09-05T04:20:00.000-07:00

From vnunet:

"China will overtake the US next year to become the world's largest broadband internet market, analysts have forecast.

The number of broadband subscribers in China is growing at a staggering 79 per cent annually, and will reach 79 million in 2007, consulting firm Ovum predicted in research released today."

China Telecom and SMG Launch Internet TV Service

2006-09-01T06:12:00.000-07:00

From Reuters:

"China's largest fixed-line company, China Telecom Corp., and Shanghai Media Group launched a joint internet TV service on Friday, as companies in China's maturing telecoms market forage into Web-based areas.

BesTV, the Internet Protocol Television service -- TV sent over telecoms networks using Internet protocol -- may reach 80,000 to 100,000 households by the end of 2006, BesTV chief operating officer Li Huaiyu said on the sidelines of the launch."

China's 20 Best Brands

2006-08-29T11:42:00.000-07:00

From BusinessWeek:

"A Lenovo ad campaign will soon appear in 200 countries, and the company is conducting an "Olympic & Lenovo Thousand County Tour" across the mainland to trumpet its ties to the sporting bonanza. "The brand will be a flag that leads the company as it goes forward," says Lenovo Chairman Yang Yuanqing.

The PC maker may be the highest-profile example of China's emerging brand power, but it's far from the only one. Air China, China Mobile, telecom equipment maker ZTE, and dozens of other companies are in the vanguard of China's growing number of powerful brands. They hope to emerge as truly global players—dominant at home and strong enough to muscle in on consumer awareness abroad."

BusinessWeek Slide Show: China’s Best Brands, click here.

China's Online Advertising Market Will Reach RMB 4.39 Billion in 2006

2006-08-29T10:10:00.000-07:00

Press Release

Analysys International Says China's Online Advertising Market Will Reach RMB 4.39 Billion in 2006

Analysys International, a leading Internet based provider of business information about technology, media and telecom (TMT) industries in China, says in its recently released report "China Online Advertising Market Annual Report 2006", that China's online advertising market will reach RMB 4.39 billion for the full year 2006, increasing 35.9% year over year.
The search engine advertising market will account for 32.37% of the total market.

According to the report, China's online advertising market size reached RMB 3.23 billion in 2005, increasing 59.83% year over year. Sina, Sohu, Baidu and Yahoo! China were the top 4 online advertising vendors, with annual revenues exceeding RMB 300 million, accounting for 59.62% of the total market. In the first half of 2006, China's online advertising market reached RMB 2.1 billion.

In the first half of 2006, Baidu strengthened market expansion and further increased its market share from 9.51% in 2005 to 15.37%. Google China and Tencent also increased their market share by 1.1% and 0.78% respectively, reaching 4.82% and 4.25%. Yahoo's market share in China decreased from 9.48% in 2005 to 8.08% in the first half of 2006. Netease decreased from 7.41% in 2005 to 6.2% in the first half of 2006. Search engine operators' further improved their position in online advertising market.

Wikipedia Chief Says No to Censorship

2006-08-29T09:13:00.000-07:00

From AsiaMedia:

"Jimmy Wales, founder of the open-forum internet encyclopedia Wikipedia, vowed yesterday he would not go down the same path as search engine Google by bowing to pressure from Beijing to censor sensitive articles.

Wikipedia, whose open invitation to write and edit articles has become increasingly popular in China, has been blocked by mainland censors since October. Mainland internet users have had to rely on a similar, but heavily censored clone, put together by Chinese Web portal Baidu, which puts a positive spin on events politically sensitive to Beijing such as the Tiananmen crackdown of 1989."

China's ZTE Net down 27 pct in Q2 Amid Competition

2006-08-24T07:11:00.000-07:00

From Reuters:

"China's No. 2 maker of telecoms equipment, ZTE Corp., said on Thursday its second-quarter net profit fell 27 percent amid stiff competition internationally and slowing business at home."

" ... while Huawei has succeeded in tapping more lucrative Western markets, most recently scoring its first deal in Japan, ZTE has remained confined to less lucrative and more competitive developing markets such as Africa and the Middle East."

Lenovo’s Raid On Dell Executive Ranks Continues

2006-08-24T07:03:00.000-07:00

From Local Tech Wire:

"For the fourth time in a week, personal computer manufacturer Lenovo has raided the management ranks of archrival Dell for an executive. The latest hire, announced Thursday morning, is Christopher Askew, who was vice president of Dell Services for Asia-Pacific and Japan. Askew had worked for Dell since 1999 and oversaw Dell’s services business for the 38 countries covering the Asia-Pacific and Japan markets, according to Lenovo.

William Amelio, Lenovo’s chief executive officer, ran Asian operations for Dell before joining Lenovo last winter."

Google & China.com Partner For Search

2006-08-24T06:37:00.000-07:00

From Search Engine Journal:

"Google has partnered with China.com to bring Google search results to the Chinese portal and business oriented service. The partnership with China.com may be “Google’s most comprehensive business alliance since entering the China market” according to the two companies."

China Net Investor: China.com Inc. is a subsidiary of CDC Corporation

From ChinaTechNews:
CDC Corporation Reports Q2 ResultsAugust 23, 2006

From SeekingAlpha:
CDC Corp. Q2 2006 Earnings Conference Call Transcript (CHINA)

MySpace Founder Targets China's Millions

2006-08-24T06:20:00.000-07:00

From vnunet.com:

"One of the founders of leading social networking site MySpace hopes to repeat its success in China.

Brad Greenspan, who once controlled 30 per cent of MySpace, said that he had launched and provided initial funding for BroadWebAsia (BWA), a company that will invest in "social networking, entertainment and search websites across Asia". "

Legendary TV Show "Free to Choose" by Milton Friedman Available on Google Video for Free

2006-08-23T14:43:00.000-07:00

A gem!
The legendary television show "Free to Choose" by Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman is now available on Google Video for free:

Milton Friedman - "Free to Choose"

Related:
Free to Choose in China
By Gregory C Chow, Princeton University

Abstract:

"This paper reviews the significant changes in China’s economic and political institutions by discussing eight topics from Milton and Rose Friedman’s Free to Choose. The topics selected are economic freedom, the relation between economic and political freedom, the role of government, social welfare, education, consumer protection, macroeconomic policy and trend in the development of economic and political freedom. Both past restrictions of freedom and recent improvements are discussed from a comparative perspective with the United States."

Chinese Authorities Don't Like Parodies

2006-08-17T04:54:00.000-07:00

From BostonHerald:

"China will regulate video on the Internet following a surge in satirical items in which real film clips are remade into mocking send-ups.
Video spoofs have become so popular that Chinese have even coined a new slang term, "egao," to describe the act.

Beginning in late August or September, only authorized Web sites such as Sina.com, Sohu.com and Netease.com will be allowed to show short films, the official Xinhua News Agency said Wednesday, citing an announcement by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television."

2006-08-17T04:24:00.000-07:00

From ChinaTechNews:

"More than 100 entrepreneurs from companies in Beijing's Zhongguancun ("the Silicon Valley of China") gathered on August 15 to promise defense of Chinese national brands as a way to commemorate the 65th anniversary of China's victory in resisting Japanese aggression. ...

The Zhongguancun area boasts a number of famous Chinese enterprises, including Lenovo (LNVGY), Sohu.com (SOHU), and Haier."

Global Sources, HC360 Merging To Challenge Alibaba

2006-08-15T07:57:00.000-07:00

From Pacific Epoch:

"Business-to-business companies Global Sources (Nasdaq: GSOL) and HC International on August 14 announced plans to merge in mid-2007, reports China Business News. HC International operates the B2B website HC360.com.

HC International Guo Fansheng said that the consolidated entity will exceed Alibaba in terms of market share with a 43 percent share."

Vodafone Loses Crown to China Mobile

2006-08-14T05:08:00.000-07:00

From icBirmingham:

"Vodafone is facing up to life without the title of the world's largest mobile phone company.
The Newbury-based group has lost its crown to China Mobile, a company which was only set up in 2000 and now has a market value of £69.7 billion, against £57.9 billion for Vodafone.

According to reports yesterday, China Mobile also claims to be the world's largest mobile phone operator ranked by number of subscribers.
It has more than 200 million customers while the most recent figure from Vodafone shows 186.8 million worldwide. Vodafone's turnover is still ahead of China Mobile's."

Video: "Investment Opportunities in China" - Dr. Burton G. Malkiel

2006-08-14T03:54:00.000-07:00

"Investment Opportunities in China" - Dr. Burton G. Malkiel Speaks at Google

Burton Gordon Malkiel (born August 28, 1932) is a professor of economics at Princeton University and is the author of the classic finance book "A Random Walk Down Wall Street". He is a leading proponent of the Efficient market hypothesis, which contends that prices of publicly traded assets reflect all publicly available information.

Related:
Investment Strategies to Exploit Economic Growth in China (pdf)
by Burton G. Malkiel, Princeton University
CEPS Working Paper No. 122
December 2005

Free China Tech Companies Q2 2006 Earnings Conference Call Transcripts (GSOL, NCTY, JOBS)

2006-08-11T10:39:00.000-07:00

From SeekingAlpha:

Global Sources (GSOL):
Global Sources Q2 2006 Earnings Conference Call Transcript (GSOL)
The9 (NCTY):
The9 Q2 2006 Earnings Conference Call Transcript (NCTY)
51job (JOBS):
51job Q2 2006 Earnings Conference Call Transcript (JOBS)

FTBN — Fibre To Bloody Nowhere

2006-08-11T09:34:00.000-07:00

From The Age:

"Hundreds of millions of Chinese in rural areas may not have clean water, but chances are they have mobile phone coverage and probably soon, access to the internet. Thanks to a central government policy instigated more than 20 years ago, China is rolling out a world-class telecommunications infrastructure that will ultimately connect every village to the internet.
Today, broadband connections are available in all major Chinese cities, not just Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, and virtually no real estate is constructed without installing optic fibre cable."

""In many ways telecommunications here is better than in Europe and the US for sure," Eltschinger (CEO of IT United, a China-based software and outsourcing company) says. "I have been on the Tibet plateau and had better mobile reception than travelling from Dallas to Houston, where the coverage is crap."

The9 Records 630,000 Peak Concurrent Users For World of Warcraft

2006-08-11T08:30:00.000-07:00

From The Motley Fool:

"It's amazing what a single hit game can do. Chinese gaming upstart The9 (Nasdaq: NCTY) had another blowout quarter, thanks to the popularity of the licensed version of Blizzard's World of Warcraft, which is taking off nicely in the world's most populous nation."

"The company can now claim five million paid accounts. At any given moment, 330,000 diehard Chinese gamers are playing the game at the same time, with usage peaking at 630,000 enthusiasts."

Google's Blogger Service Unblocked (again) in China

2006-08-11T08:07:00.000-07:00

From ITworld.com:

"Google Inc.'s free Web log service, Blogger, is once again accessible from Beijing without the use of a proxy server, indicating that apparent government efforts to block the site have been lifted.

Access to Blogger was restored on Thursday. The site has largely been inaccessible from China since late 2002, when government censors apparently blocked access to Google's search engine and other sites. Last year, Blogger was accessible during a three-month period that stretched from mid-October until December, when the service once again became inaccessible."

China's B2B Market Reached RMB 1.26 Billion in 2005

2006-08-11T07:48:00.000-07:00

Press Release

BEIJING, Aug. 11 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Analysys International, a leading Internet based provider of business information about technology, media and telecom (TMT) industries in China, said in its recently released report "China B2B Market Annual Report 2006", that China's B2B market size, including online B2B services and related offline services, reached RMB 1.26 billion in 2005.

According to Analysys International's research, in 2005, Alibaba's B2B delivery value was RMB 520 million, occupying a dominant market share of 41%, followed by Global Sources RMB 374 million, 30% and Hc360.com RMB 162 million, 13%.

Source: Analysys International