Customer loyalty poll highlights Xioami’s long march ahead
Cyberchatter over the past week was shining a spotlight on the huge task ahead for domestic Chinese smartphone makers, as they engage in cut-throat competition in their massive home market. A new survey posted by a top regional telecoms executive showed just how little loyalty Chinese customers feel towards most of the domestic brands, underscoring the fact that low prices are still their major attraction.
Meantime, fading e-commerce veteran Dangdang (NYSE: DANG) was also facing its own uphill battle, as its core online book business was reportedly on the cusp of being overtaken by much newer rival JD.com (Nasdaq: JD), China’s second largest player. True to his usual form, Dangdang’s talkative but short-sighted co-founder Li Guoqing was more focused on a new employee incentive plan than the looming negative milestone for a division that was once his company’s core business. Read Full Post…
I wrote about taxi apps a few times last year when they first became a hot topic, but haven’t written much since then despite frequent appearances in the headlines about their aggressive business practices. At the end of the day the news didn’t seem too interesting, and companies like Didi and Kuaidi seemed destined to remain relatively small in a sector with limited growth potential. But a new war pitting US giant Uber against the Chinese start-ups seems worth writing about, as it has bigger potential to shake up the market and also to draw attention from Chinese regulators. Read Full Post…
An important step in China’s ongoing battle against piracy is showing signs of being undermined, with word that a Shenzhen company that received a record fine for copyright violations was attempting to avoid the penalty through use of an old trick.
The Shenzhen government should take extra efforts to enforce the penalty, and also make sure that the company, QVOD, permanently ends its piracy practices. Such a tack would send a strong message to Chinese companies that intellectual property theft of any kind won’t be tolerated, and the government will tirelessly pursue culprits until they are brought to justice. Read Full Post…
Two of the world’s biggest social networking service (SNS) operators are in the headlines as the new week begins, starting with word that Facebook (Nasdaq: FB) is moving ahead with its plans to open in China. Meantime, separate reports are saying Japanese-based mobile instant messaging service Line has been disrupted in China, perhaps for carrying sensitive content.
These news bits may look different on the surface, but they’re really quite similar in broader terms. China is extremely wary of offshore-based SNS like Facebook, Line and Twitter (NYSE: TWTR), because they are not subject to the country’s strict self-censorship laws. Thus companies that want to develop a China business must open offices and host their Chinese services on local servers to placate Beijing, which is what Facebook and Line are doing now. Read Full Post…
Separate reports about a new IPO by one company and potential exit from the Nasdaq by another are reflecting the mixed feelings that Chinese firms have for New York, where public listings can bring both prestige and also headaches. In the new listing category, media are reporting that yet another mobile game developer called iDreamSky has just made its first public filing for a New York IPO to raise up to $110 million. Meantime, other media are reporting that veteran online travel service eLong (Nasdaq: LONG) could be gearing up for a buy-out by much larger rival Ctrip (Nasdaq: CTRP). Read Full Post…
Former online clothing high-flyer Vancl is making yet more cuts to its business, as it pursues its dream of finding sustainable profits and making an eventual public listing. Both goals could come sooner rather than later, especially since IPOs by Chinese web firms have suddenly become an investor favorite again on Wall Street, as reflected by new data on the second-quarter IPO market. Such an offering could be compelling if Vancl really has become profitable, since it’s a clear leader in the highly competitive but still somewhat niche area of clothing e-commerce. Read Full Post…
A series of microblog posts this past week is highlighting the breakneck pace of wheeling and dealing happening behind the scenes on China’s Internet as it undergoes an unprecedented wave of consolidation. What started as a trickle of buying early last year has become so routine that barely anyone notices now when new deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars are signed. Equally interesting are the untold stories of companies quietly being dismantled in the wake of larger deals, and hints of deals to come in the microblog posts of executives at firms leading the consolidation. Read Full Post…
Newly released data are showing an inevitable slowdown at Yu’ebao, Alibaba’s inaugural financial product that has shaken up China’s stodgy banking industry since its launch a year ago. The data released by Alibaba’s Tianhong Asset Management, which officially runs Yu’ebao, also shows the product’s return rate has dropped considerably from earlier levels, which will further undermine its attractiveness. Separately, media are reporting that Alibaba has tentatively chosen the date of August 8 for its highly anticipated New York listing, which had been previously rumored due to its significance as a lucky day on the Chinese calendar. Read Full Post…
China was traditionally known for its rampant piracy, but is now suddenly becoming a strong copyright protection advocate with the rise of a new generation of video site operators looking to protect their intellectual property. In the latest twist of this new and somewhat unexpected trend, Internet TV operator LeTV (Shenzhen: 300104) has successfully sued fast-rising smartphone maker Xiaomi for copyright violations related to Xiaomi’s problem-plagued Internet TV set-top boxes. Read Full Post…
Big stock moves for veteran online travel agent eLong (Nasdaq: LONG) and newly listed mobile game firm Ourgame (HKEx: 6899) are shining a spotlight on the need for consolidation in many of China’s online sectors, where these smaller players lack the resources to thrive over the longer term. Shares of eLong suddenly soared more than 20 percent in the latest session on trading volumes not seen for years, which will inevitably lead to speculation of a looming buyout offer. Meantime, Ourgame shares tanked 17 percent on their first trading day in Hong Kong, as investors yawned at the chance to buy into yet another mid-sized Chinese gaming firm. Read Full Post…
Newly listed companies are becoming popular investment targets for some of China’s tech giants, with online classified site 58.com (NYSE: WUBA) and video sharing site Xunlei (Nasdaq: XNET) both picking up major new backers in the form of Tencent (HKEx: 700) and Xiaomi, respectively. Meantime in other IPO news, a long-delayed domestic IPO for the website of the official Xinhua news agency is finally moving ahead, some 2 and a half years after a deal was first rumored. The case of Xinhuanet is particularly interesting because Xinhua and People’s Daily, the official Communist Party newspaper whose People.com (Shanghai: 603000) website is already listed, recently merged their 2 money-losing online search sites. Read Full Post…
