Bottom line: Huawei’s new Nexus tie-up with Google could help Huawei make significant inroads to the US, and could see Google enter the crowded Chinese smartphone market by year-end.
Huawei, Google link up through Nexus
Just days after the launch of the newest iPhone, fast-rising Chinese smartphone maker Huawei will make its own renewed push into Apple’s (Nasdaq: AAPL) home turf through a highly-anticipated tie-up with Internet titan Google (Nasdaq: GOOG). This particular tie-up will see Huawei make one of the newest phones in Google’s Nexus line, in a tie-up that has been written about quite a bit already but is set for a formal announcement later on Tuesday.
That announcement would come just days after the launch of the newest iPhone 6s models, which broke records by selling 13 million units over their first weekend. Apple was able to break that record in no small part due to contributions from China, the world’s biggest smartphone market, which was absent in the last iPhone global launch due to delays for technical reasons. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: iPhone 6 sales are likely to start slow in China, but could pick up momentum as the nation’s 3 wireless carriers launch aggressive promotions to attract users for their new 4G services.
iPhone 6s in subdued China launch
As everyone awaits the first sales figures for the iPhone 6 after its launch last Friday, it’s becoming apparent that Apple’s (Nasdaq: AAPL) newest smartphone isn’t drawing quite as much buzz as earlier models in China. But that said, strong promotions from some of China’s leading e-commerce sites, a price that’s relatively unchanged from previous ones and the Chinese obsession with owning the newest of everything could work to the new iPhone’s advantage in the world’s largest smartphone market.
In case anyone out there can’t tell, most of us really have no idea how the new iPhone is selling in China for this latest launch, thanks to the huge number of sales channels Apple now has in the country. In addition to official Apple stores and the nation’s 3 wireless carriers, consumers can buy their new iPhones through thousands of unauthorized Apple shops, as well as through top e-commerce sites like the ones operated by Suning (Shenzhen: 002024) and JD.com (Nasdaq: JD). Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Rupert Murdoch could soon announce a new China film tie-up after meeting with President Xi Jinping, while Warner Bros’ new China production venture could see mixed results due to the market’s challenging nature.
Warner, Murdoch salivate at China film market
Media heavyweights Rupert Murdoch and Warner Bros are both in the headlines, each snooping around the fringes of China’s film market in search of ways to exploit the nation’s booming box office. In the latest sign that Murdoch may be set to re-enter the market after an earlier withdrawal, the aging head of Twenty-First Century Fox (Nasdaq: FOX) was in Beijing late last week where he got a rare private meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. That meeting was chronicled in an upbeat report by the People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Communist Party.
Meantime, Warner Bros was doing its own dance with China’s state establishment, announcing a film-making joint venture with a private equity fund owned by the nation’s second largest traditional media company. That deal saw Warner and China Media Capital (CMC) announce the formation of Flagship Entertainment Group, which will produce films in China for both the domestic box office and also overseas markets. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Carrefour’s new foray into upscale, lifestyle-oriented convenience stores could stand a reasonable chance of success and breathe some new life into its struggling China business.
Carrefour expands Easy convenience store concept
After tinkering with a new convenience store concept for the last year, global retailing giant Carrefour (Paris: CA) has finally come up with a smaller-store model it likes and is planning a big expansion for its new chain of Carrefour Easy convenience shops. The move is part of Carrefour’s broader overhaul of its poorly performing China operations, which the company even considered selling at one point.
I do find this particular move somewhat contrary to industry trends, since Chinese are clearly buying more and more of their products online over popular services like Alibaba’s (Nasdaq: BABA) Tmall and JD.com (Nasdaq: JD). But that said, there will always be a place for traditional shops in the bigger retailing landscape, especially convenience stores whose main audience is usually impulse buyers looking for a quick drink, a bite to eat or just a place to quickly surf the web. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: The new iPhone 6S models will post lackluster sales during their first weekend in China, but could gain momentum later as the nation’s 3 mobile carriers launch aggressive promotions for their new 4G services.
High hopes for China with new iPhone launch
China has become a center of attention for Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) these last few days, on hopes that the world’s largest smartphone market will help to power the latest iPhone to a record launch. Apple is being quite circumspect about the situation, saying only that global pre-orders for its new iPhone 6S and 6S Plus were “very strong”, ahead of their official September 25 launch date when they will become available in stores.
Analysts are saying they expect China to play an important but also muted role in the early stages for the iPhone 6S, accounting for as much as 15 percent of global sales in its first weekend. At the same time, another report is spotlighting discrepancies in iPhone 6S prices in different global markets. As usual the report shows that models in China will cost around 20 percent more than the the US, though Chinese prices will be comparable with Britain, France and Germany. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Beijing should be commended for taking a national approach to regulating private hired car services, and should continue to update its policies to reflect the rapidly changing sector.
Beijing welcomes Uber, Didi to compete with taxis
A rambunctious young group of Internet companies could soon receive legal status in China, with reports that Beijing is getting set to unveil new rules governing private hired car services as early as this week. Beijing should be praised for taking an even-handed approach and regulating these services that are creating unprecedented competition for taxis, rather than bowing to pressure from state-owned taxi companies that want the aggressive group of newcomers banned.
These newer services do need to be regulated to avoid crime and fraud that has plagued industry pioneer Uber and similar services in other parts of the world. But to outlaw such services, like some countries have done, would have cost China an opportunity to nurture a whole new industry, including the homegrown Didi Kuaidi that was valued at $16.5 billion after a recent funding. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Apple is likely to log strong orders for its new iPhone 6S models, aided by its own strong reputation and aggressive promotions by China’s telcos for their new 4G service.
New iPhones on order in China
What a different 3 years makes. In that brief period China has transformed from ugly stepchild to a new Cinderella for gadget giant Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), whose newly announced iPhone 6S models will make one of their first global stops in the world’s largest smartphone market. That’s the word trickling out from China-based sources, which were leaking the information as Apple unveiled its latest iPhone models at a globally-watched event in California.
While most eyes were fixated on that launch for the new series of iPhones, China watchers were more focused on when the models will come to a market that is now Apple’s largest outside the US, and even briefly passed the US early this year. Apple’s China fans weren’t disappointed, with reports that the nation’s big 3 telcos would begin taking orders for the new iPhones just a day after the US launch event. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: The latest downbeat remarks from Unigroup’s chairman after a visit to the US indicate the company has given up on its bid to buy Micron, though it could potentially relaunch the effort after next year’s presidential elections.
Unigroup’s Micron bid looks dead
I wrote several weeks ago that a bid by China’s Unigroup to buy US memory chip giant Micron Technology (Nasdaq: MU) had become the victim of politics, and now it appears the deal is finally dead. Or at least it’s on life support, with little hope of resuscitation. That’s my interpretation, following the latest reports that say Unigroup’s chairman has given remarks that look quite pessimistic after returning to China from a last-ditch US visit to try to save the deal.
This deal looked quite interesting when it was first reported back in July, and would have been worth some $23 billion, marking the biggest-ever acquisition of a US company by a Chinese counterpart. But political sensitivities quickly surfaced due to Micron’s status as the biggest US maker of memory chips used in most electronic devices and also in the defense industry. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Smaller foreign tech companies could follow Trend Micro’s lead and withdraw from China over the next few years, as they suffer sharp business downturns due to restrictions under the country’s new national security law.
Trend Micro sells China unit
This summer has been unusually quiet for big multinationals in China, following campaigns in the last 2 years targeting foreign companies for monopolistic practices and corruption, among other things. But the real turbulence this year has been happening behind the scenes, as foreign technology companies face a major business downturn following China’s recent roll-out of a strict new law designed to protect national security.
Many foreign tech firms have complained the new law is too broad and intrusive, and now security software specialist Trend Micro may have become the first major victim. That’s my interpretation, following an announcement that appears to show Trend Micro is withdrawing from the market. This particular move will see Trend Micro sell all of its China operations to AsiaInfo, a Chinese owned maker of telecoms software. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Upbeat reports from leading pork producer Smithfield and aircraft giant Boeing show that consumer-focused companies should continue to thrive despite China’s slowing economy, while policy-driven state-run firms could suffer more.
Boeing ups China aircraft outlook
A couple of upbeat new reports from aircraft giant Boeing (NYSE: BA) and leading global pork producer Smithfield are providing an interesting contrast to broader forecasts of gloom and doom for China’s slowing economy. In the first instance, Boeing has upgraded its 20 year forecast for aircraft demand in China, while the second has Smithfield has saying its exports to China rose 45 percent in the first half of this year.
Each of these stories is slightly different, but both point to a growing divide in the Chinese economy that has big implications for the nation’s major industries. On one side of the aisle are companies like Boeing and Smithfield, which make products and services directly tied to consumer demand. Such products and services are part of the so-called “real economy” and are things that the market really wants. These should be able to continue thriving even if China’s economy slows. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: A steady series of leaked photos of a smartphone co-produced by Google and Huawei is designed to give face to Beijing, and could pave the way for a China entry for Google’s Nexus phones and app store by year end.
China wins face in Google-Huawei tie-up
Barely a day has gone by recently without a leaked photo appearing on the Internet of a new smartphone being developed in a landmark tie-up between Chinese up-and-comer Huaweiand Google’s (Nasdaq: GOOG) Nexus brand. A cynic like me would speculate that the growing volume of noise looks rather deliberate, and that both sides are intentionally trying to drum up buzz for a new Nexus model that will become the brand’s first to be made by a Chinese manufacturer.
Huawei
Huawei’s motivations for leaking the information are obvious: this particular tie-up will bring it the validation it craves for its young smartphone business, giving its products the stamp of approval from one of the world’s leading technology names. But Google’s motivations are a bit more subtle. Certainly it’s natural to hype up this kind of new product before the launch. But in this case Google is almost certainly aware of the “face” that China will receive from such a move. That could help to soothe its tense relations with Beijing as it eyes a return to a market it can’t afford to ignore. Read Full Post…
