A new media report is underscoring the importance of games for the future of China’s mobile app developers, who are desperately looking for ways to monetize the big sums of money they spend developing such applications. Social networking sites Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) Weibo, Tencent (HKEx: 700) and Renren (NYSE: RENN) are all good examples of companies that have quickly built up communities of tens and even hundreds of millions of users by developing popular desktop and mobile apps. But earning money from those huge communities has proven much more difficult, as all of these companies are quickly discovering. In that environment, games have emerged as one of the few things that users of these popular apps are actually willing to pay for. Read Full Post…
The recent turmoil at struggling PC maker Dell (Nasdaq: DELL) is spilling over into its operations in China, where the company’s president has just resigned even as a top Asia executive discusses a new strategic direction for the market. All of this comes against a broader backdrop that saw global PC sales post their worst drop in history during the first quarter, as more consumers switched off their computers in favor of smaller and more convenient tablet computers and smartphones. Read Full Post…
New signals from embattled telecoms equipment giant Huawei indicate the company may be seeking a new “middle road”, as it tries to ease western concerns that its products could be used for spying by Beijing. This subtle but perhaps significant shift is coming in the form of a press release just issued by Huawei, in which it says Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard encouraged the Chinese company to expand its commercial business in Australia during a trip to China this week. Read Full Post…
The rapid rise of location-based services (LBS) on the Internet is spawning a new generation of start-up companies, with taxi finders one of the latest to join the trend. Such apps use GPS technology to create services that rely on a person’s location, such as helping that person to find nearby restaurants or shops. Just this week a friend was telling me about one such new LBS to help frustrated consumers find taxis, and now we’re reading about 2 other companies that are moving onto the investor radar with their own new tie-ups. Read Full Post…
The non-stop debate over Internet giant Tencent’s (HKEx: 700) popular WeChat mobile instant messaging service has moved south to Hainan island, where executives on both sides of the issue are speaking out at a major annual forum in the city of Boao. On one side of the issue, former China Mobile (HKEx: 941; NYSE: CHL) Chairman Wang Jianzhou is saying that WeChat and other popular mobile apps are a huge burden for the nation’s telcos, which must invest big bucks in infrastructure that these Internet-based programs require to operate. On the other side of the issue, Tencent President Martin Lau is saying that WeChat will remain free, contradicting recent signals from the telecoms regulator that Tencent will soon start to charge for the service. Read Full Post…
Much is being written about the flurry of H7N9 bird flu cases in and around Shanghai, but few of the stories are focusing on the impact the outbreak is having on businesses. Chicken farmers and sellers are taking an obvious hit, but restaurants with a heavy presence of chicken and pork on their menus and Shanghai-based event organizers and supporting industries like hotels and airlines are also likely to suffer in this current bird flu event. Read Full Post…
Security software specialist Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU) is learning that bad news comes in waves, with new reports saying the company’s highly hyped new search engine isn’t doing quite as well as previous reports indicated. The news, if true, would follow another major setback for the company last month when an anti-monopoly lawsuit it filed against Internet giant Tencent (HKEx: 700) was thrown out by a judge in a courtroom in southern Guangdong province. (previous post) Read Full Post…
Intriguing rumors that billionaire investor Warren Buffett might be eying bankrupt former solar superstar Suntech (NYSE: STP) are breathing new life into embattled solar shares, as traders bet that western investors could help to revive the sector. Such a move would indeed be a major vote of confidence in this tarnished industry, since most observers believe that no private investors would want to bet on this group and a state-led rescue will be necessary to save the shaky sector. But all of that said, I’m quite skeptical that the latest rumors are true, since Buffett isn’t know for investing in problem-plagued companies or sectors.
A new attack on software giant Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) by an English-language Chinese broadcaster looks like a relatively minor affair and would probably not even qualify as news in most western markets. But this is China, where all media are owned by the state and often support each other by speaking with a single voice. That means this new criticism by China National Radio could be just the opening shot against the world’s largest software maker, similar to an ambush faced by rival Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) just weeks ago. Read Full Post…
I must admit that I have a love-hate relationship with TV talent shows, which perhaps explains my mixed reaction to the news that the granddaddy of the genre, “American Idol” is finally coming to China more than a decade after its huge success in the US. On the one hand, I do think these shows that have become a Chinese TV staple seem more like a waste of talent that could be better spent on more productive things like saving the environment or building faster computers. Read Full Post…
Coffee lovers in China will be excited to hear about a major new initiative by Nestle (Zurich: NESN) to grow coffee beans in southwestern Yunnan province, in the latest challenge to the nation’s traditional tea-drinking culture. Nestle’s choice of the area known as Pu’er for its latest move is highly symbolic in the brewing battle between these 2 popular hot beverages, since that particular region is already famous in Chinese for its namesake tea leaves. Read Full Post…
