Something seemed strangely familiar when I read a story this week about a new $1 billion joint venture here in Shanghai between local TV giant SMG and a US company called Jaunt. I could swear that perhaps I’d read the story before, or at least something similar. But then I realized my sense of deja vu was prompted by the term “virtual reality”, or VR, which was the focus of this new tie-up and has become a sudden buzzword in our local media.
VR isn’t the only high-tech word buzzing around our media here in Shanghai these days. In addition, we’re suddenly getting swamped with stories about high-tech incubators, as well as robots and artificial intelligence (AI). The new robot craze seems particularly pronounced, and a search for the word on Shanghai Daily’s website returned a staggering 889 results, including 15 in May alone. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Google’s registration of a company in Shanghai’s Free Trade Zone is the latest incremental move in its crawl back to China, but the company will focus on apps and is unlikely to re-enter the sensitive Chinese search market.
Google searches for China opening in Shanghai
What’s becoming one of the slowest homecomings of all time has just taken another small but significant step forward, with reports that US Internet titan Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) has formally registered a new company in a 2-year-old Free Trade Zone (FTZ) in Shanghai. The move had Chinese media buzzing about an imminent return to China by Google, nearly 6 years after the company shuttered its local search service after a high-profile dispute with Beijing over censorship.
Like many of the earlier reports, this latest report looks mostly incremental and doesn’t seem to portend any imminent announcements by Google. But the reports do contain a couple of interesting developments that could hint at how the company plans to do business in the world’s largest Internet market if and when it does return. The 2 key new elements are Google’s potential choice of Shanghai for its new China base, and its registration of a new search and email services company to be run under the separate name Pengji. Read Full Post…
After a year of mostly hype, Shanghai’s new Free Trade Zone (FTZ) has finally begun showing the world some substance in the last 2 months with a recent string of high-profile announcements by major companies that plan to set up in its borders. Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) and Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) were among the first to announce plans, and were joined last week by US retail giant Costco (Nasdaq: COST) and top Chinese oil refiner Sinopec (HKEx: 386; Shanghai: 600028; NYSE: SNP). Read Full Post…
Two of the world’s biggest retailers are in the e-commerce headlines, led by a move into Shanghai’s new pilot free trade zone by global giant Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN). At the same time, Wal-Mart-controlled (NYSE: WMT) Yhd has become China’s first e-commerce firm licensed to operate online drugstores, giving it a potential edge over other rivals also eying the space. Both of these stories highlight how the big international names are trying to use their clout and global connections to carve out a space in China’s fast growing but highly competitive e-commerce space, which is now dominated by the domestic pair of Alibaba and JD.com (Nasdaq: JD). Read Full Post…
In brand-obsessed China, it seems that even something as abstract and esoteric as a free trade zone (FTZ) can become a mingpai, or famous brand. That’s my quick assessment, on reading that our city’s highly hyped FTZ is getting ready to embark on a nationwide campaign to spread its name and business model as it approaches its first anniversary.
More broadly speaking, this move by the Shanghai FTZ shines a spotlight on the Chinese obsession with famous brands. As a China resident of many years, I’ve noted this fascination with mingpai has a long history in modern China dating back to well before the current reform era. But this latest move to create a “brand” around the new FTZ seems a bit extreme, and perhaps indicates it’s time for China to tone down its obsession with famous names. Read Full Post…
International board finds new life in Shanghai Free Trade Zone
I’ve avoided writing about the new Shanghai Free Trade Zone (FTZ) up until now, despite exhaustive coverage in both domestic and international media. But now I’m lifting my informal ban, following new reports saying the FTZ could soon host a proposed but long-stalled international board where foreign companies could list their shares in China. Such a development would be quite exciting, as it could finally allow big names like China Mobile (HKEx: 941; NYSE: CHL) and Lenovo (HKEx: 992), which are technically based overseas, to finally make their shares accessible to investors in China. Read Full Post…
