Bottom line: Google’s purchase of HTC’s Pixel assets is a sign of no confidence in HTC’s chances of longer-term survival as an independent smartphone maker.
Google’s HTC purchase: reason for optimism or pessimism
Everyone is giving their two cents about the big new tie-up between Taiwan smartphone maker HTC (Taipei: 2498) and Google(Nasdaq: GOOG), so I figured I’d weigh in as well on this deal that has quite a few threads. From where I sit, the deal marks the latest distress sign coming from an overcrowded smartphone field here in China, even though HTC is technically based in Taiwan.
Equally or even more interesting is the question of whether Google is a white knight riding to HTC’s rescue, or rather trying to protect its own interests from what it sees as a fast-sinking ship. I tend to think the case might be the latter, which I’ll explain shortly, even though both Google and HTC would probably vehemently deny such a conclusion. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: New global initiatives by Alibaba’s cloud and electronic payments affiliates look smart by targeting Chinese customers abroad, but may only stand a 50-50 chance of longer-term success due to fierce global competition.
AliCloud global expansion moves ahead
Following lackluster results for initiatives involving its core e-commerce business outside China, Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) is pushing ahead on the global stage with new moves for 2 of its other areas with big growth potential. One of those has the company unveiling a global strategy for its cloud services unit, AliCloud, which includes a tie-up with former Taiwan smartphone superstar HTC (Taipei: 2498). The other involves Alibaba’s Ant Financial affiliate, which is rolling out its core Alipay electronic payments service in Europe. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and news reports about China companies were carried on August 10. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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HTC (Taipei: 2498), Alicloud Form Strategic Alliance in Virtual Reality (Chinese article)
Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) Reports Q2 Financial Results (PRNewswire)
China Extends Marriott-Starwood Deal Review by Up to 60 Days (English article)
BP (London: BP) Seeks Buyers for Its Half of China Petrochemical JV (English article)
China Film (Shanghai: 600977) Rises 44 Pct in Shanghai Trading Debut (Chinese article)
It’s official: the fast-rising Huawei has formally passed the 100 million mark for smartphone sales this year, cementing its place as the world’s undisputed third largest player behind only Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) and Samsung (Seoul: 005930). In a relatively unusual move for this low-profile company, Huawei is also trumpeting the milestone in a formal press release and forecasting more strong growth for next year.
Huawei has been China’s biggest success story to date in the young smartphone space, gaining rapid momentum over a crowded field of domestic rivals that includes Lenovo (HKEx: 992), ZTE (HKEx: 763; Shenzhen: 000063) and smaller names like Alibaba-backed Meizu. But the company should also carefully watch the case of the stumbling Xiaomi, which was being called a homegrown Chinese version of Apple before it began its recent rapid fall from grace. 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…
Bottom line: Google is likely to soon announce that Huawei will make its next generation of Nexus smartphones, in an alliance that looks savvy for both companies for political and practical reasons.
Google, Huawei preparing Nexus partnership?
Global search giant Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) is continuing its low-key drive back to China, with word the next model from its Nexus line of smartphones will be produced by fast-rising domestic brand Huawei. The move is unconfirmed and sourcing in the reports comes from an unnamed Huawei employee.
But such a move would certainly be consistent with Google’s other recent actions, which have seen it moving quietly behind the scenes for a more active role in China’s smartphone market, the world’s largest. Despite its lack of formal presence, Google already enjoys a huge passive role in the market due to the huge popularity of its Android operating system, which is used by nearly all of China’s homegrown smartphone makers. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Xiaomi’s newest technology headache, if true, could delay the launch of its fifth-generation phone, further sapping its momentum and making it difficult to reach its 2015 sales target.
Xiaomi reportedly hits technology glitch
The once invincible Xiaomi is starting to look increasingly mortal, with reports that the smartphone high-flyer may have to delay the launch of its newest model due to technical reasons. I’m not too knowledgeable on the technical issues in this instance, but the potential new delays for the release of the Xiaomi 5 appear to be related to fingerprint recognition technology that the company plans to build into the new models.
If these latest reports are true, the delays could put a big crimp in the Xiaomi’s ambitious sales plans this year as it attempts to maintain its breakneck growth. Maintaining that kind of growth looks increasingly difficult due to all the technical issues, combined with intensifying competition in Xiaomi’s core China market. That competition is causing the company to abandon the online-only sales model that helps it keep costs down, which will ultimately undermine its profit margins. Read Full Post…
Publicity savvy smartphone maker Xiaomi was making awkward noises in the blogosphere this past week, as it found itself stinging from critical remarks made by a top executive at Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), the company’s role model. At the same time, the company got an unexpected show of support from another source, as controversial Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU) CEO Zhou Hongyi defended the smartphone maker over a different brouhaha involving involving an embarrassing data security investigation in Taiwan.
In separate news, TV giant TCL (Shenzhen: 000100) Chairman Li Dongsheng was talking up a potential electronic payments alliance, with word that his company is discussing a tie-up with UnionPay, operator of China’s leading electronic transactions network. Just last week I commended Li for taking some new risks a decade after 2 disastrous partnerships with European companies. But this latest chatter is starting to get a bit worrisome, as Li seems to be thinking in quite a few directions that are increasingly scattered and lack any common theme. Read Full Post…
The microblogging realm has been relatively quiet this past week as Chinese tech executives enjoy the long October 1 holiday. Still, a few couldn’t completely stay away from their online accounts, led by TCL’s (Shenzhen: 000100) thoughtful Chairman Li Dongsheng who hinted at a possible tie-up with struggling former Taiwanese smartphone giant HTC (Taipei: 2498).
Meantime, LinkedIn’s (NYSE: LNKD) China chief Derek Shen commented on the current overheated investment environment in China’s Internet, reinforcing a view I’ve been stating for a while now. Finally there was Lenovo (HKEx: 992) CEO Yang Yuanqing, who let his deputies do the talking on his behalf as he donated a portion of his annual bonus to rank-and-file company employees in a goodwill gesture for the third straight year. Read Full Post…
This week’s tech round-up from the microblogging realm is a flurry of interesting but unrelated news bits, as the world gets back to work following the end of the summer holidays. Leading the list is the latest effort by Facebook (Nasdaq: FB) to find a backdoor into China, which comes in the form of a new Weibo account that isn’t verified but has at least one tech executive spreading the word and encouraging people to follow the page.
Meantime, online search leader Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) generated some microblogging buzz when it unveiled an unusual pair of high-tech chopsticks in Beijing. Last but not least there’s Xue Manzi, a tech investor also known as Charles Xue, who was busy hyping a tech start-up on his microblog. Xue is a man I came to dislike over the years for his largely empty talk, even as he built up a base of more than 10 million followers on Weibo (Nasdaq: WB). But then he got sent to prison for becoming too influential and political, making me more sympathetic, before his release in April and quick return to vacuous blogging. Read Full Post…
After years of dodgy acquisitions targeting struggling rivals, Chinese PC giant Lenovo (HKEx: 992) is finally making some acquisition bids I like, with reports the company is in talks to buy former Taiwanese smartphone superstar HTC (Taipei: 2498). This new report looks quite interesting, as it comes just 2 months after media speculated that Lenovo could make a bid for BlackBerry (Toronto: BB), another former smartphone high-flyer whose fortunes have also faded rapidly due to its failure to keep up with the latest trends. But Lenovo wisely decided to skip Canada-based BlackBerry, which would have been difficult to turn around for a number of reasons, including cultural and other structural issues due to its roots as an email specialist. Read Full Post…
