Bottom line: UCWeb’s new India tie-up with Facebook looks like a good step that will help its global expansion, while Qihoo’s new Microsoft alliance looks mostly like inconsequential hype.
UCWeb ties with Facebook in India
A couple of new corporate tie-ups are in the headlines today, led by word of a potentially major new alliance between Alibaba-owned (NYSE: BABA) web browser UCWeb and global social networking giant Facebook (Nasdaq: FB). The other tie-up, which looks far less interesting but still potentially significant, and will see security software specialist Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU) work with Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) in advertising services. This second alliance is just the latest in a long recent string for Qihoo, and seems aimed at breathing life into its struggling stock that is being rapidly abandoned by impatient and disappointed investors. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Alibaba’s new forays into India and South Korea look like good choices for its first major drive into foreign markets, as such markets are more similar to and have stronger links with China.
Alibaba eyes India investment
It’s been interesting to watch where China’s top Internet firms are placing their bets as they embark on an international expansion to show the world they can compete outside their home market. India is emerging as one destination of choice, with word that e-commerce leader Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) is following smartphone sensation Xiaomi into the market with a major new acquisition target. At the same time, other media reports are saying that Alibaba is also in talks for another major investment in South Korea. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Qihoo’s new joint venture looks like a smart tie-up to promote its software and online services, while Xiaomi’s resumption of India sales looks like a hollow win in its patent battle with Ericsson.
Qihoo, Coolpad in JV
A trio of smartphone stories are in the news today, including updates on major news involving security software specialist Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU) and the ultra-cool Xiaomi. The first headline has Qihoo moving into the overheated smartphone space through a major new joint venture with domestic giant Coolpad (HKEx: 2369). In the second headline, Xiaomi has been allowed to resume selling some of its smartphones in India, after a judge last week ordered it to stop sales amid an ongoing patent dispute with Swedish mobile technology giant Ericsson (Stockholm ERICb). Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Xiaomi is likely to quickly settle a patent dispute against it by Ericsson in India, which could slightly raise its costs but won’t affect its longer term development in the market.
India judge crimps Xiaomi’s global expansion
The global expansion plans of fast-rising Xiaomi may have hit a major roadblock, with word that a court has ordered the company to stop importing and selling its popular low-cost smartphones in India. Xiaomi had been targeting India as one of the main drivers in its campaign to become a major global smartphone brand, and has made a number of major moves in the market this year. But now it will have to deal with this new litigation, which is coming from global telecoms equipment giant Ericsson (Stockholm: ERICb) over patent infringement claims. Read Full Post…
Smartphone sensation Xiaomi is rapidly becoming an expert at shuffling its user data from country to country, with word that it will store data for its users in India on western-based servers rather than shipping such information back to computers in its home China market. This particular move looks largely preemptive, aimed at preventing a new brouhaha similar to one it faced in Taiwan related to concerns over national security and protection of user privacy. The move looks like a relatively smart one in the current climate of global concerns about cyber-security. But it does pose a larger challenge of added costs for China-based companies like Xiaomi with global aspirations. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on October 14. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
