Corporate culture is seldom on public display for most of China’s top tech firms, even though such culture often determines the success or failure of a company and is well known to industry insiders. The internal cultures at PC giant Lenovo (HKEx: 922) and smartphone sensation Xiaomi were the subject of chatter in the blogosphere this past week, as executives from inside and outside the companies discussed the less visible side of these well-known names. In Lenovo’s case, the talk came from a company executive herself, on the release of her new book. The latter saw a couple of outside executives comment on less attractive elements behind the inside culture at China’s hottest smartphone maker.
Meantime, the viral “Ice Bucket Challenge” was also all over the tech sphere, with nearly every major executive mentioning the topic on his personal microblog. Many also took the plunge that raises money for a rare neurological disease, but has also been derided as little more than a publicity stunt. Read Full Post…
Sometimes reporting on China’s high-tech industries feels like being trapped in a world where the same things happen again and again, as Beijing and companies repeatedly make the same mistakes. The nation is famous for its boom-bust cycles fueled by companies piling into the latest hot products, leading to price wars and battles for market share before most players go bankrupt or leave the space. A similar phenomenon has occurred in computer operating system (OS) space, where China has tried repeatedly to foster development of products that can supplant Microsoft’s (Nasdaq: MSFT) dominant Windows OS and more recently Google’s (Nasdaq: GOOG) popular Android OS for smartphones. Read Full Post…
After months of hostile exchanges, accusations and negative publicity, the tone in a series of disputes between Chinese and foreign companies and governments abruptly shifted late last week with new signs of conciliation from both the foreign companies and Chinese government. One case involved leading global smartphone chip maker Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM) , which is being probed by Beijing for anti-competitive behavior. The other involved computing giant IBM (NYSE: IBM), whose hardware could soon be shunned by many state-owned banks after Beijing warned of national security concerns earlier this year. Read Full Post…
You know a company is starting to mature when it becomes the subject of headlines beyond its control, which is what we’re seeing in the case of 2 of the latest news bits involving smartphone sensation Xiaomi. In the brief 4 years since its founding, Xiaomi has proven itself a master of marketing, able to keep its name constantly in the headlines through a strategic series of news leaks, sensational sales figures and other media savvy tactics. The latest headlines themselves are relatively benign, one involving a new gaming tie-up and the other involving a minor scandal related to pirated products. Read Full Post…
I generally try to avoid writing too much about smartphones in this space, since the blogosphere often seems like little more than a soap box for high-tech execs to hype their latest products. But a series of exchanges between some of the industry’s top executives provided a fascinating snapshot of the current price wars now gripping China, as companies try to undercut each other to see who can offer the cheapest models. Meantime, some of those same executives were poking fun at the recent news that a famous Chinese comedian was planning to enter the space, again reflecting how overheated the market has become.
Elsewhere on a more solemn note, executives from some of China’s leading tech firms were also paying tribute in the blogosphere to Robin Williams, praising the US comedian for his ability to make other people laugh despite his own depression that ended with his suicide last week. Read Full Post…
Cost-cutting pressure is putting a squeeze on China’s 3 big telcos, creating an unusual set of conditions that could claim smartphone giants Samsung (Seoul: 005930) and Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) as victims. The latest signs of trouble for the world’s 2 largest smartphone makers comes in the form of an article in the English language China Daily newspaper, calling on China’s big 3 mobile carriers to stop offering packages with Samsung and Apple smartphones and instead only offer models from domestic manufacturers like Lenovo (HKEx: 992), ZTE (HKEx: 763; Shenzhen: 000063) and Huawei. Further evidence of the pressure the telcos are feeling comes in an unrelated report, which has the trio denying reports that they’re preparing massive layoffs. Read Full Post…
Apple promises to safeguard data on Chinese servers
Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) has emerged as a rare voice of reason in the war of words between China and the west over cyber security, with word that the global tech giant has decided to host some of its users’ personal data on Chinese-based computers. Apple’s move was almost surely a business decision first and foremost, providing its Chinese users with speedier services. But the move also sends a signal that other western companies should consider following, reflecting Apple’s belief that using Chinese infrastructure doesn’t pose a risk to compromising a company’s private data. Read Full Post…
A summer full of negative news for Sino-foreign trade relations got a rare piece of positive news over the weekend, with word that the US has approved the sale of IBM’s (NYSE: IBM) low-end server business to Chinese PC giant Lenovo (HKEx: 992). The case looks a bit like another deal between the pair of tech giants nearly a decade ago, when IBM agreed to sell its high-profile PC business to Lenovo, only to see the deal run into political headwinds before finally getting approved by Washington. But this latest approval is slightly different, as it comes against a backdrop of heightened trade and other national security tensions between China and the west, especially from the US. Read Full Post…
I’ve been writing regularly about the flood of anti-monopoly probes against western firms recently, so it seems only appropriate that I end the week with a flurry of new headlines involving cases against chipmaker Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM), luxury car maker Audi (Frankfurt: VOWG), and a long-overdue response from a major western business group. In the first news bit, the anti-monopoly investigator has reportedly nabbed a government insider who was helping Qualcomm in the case against it. The second bit has media reporting the regulator is preparing to levy a large but relatively manageable fine against Audi. And the third bit has the EU’s local chamber of commerce calling on China to stop bullying its members. Read Full Post…
The busiest day of the second-quarter earnings season has just come and gone, with online gaming leaders Tencent (HKEx: 700) and NetEase (Nasdaq: NTES), top telco China Mobile (HKEx: 941; NYSE: CHL), leading PC maker Lenovo (HKEx: 992) and e-commerce high-flyer Vipshop (NYSE: VIPS) all reporting results in the same 24-hour period. I’ll give quick reviews of individual companies shortly, but the bigger picture based on stock reactions seems to be a massive yawn from investors. Most of the stocks were either unchanged or moved slightly downward in response to the earnings reports, meaning most results continued recent company trends.
The lackluster response also hints at some investor fatigue, following a wave of euphoria during a flood of new Internet IPOs in New York in the first half of this year. All that said, let’s take a quick look at each of the reports and what they say about current and future trends. Read Full Post…
Smartphone makers Xiaomi and Huawei are learning tough new lessons this week, reflecting intense competition in the overheated market where a feisty field of Chinese players are vying for a place alongside global leaders Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) and Samsung (Seoul: 005930). In Xiaomi’s case, the company has become emboiled in an embarrassing new gaffe in Taiwan involving collection of personal data. Meantime, Huawei’s Honor line of smartphones, which it’s trying to position as an mid- to upscale brand, is rapidly moving into the bargain bin with word that it has slashed the price on a new 4G model to just 799 yuan, or $130. Read Full Post…
