A recent round of virtual “red envelope wars” was making waves in the microblogging realm in this final week before the Lunar New Year, in one of the many recent battles that have seen Internet titans Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) and Tencent (HKEx: 700) lock horns. This particular rivalry has gained wide attention in the Chinese headlines these last few weeks, though it’s worth noting that many others are staging similar copycat promotions following the huge success of Tencent’s original virtual hongbao promotion last year.
Meantime, the hyperactive Xiaomi moved offshore in its own bid to make sure it continues to garner attention, with a flurry of microblogging buzz related to its new move into the ultra competitive US market. Last but not least, several high-tech leaders extended their well wishes to Internet elder Lee Kai-fu, following his return to his Innovation Works high-tech incubator in Beijing more than a year after returning to his native Taiwan for treatment of cancer. Read Full Post…
Two big news stories were at the center of heated discussion in of the microblogging realm this past week, led by Alibaba’s (NYSE: BABA) high profile dispute with one of China’s main business regulators over accusations of being soft on piracy. At the same time, Tencent’s (HKEx: 700) roll-out of advertisements on its WeChat mobile messsaging platform also drew lots of comments, as users were suddenly greeted with unsolicited messages in the popular Moments feature that functions much like Facebook’s (Nasdaq: FB) newsfeeds.
Of course no weekly microblogging round-up would be complete without a mention of the media savvy Xiaomi, which was once again creating buzz after an embarrassing gaffe by global marketing chief Hugo Barra. That gaffe saw Barra use a politically incorrect version of a map of India in one of his presentations, showing India as the correct owner of parts of a disputed area of its long border with China. Read Full Post…
The microblogging realm has been buzzing with posts from tech executives this past week, many of whom were hyping their products at a major gadget show taking place in Las Vegas. But back in China, smartphone sensation Xiaomi was generating its own usual buzz with hints that it may try to go upscale and challenge Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) and Samsung (Seoul: 005930) more directly with a pricey new offering later this month.
Meantime, the microblogging realm also saw some unusual noise from 2 tech executives who have been mostly quiet in the space for more than a year. The loudest noise came from Charles Zhang, founder of web stalwart Sohu (Nasdaq: SOHU), whose microblog on Sina Weibo (Nasdaq: WB) suddenly came to life as he moved to deflect rumors about massive layoffs at his company. Meantime, Chinese Internet patriarch Lee Kai-fu also made a rare tech-related post on his microblog, breaking a prolonged period of relative silence since he returned to his native Taiwan for treatment of cancer. Read Full Post…
Tech executives welcomed in the New Year with some intriguing hints on their microblogs, with posts suggesting major new moves in China from global media titan News Corp (Nasdsaq: NWSA) and online video operator LeTV (Shenzhen: 300104). In the former case, a local tech executive posted a photo of himself meeting with Rupert Murdoch in China, indicating the News Corp chief was back doing business in the country after a long absence. In the latter case, LeTV chief Jia Yueting was hinting that his company could soon become the latest Chinese Internet firm to enter the overheated smartphone market. Read Full Post…
The final week of the year has seen 2 of China’s top technology leaders looking inward, with Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) founder Jack Ma and TCL (Shenzhen: 000100) chief Li Dongsheng both taking the occasion to reflect on some of the people and events that put them on their paths to success. In one of his occasional posts since recently resuming microblogging, Ma reflects on an impressionable meal with a friend more than 20 years when China was a far different place from now and he was a universe away from his current status as China’s richest man. Meantime, Li reflected in a series of posts on the recent passing of his mother, and the huge influence she had on his life. Read Full Post…
Quiet has fallen over much of the blogosphere in this week before Christmas, though buzz was lingering around smartphone sensation Xiaomias it wrestled with a patent dispute that threatened to halt its nascent overseas expansion. Xiaomi chief Lei Jun was also full of congratulations for his company as it scored a court victory that partially lifted an order banning the sale of its phones in India. Meantime, Lei’s many friends and admirers were offering their congratulations as Xiaomi’s co-founder celebrated his 45th birthday.
Meantime, another courtroom battle saw the chief executive of online cosmetics seller Jumei International (Nasdaq: JMEI) reacting to a series of class action shareholder lawsuits filed against his firm last week. This kind of lawsuit is quite common, and usually comes anytime bad news causes a stock to suddenly drop. Still, the case was obviously an eye-opener for Jumei CEO Chen Ou, and serves as a good reminder of the many dangers that await Chinese tech firms that list overseas. Read Full Post…
Two scandals in China’s tech world were hot topics in the microblogging realm this past week, drawing heated discussion on allegations of copycatting and other unethical business behavior at smartphone sensation Xiaomi and newly listed social networking app maker Momo (Nasdaq: MOMO). The debate reflected the wide range of views on the many dubious business practices like intellectual property theft and violation of business contracts that are a regular feature in China’s corporate business landscape.
In less controversial chatter, computing giant Lenovo (HKEx: 992) was also tooting its own horn loud and clear as it celebrated the 10th anniversary of its landmark purchase of IBM’s (NYSE: IBM) PC business. As a long-time China tech writer it was hard for me to believe that historic deal is already a decade in the past, and it certainly kicked off a drive that would propel Lenovo to become the world’s biggest PC brand. Read Full Post…
This week’s microblogging round-up continues a recent trend that’s seen China’s high-tech executives keep relatively quiet in cyberspace as they wrap up various year-end business and prepare for the long holiday period between western and Chinese new years. During this busy period there’s less time for chatter, and executives often take to the road for one last trip before a needed year-end rest.
Two of China’s most recognized tech chiefs, Lenovo (HKEx: 992) CEO Yang Yuanqing and TCL (Shenzhen: 000100) Chairman Li Dongsheng, both detailed year-end road trips on their microblogs this past week, providing some insight to the daily routines that these executives go through during the course of the year. Read Full Post…
Tech executives have been uncharacteristically quiet on their microblogs this past week, possibly due to the US Thanksgiving holiday that saw light activity in New York where most of their stocks are traded. But all the holidays in the world could never quiet the talkative Lei Jun, CEO of Xiaomi, who was busy talking up one of his company’s latest investments. That particular investment came in the unlikely property management space, involving a developer of YMCA-style buildings that rent out apartments to young people. Read Full Post…
Most of China’s high-tech attention was focused on the scenic canal city of Wuzhen near Shanghai this past week, as a who’s-who of top Internet executives gathered for a conference that billed itself as a global gathering. Most of China’s top names were reportedly at the event, including Baidu’s (Nasdaq: BIDU) Robin Li, Alibaba’s (NYSE: BABA) Jack Ma and NetEase’s (Nasdaq: NTES) Ding Lei. But the guest list was notably lacking in major global names, and at least one executive commented on the sensitive subject of the exclusion of global leaders like Facebook (Nasdaq: FB) and Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) from the Chinese Internet.
Meantime, the marketing savvy Lei Jun, who is also CEO and hypemaster supreme for smartphone sensation Xiaomi, also managed to make his own mini splash in the microblogging realm by declaring his own ambition to overtake Samsung (Seoul: 005930) and Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) to become the world’s biggest smartphone brand. Such hype from Lei isn’t all that unusual, though I was somewhat surprised to see several executives from other firms chime in with support for this upwardly mobile company. Read Full Post…
Chatter in the microblogging realm this past week was squarely focused on the Double Eleven shopping binge that saw e-commerce sites and smartphone makers log impressive sales on the date also known as Singles Day. But not everyone was boasting about huge sales, as executives from early e-commerce leader Dangdang (NYSE: DANG) and smartphone aspirant Smartisan were both uncharacteristically quiet on their microblogs, hinting at mediocre results on the shopping holiday.
The situation was just the opposite at e-commerce leader Alibaba (NYSE: BABA), which single-handedly commercialized a day that now generates more sales than even Black Friday or Cyber Monday in the US. That rapid success in such a short time was putting a strain on Alibaba’s Alipay electronic payments arm, which reportedly was restricted to processing payments from Alibaba’s own e-commerce sites. That meant other companies’ sites often couldn’t accept Alipay for payments on their sites during the day.
