Bottom line: Huawei’s ongoing surge should help to consolidate its position as China’s leading domestic smartphone brand, while a newly formed cell tower operator will relieve China’s 3 telcos of the burden of owning and operating such assets.
New cell tower operator takes shape
The telecoms space is buzzing on both the operator and consumer products sides, with surging smartphone maker Huawei and a new cell tower operator called China Tower both rising in the latest headlines. The higher profile of these 2 telecoms headlines has Huawei continuing its rise to become the world’s third largest smartphone brand, stealing the title from the fading Xiaomi. Meantime, all 3 of China’s big state-run telcos have come out with one of their simultaneous announcements saying they have formally transferred their cell tower assets to China Tower.
This pair of stories is quite different, but the bigger picture is one of trying to improve by becoming more efficient and diverse. In the case of Huawei the company is trying to leverage its long experience in making telecoms equipment to diversify into the consumer-oriented smartphone space. In the second case, China’s telecoms regulator is trying to improve efficiency among the nation’s 3 stodgy telcos by doing something that carriers in the west did on their own long ago. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Apple’s new drive to sell legal music, books and video in China stands a reasonably good chance of success, banking on consumers’ growing willingness to pay for such products if they are convenient and affordably priced.
iTunes comes to China
Following the record-breaking debut for its iPhone 6s models, tech giant Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) is taking a big new risk by attempting something no one has done yet successfully: making profits from selling legal music and movies in China. The move was part of a newly announced major expansion of Apple’s online store in its second largest global market. But while Chinese consumers have shown a big willingness to pay huge premiums for iPhones, it’s far from clear they’ll do the same for movies and music that they can usually download for free.
Apple sold a record 13 million iPhone 6s models worldwide in their first weekend on sale, easily beating the previous record of 10 million for the iPhone 6 models. China was an important factor in achieving the new record, since the iPhone 6 wasn’t available here during the first weekend of its global launch due to technical reasons. Apple hasn’t given any individual country figures yet, but it’s probably safe to assume it sold at least 3 million of the new iPhones in China during their opening weekend. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Mark Zuckerberg’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping and new China-related remarks by Sheryl Sandberg show Facebook is closing in on a goal of launching its signature service in China, with a breakthrough possible as soon as next year.
Facebook thrives on China ad sales
Despite being blocked in the world’s largest Internet market, social networking (SNS) giant Facebook (Nasdaq: FB) is using every opportunity to quietly remind the world that it’s determined to include China in its global footprint. Just a week after company founder Mark Zuckerberg met with Chinese President Xi Jinping at a high-profile event in Seattle, his chief deputy Sheryl Sandberg was quoted at an event in New York talking up the big business Facebook is already doing in China.
Company watchers will know that Facebook quietly opened a China office in Beijing last year, with an aim to courting local advertisers seeking to reach the company’s global audience of 1.5 billion users. That business is doing quite well, according to Sandberg, though the Facebook’s ultimate China goal is still its eventual entry into a domestic Internet market that boasts nearly 700 million web surfers. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on October 1-5. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) Brings Apple Music, iTunes Movies & iBooks to Customers in China (Businesswire)
Didi President Liu Qing Confirms Breast Cancer, Says Work Unaffected (Chinese article)
Yingli (NYSE: YGE) to Restructure Payments for Mid-Term Notes Due Oct 13 (English article)
Twentieth Century Fox Creates New China Managing Director Position (Businesswire)
Shuttle Bus App ‘Dada Bus‘ Wins 200 Mln Yuan Series B Funding (English article)
Bottom line: Alibaba needs to take a more low-key approach to improving its government relations, rather than making a big spectacle of cultivating better ties with Beijing.
Alibaba govt relations campaign in overdrive
Alibaba(NYSE: BABA) founder and chief cheerleader Jack Ma has never really understood the meaning of the word “moderation”, which is all too clear with his sudden interest in cultivating better relations with Beijing. Ma has been pulling all the stops in a bid to be closely associated with this week’s US trip by Chinese President Xi Jinping, appearing at related events and announcing a new donation that synchronized nicely with a concurrent speech by Xi.
All that schmoozing certainly looks understandable, and Ma was actually just one of many US and Chinese tech leaders trying to share the stage with China’s president on his first state trip to the US. But Alibaba’s public relations machine was taking things just a bit too far when it joined the Beijing love affair and began promoting stories related to US-Chinese themes from the official Xinhua news agency, often considered the mouthpiece of the Chinese government. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Huawei’s new Nexus tie-up with Google could help Huawei make significant inroads to the US, and could see Google enter the crowded Chinese smartphone market by year-end.
Huawei, Google link up through Nexus
Just days after the launch of the newest iPhone, fast-rising Chinese smartphone maker Huawei will make its own renewed push into Apple’s (Nasdaq: AAPL) home turf through a highly-anticipated tie-up with Internet titan Google (Nasdaq: GOOG). This particular tie-up will see Huawei make one of the newest phones in Google’s Nexus line, in a tie-up that has been written about quite a bit already but is set for a formal announcement later on Tuesday.
That announcement would come just days after the launch of the newest iPhone 6s models, which broke records by selling 13 million units over their first weekend. Apple was able to break that record in no small part due to contributions from China, the world’s biggest smartphone market, which was absent in the last iPhone global launch due to delays for technical reasons. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: iPhone 6 sales are likely to start slow in China, but could pick up momentum as the nation’s 3 wireless carriers launch aggressive promotions to attract users for their new 4G services.
iPhone 6s in subdued China launch
As everyone awaits the first sales figures for the iPhone 6 after its launch last Friday, it’s becoming apparent that Apple’s (Nasdaq: AAPL) newest smartphone isn’t drawing quite as much buzz as earlier models in China. But that said, strong promotions from some of China’s leading e-commerce sites, a price that’s relatively unchanged from previous ones and the Chinese obsession with owning the newest of everything could work to the new iPhone’s advantage in the world’s largest smartphone market.
In case anyone out there can’t tell, most of us really have no idea how the new iPhone is selling in China for this latest launch, thanks to the huge number of sales channels Apple now has in the country. In addition to official Apple stores and the nation’s 3 wireless carriers, consumers can buy their new iPhones through thousands of unauthorized Apple shops, as well as through top e-commerce sites like the ones operated by Suning (Shenzhen: 002024) and JD.com (Nasdaq: JD). Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on September 26-28. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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iPhone 6s China Launch Pits Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) vs. Analysts (English article)
Online Medical Platform Guahao Raises $394 Mln in New Funding (English article)
Postal Savings Bank to Sell 15 Pct, Possible Buyers Include Ant Financial, Tencent (Chinese article)
Everbright Bank (HKEx: 6818) to Raise $2.5 Bln Selling Shares to Parent (English article)
Huawei Reportedly Set to Cut 20,000 Jobs, Company Cites Internal “Adjustment” (Chinese article)
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on September 24. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Alibaba’s (NYSE: BABA) Tmall to Split Headquarters Between Hangzhou, Beijing (Chinese article)
Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) in $100 Mln JV with China’s Inspur Group (English article)
Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) Hack Exposes Flaws in Building Apps in China (English article)
ReneSola (NYSE: SOL) Announces $20 Mln Share Repurchase Program (PRNewswire)
Tencent’s (HKEx: 700) Billionaire Founder Sells $414 Mln in Shares (English article)
Bottom line: The new iPhone 6S models will post lackluster sales during their first weekend in China, but could gain momentum later as the nation’s 3 mobile carriers launch aggressive promotions for their new 4G services.
High hopes for China with new iPhone launch
China has become a center of attention for Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) these last few days, on hopes that the world’s largest smartphone market will help to power the latest iPhone to a record launch. Apple is being quite circumspect about the situation, saying only that global pre-orders for its new iPhone 6S and 6S Plus were “very strong”, ahead of their official September 25 launch date when they will become available in stores.
Analysts are saying they expect China to play an important but also muted role in the early stages for the iPhone 6S, accounting for as much as 15 percent of global sales in its first weekend. At the same time, another report is spotlighting discrepancies in iPhone 6S prices in different global markets. As usual the report shows that models in China will cost around 20 percent more than the the US, though Chinese prices will be comparable with Britain, France and Germany. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on September 15. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Apple’s (Nasdaq: AAPL) iPhone Gets Boost From China as Sales to Hit Record (English article)
Alibaba’s Ant Affiliate Invests in China Insurance Unit of Cathay Financial (English article)
