We’re getting a glimpse of where future priorities may lie for smartphone makers ZTE (HKEx: 763; Shenzhen: 000063) and TCL Communications (HKEx: 2618; Shenzhen: 000100), with the former hinting at a move into wearable devices and the latter placing big bets on China’s homegrown 4G technology called TD-LTE. ZTE isn’t exactly known for setting new market trends, but I would certainly like its decision to test its luck in wearable devices like wrist watches and glasses sooner rather than later. Meantime, TCL’s TD-LTE gambit looks like a 50-50 bet to me, as this notoriously boom-bust company tries to find a sustainable formula for success. Read Full Post…
Telecoms giants Huawei and ZTE (HKEx: 763; Shenzhen: 000063) are in the headlines today for their newer product initiatives, as each tries to offset slowing growth in their core telecoms equipment business. Of the pair, Huawei’s news looks the most bullish, with the company targeting a sharp rise in smartphone sales as it sets its sights on overtaking Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) as the world’s second largest seller. Meantime, ZTE has formally rolled out its new gaming console, the FunBox, which looks a bit more exciting that I’d originally imagined and carries an extremely low price tag. Read Full Post…
Where were you this past Saturday night? Most of us probably spent the evening having dinner out, or perhaps visiting friends. But for many of China’s tech executives, the date of March 15 has become for nervousness due to CCTV’s annual investigative reports broadcast that evening for Consumer Rights Day. The program often targets high-profile brands in its effort to uncover abusive business practices, and many of those names come from the tech sector. But this year’s program was a relative disappointment, with some observers cynically noting on their microblogs that CCTV seemed more interested in generating advertising revenue than protecting consumers. Read Full Post…
Sales and marketing executives at China’s leading brands are almost certainly losing sleeping these last few nights, as they prepare for the Consumer Rights Day annual assault by state media each year on March 15. To their credit, Chinese media are usually relatively unbiased in choosing the subjects for their attacks, focusing on anyone with a big, recognizable brand name. But that often means the big multinational consumer brands are some of the easiest targets, since many are well known and highly respected by Chinese consumers. China executives from many of those companies will probably be spending this Saturdays in front of their TVs waiting to see if they’ve been targeted under a new attack this year. Read Full Post…
Many of China’s biggest tech leaders were chattering in cyberspace last week from Beijing, where they were gathered for this year’s National People’s Congress and the related Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), collectively known as the lianghui. Lei Jun, CEO of handset sensation Xioami, was uncharacteristically low-key in talking about his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, as was Li Dongsheng, the soft-spoken CEO of leading TV maker TCL (HKEx: 1070; Shenzhen: 000100). But the marketing savvy Xiaomi was still up to its usual publicity tricks, helping to spread a series of photos showing Robin Li, founder of search leader Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU), using a Xiaomi handset in one of the sessions. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on March 6. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Dangdang (NYSE: DANG), Yhd.com Form Strategic Partnership (PRNewswire)
Canadian Solar (Nasdaq: CSIQ) Reports Q4 And Full Year 2013 Results (PRNewswire)
Minsheng Bank (HKEx: 1988) Approved To Issue 20 Bln Yuan In Bonds (HKEx announcement)
Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU) Apps Return to Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) App Store (English article)
EMC (NYSE: EMC) Says China Sales Grow For 8th Consecutive Year (Chinese article)
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on February 26. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) Sues Chinese Government Over Siri (English article)
Tencent (HKEx: 700) Video to Announce M&A Deal in H1 2014 – Source (English article)
Lenovo (HKEx: 992) Needs 4-6 Quarters To Turn Motorola Profitable – CEO (Chinese article)
Phoenix New Media (NYSE: FENG) Reports Q4 and Fiscal Year 2013 Results (PRNewswire)
China Mobile (HKEx: 941), France Telecom Develop TDD/FDD-LTE Smartphone (Chinese article)
Alibaba’s colorful and sometimes controversial founder Jack Ma has been called many things in the past, but even he must be surprised and somewhat alarmed at the latest monicker of “vampire” given to him by an influential commentator at CCTV, China’s leading broadcaster. I don’t usually take sides in this kind of politically sensitive debate, though in this case I really do think that CCTV’s claim is largely unjustified. I suspect the attack, which Alibaba is correctly taking quite seriously, was prompted at least partly at the urging of big state-run lenders that are unhappy about the meteoric rise of Alibaba’s Yu’ebao service, which competes with traditional savings accounts. Read Full Post…
New data is showing that the inevitable slowdown in China’s smartphone sales may have begun at the end of last year, following a boom that saw the country overtake the US to become the world’s largest market. Another noteworthy data point includes the slippage of ZTE (HKEx: 763; Shenzhen: 000063) from the top 5 smartphone sellers, as it loses momentum to more aggressive rivals like Huawei, Lenovo (HKEx: 992) and Coolpad. Meantime, fast-rising Xiaomi still has yet to make it into the top 5 sellers, but achieved a major milestone by breaking into the top 5 list for the nearby Taiwan market. Read Full Post…
The final death knell for one of China’s oldest software developers is casting a spotlight on just how difficult it is for companies to break into the global market for computer operating systems (OS). The end for Red Flag Software also bodes poorly for a number of more recent Chinese initiatives to create a mobile OS to rival Google’s (Nasdaq: GOOG) wildly popular Android and Apple’s (Nasdaq: APPL) own iOS. No specific reasons were given in the reports for Red Flag Software’s final demise, though I suspect defections by the company’s core state-run customers and a broader decline in the traditional desktop PC market were both factors. Read Full Post…
I commented last week that Lenovo (HKEx: 992) Chairman Yang Yuanqing didn’t seem extremely enthusiastic about his landmark deal to buy IBM’s (NYSE: IBM) low-end server business, and now perhaps we know why. It seems that as Yang was discussing that deal, the largest ever for Lenovo at the time, he was close to finalizing an even bigger purchase of Motorola, the faded former cellphone titan that was purchased by Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) in 2012. Lenovo is paying $2.9 billion for Motorola, a lofty price but still much less than the $12.5 billion Google paid just 2 years ago. That indicates to me that the company Lenovo is buying is probably just a shell of the Motorola that Google purchased, making the deal look somewhat questionable. Read Full Post…
