Bottom line: Apple’s announcement of its first China R&D center looks like a hastily crafted initiative aimed at generating positive publicity, but is unlikely to halt its recent slide in the market.
Apple announces first China R&D center
Just a day after new data showed just how badly Apple(Nasdaq: AAPL) is stumbling in China, the iPhone maker has finally taken a step it should have made long ago with the announcement that it will build an R&D center in the country. Apple’s hesitation over such a move has been quite embarrassing, especially since China has surged to become its second largest market in the last 3 years. The lack of such investment is also embarrassing for China because India, a much smaller market for Apple, became the first Asian recipient of an R&D center from the US tech giant earlier this year. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and news reports about China companies were carried on August 20-22. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Xiaomi Suits Up for a Debut on Apple’s (Nasdaq: APPL) US Home Turf (English article)
Tencent Boosts JD.com (Nasdaq: JD) Stake to 21.25 Pct Becomes Top Stakeholder (Chinese article)
Lufax Plan for IPO by Year-End Unchanged, Prefers Domestic China Listing (Chinese article)
Yunda Follows Other Parcel Delivery Firms with Plans for 17.7 Bln Yuan Back Door Listing (Chinese article)
China Unicom (HKEx: 762) to Eliminate Roaming Fees From October (Chinese article)
Bottom line: Lei Jun’s resignation as YY chairman to focus on his struggling Xiaomi reflects his own fading star power, while Huawei is unlikely to reach its goal of taking 10 percent of the India smartphone market by the end of next year.
Lei Jun steps down as YY chairman
A couple of smartphone stories are in the headlines on this final day of the work week, capping a flurry of industry news that reflects the turmoil in China’s overheated market. Both items are relatively second-tier news, led by the resignation of Lei Jun from his position as chairman of social networking site YY (Nasdaq: YY) to focus on reviving his ailing Xiaomi smartphone empire. The other item has market leader Huawei hyping India, where it is getting set to launch a manufacturing facility and has ambitious plans for taking 10 percent of the market. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and news reports about China companies were carried on August 18. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU), Ford (NYSE: F) Invest $150 Mln in Radar Tech Firm Velodyne (Chinese article)
Bottom line: LeEco and Coolpad could see a brief surge in smartphone sales due to strong promotional efforts, but will rapidly fade when consumers realize its models are the same as many other products on the market.
Coolpad gets new CEO
Just a day after the release of new data showing the surging Oppo was close to stealing China’s smartphone crown from a stumbling Huawei, sector newcomer and online video superstar LeEco (Shenzhen: 300104) is talking up new sales targets that imply it believes it can win the title as soon as next year. That’s quite big talk for a company that only entered the smartphone business last year and has never finished among the top 5 vendors for China. But LeEco CEO Jia Yueting has never been afraid of making such bold predictions, following a Chinese tradition that has seen similar big talk come from most of the nation’s other major smartphone makers. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and news reports about China companies were carried on August 17. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) to Open First Independent Asia Pacific R&D Center in China (Chinese article)
Former Huawei Honor Brand President Named as Coolpad (HKEx: 2369) CEO (Chinese article)
Bottom line: The latest quarterly smartphone data show Oppo could soon take China’s smartphone crown from Huawei, whose rapidly slowing sales could cause it to badly miss its 2016 target.
Oppo closes in on China smartphone crown
Recent trends in China’s fiercely competitive smartphone market are accelerating in the latest quarterly data, led by a plunge in sales and market share for Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) and sharply slowing growth for local leader Huawei. At the same time, the surging Oppo continues its meteoric rise to cement its position as China’s second largest smartphone maker, as it closes in on Huawei.
All that said, the smartphone crown for China, the world’s biggest market, is shaping up to be quite a hot potato that changes hands often. Just 3 years ago that title belonged to Samsung (Seoul: 005930), which was later supplanted by Xiaomi, a former superstar that barely made the top 5 in the newly released second-quarter rankings from IDC. (press release) Apple has also briefly held the title, only to be overtaken last year by current leader Huawei. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Apple’s cleanup of its China app store reflects the deceptive marketing that often occurs on the Chinese Internet, and also Apple’s more transparent approach towards its actions in China.
Apple cleans up China app store
iPhone users in China are discovering a new look at Apple’s (Nasdaq: AAPL) local app store, following the removal of more than 10,000 apps over a one-day period late last week. App store users first noticed something unusual when it appeared that the popular news app called Jinri Toutiao, or Today’s Headlines, suddenly seemed to disappear from Apple’s China store. But further examination showed that Apple was simply removing redundant versions of the app, many of which had very similar names and identical appearances. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and news reports about China companies were carried on August 9. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) Cleanup Sees More Than 10,000 Apps Removed From China Store (Chinese article)
LeEco (Shenzhen: 300104) Founder Jia Yueting Named Chairman of Coolpad (HKEx: 2369) (Chinese article)
Alipay Enters Europe with Service for Overseas Chinese Shoppers (Chinese article)
China Media Corp Invests in US Virtual Reality Company NextVR (Chinese article)
Midea (Shenzhen: 000333) to Control 94.55 Pct of Kuka Shares as Offer Period Ends (Chinese article)
The following press releases and news reports about China companies were carried on August 6-8. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Chinese Buyer Purchases UK Premier League Soccer Club West Bromwich Albion (Chinese article)
Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) Removes Toutiao News App From China Store (Chinese article)
E-House (NYSE: EJ) Announces Shareholder Approval of Merger Agreement (PRNewswire)
Ele.me Threatens Merchants with Removal for Failure to Pay Technology Fee (Chinese article)
Tesla (Nasdaq: TSLA) EV Owner Reports First China Accident Using Self-Drive Mode (Chinese article)
The following press releases and news reports about China companies were carried on August 5. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Massive Funding, Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) Backing Helped Didi Outrun Uber in China (English article)
China Starts to Lose Its Taste for McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD) and KFC (NYSE: YUM) (English article)
Tablet PC Sales Fall in Q2, But Lenovo (HKEx: 992), Huawei Post Gains (Chinese article)
Bitauto (NYSE: BITA) Consortium Invests $550 Mln in Yixin Capital (PRNewswire)
Online Children’s English Learning Platform Vipkid Wins $100 Mln Series C Funding (English article)
