Bottom line: Positive buzz in China bodes well for Huawei’s latest higher-end model, the P9, which could help the company meet its target of selling 10 million of the smartphones and continue its positive momentum.
Huawei launches P9 in China
A week after unveiling its new mid-range smartphone at an event in London, the fast-rising Huawei has launched the P9 at an event here in China that is drawing strong interest from media and fans attracted by its high-end camera. I visited a Huawei shop over the weekend on the popular Nanjing Road pedestrian street here in Shanghai, and was quite surprised to see large crowds checking out the new model.
Of course the crowds were even larger at the much bigger Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) store just down the street, even though it’s been a month since Apple launched its latest model, the small-screen iPhone SE. But the fact that Huawei could draw big crowds at all testifies to the company’s recent growing momentum, as it looks to overtake Apple and Samsung (Seoul: 005930) to become the world’s largest smartphone brand. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Huawei stands a reasonably good chance of meeting its goal of becoming the world’s second largest smartphone brand in the next 3 years, while ZTE’s sell-off with the resumption of trading in its shares looks overblown.
Huawei unveils mid-range P9 at London event
Two of China’s oldest and largest telecoms names are in the headlines, though Huawei and smaller rival ZTE are moving in opposite directions as we close out the week. New data are showing that Huawei continued to pick up share in China’s smartphone market in February, as the division’s head discussed his latest timeline for overtaking global leaders Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) and Samsung (Seoul: 005930) in the next 4-5 years. Meantime, shares of ZTE finally resumed trading, and promptly tumbled as much as 16 percent, after a difficult few weeks due to a tussle with Washington.
The 2 stories reflect the opposite recent paths of these crosstown rivals, both based in the southern Chinese boomtown of Shenzhen. Huawei’s rapid rise in the smartphone space dates back to the middle of last year. ZTE’s woes are more recent, dating back to last month when Washington punished the company for illegally selling US-made equipment to Iran. But I would caution that Huawei’s rising fortunes could quickly run out of fuel in the fast-changing smartphone world, while ZTE may be oversold following resolution of its tussle with Washington. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and news reports about China companies were carried on April 8. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Online Grocer Yummy77 Goes Bankrupt Due to Funding Squeeze – Report (Chinese article)
Huawei Needs 3-5 Years to Pass Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), Samsung – Executive (Chinese article)
ZTE (HKEx: 763) Dives as US Probe, Executive Shuffle Stoke Uncertainty (English article)
Didi Says New Funding Round Well Received, Value Exceeds Market Talk (Chinese article)
Mondelez (Nasdaq: MDLZ) Teams Up With Alibaba to Sell More Oreos in China (English article)
Bottom line: Xiaomi’s new Mi Ecosystem of smart appliances and devices outside its core smartphones are unlikely to gain much traction due to its limited resources and mediocre product designs.
Xiaomi rolls out high-tech rice cooker
Smartphone maker Xiaomi, a former headline grabber whose star has faded over the last year, is steaming back into the news this week with its launch of a new sub-brand that’s part of its attempts to build an ecosystem of interconnected products and services. The new sub-brand, called Mi Ecosystem, looks interesting conceptually and appears to be targeting more ordinary home appliances like rice cookers, which is the first official product carrying the new name.
The only problem is that this kind of ecosystem play has become a buzzword not just in China, but also throughout the world. Everyone is trying to figure out how to make smart devices that can talk to their owners and with each other to run homes more efficiently. Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) was one of the earliest companies in the space, and in China nearly all of the big Internet companies now have partnerships with appliance and device makers in a bid to develop similar smart products. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Coolpad’s sliding revenue and profits last year reflect intense competition in China’s smartphone market, and the company could become one of the first major victims of an upcoming shake-out for the sector.
Coolpad logs tough year in 2015
Fading smartphone maker Coolpad (HKEx: 2369) has just released financial results that show just how bloody China’s market was last year, with operating profits and revenue both tumbling by nearly half. The outlook certainly doesn’t look too promising for Coolpad, which was once an up-and-comer in the market but more recently has been overwhelmed by the non-stop competition. It also didn’t help that Coolpad lost an important backer last year, following a high-profile dispute with joint venture partner Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU).
The year 2015 wasn’t a pretty one for Coolpad. The company benefited from its relatively early arrival to China’s smartphone market to become a leading local player, but by the end of last year had fallen out of the nation’s top 5 brands. It tried to bolster its position by signing up strategic partners that could ensure its future. But that plan backfired when one of those partners, Qihoo, became enraged after Coolpad formed another separate alliance with online video giant LeEco (Shenzhen: 300104), formerly known as LeTV. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and news reports about China companies were carried on March 23. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) Bets New 4-inch iPhone to Draw Converts in China, India (English article)
Huawei Matebook PCs Coming Soon, Lenovo (HKEx: 992) Rolls Out New Thinkbooks (Chinese article)
Opera CEO Says Didn’t Want to Sell Company to Qihoo (NYSE: QIHU) (Chinese article)
Qunar (Nasdaq: QUNR) Says Working with Airlines to Restore Online Ticketing (Chinese article)
CMC Invests Tens of Millions of Dollars in SoccerWorld Sports (Chinese article)
This week’s Street View takes us to the offices of one Shanghai’s hottest Internet companies, though take-out delivery superstar Ele.me probably would have preferred to avoid the spotlight on this year’s global Consumer Rights Day that fell on March 15. But anyone who missed that story, which saw Ele.me blasted for using unlicensed restaurants, needn’t worry about accidentally missing this particular day designed to draw attention to a specific cause.
That’s because I’ve recently become aware of Shanghai’s fondness for commemorating many of the growing number of global days designed to draw attention to just about any cause imaginable. While there’s certainly no harm in using such events to raising awareness of things like environmental protection, it does seem like Shanghai’s growing obsession with these promotional days is getting slightly out of hand and may need to become a little more selective. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Ele.me is unlikely to face long-term fall-out from an attack on CCTV’s annual Consumer Rights Day show, but will still be challenged by a business model that forces it to work with thousands of small, often problematic restaurants.
Ele.me attacked on CCTV Consumer Rights Day show
Online take-out dining pioneer Ele.me is taking a double-hit this week, led by an attack on the company for working with improper licensed restaurant partners during a high-profile TV show broadcast each year on Consumer Rights Day. At the same time, the company is reportedly suffering as droves of those same restaurant partners shun its B2B service due to high fees and slow delivery times.
Both of these stories reflect just how rapidly Ele.me has risen over the last year, and also the usual cut-throat competition that has sprung up in China’s online-to-offline (O2O) take-out dining sector. Ele.me was the earliest major arrival to that space, where online companies offer take-out delivery service for diners from a wide range of local and chain restaurants. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Huawei’s move into electronic payments is its first foray outside its traditional strength as a hardware developer, and reflects its growing aspiration to challenge global rivals Apple and Samsung.
Huawei tries services with Huawei Pay
Fast-rising smartphone maker Huawei no longer seems content to target homegrown rivals like Xiaomi as its main competitors, and is increasingly looking to challenge global leaders Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) and Samsung (Seoul: 005930). That’s my interpretation of the latest headlines, which say Huawei is preparing to roll out a new mobile payments service in China, less than a month after similar moves by the 2 global leaders.
This particular move comes as a bit of a surprise, since there were no previous indications that Huawei was planning such a foray. Up until now, Huawei was largely been a company focused on hardware, unlike Apple, which has built a big stable of service-related offerings like Apple Pay and its music and video services around its core smartphones and computer products. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Apple would probably hand over iPhone user information to Beijing if faced with a situation like its current standoff with Washington, but would keep the matter low profile and possibly try to find other ways to placate Beijing.
Washington standoff spotlights Apple’s cooperation with Beijing
As the high-profile standoff between Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) and Washington continues over access to information on a terrorist’s iPhone, a new report is raising the interesting question of what the US tech giant might do if faced with a similar situation in China. Actually, the “what if” scenario isn’t raised too much in the Los Angeles Times report, which instead focuses more on the cozier relationship that Apple has with Beijing in terms of allowing access to sensitive information related to its products.
But this still looks like a good opportunity to explore the “what if” angle, since Apple might find far fewer friends in China if it decided to defy a Beijing order to hand over information stored on the Chinese iPhone of a known terrorist. By comparison, the US technology giant has found at least some supporters for its refusal to help the FBI access information stored on the iPhone of Syed Rizwan Farook, the man behind the worst terrorist attack in the US since September 11. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Vague new tie-ups by UnionPay with Visa and American Express could be followed soon by deals that could finally allow the US financial giants to offer yuan-based credit card services in China using UnionPay’s network.
Visa, UnionPay in new strategic tie-up
Just a week after Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) launched its Apple Pay service in China, fellow US financial giants Visa (NYSE: V) and American Express (NYSE: AXP) have just announced their own new China tie-ups with the same local partner. That partner, UnionPay, has been eager to announce a growing string of alliances with major foreign financial partners, all of whom are eagerly eyeing its status as monopoly operator of China’s only network for settling domestic financial transactions.
In this case the new separate strategic tie-ups between UnionPay and Visa and UnionPay and AmEx look mostly superficial, since the US giants clearly have far more to offer than their Chinese peer in terms of technology and experience. But Visa and AmEx are probably hoping the tie-ups could serve as a spring-board to accelerate their drive into China, as each eagerly awaits a license to offer domestic payment services in the country. Read Full Post…
