I’m feeling a bit cranky and contrarian today, so I’m going to be somewhat bold and give the following response to yet the latest headlines trumpeting China’s passing the US to become the world’s largest smartphone market: Who cares? I’ll admit that my response to this development is perhaps a bit unfair, since China’s attainment of the world’s smartphone title is certainly an important milestone for a country where even traditional wired telephone service was still rare as recently as 20 years ago.
Tag Archives: Google
Critique Lands Lee Kai-Fu In Trouble 李开复因评论惹麻烦
Sougou + So.com: Don’t Bet On It 搜狗和360搜索联合：不要指望
Interesting new rumors are appearing in the media about a possible alliance between 2 of China’s most up-and-coming search engines, Sohu’s (Nasdaq: SOHU) Sogou and Qihoo 360′s (NYSE: QIHU) So.com. While such an alliance looks very smart and could mount a serious challenge to longtime industry leader Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU), I would be seriously skeptical that anything will ever happen. The main obstacle is simple, and is the same obstacle that prevents mergers and other strategic tie-ups from happening more broadly in China’s Internet world: big egos. In this case, we’re talking about 2 of the Chinese Internet world’s biggest egos who are notoriously difficult collaborators, namely Sohu’s chairman chief executive Charles Zhang and Qihoo’s founder and chief executive Zhou Hongyi.
Baidu-Qihoo Spat Heats Up 奇虎和百度硝烟再起
The unspoken war between online search leader Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) and challenger Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU) is taking on a new wrinkle with word that Baidu may be trying to get its advertisers to stop using Qihoo’s popular web browser. I personally find this war of words quite entertaining, though I do also think that Qihoo could better spend its time focusing on doing business rather than accusing others of trying to thwart it through this kind of underhanded tactic. Qihoo, after all, is the master of the underhanded business tactic, which has resulted in numerous lawsuits and complaints being leveled against the company over the years.
China: An M&A Obstructionist 中国：并购阻挠者
Just when China was improving its reputation as a global arbiter of fair trade, a recent string of delays is throwing an embarrassing spotlight on just how opaque and bureaucratic the country’s deal approval process remains for global mergers and acquisitions (M&A). Beijing needs to move quickly to reverse this worrisome trend that has seen China hold up a growing number of global deals. Otherwise, China risks gaining a reputation as an obstructionist to the natural flow of global deal making.
Ma Yields For New Alibaba Top Manager 马云宣布将卸任阿里巴巴CEO
It seems like nothing happens at e-commerce giant Alibaba these days that isn’t interpreted in terms of its implications for the company’s upcoming mega-IPO, and the latest announcement that founder Jack Ma will step down from his CEO position isn’t any different. From my perspective, this kind of move was almost inevitable, and should be a good one for Alibaba in the run-up to what is likely to be China’s biggest-ever IPO for an Internet company sometime between this year and 2015. After all, Ma has always been a very strong salesman and a “big picture” guy, and it’s become increasingly clear that he wants to focus on the strategic direction for his company rather than day-to-day managerial issues that have become increasingly important as Alibaba grows in size and complexity.
Baidu’s Li Puts Personal Bets on Mobile 李彦宏亲自挂帅百度移动部门
Less than 2 months after Baidu’s (Nasdaq: BIDU) founder Robin Li called on his employees to rekindle their “wolf spirit” that made his company great, media are reporting that Li has personally stepped in to take charge of Baidu’s mobile division in a bid to reverse its sinking fortunes. Baidu was once the envy of China’s Internet world, defeating global giant Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) to take the crown as the dominant player in China’s online search market. While it still controls the big majority of China’s online search market, many observers believe the company has become complacent in the last year due to its near-monopoly status in the market.
Apple’s Cook Meets China Regulators 苹果CEO库克会见中国工信部部长
It may be cold and wintry in Beijing as the Year of the Snake approaches, but that isn’t stopping some of the world’s top high-tech CEOs from passing through the Chinese capital in pursuit of their own varied agendas. First Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) Chairman Eric Schmidt made a high-profile stop in Beijing en route to a visit to North Korea, and now we’re learning that Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) CEO Tim Cook has also come calling on the nation’s capital this week. But whereas Schmidt’s visit seemed a bit whimsical to me, Cook’s trip looks much more practical, including an all-important stop at the nation’s telecoms regulator, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT). (Chinese article)
Apple’s Cook Meets China Regulators
It may be cold and wintry in Beijing as the Year of the Snake approaches, but that isn’t stopping some of the world’s top high-tech CEOs from passing through the Chinese capital in pursuit of their own varied agendas. First Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) Chairman Eric Schmidt made a high-profile stop in Beijing en route to a visit to North Korea, and now we’re learning that Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) CEO Tim Cook has also come calling on the nation’s capital this week. But whereas Schmidt’s visit seemed a bit whimsical to me, Cook’s trip looks much more practical, including an all-important stop at the nation’s telecoms regulator, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT). (Chinese article)
Qihoo Seeks Potent Partner in Google 奇虎或牵手谷歌 瞄准中国市场
The Year of the Snake could well go down as the time when Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) finally lost its dominance over China’s lucrative online search market, following the rapid rise of a new challenger from up-and-comer Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU) that may soon tie-up with global search titan Google (Nasdaq: GOOG). Such an alliance would mark the latest assault in Qihoo’s campaign that has seen its so.com site soar past other more established players to become China’s second largest search engine in just half a year.
News Digest: January 5-7 报摘：2013年1月5-7日
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on January 5-7. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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- Qihoo 360 (Nasdaq: QIHU), Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) Nearing Partnership Deal (English article)
- Automakers In China Brace For Year Of Tepid Growth As Japanese Struggle (English article)
- China’s Huawei Expects Profit Jump After Reporting Drop In 2011 (English article)
- China Galaxy Securities Files Application For $1.5 Bln HK-Shanghai IPO (English article)
- Suning (Shenzhen: 002024) Enters Online Gaming Market – Source (English article)
