I was somewhat amused today to read an announcement from stodgy domestic smartphone maker ZTE (HKEx: 763; Shenzhen: 000063) trumpeting the success of a “cool” new online campaign for its high-end brand of nubia smartphones. But after giving the matter some thought, I do have to compliment ZTE for its new approach to create some buzz around its smartphones, which currently enjoy a reputation as dependable but also quite stodgy and low-end products. Most Chinese refer to phones from domestic names like ZTE, Huawei and Lenovo (HKEx: 992) as guochan, literally meaning “made in China,” which carriers distinctively negative overtones for inferior quality and lack of imagination. ZTE is clearly trying to cast off that image for its nubia line with this new China-based campaign. Read Full Post…
Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei is not the world’s most talkative man, so when he says something in a rare media interview it’s worth taking notice. In this case Ren has personally stated that Huawei is temporarily halting its efforts to sell its telecoms equipment in the US, providing the final word on a controversial topic that has made headlines for much of the past year. But of course nothing is ever final, and a top US-based Huawei spokesman has quickly added that the company is ready to enter the US if and when Washington ever relaxes its informal ban on the company’s networking equipment. Read Full Post…
Next year is set to become the year of 4G in China, with the nation expected to spend well over 100 billion yuan ($16.4 billion) on new mobile networks that offer lightning-fast data speeds for mobile subscribers. The spending bonanza marks an excellent chance for China to show its commitment to free trade, after many were disappointed when foreign companies received only a small fraction of the business in a major series of contracts back in August. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on November 27. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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US Expands China Hiring Probe To Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) (English article)
Huawei Founder Ren Zhengfei Vows Counteroffensive Against US (Chinese article)
PetroChina (HKEx: 857) Receives US Court Notice On Probe Into Executives (English article)
LDK Solar (NYSE: LDK) Reports Financial Q3 Results (PRNewswire)
Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Picks Guangming Daily As New China Partner (Chinese article)
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on November 26. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM) Faces Antitrust Probe In China (English article)
Giant Interactive (NYSE: GA) Receives Buyout Offer At $11.75 Per Share (PRNewswire)
ICBC (HKEx: 1398) Says Approved For Subsidiaries In New Zealand, Peru (HKEx announcement)
Huawei To Market ‘Honor’ As Independent Smartphone Brand (English article)
China Mobile (HKEx: 941) To Officially Launch Commercial 4G On Dec 18 (Chinese article)
Smartphone makers may soon be getting an ally from China’s cash-rich Internet companies, with word that e-commerce leader Alibaba is preparing a massive giveaway in a bid to boost its mobile business. This move looks strikingly similar to something Alibaba did nearly a decade ago, when it made the strategic decision to offer its e-commerce services for free on its newly launched Taobao platform. That decision was derided by eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY), its chief rival in China at the time, which said that giving away services for free was not a real business model. As Chinese Internet historians know, eBay ultimately lost that battle and Alibaba has gone on to become one of the world’s biggest e-commerce companies. Read Full Post…
Charismatic Xiaomi co-founder Lei Jun has had huge success getting China’s gossipy media to promote his company, and now he’s succeeding in getting many of the country’s other high-tech leaders to talk about his firm and its trendy smartphones. In the last week alone, Xiaomi’s name has cropped up several times in connection with other Internet and tech executives on Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) Weibo, often called the Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) of China.
Lei himself and several of his lieutenants were tweeting nonstop during his company’s high profile promotion on Alibaba’s e-commerce platforms during the Nov 11 Singles’ Day shopping extravaganza, though that’s nothing unusual. But others who joined in with their own comments included executives from leading Internet company Tencent (HKEx: 700), and also from stodgier smartphone rival Huawei, which looks just slightly envious of Xiaomi’s trendy image. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on November 21. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Hundreds Of Chinese Nokia Workers Protest At Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Deal (English article)
Unicom (HKEx: 762), Huawei Partner To Offer Internet TV In Qingdao (English article)
Chalco (HKEx: 2600) Vice President Li Dongguang Under Investigation (Chinese article)
Suning (Shenzhen: 002024) Sets Up Silicon Valley R&D Center (Chinese article)
500.com Raises Price Range For IPO To $11-$13 Per ADS, From Previous $9-$11 (Chinese article)
Beijing is showing that Washington isn’t the only one that can play games over national security concerns, with word that networking equipment giant Cisco Systems (Nasdaq: CSCO) is loosing big business in China due to revelations about US spying. Frankly speaking, this latest development in the networking equipment Cold War between Beijing and Washington doesn’t surprise me too much, and some might even say that China’s national security concerns are justified. But no matter what you think, it seems likely that Cisco’s new China freeze is at least partly and quite possibly completely in response to similar moves by Washington against Chinese networking equipment giants Huawei and ZTE (HKEx: 763; Shenzhen: 000063). Read Full Post…
During my trip to Australia over the recent National Day holiday, I had an experience at Pudong International Airport that I would never care to repeat, even though it has a happy ending. While I probably gained a few gray hairs in the process, the entire ordeal was also quite remarkable because it shows just how far telecommunications in China have advanced in just the last 2 decades. Read Full Post…
The microblogging realm has been buzzing these past few days with speculation on a brief China visit late last week by Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) Chairman Eric Schmidt, who checked out counterfeit goods at a gadget market in Beijing’s Zhongguancun high-tech area. Equally interesting was the inclusion in Schmidt’s group of 2 former Google executives who now work for Xioami, the fast-rising smartphone maker that hopes to someday become China’s equivalent of Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL). Read Full Post…
