The number 1,000 took on new significance in the blogosphere this past week, with tech titans Lenovo (HKEx: 992), Huawei and Xiaomi in a sudden new rush to chop prices for some of their newest products to under 1,000 yuan. The number translates to roughly $160, and is certainly not a bad price for the relatively high quality smartphones and tablet PCs that are suddenly being sold by the trio at that price and even less.
Meantime, tech executives were also paying tribute on their microblogs to Pat McGovern, the billionaire founder of the IDG media empire that was one of earliest venture capital investors to realize the potential of China’s Internet. McGovern, who died last Wednesday, leaves behind an empire that helped to fund some of China’s most recognizable Internet names, including sector leaders Tencent (HKEx: 700), Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU), Ctrip (Nasdaq: CTRP) and SouFun (NYSE: SFUN), and many others. 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…
I have a lot of respect for Tencent (HKEx: 700), China’s largest Internet company and now one of the world’s most valuable web firms based on the meteoric rise in its stock over the last few years. But that said, I’m starting to have some concerns about the company’s future due to its sudden move into many unfamiliar areas, including the latest which reportedly has it looking to buy a cellphone maker. In a somewhat ironic twist, Tencent’s cellular foray would come just a couple of months after Google (Nasdaq: GOOG), the world’s largest Internet company, admitted failure with its own cellphone adventure by selling its Motorola Mobility unit at a major loss.
The latest developments in an ongoing strike at an IBM (NYSE: IBM) plant in Shenzhen are highlighting the big gap that still exists between Chinese companies and their western peers in terms of attractiveness as employers. In the latest twist to the story, half of the workers at the south China plant have decided to accept severance packages and quit their jobs rather than go to work for Chinese PC giant Lenovo (HKEx: 992), which is set to take over the plant as part of its purchase of IBM’s low-end server business for $2.3 billion. (Chinese article) Read Full Post…
I had a sense of deja vu on reading reports that a group of workers at an IBM (NYSE: IBM) plant in south China had gone on strike, unhappy about the terms of their transfer to domestic PC giant Lenovo (HKEx: 992) under a recent M&A deal. It seems the workers in the city of Shenzhen were offered similar pay and other terms under the transfer, which came as the result of Lenovo’s pending purchase of IBM’s low-end server business announced in January. But the workers were still unsatisfied, feeling they should get higher pay for agreeing to work at a domestic company rather than the more prestigious IBM. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on March 7. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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8 Companies Win Awards In First Round Of Unicom (HKEx: 762) 4G Tenders (Chinese article)
IBM China Workers Strike Over Terms In $2.3 Bln Lenovo (HKEx: 992) Deal (English article)
L’Oreal 2013 China Sales At $13.3 Bln, 13th Year Of Double-Digit Growth (Chinese article)
Dangdang (NYSE: DANG) Announces Resignation Of CFO (PRNewswire)
Huayi Bros (Shenzhen: 300027) Prepares To Go To Hollywood, Shares Halted (Chinese article)
Much of the China tech world was focused last week on the world’s largest telecoms trade show taking place in Barcelona, but one company that was noticeably absent from the Mobile World Congress was fast-rising smartphone maker Xiaomi. That absence was all the more noticeably because Xiaomi has made no secret of its plans for a global expansion this year as part of a strategy to maintain its explosive growth in the 4 years since its founding. Xiaomi seems to have skipped the big show this year, and instead focused its energies on its own internal suppliers meeting, as reflected by a flurry of microblog posts from that event. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on February 27. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) Announces Q4 And Fiscal Year 2013 Results (PRNewswire)
Lenovo (HKEx: 992) Parent Legend Holdings Launches Process For HK IPO (Chinese article)
Xunlei Wins $25 Mln Xiaomi Funding, Prepares for US IPO (English article)
Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) Weibo Posts First-Ever Profit As It Moves Toward IPO (Chinese article)
Shanghai To Forbid Use Of Taxi Apps During Rush Hour From March (Chinese article)
I wrote earlier this week about how the free Firefox mobile operating system (OS) could intensify the already fierce competition in China’s smartphone market, and now we’re getting word that such a development could come quite soon with the release of new Firefox models from local leaders Huawei and ZTE (HKEx: 763; Shenzhen: 000063). It’s no coincidence that all this news is coming out around the same time, since all the major smartphone and mobile chip makers are currently showcasing their latest wares this week at the Mobile World Congress, the industry’s biggest show held each February in Barcelona. Read Full Post…
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)
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…
