I love a good case of irony, which is why I was amused to read that software security specialist Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU) is suing leading search firm Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) for unfair competition. The irony lies in the fact that Qihoo is notorious for using underhanded tactics against its rivals and is now accusing Baidu of similar behavior. Perhaps Qihoo should instead be congratulating Baidu for winning over its rival to the Dark Side. Meantime in separate legal news, up-and-coming smartphone maker Xiaomi is being sued for the second time in a week in relation to its smart TV products, hinting that this new product area could face an uphill battle from a flood of litigation. Read Full Post…
Youku Tudou sues Xiaomi for copyright infringement
Earlier this week I wrote how smart TV could be poised for a sudden explosion in China due to a combination of factors that made the market especially well suited for development of this product. (previous post) Now we’re seeing one of the major obstacles that smart TVs could face, namely copyright lawsuits by various players against one another as each seeks to gain the upper hand in an increasingly competitive market. We could soon be seeing an avalanche of such litigation, with word that leading online video website Youku Tudou (NYSE: YOKU) has just sued Xioami for copyright infringement, following the latter’s recent rollout of a new smart TV product. Read Full Post…
Online apparel retailer Vancl continues to struggle, with media reporting the former e-commerce rising star has fallen into arrears in payments to many of its suppliers, including more than 10 million yuan ($1.6 million) owed to sporting apparel maker Li Ning (HKEx: 2331). The latest reports are citing company chief Chen Nian saying that Vancl experienced its darkest period late last year, and is now on the mend. But if reports of the arrears are true, Vancl’s failure to pay its suppliers could mark the beginning of the end for the company, which has made a number of major adjustments over the past 2 years in a bid to find sustainable long-term profits. Read Full Post…
China’s smart TV space has gotten a big lift in recent months with a flurry of major new developments, including 2 major new moves this past week by industry veteran LeTV (Shenzhen: 300104). This sudden rush to smart TVs, which deliver most of their content over the Internet, is being driven by a number of factors that make China ideal for development of the market. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on October 12-14. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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China Telecom (HKEx: 728), Unicom (HKEx: 762) Get FDD-LTE Spectrum Allocations (English article)
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on October 8. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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After seeing its stock price quadruple over the last year on huge expectations for its online search service, Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU) must be feeling some pressure to start delivering returns to investors who have bet on the company’s strong growth potential. That’s the most positive explanation I can find for a sudden slew of complaints against Qihoo from other Internet executives who accuse the company of tinkering with their software. Those accusations have produced an entertaining war of words on the Twitter-like Weibo service between Qihoo Chairman Zhou Hongyi and top executives from smartphone maker Xiaomi, software maker Kingsoft (HKEx: 3888) and web portal operator Sohu (Nasdaq: SOHU). (previous post) Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on September 27 to October 1. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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China Mobile (HKEx: 941) Guangdong Unit Announces 4G Package (Chinese article)
Xiaomi MIUI Store to Remove Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU) Apps (English article)
58.com to Submit IPO Prospectus to SEC By End September – Source (English article)
China To Offer Tax Breaks To Solar Power Manufacturers (English article)
Lenovo (HKEx: 992) Aims At Apple, Samsung With New VIBE Brand Smartphones (Chinese article)
Most of China may have taken a holiday during last week’s 3-day Mid Autumn Festival, but it was all work for networking equipment giant Huawei as it used the time to host a global IT forum in Holland. Xu Wenwei, head of Huawei’s enterprise division, used his microblog to hype the event, which looks like the company’s latest effort to convince the world that it’s a global company and not just another maker of cheap “made in China” goods. Meantime, the chatty Lei Jun took time out from his Mid Autumn holiday to drop the latest hint that Xiaomi, the fast-rising smartphone maker he co-founded, is developing its own mobile operating system (OS) that could someday compete with rival products from Google (Nasdaq: GOOG), Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) and Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Read Full Post…
I’ve been following the microblogs of some of China’s top tech executives for a while now, and am quickly becoming a fan of Li Dongsheng, the man behind leading TV maker TCL (Shenzhen: 000100). Unlike many other executives, who use their microblogs to hype their latest products, Li has shown a more refreshing tendency to also use his Sina Weibo account for some personal introspection. Read Full Post…
There’s a small flurry of IPO news today, with word that Baidu-invested (Nasdaq: BIDU) online travel site Qunar has relaunched its plans for a New York public offering. At the same time, anyone who was hoping for a near-term listing for hot smartphone maker Xiaomi might have to wait a while, with word that the firm won’t make a public offering for at least the next 5 years. Lastly, no IPO story would be complete without the latest speculation on the multibillion-dollar planned listing by e-commerce leader Alibaba, as pundits speculate on its next move following a recent clash with Hong Kong stock regulators. Read Full Post…
