Kaifu Lee, former head of Google China and founder of Bejing-based startup incubator Innovation Works, said on Twitter yesterday (h/t Sinocism) that he has been banned from posting on Sina Weibo and Tencent Weibo for three days. → Read More
Nokia’s venture capital arm Nokia Growth Partners (NGP), which was founded back in 2005 and invests in mobile-related ventures in the U.S., Europe and Asia, has launched its third fund — back by a further $250 million long term commitment from Nokia. The VC firm is also expanding its presence in China with the appointments of David Tang as MD and Lu Guo as principal. → Read More
China is considering lifting a 12-year-plus long ban on games consoles, according to a report in the China Daily newspaper (via Reuters). The speculation sent shares of Nintendo and PlayStation-maker Sony surging, with Nintendo gaining more than 3.5 per cent on the Nikkei index and Sony shares trading 8 per cent higher, according to Reuters. → Read More
China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) plans to establish a center that will deal with disputes over intellectual property (IP) and online copyright issues, reports Sina Tech (link via Google Translate). → Read More
Apple has started offering users of its Chinese online store the option to buy devices on credit. The credit offer can apply to any purchase of more than 300 yuan ($48) but less than 30,000 yuan ($4,800), according to the web store, but only applies to holders of credit cards from China Merchants Bank. → Read More
Two top tech executives are currently visiting Asia, but though the reasons for Apple CEO Tim Cook’s China sojourn are obvious, Eric Schmidt’s trip to North Korea is confusing observers of the authoritarian regime and Google alike. → Read More
Google has quietly disabled a feature that notified users of its search service in China when a keyword had been censored by the Chinese government’s internet controls, according to censorship monitoring blog GreatFire.org. The blog reports that the change was made sometime between December 5 and December 8 2012, with no official statement from Google to announce or explain its removal. → Read More
The last week has been a troubling one for observers of Internet censorship in China, and things just got worse as several bloggers and activists had their Sina Weibo accounts shut down over the past few days, the Washington Post reports.
The account closures come one week after the Chinese government passed a law requiring people to use their real names when signing up for Internet and phone… → Read More
China-based tech blog 36kr has published a company-wide email (link via Google Translate) from Sina CEO Charles Chao that previews the China-based Internet giant’s 2013 strategy. Chao wrote that Sina will reboot its strategy next year by splitting its business structure into two parts, with one focusing on its Web portal and the other on Sina Weibo, its massively popular microblogging service… → Read More
Statistics released yesterday (link via Google Translate) by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) say that as of the end of November 2012, there were 1.104 billion mobile phone users in that country, an increase of nearly 118 million people during the first eleven months of 2012. This would mean that about 82% of China’s population currently uses a mobile phone (though… → Read More
Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi, which has been referred to as “the Apple of China,” strongly hinted at an expansion into Hong Kong on its official Twitter account. Though the tweet was cryptically worded, attached is a graphic featuring the company’s latest model, the Xiaomi Mi2, with specs listed in traditional Chinese characters (which is used in Hong Kong, but not mainland China), Hong Kong… → Read More
The continuing saga of China’s Great Firewall has taken another turn for the worse. VPNs formerly usable inside China proper to access sites like Facebook, Twitter, and certain web searches, have been hobbled by the Great Firewall and users are now scrambling to find alternate providers. → Read More
Apple announced today that it sold more than 2 million units of the iPhone 5 over the weekend after its launch on December 14.
Last year’s riots during the launch of the iPhone 4S makes it difficult to compare sales data, but the iPhone 5 is enjoying a much stronger launch than its predecessors. → Read More
Apple’s iPhone 5 is a “hit” according to English-language Chinese newspaper Shanghai Daily, despite the fact that there were not huge lineups or riots in the streets as there were on iPhone 4S launch day. That’s because most of the new phones were sold at China Unicom and China Telecom stores, the newspaper reports, rather than at Apple’s three Shanghai stores. In Shanghai alone, the newspaper… → Read More
The iPhone 5 made its highly-anticipated arrival in China today, but despite strong pre-orders (China Unicom received 300,000 pre-orders), it remains to be seen whether this will help Apple’s eroding share of the world’s largest smartphone market. → Read More
The long-anticipated release of Kindle devices in China may finally become a reality. On Wednesday, the Kindle iPhone and iPad apps launched in the Chinese App Store; the Android version is also available for download. Meanwhile, Amazon China’s Kindle bookstore is now stocked with about 22,500 Chinese language titles. → Read More
Google just announced it is shutting down its Google Shopping China service. The website is still online, but Google confirmed its closure in a post on its China blog (link via Google Translate). → Read More
Civo is a beautiful new social discovery app that breaks users out of their social or geographic networks without forcing them to leave their comfort zones. It went live last week and is available for free in the iOS App Store (an Android version is in the works).
Founder Wei Shu, former director of corporate development at Renren (often referred to as “the Facebook of China”), describes the… → Read More
China Unicom announced that it received orders for more than 100,000 iPhone 5 units on its first day of pre-sales, according to a report on Sina Tech. A subsidiary of rival wireless operator China Telecom said that it had received pre-orders for more than 5,000 units. → Read More
The iPhone 5 received its final regulatory approval, the crucial “network access license” from China yesterday, but the original report of that news from the Wall Street Journal only found approval for the China Telecom version of the device. Now, however, Chinese news sources report that the iPhone 5 variant which works with China Unicom has also received network access approval. → Read More
Things seem to be on track for the iPhone 5 to meet its December release timeline in Greater China, since the device has now received approval for the final piece in the regulatory puzzle required for it to go on sale. The Wall Street Journal reports that it has now obtained its “network access” license, and the notice mentions China Telecom by name, though not a version of the phone that would… → Read More
Baidu, China’s search behemoth, has announced that it is raising $1.5 billion in a two-part bond sale to write down debt and build up its warchest: Baidu remains the country’s biggest search portal but has of late been feeling the heat of competion from domestic rival Qihoo 360, an antivirus software company that launched its own search engine in August. → Read More
Analyst Gartner has just put out a set of predictions for the Chinese market — and it’s expecting a big role for PC and mobile maker Lenovo in the homegrown smartphone space. Noting that Lenovo has “gained real momentum” in China, Gartner expects the company to be the number one smartphone seller next year. → Read More
Apple has seen sales of its iPad soar following the resolution of a trademark dispute with Chinese company Proview, which had IPAD registered years prior to the release of Apple’s iconic tablet. That’s according to new estimates from IDC analyst Dickie Chan, who said that sales of the iPad in China in Q3 were up to 2.07 million, an 80 percent increase over the previous quarter’s 1.15 million… → Read More
According to multiple reports, China recently started blocking numerous Google services, including Gmail, Google Maps and others that usually pass through the country’s so-called Great Firewall. Google’s Transparency Report shows a significant drop in traffic from China that started around 12:30am GMT last night. According to a statement from Google, the company has checked and “there’s… → Read More
Microsoft has made a deal with China to offer Windows Azure in the country. The deal is ballyhooed as a landmark agreement but, at its core, represents something that only the Chinese government can love. → Read More
Apple CEO Tim Cook discussed December as the launch timeframe for iPhone 5 in China on the investor call last week, and now the smartphone is one step closer to launch; AllThingsD notes that it has received approval from China’s State Radio Management organization, meaning only a network access license remains to be granted before it can be legally sold in the country. → Read More
In Apple’s Q4 earnings call today, Tim Cook today said that Apple had a “fantastic” quarter in Greater China, with revenues at $5.7 billion, up 26% year on year, but actually that revenue was flat on Q3. Still, the year-on-year growth is an important story for it to be telling in a quarter where the company missed expectations on earnings, iPhone sales and iPad sales. → Read More
We last caught up with HD Trade Services in August, when the company, part of Y Combinator’s summer class, released a tablet app to help smaller enterprises manage the process of buying and shipping goods from one country to another, by offering visual inspections (by way of photos and HD video) of goods to minimize fraud.
Now HD Trade Services is taking that concept one step further: it’s… → Read More
Aggressive demonstrations in and near Panasonic’s and Canon’s Chinese factories have forced the companies to temporarily suspend operations. According to the French news agency AFP, demonstrators are motivated by nationalistic reasons and events that occurred over the past few days.
The Japanese Government bought a private yet critical archipelago in the East China Sea: the Japanese call it the… → Read More
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