WebProNews

Category: ChinaRevolutionUpdate

ChinaRevolutionUpdate

  • China Probe Lands On Unexplored Far Side of the Moon – First Photos

    China Probe Lands On Unexplored Far Side of the Moon – First Photos

    China landed a probe on the unexplored far side of the moon last night and their space agency has released the first photos:

    First photo of the far side of the moon.
    Far side of the moon image taken as the lander descends.
    Image of the far side of the moon after landing.

    Translated Notes From China Space Agency

    At 10:26 on January 3, the No. 4 detector successfully landed on the back of the moon at a distance of 177.6 degrees east longitude and 45.5 degrees south latitude, and passed back to the world’s first close range through the “Bridge Bridge” relay star. The photograph of the moon back image reveals the mystery of the ancient moon back. The mission realized the first soft landing of the human detector and the relay communication of the first moon back with the earth, which opened a new chapter in human lunar exploration. 

    　　At 10:15, the scientific and technical personnel issued instructions at the Beijing Aerospace Flight Control Center. The No. 4 detector began to reduce the power from the distance of 15 km from the moon. The 7500N variable thrust engine was turned on, and the speed of the detector was gradually increased from the relative 1.7 km to the moon. Drop to zero every second. At 6-8 km, the detector performs rapid attitude adjustment and keeps approaching the moon; it starts hovering at a distance of 100 meters from the lunar surface, identifies obstacles and slopes, and autonomously avoids obstacles; after selecting a relatively flat area, Start slowly and vertically down. About 690 seconds later, the No. 4 detector landed autonomously in the von Carmen crater in the Antarctic-Aitken Basin on the back of the moon. During the lunar landing, the landing camera captured multiple landing area imagery. 

    　　After the moonfall, under the ground control, through the relay communication link of the “Bridge Bridge” relay star, the 嫦娥4 detector carried out a number of tasks such as the sunwing and directional antenna deployment, and established a directional antenna high-speed link. . At 11:40, the lander surveillance C camera acquired the world’s first close-up image of the moon’s back and passed it back to the ground. The picture shows the direction of the patrol that is about to leave the lander and sail towards the moon. 

    　　The 嫦娥4 detector consists of a lander and a patrol. A total of 8 payloads including 2 international cooperative loads are installed. The landformer is equipped with a topographic camera, a landing camera, a low-frequency radio spectrum analyzer, and cooperates with Germany. Four loads such as lunar neutrons and radiation dose detectors; panoramic cameras, moon-receiving radars, infrared imaging spectrometers, and neutral atomic detectors in cooperation with Sweden are installed on the patrol. These instruments will conduct low-frequency radio astronomical observation and research on the back of the moon through in-position and inspection. The patrol area morphology, mineral composition and lunar surface structure study, and experimentally carry out lunar neutron radiation dose, neutral Atomic and other lunar environment research. In addition, the lander is also equipped with a lunar biotech test load. The No. 4 mission provides opportunities for Chinese and foreign scientists to explore space.

    　　Scientists believe that the back of the moon is more ancient than the front. The material composition and geological age of the von Carmen crater is representative and valuable for studying the early history of the moon and the solar system. The back of the moon is also a rare quiet place that shields the radio signal interference from the Earth. The low-frequency radio astronomical observations can fill the gaps in the low-frequency observation section of the radio astronomy field, providing the possibility to study the sun, planets and extrasolar objects. It will also provide important information for studying the origin of stars and the evolution of nebulae. Based on this, China National Space Administration is willing to cooperate with space agencies, space science research institutions and foreign space science enthusiasts from all over the world to explore the mysteries of the universe. 

    　　Subsequently, the No. 4 detector will pass the relay communication link of the “Bridge Bridge” relay star, and under the ground control, the equipment working mode adjustment and other work will be carried out, and the lander and the patrol device will be separated.

  • Apple CEO Tim Cook Sees Services Growth as Their Future

    Apple CEO Tim Cook Sees Services Growth as Their Future

    Apple CEO Tim Cook released a letter yesterday saying that Apple is lowering their guidance for the fiscal 2019 first quarter, which ended on December 29. He attributes almost 100 percent of the revenue shortfall to their business in China:

    “While we anticipated some challenges in key emerging markets, we did not foresee the magnitude of the economic deceleration, particularly in Greater China. In fact, most of our revenue shortfall to our guidance, and over 100 percent of our year-over-year worldwide revenue decline occurred in Greater China across iPhone, Mac, and iPad.”

    Cook attributes their China problem to issues such as China’s overall economic slowdown partially due to trade tensions with the United States. Many analysts believe that the biggest reason for slower sales in China is actually Apple’s high price point for their newest phones and this is only exacerbated by China’s weakening economy.

    Apple Services Growth is Apple’s Future

    One silver lining in Tim Cook’s letter is his announcements about the growth of Apple Services worldwide. Cook says that Services generated over $10.8 billion in revenue during the quarter, growing to a new quarterly record in every geographic segment. He says that Apple is on track to achieve their goal of doubling the size of this business from 2016 to 2020.

    Apple CEO Tim Cook discussed the incredible growth of their services business as part of an interview on CNBC:

    Services Has Grown an Incredible Amount

    Services has grown an incredible amount. We’re going to report over $10.8 billion when we report later this month for last quarter. That’s a new record. This is incredibly exciting for us because so many things hit records in there.

    The App Store did. Apple music hit a new record. Apple pay hit a new record. Our search ad product from the app store hit a new record. iCloud hit a new record. It’s very wide. Each of the geographies hit a quarterly record.

    Services Business Driven by Huge Installed User Base

    Even in China, the App Store hit a quarterly record. Why is that? It’s because have and our installed base grew nicely year over year in China as well. As I say in the letter we’ve picked up a 100 million more active devices over the last twelve months alone. This is an incredible number.

    We’ve also got some interesting things in the pipeline on services and of course, we do on products as well. That’s sort of another way to grow the company.


  • China Just Lifted New Video Game Ban

    China Just Lifted New Video Game Ban

    China just lifted its year-old ban on new video games but no Tencent games were approved in the initial list. Gamer World News Entertainment host Capt. Rob Steinberg says that it’s not really much of a surprise that Tencent’s Fortnite wasn’t in this first 80. He sees it as a huge economic opportunity for gaming companies in general.

    Steinberg also noted that China “has gone very hyper” with the control they have put on games.

    Capt. Rob Steinberg, host at Gamer World News Entertainment, discussed the lifting of the new game ban by China on Fox Business:

    China Just Lifted New Video Game Ban

    From what I’ve seen China just lifted this ban that allows more games to be licensed in China. That being said, we’ve only released about 80 games that were there. In that there are about 3,000 games that will be released in 2019 and there are about 7,000 games that are on this waitlist.

    It’s not really much of a surprise that Tencent’s Fortnite wasn’t in this first 80. But what this does say is that there is an enormous market, a market that takes up $34 billion in the gaming industry that has now opened up the possibility of having these games enter that market.

    China Has Gone Very Hyper Controlling Games

    The gaming ban is really put in place by the government to try and protect its people. They’re very strict whenever it comes to allowing things in that might show anything that is illegal, immoral, or violent.

    That being said, they have gone very hyper as far as the amount of control that they put over these games. In doing that they’ve lowered their economic ecosystem in gaming by 5.4 percent as of last year.

    A Fantastic Time to Invest in Gaming

    It has definitely had a huge impact and I believe lifting the console ban and allowing more games to come in will help them create more money. It also is great for us here in case you haven’t already invested in Tencent this is a fantastic time for you to consider getting into the game knowing that they are now about to open up to a huge market if they can break through and if Fortnite becomes popular with the Chinese.


  • General Says Chinese Hacking of IBM or the Air Force is Essentially the Same

    General Says Chinese Hacking of IBM or the Air Force is Essentially the Same

    The Trump administration on Thursday unsealed Federal criminal indictments against two Chinese nationals, accusing them of working for the Chinese government over the last 12 years to hack into computers and steal key technology from Western businesses and government agencies.

    Retired Maj. Gen. Robert Scales says that we are already starting to see the manifestation of this hacking in the weapons they are deploying as we speak. The General added that we should take a long hard look at Chinese students in our universities and those that are hired from China to work in our corporate structure.

    Maj. Gen. Robert Scales (Ret.) discussed the Chinese hacking of American businesses and government on Fox Business:

    Compared to the Chinese Russians are Crass Amateurs

    I’m glad this is finally coming out. The only thing we have talked about over the last two years about hacking has to do with the Russians interfering with our election. Let me just tell you something, compared to the Chinese the Russians are crass amateurs. They’re incompetent. The Chinese have this hacking institution that is so huge.

    What makes it effective are a couple of things. Number one, it’s much larger than the Russians. Number two, it’s tied to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Even though a lot of the hacking is focused on commercial information, the people who are running this are the military. Here’s the scary part, the hacking is occurring in this country as well as in China. A great many Chinese immigrants are working in many of these industries and are scooping up this information and sending it home.

    Seeing Manifestation of Hacking in Their Weapons

    Just think for a moment if the Chinese have managed to put a bug into a chip in one of our anti-ballistic missiles or perhaps in a radar in a ship offshore in the South China Sea. Let me tell you another thing those of us in the military have seen. We are already starting to see the manifestation of this hacking in the weapons they are deploying as we speak to include their cruise missiles and their drones.

    Also, if you look at their latest family of stealth aircraft, the J-20, it has a lot of the obvious characteristics with our F-22 and our F-35. They are so far advanced in their sophisticated hacking that they are already beginning to build military products and weapons to compete against us using our technology.

    Hacking IBM or the Air Force is Essentially the Same

    The Chinese leadership have said that the Chinese military and the technological slice of its corporate structure are to be at parity with the United States by 2030. There is no way by following a due-course process will the Chinese ever be able to achieve that without extensive and pervasive hacking of our technology. Both our civilian technology and our military technology.

    Because so much of the military today is dependent on corporate technology, particularly with micro circuitry, that you can no longer distinguish between the two. A piece of IBM technology is the same technology that is being put in military computers, our radar systems, and are early warning systems. Having a hacking program against IBM or a hacking program against the US Air Force, today they are essentially the same.

    We Should Take a Hard Look at Chinese in the US

    What Should the US do? First of all I would say fight back. We’re just as good at this as the Chinese are. We can hack and we are pretty darn good at it. How many young men and women do we have in Silicon Valley who could do this on a weekend? Hack back at the Chinese and do it in a very public manner so that it becomes a cyber war where either side could win. It can’t get any worse since the Chinese are going full throttle as we speak. The only thing they would be afraid of is for us to start stealing their technology instead of vice versa.

    The second thing I’d do is take a long hard look at Chinese students in our universities and those that are hired from China to work in our corporate structure. When I was in the army I visited China in 2000. I remember a Chinese general bragging to me that there were more PLA officers in American graduate schools than there were American officers in American graduate schools. I don’t think it has gotten any better in the last few years.

    The other thing is for the Chinese students and employees in this country. What the Chinese government does very skillfully is they hold their relatives, their wives, children, parents, and grandparents at risk if they don’t toe the line and comply with instructions from China.


  • Renault Investing Heavily in the Mobility Revolution

    Renault Investing Heavily in the Mobility Revolution

    The world’s leading automotive alliance, Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi, is spending a billion dollars over the next five years investing in technology-focused mobility startups.  François Dossa, Head of Alliance Ventures, a strategic venture capital fund of the company, says that they want to invest money in the new technologies that will make the mobility of the future and the car of the future.

    The head of Alliance Ventures, François Dossa, was interviewed at the Web Summit:

    Our Sector is Suffering Not an Evolution, But a Revolution

    We want to invest money in the new technologies that will make the mobility of the future and the car of the future. We take this very seriously because our sector is suffering not an evolution, but a revolution. We’ve been for years using a car always the same way, your two hands on the wheel and your view on the road, and this is going to change. Many new technologies that we will not develop internally because it would be too long and too expensive and this is why we have to rely on startups.

    We are excited with everything related to mobility. In mobility, I can also think of my legs that will be a part of the mobility, so it will be multimodal, not only a car. If I want to go from A to B, I have to be able to use my legs, a bike, a scooter, a car, a train, a van, a bus, and all this together is going to be the new journey that our customer will have. Customers in the future will consider that we are a service company and this is the big change that we have to do. We are good at manufacturing cars and we have to be good at offering a service to our customers.

    Should we have our own platform or should we use someone else’s platform? We decided to have our platform, so we’re going to build our platform and I’m in charge of that. On a platform are all the tech bricks that you need to have to offer, ride-hailing, ride pooling, ride sharing, and goods delivery to your customers.

    My activity is not to acquire companies, it is to acquire shares in companies. I don’t want to be the owner. If I think of a start-up, if I acquire the startup I kill the startup. We are a company of 475,000 people, that’s a very big company, very kind of heavy company, and we need to keep the fact that in the startup they grow very fast. All these technologies they’re moving very fast. This is why I don’t want to acquire but I want to be part of the shareholder of the company.

    What’s Happening in China is Just Amazing

    China is the most amazing area in terms of innovation. Number one in the world. What’s happening in China is just amazing. We have been investing in a company called WeRide, it’s a level 4 autonomous startup in China. With level 4 I can tell you, I had a demo with their car in normal traffic conditions and the car goes on the highway and nobody is driving the car. My first reaction I was really dying. I was oh my god and we had 30 minutes and it worked extremely well.

    That’s very clear and it’s something that I’d like to say. About 40 years ago the Japanese companies went to the States and to Europe, they copied what we were doing. Then ten years ago, the Chinese did this also. Now I think it’s our time to go to China to look at what they are doing and to copy, because if not they’re going to kill us. We have to be very cautious about China and there are a lot of opportunities especially in deep tech new technologies. With AI, the Chinese know exactly where they are going. They tell you well we have a plan, it’s the central government plan where they want to be in 5, 10, and 15 years.

    AI is everywhere, so we have four main activities for investment. First one is the new mobility and this is the decision that we made about the platform. Then we have all related to autonomy, autonomous cars connectivity, and services. and EV, electric vehicles. We are the leader in EV and we want to keep this position, and we need to make a lot of investment and startups are very good at this.

    The Key Driver is Really the Technology

    Even though I’m not American, I think that money is very important. For me, money is important and it’s also a way to be sure that we invested in the right startups because they will grow and then we’ll make money out of this investment. But this is not the key driver. The key driver is really the technology. We are a strategic fund and so we are here to bring into the Alliance companies and the new technologies that will make this new mobility and this car of the future. That’s really really clear in our mind but we’ll make money also out of it.

    About Alliance Ventures:

    Alliance Ventures is a strategic venture capital fund of up to $1 billion over the next five years, operated by Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi, the world’s leading automotive alliance.

    The fund, launched in 2018, with a $200 million initial investment is co-located in Amsterdam, Silicon-Valley, Paris, Yokohama, Beijing and Tel Aviv from where it targets technology and business model innovation in New Mobility, Autonomous Driving, Connected Services, EV & Energy and Enterprise 2.0.

    Alliance Ventures is the main interface with the Alliance and its member companies for start-ups, incubators, accelerators, investors and the venture capital eco-system. By drawing on expertise and business opportunities from across the world’s leading automotive alliance, we pursue strategic investments at all maturity stages in startups developing disruptive technologies or businesses, focusing mainly on Series A and B, plus follow-on investments to support the start-up’s growth.

  • Motorola Solutions CEO: We Want a Level Playing Field in China Where IP is Not Stolen

    Motorola Solutions CEO: We Want a Level Playing Field in China Where IP is Not Stolen

    Motorola Solutions CEO Greg Brown explains how China went from a great business opportunity in the mid-1980s to an intellectual property stealing concern following their acceptance into the WTO in 2001.

    Brown says that when China implemented the indigenous cellular standard PDT, that in essence if Motorola wanted to play there and continue to provide systems, they would have to offer up the IPR associated with that. Following that China became less and less attractive.

    Greg Brown, Motorola Solutions CEO, provided a great picture of how China has stolen intellectual property from Motorola and many other US companies who do business there in an interview on CNBC:

    For Years, China was Great

    Historically, you can even go back to 1972 when President Nixon first arrived in China, he spoke on a Motorola provided satellite phone following the Kissinger talks. You fast forward, and in 1986 Bob Galvin led a delegation there, and in ‘87 Motorola invested and had a manufacturing and R&D footprint. For years, China was great, and the Motorola story was great, and revenue boomed, investment boomed, and collaboration boomed. Then China joins the WTO and things pivot a little bit.

    To Do Business in China Motorola Had to Give Up IP

    The Chinese market matures and China moves toward indigenous standards. At the time there were cellular standards called CDMA, TDMA, that ultimately went to GSM. China had their own and they called it TDS CMEA. We in the US had WiFi. They had their own and it was called WAPI. In policing, China implemented an indigenous standard called PDT, police digital trunking, that in essence said Motorola if you want to play here and continue to provide systems, you have to offer up the IPR associated with that. China became less and less attractive.

    We had a lot of firsts historically. We had the first mobile phone with Chinese characters, and the first mobile phone with global positioning – GPS. At the time Motorola built the largest contiguous network in China. All that is great.

    Chinese Firms Huawei and Hytera Stole IP

    Historically, we had litigation with Huawei around trade secret violations. We sued them in 2010 and was settled in 2011. But as we sit here today we have a lawsuit ongoing right now with a Chinese company called Hytera. They’ve done three things; patent infringement, trade secret misappropriation, and copyright infringement. Pretty egregious, vast multi-year campaign. We’ve sued them in the Northern District Court of Illinois, Germany, where we won both cases by the way, Australia pending, and most importantly in the ITC where we just won a final determination that in fact Hytera took IPR and infringed our patents. So we are awaiting the implementation of an import ban in January.

    Need Level Playing Field in China Where IP is Not Stolen

    Recently, Australia has said they are concerned about Hytera 5G Gear. New Zealand has made that determination. In Britain, the U.K., just announced a few days ago, that they want to pull out  Huawei 4G out of their core. I get the high stakes and I get the two juggernauts (US vs China) competing. We are all for competition, robust, let the customer win, and everybody brings their best game to the party. But when it is not a level playing field and IPR is stolen, we just are saying compete on a fair and firm basis.

    Business in China a Fraction of What it Used to Be

    We’re still in China, but we don’t do manufacturing in China and we don’t do R&D. We have sales and sales support staff. It is an okay market for some of what we call our PCR equipment. We have collaboration with some local Chinese partners. But to dimensionalize it, like 15 years ago we were over $3 billion in revenue and 15,000 people, today we are about $170 million in revenue and 170 people. What we are is the Western leader and alternative in mission critical communications, command center software, video surveillance and analytics.

  • Starbucks Delivery via Uber Eats Goes National After Seeing Higher Average Sales

    Starbucks Delivery via Uber Eats Goes National After Seeing Higher Average Sales

    Based on a successful delivery trial in China via Alibaba and Uber Eats in Miami, Starbucks has announced that they are adding delivery nationwide. Starbucks COO Rosalind Brewer says they are still looking at the total cost of delivery very “carefully” but they are emboldened by the higher average sale with delivery orders.

    Rosalind Brewer, Starbucks COO, recently discussed the new Uber Eats partnership on CNBC:

    Starbucks Delivery via Uber Eats Expanding Nationwide

    We’ve had a great trial in Miami and we chose Miami because we know what the temperatures are in Miami. We’ve seen great drink consistency. We’ve seen really good leverage on the ticket, so we’re seeing both food and beverages being ordered. We’re seeing a much larger ticket when we see a delivery from Starbucks.

    We’re really pleased that we’re doing this partnership with Uber. We’re learning a lot about technology integration and that’s the real result here, just really making sure that the technology comes together and then we deliver the best product for the customer.

    The question around is this a profitable opportunity for us is one of the things that we’re evaluating because it does cost more to deliver coffee. But we are seeing an expanded ticket and that average ticket is really what we need to see happen as we approach delivery. We’re encouraged right now but we’re actually monitoring that very carefully.

    Learned From the Alibaba Partnership in China

    We’re using a lot of the learnings from China in terms of things like packaging. Not only is it an automobile delivery, we’re seeing that it’s bicycle delivery as well. So we’re understanding that very well. We’re also understanding what is the offering? Should it be the full menu and what dreams do best when they have to be delivered?

    State of the Starbucks Economy

    What we’re seeing right now is that something like a Starbucks cup of coffee which some assume is an affordable luxury, we’re really comfortable right now. I will tell you one thing about our holiday season that we’re in right now. We learned a lot from what we did last year and we’re really encouraged by the reusable red cup that we entered this year.

    We’re doing marketing campaigns and every time we see the Starbucks name mentioned in media we get a pop in our performance. So we’re really pleased with what we’re seeing and we’re a little bit less concerned with the turndown that everyone’s talking about.

    When you look at what Starbucks is doing particularly in China and in the US is that we’re still opening new stores. In China, there is still a lot of addressable market for us to participate in. You’ll see us be pretty bullish on the work that we’re doing with new stores and we’re adding delivery which is all incremental business. At this time there’s opportunity for us to continue to grow but we’re watching carefully some other things that are happening globally.

    Beverage Innovation is Our Biggest Driver of Growth

    The biggest driver of growth for us going forward will be our beverage innovation. You saw us earlier this year introduce a new espresso. You’ll see us bring more of our learnings from our roasteries in terms of what can happen with our beverage innovation. You’ll see us talk more about our Cold Platform, things like our Nitro Cold Brew, and then some of our other beverages that are really doing well for us right now.

  • DiDi VP: We Are a Frontrunner in Autonomous Vehicle Technology

    DiDi VP: We Are a Frontrunner in Autonomous Vehicle Technology

    DiDi will be one of the frontrunners in autonomous vehicle technology development says Henry Liu, VP and Chief Scientist for DiDi Smart Transportation Initiatives. Liu says DiDi is unique in that it is not just an Internet company and not just an AI company but also is a transportation company.

    The CEO of DiDi has long had a high-level focus on autonomous driving technology. “Autonomous driving and artificial intelligence are the future of mobility,” noted Cheng Wei, Founder, and CEO of DiDi. “Vehicles might be the first generation of robots with massive AI technology application.”

    Henry Liu, VP and Chief Scientist for DiDi Smart Transportation Initiatives, discussed DiDi’s extensive focus on autonomous vehicles in an interview on CNBC International:

    We Are a Frontrunner in Autonomous Vehicle Technology

    We have developed this autonomous vehicle technology roughly three years ago and we have development teams in both the US as well as China. We have 40 autonomous vehicles being encrypted with our sensors and we have licenses in both Mountain View, California as well as Beijing, China. We are on our way to developing autonomous vehicles and we also think we will be one of the frontrunners in terms of autonomous vehicle technology development.

    DiDi Has a Lot of Advantages in Autonomous Vehicle Development

    We’ll start with small areas in terms of testing. DiDi has a lot of advantages in autonomous vehicle development because we have this transportation network and we know where the origin and the destination is and we know if this area is suitable for autonomous vehicle operation as well. If it’s suitable we can send an autonomous vehicle to serve for this trip or otherwise we can send a human-driven vehicle.

    An Internet Company, AI Company, and Transportation Company

    We are not only an Internet company and we’re not only an AI company, but we also are a transportation company which runs for people from origin to destination. That’s a lot of responsibility and we need to make this safely and efficiently. As a service provider, we utilize our technology conscientiously while we use this AI technology. We also cooperate with the government because our service actually complements public transportation systems.

  • Alphabet Chairman: Anybody Who Does Business in China Compromises Some of Their Core Values

    Alphabet Chairman: Anybody Who Does Business in China Compromises Some of Their Core Values

    Alphabet Chairman John Hennessy says that anybody who does business in China compromises some of their core values. Alphabet, of course, is the parent company of Google and reportedly Google is considering re-entering the search business in China. Hennessy said that Google is struggling with whether it is better to give Chinese citizens a decent search engine even if it is restricted and censored. 

    John Hennessy, Chairman of Google parent company Alphabet, discussed Google’s struggle and internal debate on whether to provide a censored search engine in China during a live audience interview on Bloomberg.

    Anybody Who Does Business in China Compromises Core Values

    “Anybody who does business in China compromises some of their core values,” says Alphabet Chairman John Hennessy in a live audience interview on Bloomberg. Alphabet is the parent company of Google. “Every single company because the laws in China are quite a bit different than they are in our own country. The question that comes to my mind and that I struggle with is are we better off giving Chinese citizens a decent search engine, a capable search engine, even if it is restricted and censored in some cases than a search engine that’s not very good? Does that improve the quality of their lives? That’s the struggle that we have to work our way through.”

    “I think it is a legitimate question in asking how can you do it and still live within the context of what their regulations are,” Hennessy said in response to whether Google can do more good by being in China. “Part of what is reflected inside Google as it is everywhere in the Valley and everywhere in our country right now is the divisiveness that exists. I think that divisiveness has fed more concern in how these technologies get used.”

    We Are in a Different Time Now

    “If you wind back to the time that Google decided to exit China there were lots of things going on, not just censorship but also surveillance, hacking attempts, things like that,” noted Hennessy. “Those all added together to create a situation. We are in a different time now. Asking how you do this, how you make it safe, but if you store data in the country it can be gotten at by the Chinese authorities. I think you should worry about that and as a minimum, you should make sure that your users understand that.”

    Hennessy is not a fan of the current trade wars. “I think in general that trade wars are not productive and they’re not economically productive either. We should try to remind people of that and try to find a way to move forward.”

    Google Pulled Out of China in 2010

    In 2010 Google Chief Legal Officer David Drummond, announced that Google would no longer continue censoring their results on Google.cn which quickly led to a complete Google block by the Chinese government:

    On January 12, 2010, we announced on this blog that Google and more than twenty other U.S. companies had been the victims of a sophisticated cyber attack originating from China, and that during our investigation into these attacks we had uncovered evidence to suggest that the Gmail accounts of dozens of human rights activists connected with China were being routinely accessed by third parties, most likely via phishing scams or malware placed on their computers. We also made clear that these attacks and the surveillance they uncovered—combined with attempts over the last year to further limit free speech on the web in China including the persistent blocking of websites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google Docs and Blogger—had led us to conclude that we could no longer continue censoring our results on Google.cn.

    So earlier today we stopped censoring our search services—Google Search, Google News, and Google Images—on Google.cn. Users visiting Google.cn are now being redirected to Google.com.hk, where we are offering uncensored search in simplified Chinese, specifically designed for users in mainland China and delivered via our servers in Hong Kong. Users in Hong Kong will continue to receive their existing uncensored, traditional Chinese service, also from Google.com.hk. Due to the increased load on our Hong Kong servers and the complicated nature of these changes, users may see some slowdown in service or find some products temporarily inaccessible as we switch everything over.

    Figuring out how to make good on our promise to stop censoring search on Google.cn has been hard. We want as many people in the world as possible to have access to our services, including users in mainland China, yet the Chinese government has been crystal clear throughout our discussions that self-censorship is a non-negotiable legal requirement. We believe this new approach of providing uncensored search in simplified Chinese from Google.com.hk is a sensible solution to the challenges we’ve faced—it’s entirely legal and will meaningfully increase access to information for people in China. We very much hope that the Chinese government respects our decision, though we are well aware that it could at any time block access to our services. We will therefore be carefully monitoring access issues, and have created this new web page, which we will update regularly each day, so that everyone can see which Google services are available in China.

    In terms of Google’s wider business operations, we intend to continue R&D work in China and also to maintain a sales presence there, though the size of the sales team will obviously be partially dependent on the ability of mainland Chinese users to access Google.com.hk. Finally, we would like to make clear that all these decisions have been driven and implemented by our executives in the United States, and that none of our employees in China can, or should, be held responsible for them. Despite all the uncertainty and difficulties they have faced since we made our announcement in January, they have continued to focus on serving our Chinese users and customers. We are immensely proud of them.

    Posted by David Drummond, SVP, Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer

  • Millennials Love Airbnb and There Are 400 Million Millennials in China

    Millennials Love Airbnb and There Are 400 Million Millennials in China

    The Head of Policy at Airbnb, Chris Lehane, says that they are seeing the same underlying dynamics and trends of millennials driving Airbnb growth in China that they saw earlier globally. With 400 million millennials living in China, the growth potential for Airbnb is massive. He noted that millennials will be 75 percent of consumers going forward and home sharing is how they like to travel.

    Chris Lehane, Head of Global Policy And Communications for Airbnb, talked about the huge growth of the company and their massive potential for even more growth driven by millennials in China and around the world in an interview on Bloomberg:

    Airbnb’s Single Biggest Quarter Ever

    As we released on Friday, we are significantly over a billion dollars in revenue in Q3, our single biggest quarter ever. We are blessed ultimately by this really significant and robust growth. Ultimately that’s tracking to the community model that exists on Airbnb. We only do well if our hosts do well, hosts do well if our guests do well, guests do well only if communities are benefitting. That flywheel does create a network effect globally. You can see that underneath these growth numbers, 91 percent growth in Bejing. Over 79 percent growth in places like Mexico City or even Birmingham, England.

    Home Sharing is How Millennials Like to Travel

    Ultimately what’s really underlying the foundation for all of that is that people are looking for this type of travel. More people are going to be able to do home sharing type of travel, people to people travel tomorrow than today. This is not new, Abraham Lincoln, Gandhi, they did home sharing, but in particular, this is what consumers are looking for, particularly millennial consumers who are going to be 75 percent plus of all consumers going forward. This is how they like to travel.

    400 Million Millennials in China – A Huge Opportunity for Airbnb

    Looking at our global numbers, what we are seeing in China really does reflect the same thing that we are seeing globally. We are blessed with this growth which is being driven by that network effect that exists locally. What we are seeing in China is really interesting. It has the same underlying dynamics and trends that we saw with the business earlier.

    When Airbnb was first launched the majority of users were millennials. If you look at our China market right now about 85 percent of our consumers are millennials. It’s a similar trend, but keeping in mind that there are 400 million millennials in China. We are really the significant player in what’s called the outbound travel, people going from China abroad. What’s happening is they come back and then they begin to travel domestically and Airbnb begins to grow as a result of that.

    China is a place you have to get up every day and work incredibly hard. We do have a president of the business who is from China based on the ground there. We have an incredible team made up of Chinese folks who are on the ground there in Bejing and other offices around the country. I feel good about where we are but I know that we need to keep working at it.

  • Top 5 US Tech Companies to Reach Unicorn Status in 2018

    Top 5 US Tech Companies to Reach Unicorn Status in 2018

    In literature, the unicorn is a mythical creature that’s rarely seen. In the business world, however, a unicorn was originally defined as a software company based in the United States and “valued at over $1 billion by public or private market investors.”

    The expression was coined by Cowboy Ventures founder Aileen Lee back in 2013. At the time, a unicorn company was as rare as its mythological namesake, with only 39 companies included in this rarefied group. Now there are 376 businesses that fall under the unicorn category globally, and the numbers are still growing.

    There have also been changes to the definition. These days, a unicorn is “a privately held startup company with a current valuation of $1 billion or more.” They are also not limited to the US. China reportedly has the most unicorn companies now.

    Top 5 New US Tech Companies to Surpass a $1 Billion Valuation in 2018

    5. UiPath

    The software company is aiming to be the world leader in Enterprise RPA or “robotic process automation.” UiPath wants to automate routine tasks to help streamline business processes. Their open platform is touted to be extensive, with hundreds of customizable and deep integrations with AI, BPM, and ERP technologies. The company was founded in 2005 and has slowly and steadily worked its way to the top. 2018 has proven to be a banner year for the company, as it received $153 million from investors in March and was able to raise $225 million in a September funding round. UiPath is currently valued at $3 billion.

    4. SnowFlake

    The tech business with the ephemeral sounding name bills itself as the only data warehouse built exclusively for the cloud. Snowflake is pushing companies to combine the power and flexibility of the cloud, data warehousing and big data platforms for their data solutions. The company was founded in 2012 by Benoit Dageville and Marcin Zukowski. They’re supported by a team of technology and industry experts, as well as top-notch investors that have helped push the company to its $3.95 billion valuation.

    3. DoorDash

    Food is always a lucrative business, and DoorDash wisely took advantage of that fact. The on-demand food courier service has grown by leaps and bounds since it was established in 2012 by four Stanford students. The company’s use of logistic services has helped it expand to 56 markets and go head-to-head with rivals like Uber Eats and GrubHub. The company has had a lucrative year; forging partnerships with Walmart and Chipotle and raising $535 million in a Series D round. It’s currently valued at $4 billion.

    2. Epic Games

    The American video game developer has an epic history, beginning in 1991 when it was founded by Tim Sweeney. The company is known for developing the Unreal Engine, and games like Fortnite, Infinity Blade, Gears of War, and Unreal. Despite being around for more than two decades, the company is showing no signs of slowing down and has climbed its way to a valuation of $15 billion.

    1. Juul Labs

    Billed as the smoking alternative, Juul was founded in 2017 and immediately found a strong following among the millions of adult smokers. The electronic cigarettes company was established by former smokers who wanted a world where there’s minimal cigarette use. To do that, they designed a device that’s thin, streamlined, and comes with an intelligent heating mechanism. Juul’s classy look and large variety of flavors have helped the company reach a $16 billion valuation.

    What’s exciting is the number of tech startups that have joined the golden herd. There are reportedly 81 new unicorns this year. And, according to PitchBook, 35 US startups joined the unicorn class in 2018. 

    [Featured image via Pixabay]

  • Former Microsoft COO Concerned About US Universities vs. China: ‘The Big Risk for Tech is Talent’

    Former Microsoft COO Concerned About US Universities vs. China: ‘The Big Risk for Tech is Talent’

    Former Microsoft COO Bob Herbold discussed in an interview (below) the fact that computer science and engineering schools are now competing strongly with US universities. He says that even though the US tech sector continues to be strong, the big risk is talent and China has significantly strengthened their universities:

    We (the US tech sector) continue to be strong, but the big risk is talent, frankly. What’s happening in China is that they are pouring a ton of money into these massive research centers. Secondly, they significantly strengthened their universities. So today, if you rank the top ten engineering schools in the world, such as U.S. News & World Report just did, you get five of them basically in Asia which is a real surprise compared to ten years ago.

    The schools are good, the government is pouring in a lot of money, and what’s happening in the US is we are actually telling these kids who are getting master’s degrees and PhDs in computer science and engineering, we say to them, look, we don’t necessarily want you around. That’s the signal that we are sending them. It’s absolutely the wrong signal.

    They have gotten caught up in this immigration flap, which is again an issue that keeps being kicked around. What’s happening is that in 2011, 45 percent of graduates from Asia would go back home. Today, that number is 80 percent. They’re going back home to good jobs and to environments that welcome them because they know that long-term their military and their industry is dependent on great technology.

  • Scott Kennedy of CSIS: China Amex Approval is #fakeopening

    Scott Kennedy of CSIS: China Amex Approval is #fakeopening

    Scott Kennedy, who is the Deputy Director, Freeman Chair in China Studies at Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said on Twitter that Amex finally winning Chinese market approval is not a breakthrough for China market access. He labeled it as a #fakeopening. “NOT a breakthrough for China market access,” noted Kennedy. “Amex still at least year-plus away from operations. And why should it be required to operate in a joint venture? #fakeopening.”

    He was also asked, How many American jobs will it create? Zero? Kenney replied, “Far more than 0, but difficult to calculate for financial services firms. AMEX activity in CH which requires job support in US + Repatriated profits that AMEX invests directly, puts in banks which lend to others + Chinese users that increase consumption US products.”

    Kennedy then added, “Other cross-border commercial activity that emerges out their business. + Same when Visa, Mastercard follow. + Marginal improvement in efficiency of China’s own firms, permits smarter investments, greater consumption. Lesson: Liberalization benefits diffuse, but exist.

    American Express getting market approval in China is being widely reported in the media as a promising development in light of the current trade war. Philippe Roy, Director Global Client Group Europe for Amex, reflecting on the news said, “American Express just became the first US credit card company to get the green light to start building its own payments network in China.”

    Earlier this year Scott Kennedy spoke about US-China relations:

  • Trade Expert says Amazon Uses a Loophole to Import Almost Everything Duty-Free

    Trade Expert says Amazon Uses a Loophole to Import Almost Everything Duty-Free

    Amazon is using creative tactics that enable it to avoid import taxes on almost everything it sells by making every item sold a single sale that is under $800, according to trade expert and former Trump advisor Curtis Ellis.

    Curtis Ellis, a former Trump trade advisor, explains the details of this tactic below:

    Amazon Importing Almost Everything Duty-Free

    The U.S. government, U.S. Customs, imposes a tax on imports, a tariff or a duty. However, there is an exception. If you go to Scottland and buy a sweater that is less than $800 you can bring it back into the country duty-free. Just put it in your suitcase or have it shipped back and you don’t pay anything. Amazon uses this loophole to import virtually everything worth less than $800 duty-free.

    This Amazon Tactic is Helping China Avoid Tariffs

    They will buy 100,000 sweaters from Scottland, Ireland, or probably China and park them in a warehouse in Tijuana, Mexico. Then when people press purchase now to place their order they break up those 100,000 sweaters into one package, one package, one package and ship them into the country as if they were bought by one person on one day and Amazon had nothing to do with it. They bring it all in duty-free. China does not suffer the impact of tariffs on some imports to America thanks to Amazon.

    Outdated Law Subsidizing Chinese Shipping

    A couple of weeks ago President Trump announced that we are withdrawing from the International Postal Union. This is another example. We entered into this treaty ages ago and it subsidizes packages and shipping so that it is cheaper to send a package from Bejing to New York than it is to ship from Los Angeles to New York. We were giving China this break as if it’s a developing country like Haiti or something. It’s now like the second largest economy in the world and they’re still getting that same break.

    These rules, called The De Minimis Exception, were written before there was an Internet and has never been updated. It’s just another example of how Washington just sleepwalks through everything.

  • How the World’s Largest Online Travel Company Used Acquisitions to Grow

    How the World’s Largest Online Travel Company Used Acquisitions to Grow

    Booking Holdings is the world’s largest online travel company that owns Booking.com, Priceline, Agoda, Kayak, Rental Cars and Open Table. Glen Fogle, CEO of Booking Holdings says that it is through acquisitions that the company was able to grow as big as it is with revenue now exceeding $12 billion per year.

    Glen Fogle, CEO of Booking Holdings discussed their growth through acquisition strategy in a recent interview:

    Without Acquisitions We’d Probably Have Been Acquired

    We are an internet technology driven company. Without the acquisitions that we’ve done, we’d be nowhere where we are now. In fact, who knows where we’d be, we’d probably be owned by somebody else who would have acquired us.

    I was fortunate that I found these guys at a Cambridge University who started this little company called Active Hotels. We talked and talked and eventually, they said yeah they would join with us. Then we found the guys in Amsterdam at Booking.com and said this would be great, it’d be like music. You can have a great soloist who is wonderful but I think a whole Orchestra can produce better music and that’s kind of like bringing more people together to create that big beautiful Orchestra.

    Asia Could Be Our Largest Travel Market

    Everybody I think will say that Asia is the greatest growth area for almost all industries, and travel even more so. It’s growing faster than most of the areas of the world. As these people age and get going from young adults or teenagers into young adults and earn money and then they want to travel we need to be there now to help develop these brand habits. It could be our largest travel market.

    One of the reasons we did those investments (top Chinese online travel agency Ctrip and ride sharing platform Didi Chuxing) and one of the reasons both those companies were interested in having us invest and create a relationship is because of our outbound capabilities. Both companies are very interested in making their outbound services more powerful and they recognize that we can bring things to them that will help them. That’s the reason to do that.

    Our Outbound Business is Key In China

    We believe that there are really three things that are so important for our business being successful in China and one of them, without doubt, is that outbound business. We need to make sure that we are providing a great service to every single Chinese customer who wants to explore and experience the world.

    The outbound market is an area where we’re growing nicely. Our job is to make sure that that Chinese customer and they think they need a hotel somewhere around the world, where they need a non-hotel, a home, or an apartment, we want to make sure the first thing they think about is using Booking or Agoda.

  • Chinese People’s Liberation Army Implanted Malicious Microchips on Computer Servers Bound for U.S. Companies

    Chinese People’s Liberation Army Implanted Malicious Microchips on Computer Servers Bound for U.S. Companies

    An explosive Bloomberg Businessweek report details how China was able to pull off the most significant supply chain attack ever against American companies. Reportedly, China used third-party vendors to America companies, including Amazon and Apple, to insert a tiny microchip, no bigger than a grain of rice, onto motherboards for Supermicro. Amazon Web Services (AWS), reviewed these servers and found “troubling issues.”

    “Nested on the servers’ motherboards, the testers found a tiny microchip, not much bigger than a grain of rice, that wasn’t part of the boards’ original design. Amazon reported the discovery to U.S. authorities, sending a shudder through the intelligence community. Elemental’s servers could be found in Department of Defense data centers, the CIA’s drone operations, and the onboard networks of Navy warships. And Elemental was just one of hundreds of Supermicro customers.

    During the ensuing top-secret probe, which remains open more than three years later, investigators determined that the chips allowed the attackers to create a stealth doorway into any network that included the altered machines. Multiple people familiar with the matter say investigators found that the chips had been inserted at factories run by manufacturing subcontractors in China.”

    Bloomberg Businessweek reporter Jordan Robertson who co-wrote this blockbuster story talked about it on Bloomberg TV:

    The basic gist of this story is that in 2014 and 2015 a unit of China’s People’s Liberation Army implanted malicious microchips on computer servers bound for U.S. companies. Those computer servers wound up in very targeted, very large companies including Apple and Amazon.

    What these malicious chips did was compromise the software on these hardware devices at the kind of level that you can’t detect, in many ways the ultimate silent attack. This was a very major discovery for these companies and for U.S. intelligent services.

    This story has taken us well over a year to report and write and a lot of that is learning what is a hardware attack? It’s such science fiction in many ways to us as reporters and to the public at large. A hardware attack is simply the most effective type of computer hacking that any organization can engineer. The reason is if the hardware of the computer is compromised it will irrevocably compromise the software that sits on top of it.

    There is no commercial security system that can detect that kind of manipulation. It’s a super serious attack that is almost impossible to detect without physical examination of the hardware which almost no one does.

  • Chinese Internet Growth is Staggering and is Still an Enormous Business Opportunity

    Chinese Internet Growth is Staggering and is Still an Enormous Business Opportunity

    South China Morning Post CEO Gary Liu recently gave a Ted Talk explaining the staggering growth of the Chinese internet and how it is rapidly changing millions of lives for the better. What’s especially fascinating is how impactful their internet growth has been for the Chinese migrant workers and the poor and how this is only the beginning.

    There are still 600 million Chinese offline, their wages are rising too which means their spending power is a huge opportunity for internet startups. 

    South China Morning Post CEO Gary Liu talks about the impact of 772 million Chinese that are now on the internet:

    Technology is Changing China

    Once every 12 months, the world’s largest human migration happens in China. Over the 40 day travel period of Chinese New Year 3 billion trips are taken as families reunite and celebrate. The most strenuous of these trips are taken by the country’s 290 million migrant workers for many of whom this is the one chance a year to go home and see parents and children they left behind.

    Travel options are very limited with plane tickets costing nearly half of their monthly salary, so most of them choose the train. Their average journey is 700 kilometers, the average travel time is over 15 hours and the country’s tracks now have to handle 390 million travelers every Spring Festival.

    Until recently, migrant workers would have to queue for long hours, sometimes days, just to buy tickets often only to be fleeced by scalpers and they still had to deal with near stampede conditions when travel day finally arrived, but technology has now started to ease this experience. Mobile and digital tickets now account for 70% of sales, greatly reducing the lines at train stations, digital ID scanners have replaced manual checks expediting the boarding process, and artificial intelligence is deployed across the network to optimize travel routes.

    New solutions have been invented, China’s largest taxi hailing platform Didi Dache launched a new service called Hitch which matches car owners are driving home with passengers looking for long-distance routes. In just its third year Hitch served 30 million trips in this past holiday season, the longest of which was further than 1500 miles. That’s about the distance from Miami to Boston.

    China’s “Need Economy” is Driving Innovation

    About a year and a half ago I moved from my home in New York City to Hong Kong to become the CEO of the South China Morning Post and from this new vantage point. I’ve observed something that is far less familiar to me, propelling so much of China’s innovation and many of its entrepreneurs is an overwhelming need economy that is serving an underprivileged populace which has been separated for thirty years from China’s economic boom.

    The stark gaps that exist between the rich and the poor, between urban and rural, or the academic and the unschooled, these gaps form a soil that’s ready for some incredible empowerment. When capital and investment become focused on the needs of people who are hanging to the bottom rungs of an economic ladder that’s when we will start to see the internet truly become a job creator.

    Because of the country’s sheer scale and status as a rising superpower, the needs of its population have created an opportunity for a truly compelling impact. When explaining the rapid growth of the Chinese tech industry, many observers will cite two reasons. The first is the 1.4 billion people that call China home.

    Chines Government: “Active Participation” or “Pervasive Intervention”

    The second is the government’s active participation, or pervasive intervention, depending on how you view it. The central authorities have spent heavily on network infrastructure over the years creating an attractive environment for investment at the same time they’ve insisted on standards and regulation, which has led to fast consensus and therefore fast adoption.

    The world’s largest pool of tech talent exists because of the abundance of educational incentives. Local domestic companies in the past have been protected from international competition by market controls. Of course, you cannot observe the Chinese internet without finding widespread censorship and very serious concerns about dystopian monitoring.

    Yet, the Internet Has Continued to Grow

    Yet the Internet has continued to grow and it is so big, much bigger than I think most of us realize. By the end of 2017, the Chinese internet population had reached 772 million users. It’s larger than the populations of the United States, Russia, Germany, United Kingdom, France, and Canada combined. Also,  98 percent of them are active on mobile and 92 percent used messaging apps. There are now 650 million digital news consumers and 580 million digital video consumers.

    The country’s largest ecommerce platform Alibaba now boasts 580 million monthly active users. It’s about 80 percent larger than Amazon. On-demand travel between bikes and cars now account for 10 billion trips a year in China. That’s two-thirds of all trips taken around the world. So it’s a very mixed bag the internet exists in a restricted, arguably manipulated from within China, yet it is massive and has vastly improved the lives of its citizens. Even in its imperfection, the growth of the Chinese Internet should not be dismissed and it’s worthy of our closer examination.

    As the Chinese Internet continues to grow, even in its imperfection and restrictions and controls, the lives of its ones forgotten populations have been irrevocably elevated. There is a focus on populations of need, not of want, that has driven a lot of the curiosity, the creativity, and the development that we see. There’s still more to come.

    An Enormous Opportunity: 600 Million Chinese Offline

    In America, internet penetration has now reached 88 percent. In China, the Internet has still only reached 56 percent of the populace. That means there are over 600 million people who are still offline and disconnected. That’s nearly twice the US population and an enormous opportunity.

    Wherever this alternative fuel exists, be it in China or Africa or Southeast Asia or the American heartland we should endeavor to follow it with capital and with effort driving both economic and societal impact all over the world. Just imagine for a minute what more could be possible if the global needs of the underserved become the primary focus of our inventions.

  • China is Home to the World’s Most Valuable AI Startup, SenseTime is Valued at $4.5 Billion

    China is Home to the World’s Most Valuable AI Startup, SenseTime is Valued at $4.5 Billion

    The artificial intelligence community received a major boost recently with SenseTime’s history-making funding round.

    The Chinese startup recently announced that it has raised $600 million in funding, a feat that has made SenseTime the most valuable AI startup in the world. A Bloomberg report also pegged the company to have a $4.5 billion valuation, easily dwarfing that of its rivals.

    The Series C funding round is said to have been led by the Alibaba Group. Singapore’s Temasek and Chinese company Suning.com reportedly also invested heavily in the company.

    Joe Tsai, executive vice chairman of the Alibaba Group, said in a press release that they are impressed by SenseTime’s pioneering AI work and R&D capabilities in visual computing and deep learning.

    “Our strategic partnership with SenseTime will spark more innovation and create value for society,” Tsai added.

    The massive investment appears to be further proof of how committed some companies and governments are in AI research and development, even if some academics and technology leaders have raised warnings about how the fast-growing technology could be susceptible to abuse.

    The warnings didn’t seem to deter companies like Facebook and Google from investing more resources into AI. Apple even went so far as to poach Google’s AI head in a bid to improve its own chances.

    SenseTime is known for developing facial-recognition technology that has been used in various industries, like security and financial technology. SenseTime is also the power by China’s impressive surveillance system. The company’s software assists in processing data accumulated by the country’s 170 million strong CCTV cameras. It’s also integrated into 100 million and more mobile devices.

    SenseTime tech is also utilized in customer analysis systems and checkout-less lanes. There are even reports that the company is developing a program that can analyze data from thousands of live camera feeds.

    The funding the company received will reportedly be used to bolster its AI platform and further its business ventures. The startup has revealed that it has already secured partnerships with about 400 companies, including Qualcomm on smart technology and Honda on an autonomous driving system.

    The news that a Chinese-based company has been recognized as the highest valued AI company in the world might serve as a wake-up call for American AI startups. After all, China boldly announced last July that it aims to be the world leader in artificial intelligence by 2030 and now it seems the country is well on its way to achieve just that.

  • Alibaba Acquires Food Delivery Service Ele.me for $9.5 Billion

    Alibaba Acquires Food Delivery Service Ele.me for $9.5 Billion

    Alibaba is set to gain full control of Ele.me as it revs up on its plan to have a stronger foothold in China’s burgeoning market for quick delivery services.

    A statement released by Alibaba hinted of an enterprise valuation for Ele.me pegged at $9.5 billion. However, the company has not given any exact figures on how much it’s paying for the startup. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, its affiliate Ant Financial and Micro Financial Services Group Co. already have 43 percent of Ele.me’s voting shares. The online retail giant has reportedly paid for the deal in cash and has already acquired all of Baidu Inc.’s shares.

    Ele.me, which roughly translates to “hungry yet?” operates a multitude of delivery personnel on motorbikes all across the country. The company is known for its 30-minute delivery commitment to users. Ele.me is also fighting for top spot in the local delivery service industry against Meituan Dianping, a fellow startup backed by Tencent Holdings Ltd., a fierce rival of Alibaba.

    Delivery service is one of the fastest growing industries in China as more and more consumers are using their mobile devices to order food, purchase movie tickets, schedule beauty treatments or book hotel rooms. Capturing this market is also a strategic move for both Alibaba and Tencent as it also puts their payment services systems in the spotlight.

    The idea was mostly confirmed in an internal email sent by Daniel Zhang, Alibaba’s chief executive officer to his staff. In it, Zhang emphasized how “food delivery is the single most important entry point in the local services sector because its one of the most commonly used applications.”

    “We can already see that a vast, multi-dimensional local instant delivery network formed through a food delivery service will be an essential piece of the commerce infrastructure,” Zhang wrote.

    Alibaba’s acquisition of Ele.me is just the latest in a series of moves aimed to help the company deal with an increasingly competitive environment. The company is also taking over delivery partner Cainiao and has recently invested another $2 billion in the Lazada Group.

  • BlackBerry is Now Suing Facebook for Copying Its Messaging Technology

    BlackBerry is Now Suing Facebook for Copying Its Messaging Technology

    BlackBerry Ltd. filed a lawsuit against Facebook on Tuesday, claiming that the social media giant and its wholly owned apps, Instagram and WhatsApp, infringed on the former smartphone maker’s messaging patents.

    “Defendants created mobile messaging applications that co-opt BlackBerry’s innovations, using a number of the innovative security, user interface, and functionality enhancing features that made BlackBerry’s products such a critical and commercial success in the first place,” BlackBerry said in its complaint filed with a Los Angeles federal court.

    BlackBerry’s spokesperson Sarah McKinney said in an email, “Protecting shareholder assets and intellectual property is the job of every CEO.”

    Although the former phone maker claimed that there had been “several years of dialogue” with the social media company, BlackBerry intends to proceed with the case in the interest of its shareholders, McKinney added.

    In its 117-page suit, BlackBerry accused Facebook and its subsidiary services WhatsApp and Instagram of copying its patented technology. Cited examples include the cross-platform notifications and capability to share Instagram Stories on Facebook.

    Meanwhile, Facebook Deputy General Counsel Paul Grewal expressed the social network company’s clear intention to counter the claim.

    In a statement, Grewal said, “Blackberry’s suit sadly reflects the current state of its messaging business. Having abandoned its efforts to innovate, Blackberry is now looking to tax the innovation of others. We intend to fight.”

    Previously, Facebook executives pointed out that replicating what works is necessary for advancing the tech industry. After all, Facebook wasn’t the pioneer of social media. Remember Friendster and MySpace?

    BlackBerry led the innovation of messaging during the time when the cost of sending a simple text message to another country was exorbitant. BlackBerry phones with built-in BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) allowed users to securely send messages globally. Over the years, the easy availability of WhatsApp, Messenger, and Skype on Android and iOS platforms overthrew BBM.

    Ultimately, the exclusivity of BBM to BlackBerry handsets resulted in declining phone sales. The company eventually stopped producing phones and sold the brand name to TCL, a China-based electronics maker.

    [Featured image via Blackberry]

  • WeChat Reaches a New Milestone — 1 Billion Monthly Active Users

    WeChat Reaches a New Milestone — 1 Billion Monthly Active Users

    WeChat, China’s favorite social media app, has hit one billion monthly active users. The platform managed to reach the milestone largely due to the popularity of its games and shopping services, particularly during the Lunar New Year in February. Pony Ma Huateng of Tencent, the app’s parent company head honcho, disclosed the impressive figure at a media briefing on Monday.

    Known as Weixin in China, the mobile app offers more than just messaging services. Users are able to play games, send money, and even book appointments, making the all-in-one platform indispensable for Chinese citizens.

    Amassing one billion users is a remarkable feat, but WeChat still lags far behind Facebook-owned WhatsApp, the messaging app favored by markets outside China. In February, Whatsapp reached 1.5 billion monthly users.

    There’s a reason why WeChat was hailed the leading social media platform in China. The Chinese government’s move to ban Facebook, Twitter and other competitor platforms further boosted WeChat’s popularity in the country.

    However, the Chinese market is fast reaching its saturation point, prompting Tencent to venture overseas. Based on estimates of wireless industry group GSMA, 98 percent of the country’s 1.4 billion population already have smartphones.

    But WeChat’s plan to snag new users from other countries won’t be easy since other countries already have preferred messaging platforms. WeChat has come late to the game where Facebook and other rivals have already cornered the market. Moreover, convincing existing app users to switch to WeChat will be quite a challenge, especially after monitoring accusations from Chinese businessman Li Shufu made the rounds.

    Despite reaching the 1 billion-users mark, WeChat might not be looking outside for growth. According to Matthew Brennan of research firm ChinaChannel, the social media platform isn’t looking to further expand its user base but to tap into revenue-generating services. Encouraging existing WeChat users to spend time and money through the app is a convenient way for the platform to earn more.

    [Featured image via WeChat]