China Tech News

Taiwanese PC maker Asus published its financial report for the second quarter of 2015, stating that the company achieved operating revenue of NTD108.403 billion, a year-on-year increase of 3.05% and a decrease of 3.12% compared with the previous quarter; while its post-tax net profit was NTD4.66 billion.

In July 2015 alone, Asus realized operating revenue of NTD34.55 billion, representing a decline compared with June and the same period of last year. During the first half of 2015, the company's operating revenue reached NTD220.292 billion, a year-on-year increase of 2.21%; and its post-tax net profit was NTD8.34 billion.

Jerry Shen, chief executive officer of Asus, said that Asus' smartphone shipment is expected to increase by over 20% in the third quarter of 2015 and its laptop and tablet shipment may increase by over 10%.

In addition, Asus announced to promote Nick Wu, the company's acting spokesperson, to the chief financial officer position. At the same time, Liu Wenting, deputy director of Asus' financial center, will take over the company's tax and accounting tasks.

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China's P2P Financial Information Service Company Ltd. has purchased a new domain name P2P.cn for CNY5 million.
P2P Financial Information Service (Shenzhen) signed a domain purchase agreement with Tao Chengcheng, owner of the P2P.cn domain name.

P2P Financial Information Service said that the transaction will help the company's development strategy; effectively promote its development of Internet finance-related industries and core businesses; and gradually divest non-core businesses. The company will optimize its business product structure; better focus on the development of core businesses; and improve operating efficiency.

Meanwhile, the domain name transaction will not bring substantial effect to the production or management of the company.
At the beginning of May 2015, Duolun Industry renamed itself to P2P Financial Information Service Co., Ltd.

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Nokia and China Huaxin Post and Telecommunication Economy Development Center signed a memorandum of understanding to integrate Nokia's telecom infrastructure businesses in China with Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell to establish a joint venture.
According to the MOU, Nokia will hold 50% plus one share in the new JV; while China Huaxin will hold the remaining minority shares.

The founding of the new JV will start after the completion of Nokia's global acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent. The new joint venture would be registered in China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone with the name of Nokia Shanghai Bell. It is expected to become a strong asset based in China capable of delivering great value for both parties.

Rajeev Suri, president and CEO of Nokia, said that the MOU demonstrates Nokia's deep commitment to China. Together with China Huaxin, Nokia will be in an excellent position to support strategic initiatives of the Chinese government such as "Internet Plus" and provide a strong link between Europe and China. They look forward to joining with China Huaxin and Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell to drive innovation for customers in China and to help accelerate the country's shift to an innovation-driven economy.

Yuan Xin, general manager of China Huaxin and chairman of Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell, said that they are pleased to have signed this agreement with Nokia, and firmly believe the proposed combination would reinforce their companies' presence in China. By bringing these two entities together, the new company would possess greater capacity for innovation and outstanding R&D capabilities, delivering benefits to their customers and shareholders.

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Similar to the Chinese government, which considers dissemination of seemingly innocuous data as capital crimes, Apple also strives to keep a tight lid on its new product statistics to help control its stock price and manage investor expectations.

So recent data published by a Chinese third-party mobile data service platform called TalkingData claims to have thrown the doors open on what Apple is doing in China. TalkingData claims that Apple sold over 1.07 million Apple Watch products in China.

The Apple Watch was launched in April 2015 and is currently available in 19 countries. Apple has not revealed the detailed sales volume of this smart watch product; however, Apple's CEO Tim Cook said in July that its sales have exceeded the expectations of the company.

Statistics provided by the market research firm IDC showed that during the second quarter of 2015, Apple Watch shipments reached 3.6 million units.

Steven Milunovich, an analyst from UBS, also said that Apple Watch saw the largest sales in U.S., Canada, U.K., and Hong Kong. Comparatively speaking, the Chinese mainland market is hard to predict, but the sales in Hong Kong can be taken as a reference.

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Legend Holdings announced a USD58.5 million strategic investment in Social Touch, a corporate mobile social marketing solutions provider in China.

Social Touch, which was formerly known as ShiquTech, was established in 2011. As a social management system, service and data solutions provider, the company mainly focuses on providing Social CRM solutions to enterprises.

Commenting on this investment, Legend Holdings said that they are optimistic about the mobile marketing industry. They believe that the enterprise service market, especially the marketing sector, has large growth space and investment space; and new industrial giants may rise from this sector in the future.

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British-based ARM has partnered with Chinese smart device firm Thundersoft to launch an Internet of Things accelerator in Beijing.

The ARM Innovation Ecosystem Accelerator is an IoT one-stop shop for startups and OEMs in Beijing. The Beijing facility is the first of four planned and is aimed at further advancing China's IoT industry. Financial terms of the arrangement were not released by either company.

The first IoT office in the Zhongguancun area of Beijing will offer an ARM mbed IoT Device Platform innovation lab and an ARM Cortex-based IoT system on chip design lab alongside joint facilities with ecosystem partners.

The accelerator will also provide workshops, training, and design services for mbed OS and Cortex processor-based development platforms. System integration services aligned to the needs of the local design environment will also be available to further facilitate and speed up the path from prototype to production.
Neither company has yet provided a roadmap for the opening or location of the other three planned IoT accelerators.

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Recent media reports in Hong Kong have highlighted fraudsters from China phoning and cajoling Hong Kong residents in parting with large sums of cash.

So now the Hong Kong government is taking action. Hong Kong's Office of the Communications Authority has now forced the territory's telephone operators to insert a specific "+" sign in the calling number display of mobile phones to help the public identify incoming calls which originate from outside Hong Kong.

Often these phone scammers are able to masquerade as local callers by having 8-digit calling numbers resembling local calls. So this new measure will immediately alert the public to possible phone scams through caller ID spoofing techniques used by fraudsters.

Prior to this measure, the practice of inserting a "+" sign before the calling number of an incoming external call varied from one telephone operator to another in Hong Kong. Unifying the arrangement at this juncture aims to raise the alertness of the public to calls from possible scammers by identifying the origin of the suspicious calls from outside Hong Kong.

The measure is now implemented in full by all relevant telephone operators in Hong Kong except for two: Hong Kong Telecommunications Limited and Hutchison Telephone Company Limited. HKT and Hutchison are putting in place the new arrangements in phases, and the insertion of "+" sign for all incoming calls originating from outside Hong Kong for these two operators will take effect in phase two some time in September 2015.

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Alibaba has started testing its streaming video service named Tmall Box Office, which is a Netflix-style subscription video service.
The monthly subscription for the service costs CNY39 and the annual subscription is CNY365.

Alibaba revealed in June 2015 that the company would launch an online streaming video service which will include Chinese and foreign movies and TV shows as well as independent programs made by Alibaba.

Alibaba said that TBO is a little different from its competitors in China as 90% of the contents can only be watched after payment. Users can pay for a monthly or annual subscription or purchase by episode. Meanwhile, the remaining 10% will be provided for free. The company said that the positioning of TBO is to redefine family entertainment and become China's HBO or Netflix.

The launch of TBO will further intensify the competition in the Chinese online video market. Alibaba's major competitors in this sector include Tencent video, Iqiyi, Sohu video, and Letv. In addition, Netflix is considering entering the Chinese market.

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American cybersecurity whistleblower Edward Snowden told an audience in Hong Kong that mass surveillance does not keep people safe nor will increased surveillance ensure safety.

Asian brokerage and investment group CLSA Limited hosted Edward Snowden yesterday at a conference in Hong Kong. Snowden spoke to the Hong Kong investors via a video feed from his sanctuary in Moscow.

In his talk, he referenced recent terrorist attacks in France, Canada, Australia and the UK where the perpetrators were known to authorities but their attacks were unable to be thwarted. This, he said, is the new face of terrorism.

He also said that government should be there to champion the rights of citizens. He said a free society is built in partnership between people and government; and governments should be accountable to people, but there is a new dynamic where this is reversing and individuals are becoming increasingly more accountable to governments. Snowden's remarks were timely in Hong Kong, where earlier this week Beijing's top envoy in Hong Kong made remarks that appeared to say the Chinese government was above the law in its affairs in Hong Kong.

Interestingly, Snowden also said that if offered a pardon by the United States government, he would take it.

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China's ZTE Corporation has signed a TD-LTE wireless cooperation deal with both the China Mobile Research Institute and South Korea's Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning.

The tripartite memorandum of understanding will cover in-depth cooperation on technologies including TDD/FDD data roaming and VoLTE, addressing possible interconnection and interoperability issues as TD-LTE networks are constructed in South Korea. The agreement will further promote the convergence of TDD and FDD technologies, spurring the transition to next-generation networks.

As the largest TD-LTE operator in the world, China Mobile has abundant experience in network construction and operation. China Mobile's technologies and experience will help accelerate the development of TD-LTE in South Korea.

Compared with FDD-LTE, TD-LTE has higher spectrum efficiency and offers operators a clear roadmap in the evolution to 5G technology.

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