China Tech News

Apple is reportedly discussing with China's BOE Technology Group about the supply of OLED displays for its future iPhone products.

If BOE is included in the list of suppliers for Apple, it will become the first Chinese company that provides these types of displays to Apple, in addition to those suppliers in South Korea and Japan.

According to reports in Chinese local media, Apple has implemented several months of tests on BOE's AMOLED displays. However, a decision is yet to be made if BOE will be the provider.

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The United States Department of Commerce has reportedly agreed to extend ZTE's temporary export license to March 29, 2017, allowing American companies to continue to provide software, technologies, and restrictive components published in March 2016 to ZTE.

Prior to this, the Chinese telecom device manufacturer received an export restriction from the American government and its export license was due for expiration on February 27, 2017. However, the extension is shorter than the previously approved 90 days by the United States Department of Commerce, which means ZTE is still facing pressure.

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Chinese search engine company Baidu announced that starting from February 26, 2017, Baidu Group's president and chief operating officer Lu Qi has been appointed director and vice chairman of the board of directors of Baidu.

Baidu announced on January 17, 2017 its intention to appoint Lu as Baidu Group's president and COO, leading products, technology, sales, marketing and operations, effective immediately. Baidu's existing business groups and leaders would all directly report to Lu, while Lu would directly report to Baidu Group's chief executive officer Robin Li.
In addition, Baidu announced other changes to its board of directors.

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Chinese online group buying and lifestyle services provider Meituan Dianping set up an investment fund with initial capital of CNY1.5 billion and target fund scale of CNY3 billion.

Wang Xing, chief executive officer of Meituan Dianping, reportedly revealed during an internal communications meeting that as the cornerstone investor, Meituan Dianping initiated and established the fund for the first time. Meituan Dianping's senior vice president Chen Shaohui will be chief executive officer of the fund management company.

The capital is provided by a number of large enterprises and professional parent funds, including Meituan Dianping, Tencent, and New Hope.

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Chinese e-commerce website Vip.com published its unaudited financial report for the fourth quarter and entire year of 2016 in which it boasted total operating revenue of CNY56.59 billion.

According to the report, the company realized a year-on-year increase of 40.8%; and it achieved gross profit of CNY13.6 billion, a year-on-year increase of 37.4%.

If calculated in accordance to non-GAAP methods, Vip.com's operating profit in 2016 was CNY3.49 billion, a year-on-year increase of 32.4%; and its net profit attributable to shareholders was CNY2.87 billion, a year-on-year increase of 30.4%. Meanwhile, the company predicted that its net operating revenue in the first quarter of 2017 would reach between CNY15.3 billion and CNY15.8 billion.

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Hong Kong-based travel booking platform Klook has raised US$30 million in its series B round.
Sequoia Capital, Wecapital Group, Matrix Partners China and China Growth Capital participated in the round. Matrix and China Growth were already investors in the company that specializes in offering travel activities cheaper than local travel agencies at destinations around the world.

Founded in 2014, it claims to currently offer over 10,000 tickets to activities in over 80 destinations. In 2016, over five millions bookings were made by users from around 30 countries.

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58.com realized operating revenue of USD306.6 million, which was about CNY2.095 billion, during the fourth quarter of 2016, a year-on-year increase of 28.5%.

The Chinese online classified information service provider published its unaudited financial report for the fourth quarter and entire year of 2016 and said that it made net losses of USD19.7 million. For the entire year of 2016, the company realized operating revenue of USD1.142 billion, which was about CNY7.592 billion, a year-on-year increase of 69.5%; and it made net losses of USD117.8 million.

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Chinese software, integrated system, and technical services provider Skytech announced that the group has signed a cooperation framework agreement with Alibaba's online payment affiliate Ant Financial.

According to the agreement, the two parties will jointly build new type of smart city services across China. Skytech will be responsible for new smart city construction and realization and service interfaces; while Ant Financial will provide real-name authentication, payment, and credit functions to related government platforms.

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Ping An WiFi, a brand under China's Ping An Group, announced that they have gained a CNY550 million investment from Kuang-Chi Group and the two parties will jointly establish a company named Shenzhen Ping'an Xunke.

The combo have initiated what they call a "smart WiFi network application industrial alliance", aiming to promote smart city construction. This new alliance will integrate hardware manufacturers to promote the upgrades of new technologies, new materials, and new products to make Internet connectivity more ubiquitous. Ping'an Xunke will invest about CNY100 million for research and development into the alliance; while Kuang-Chi Group will be responsible for the research and development of hardware and materials.

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Chinese Internet tourism services provider Ctrip.com is further integrating Traveling Bestone and Qunar vacation businesses to implement its strategy in second-, third-, and fourth-tier cities across China.
So far, Ctrip has opened over 5,500 retail outlets in 22 provinces and cities across China and the company plans to increase the number to 6,500 by the end of 2017.

Ctrip claims 250 million registered members and an app with 2.3 billion accumulated downloads. The company ranked first in the Chinese online outbound travel and domestic travel markets by market share and it is reportedly the largest online tourism channel in China. With the 5,500 integrated stores, Ctrip is now also expected to become the largest offline tourism retailer and services provider in China.

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