China Tech & Media

After North Korea trip, Google’s Eric Schmidt swings by China to woo Android developers. On his way back from a personal humanitarian trip to North Korea, Google Chairman Eric Schmidt stopped by a conference in Beijing to encourage local developers to choose Android for their applications, as reported by Tencent Tech. Speaking at the Geek Park event to over 1,000 attendees, Schmidt said that developers need to realize that Android is now the top mobile OS and iOS comes second. He also worked to counter the myth that Android developers can’t make money off their products. Autonavi's Maps Apps Guide Over 100 Million Users in China. Regular readers will recall that Autonavi (NASDAQ:AMAP) makes the most popular mobile maps apps in China – way ahead of the rather lost Google Maps.

Today Autonavi has announced that its maps apps have surpassed 100 million users. That’s just in China. The maps are available for three smartphone platforms: Android, iOS, and Windows Phone. Autonavi CEO Congwu Cheng said of today’s milestone: “The popularity of our map app also reflects the remarkable extent to which location-based solutions have become part of the daily life of China’s mobile internet users.” The mobile maps also give real-time traffic data, 3D views, social integration with Sina Weibo, navigation, and estimated arrival times.

The Autonavi mobile apps have 25.9 percent market share in this sector (see the graph below), ahead of search engine Baidu whose Baidu Maps are at 19.1 percent. Baidu’s Mobile Browser Steps Out Of Asia And Into Africa With Exclusive France Telecom Deal. A big step forward for China’s search giant Baidu as it looks to raise its international profile and credibility in mobile: the company has inked an exclusive deal with mobile carrier France Telecom/Orange to co-brand and pre-load its new Baidu mobile browser on Android smartphones sold in Africa and the Middle East, covering 19 countries where Orange operates in the region.

The deal is important for both companies. For France Telecom, a customized mobile product could be a way to attract new users in a still fast-growing smartphone market. It can also use it to drive higher-margin data services and revenue through advertising on smartphones. For Baidu, it’s a way to demonstrate to investors and the rest of the market that it is serious about growing its mobile business internationally, to shore up its basic domestic web search business.

Baidu Invests in Kingsoft, Moves Into Web Security, Qihoo's CEO Calls it a "Big Joke" Tencent Eyes Growing Online Education Market in China -Caijing. If proved to be true, the move will give the website access to hundreds of millions of users on Tencent’s QQ platform.

Chinese Internet giant Tencent was reportedly considering investing in an online education platform, making an attempt at China’s booming online education market, according to Chinese media. Words of Tencent targeting online education started circulating last year when Donews quoted unnamed source as saying that Tencent had invested in C2C (Consumer to Consumer) education website Chuanke. If proved to be true, the move will give the website an access to hundreds of millions of users on Tencent’s QQ platform.

Founded in 2011 by former Iciba Chief Technology Officer Wang Haiming and Chief Operating Officer Tong Hexin, Chuanke is a startup which offers one-stop online education solutions. Smartphones: China's next great economic indicator. By Jack D.

Hidary, contributor FORTUNE -- China has broken a new global record in smartphone penetration and this will have dramatic effects on content and commerce in 2013 in the world's most populous internet market. Mobile subscribers in China are now using 330 million smartphones—which is a 150% increase over last year. iiMedia, a Chinese research firm, recently released this smartphone data, which has not been widely distributed in English. China's active smartphone now exceeds the total number of all 321 million mobile phones active in the US. Kai-fu Lee, the former lead China researcher at Microsoft (MSFT) and then Google (GOOG), predicts that China will have 500 million smartphones in use by the end of 2013.

Smartphones are key to the future of internet usage, electronic payments and product branding since relatively few people in China access the web via traditional PCs. MORE: 2013 is the year social TV takes off MORE: 5 ways to save Best Buy from extinction. China firm buys naming rights to Grauman's Chinese Theatre. Chinese TV maker TCL pays more than $5 million for the naming rights to the landmark Grauman's Chinese Theatre.

An early postcard shows the front of the 85-year-old Grauman's Chinese… After 85 years, the world's most famous movie theater will finally be living up to its name. Chinese TV maker TCL has paid more than $5 million for the naming rights to the venerable Grauman's Chinese Theatre opened in 1927 by showman Sid Grauman. The Hollywood Boulevard landmark will now be called the TCL Chinese Theatre, helping the Chinese company raise its profile. The theater is used almost weekly for red-carpet premieres, and draws nearly 4 million visitors a year. "This is one of the landmarks of North America," said Hao Yi, vice president of TCL Group. The Chinese Electronics Show: can China's biggest brands buy their way into America? Huawei, Hisense, Changhong.

These names are unfamiliar to Americans for now, but in a few years they will be as synonymous with consumer electronics as Sony and Samsung. That’s the party line out of China, at least, where major electronics makers seem to have simultaneously decided that this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas would be their coming-out party. When Microsoft decided it was too cool for CES and abandoned its anchor booth this year, Chinese megabrand Hisense jumped at the chance to take its place. Hisense’s prominent display easily cost tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars, doubling the square footage of last year’s booth and featuring a giant circular stage, a cultural musical performance, and displays of what appeared to be every product and prototype it’s ever made.

The Chinese are the underdogs in the electronics industry, and they have a newcomer’s verve. Now China's WeChat App is Censoring Its Users Globally. We’ve written a lot about the progress of the world’s biggest messaging app, the China-made WeChat, which is fast approaching 300 million registered users and enjoying some level of global success with it.

But the the app – made by Tencent (HKG:0700), China’s biggest web company – is now risking all that by apparently being forced by Chinese authorities to censor certain ‘sensitive’ words. [UPDATED 25 hours later: Tencent says this is no longer occurring and has given us a statement]. Right now, the Chinese name of the outspoken magazine caught up in a tense struggle of wills with the government – Southern Weekend in English, 南方周末 (nan fang zhou mo) in Chinese – is censored in Chinese on WeChat. China's Sina Weibo Rolls Out Partial English Interface [UPDATE: Sina Confirms] Sina Weibo has over 400 million registered users, though it’s hard to know how many of those are overseas.

Nonetheless, we’ve noticed today that the Twitter-esque Weibo has just rolled out a partial English-language interface. Foxconn Says Chinese Authorities Probing Bribery Report. Foxconn Technology Group said Chinese authorities are investigating allegations that at least one executive accepted bribes from suppliers.

The statement came after Taipei-based weekly Next Magazine reported that a Foxconn executive was arrested in Shenzhen in September as part of a bribery probe. The group confirmed that authorities were investigating the allegations and said employees and suppliers were awaiting the results. Southern Weekly row won't lead to a loosening of rules on China's media. The crisis over censorship at continued to roil after its journalists agreed to return to work and reports emerged that Tuo Zhen, the head of Guangdong's propaganda ministry, would eventually be removed. The newspaper will print as normal this week, but editors insisted, among other terms, that a letter to readers be published to explain the incident. has long been regarded as a symbolic publication in mainland China for its outspoken opinions and sharp criticism of the government. Many of its former reporters are now influential editors in China's major media outlets and on websites.

In spite of frequent intervention and punishment by the propaganda authorities, the publication has managed to survive, thanks to support from its millions of readers, both inside and outside the bureaucratic system. Like most publications in China, had been under strict control this the past year, as the Communist Party prepared for its 18th congress. What Tencent Executive Says about Weixin O2O Business. A Weixin Membership Card (img:tech.qq.com) Dai Zhikang became the head of Tencent’s lifestyle e-commerce division after Comsenz, a startup he founded, was acquired by Tencent in 2010.

His team released Weixin membership card in mid-2012, a loyalty program for users to subscribe to merchants’ Weixin accounts and for businesses to do CRM. Unlike other low-key Tencent executives, Dai occasionally accepted interviews. On the latest one, he talked about the online-to-offline service, or O2O, his team was building on top of Weixin. Web users attack press censorship. The Southern Weekly story continues to develop rapidly in China.

With no response yet from the Party leadership, the stakes are rising. Gougou, Notorious Chinese Pirate Search Engine, Shuts Down. The Gougou.com page right now with its closure notice. It was just a few weeks ago that Gougou.com, China’s most notorious pirate content search engine, was added to the U.S. Trade Representative’s (USTR) report on major copyright offenders. And now the service has finally shut down. Southern Weekly Editorial Staff Goes On Strike (Updated) An internal standoff has escalated into a full-blown crisis at Southern Weekly (formerly known as Southern Weekend), where Guangdong’s propaganda chief meddled in the publication’s annual “New Year’s Greeting” last week and prompted calls for his resignation. The South China Morning Post reported today that the tussle has taken to the microblogosphere and Southern Weekly’s editorial staff have decided to strike: It is the first time in more than two decades that the editorial staff of a major newspaper has openly staged a strike against government censorship.The decision was made after the newspaper management took over the department’s official microblog account, and issued a statement claiming that a controversial front-page New Year editorial had been written by its staff and was not a last-minute alteration by Guangdong propaganda officials.

Blocked on Weibo - There are NOT millions of Twitter users in China: Supporting @ooof's result and refuting GWI's conclusion. MIIT: China's Internet User Base to Hit 800 Mln by 2015. China's ‘weibo’ accounts shuttered as part of Internet crackdown. Among those whose weibo accounts were disabled in December were journalists Shi Feike, an investigative reporter, and Cheng Yizhong, founder and former chief editor of the Southern Metropolis Daily.

Also blocked were Sichuan blogger and activist Ran Yunfei, and Xiao Han, an associate professor at the China University of Political Science and Law. Shi had done in-depth reporting on the corruption and abuse of power in Chongqing that led to the purge and arrest of former Politburo member Bo Xilai. Ran, who has frequently run afoul of Chinese authorities in the past for his outspokenness, said he was chatting with friends via weibo on Dec. 24, when he discovered his messages were no longer going through. He said he never received a notice from the hosting company, Sina Weibo, and still has no explanation as to why his account was closed. China, the American Press, and the State Department. It’s time for the State Department to take up the matter of American reporters in China, and Chinese reporters in America. The work of the American press in China has become so contentious, and so central to our understanding of China’s political picture, that it’s worth stepping back, for a moment, to put a remarkable year in perspective: in the span of twelve months, foreign news organizations including the Times, the Wall Street Journal, and Bloomberg News have ratcheted up their scrutiny of China’s politicians to a level of forensic detail that we have rarely, if ever, seen in foreign correspondence.

In case you missed it during the holidays, each of those outfits ran a story within the last two weeks that drew on Chinese regulatory filings, corporate records, and other sources to describe the personal fortunes and conflicts of interest and self-dealing at the highest ranks of the Party. A New Year’s greeting gets the axe in China.

Freedom not at odds with online regulation. Good things should exist forever. An unspoken assumption is that negative elements should be identified and constrained. The Internet is a typical example. It has changed the world, including the lives of Chinese people. Ministry of Truth: Net Safety and the Safety Net. Apple adopted https in App Store. China threatens to censor apps. Fei Chang Dao: Baidu's New Censorship Policies for Leaders' Names After the 18th Party Congress. Prior to November 2012, Baidu's practice was to restrict all queries containing the name of a member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China ("PBSC") to a strict white list of about a dozen websites controlled by the central government and the Communist Party: State Run News Outlets The China Daily (chinadaily.com.cn) The Economic Daily (www.ce.cn) The People's Daily (people.com.cn) The Guang Ming Daily (gmw.cn) Xinhua (xinhuanet.com) China News Service (chinanews.com.cn)

Tencent Fined for Infringing Music Content. Wechat: An Introduction for Marketers. Tencent's WeChat is a Threat to Everyone. WeChat: the Chinese social media app that has dissidents worried. A woman uses her smartphone in Beijing. Huawei to Open Research Center in Finland. Hollywood Entertainment Breaking News - Deadline.com/hollywood. ‘Transcendence’ Lukewarm Thursday Bow, ‘Rio 2′ Might Get Its No. 1 Weekend Yet; ‘Heaven Is For Real’ Debuts Even with taking over Captain America: The Winter Soldier‘s IMAX theaters this weekend, a new sci-fi thriller in the marketplace, Johnny Depp in the lead and the only real newcomer with a shot at No. 1, based on Thursday night’s grosses, Transcendence’s debut near the top of the box office is doubtful this weekend.

Special Report: How foreign firms tried to sell spy gear to Iran. Facebook Backer Alisher Usmanov Now Focused on China. Billionaire Alisher Usmanov, who made more than $1 billion investing in Facebook Inc. (FB), is now avoiding the U.S. and focusing on China, where the company holds stakes in online-commerce companies. The valuations of U.S. technology companies are too high to justify making new investments, Ivan Streshinskiy, chief executive officer of the company that manages Usmanov’s assets, USM Advisors LLC, said in an interview at Bloomberg’s headquarters in New York. Telecoms Firms Ready for Mobile Payment Services Next Year - ZTE Guns for Alcatel With Development Bank Funds: China Credit. Focus Media Slides on Report CDH Out of Buyout. Baidu and Lenovo Announce New $150 LePhone Handset. Apple's ranking in China smartphone market falls to No.6: IDC. Foxconn Plans American Expansion as Clients Seek Made in U.S.A. In Shift of Jobs, Apple Will Make Some Macs in U.S.

Chinese Studio Boss Yu Dong Calls For Censorship Reform - Hollywood Reporter. In China, Tycoons' Divorces Hurt Stocks. WeChat Bests Weibo in Monetizing Social Media-Caijing. Qihoo 360 Search Threatens Google Search More Than Baidu QIHU BIDU. Smartphone Makers Worried Over New China Requirements - China Real Time Report. QQ宣布与音乐厂商合作_中国经济网——国家经济门户. Recruiting Young Talent in China to Find the Next Big Idea. WP to Become Leading Mobile OS in China in Next 3 Years-Caijing. Youku's Now The King Of China Web Video: Can It Make Money? The plot against the Internet - Eliza Krigman. China's dot-com darlings tap cheap global credit. Splinternet Behind the Great Firewall of China. Tencent Cooperates With American Express For Internet Payments - ChinaTechNews.com - The Technology Source for the Latest Chinese News on Internet, Computers, Digital, Science, Electronics, Law, Security, Software, Web 2.0, Telecom, and Wireless Industrie.

China bans rowdy game show after mom's rant about turning her daughter into the 'sexy goddess of China' Some new iMacs marked as being 'Assembled in USA' Why Youku Tudou Shares Briefly Popped (YOKU) China Mafia-Style Hack Attack Drives California Firm to Brink. Are micro blogs a blessing or a curse? Toxic Roots: The Challenge of China's Tech Expansion. Chinese e-commerce: Pity the parcel people. Why Chinese People Are Getting Sick of Chinese Social Media - Natalie Thomas. Mr. Xi, Tear Down This Firewall! Google Maps App is Lost in China, Loses Half Market Share in Q3 [CHART] Qihoo 360's Zhou Hongyi: Taking Aim at China's Internet.

How China's Web Censorship Is Driving Traffic to a Miami Pet Spa Website. Android, China and Addressable Markets. Alizila: News about E-commerce, Alibaba Group, China’s Internet, Alibaba.com and Taobao.