Amazon starts selling Kindle Paperwhite and Fire HD in China
Amazon launched the Kindle Paperwhite and Kindle Fire HD in China on Friday and its digital bookstore has quickly jumped from 25,000 to 47,000 titles in the past six months. Read more »
Cyber theft hurts China too, says U.S. Secretary of Defense
photo: Flickr/ Todd Ehlers
Updated: U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel told reporters that China has as much to lose as anyone if cyberthreats go unchecked. Read more »
Chinese compromise of U.S. weapon designs drives home painful lesson in cybersecurity
photo: Dysanovic
When it comes to valuable intellectual property, it’s a question of when, not if, it gets compromised, says security guru Dan Geer. Case in point: U.S. weapons designs. Read more »
Ericsson trials HetNet-friendly ‘City Site’: Would you like ads with your base station?
photo: Ericsson
The Swedish networking firm and China Mobile have launched a commercial trial of Ericsson’s City Site package. It provides a good hint of the sort of street furniture ‘network densification’ may require. Read more »
As the iPhone matures, Apple looks to older versions to drive growth
Apple’s CEO says the nearly three-year-old iPhone 4 is an important part of the company’s strategy for expanding the ranks of iPhone owners to include first-time ever buyers. Read more »
China raps Apple once again, but this time over porn distribution
Echoes of the conflict with Google surface in the Chinese government’s attempt to crackdown on “obscene pornographic content” that it says is coming in through Apple’s App Store. Read more »
What Apple is up against in two growing mobile markets: China and Brazil
Xiaomi, a high-end smartphone maker in China, and Movile, Brazil’s biggest and most important wireless carrier, showcase the challenges Apple faces in those two markets. Read more »
GigaOM Reads: A look back at the week in tech
Its a unicorn. No it’s a phone. Actually it is Facebook Home, for now; Apple’s China Syndrome is making it think different; The Bit coin boom (& bust); Chrome & WebKit go to war and did Vdio really kill the Rdio star? Read more »
Apple has to think different about China
Rather than the local media and government coming around to the way Apple does business, Apple is learning that its usual playbook for success doesn’t necessarily work in China. Read more »
Apple back on China’s good side after Tim Cook’s apology
it will be interesting to see what kind of precedent this sets for how Apple gets along in its No. 2 market with the Chinese media, and more importantly, the Chinese government. Read more »
China extracts personal apology from Apple CEO over iPhone warranty policies
photo: China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology
Open letters from the Apple CEO are few and far between, as are apologies. But from Tim Cook they come when he senses that public opinion is turning dangerously against the company — see also “Apple Maps.” Read more »
China consumer group demands Apple offer 2-year iPad warranties
China’s top consumer watchdog group is the latest to attack Apple over issues of consumer protection. It’s the latest bout of criticism Apple has received in the Chinese media. Read more »
Apple ensnared in Chinese patent fight over Siri
Shanghai Zhi Zhen makes a product called Xiaoi, which the company calls a “chat robot system.” It says Siri violates a patent it holds on man-machine interaction. Read more »
Where in Asia is Google’s Eric Schmidt?
photo: Flickr / Guillaume Paumier
Google’s Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt has earned a lot of Google air milage points recently, touting technology in stops across Asia. Take a look at where he’s gone and what he’s been up to along the way. Read more »
Apple loves China, but its government is not returning those feelings
Apple’s presence in China and how its products and brand are portrayed are critical to its future. That’s why the recent run-ins with the country’s state-run media could become a concern for the company. Read more »
A Chinese solar company’s fall from grace
Suntech Power once seemed unstoppable as the largest solar panel maker in the world. Now it’s facing internal turmoil and market forces that could very well lead to its demise. Read more »
The race is over: China to pass U.S. in iOS, Android devices for good
At the end of this month, China should have 246 million smartphones and tablets running iOS or Android; that will put it ahead of the U.S., likely for good. Read more »
Ericsson: Mobile data volumes doubled again in 2012
The increase will have been partly down to LTE taking off in 2012, but also due to massive subscription growth in China, other emerging Asian economies and Africa. Read more »
Apple ends contract with Chinese supplier over underage workers
In its 2013 Supplier Responsibility Report, Apple names one company with more than 70 incidents of hiring workers younger than 16 to work on assembling circuit boards used in Apple products. Read more »
Tim Cook to Apple investors: Keep calm and stop listening to rumors
photo: http://www.keepcalmandcarryon.com
Record revenues and best-yet iPhone and iPad sales weren’t enough to keep already-skittish investors from continuing their freakout of Apple’s future fortunes. Apple CEO Tim Cook did his very best to assure them that he has a plan. Read more »
To make iPhones more affordable in China, Apple now offering payment plans
Apple is now offering payment plans, including some that are interest-free. It’s a part of a series of moves starting more than a year ago at Apple to make its products more palatable to customers in China. Read more »
The fourth quarter of 2012 in cleantech
The fourth quarter in cleantech saw attention paid to two prominent, publicly traded companies: EV maker Tesla and newly minted public listing SolarCity. It remains a transitional period for the sector as investment declines, with a shift toward those companies able to scale with little additional capital. Read more »
Apple CEO says China will be its biggest market
photo: China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology
Tim Cook told China’s state-run news agency that he sees the country becoming its largest market. He’s not just flattering his hosts: the greater China region represents about 15 percent of Apple’s total revenue, bringing in $23.8 billion during Apple’s fiscal 2012. Read more »
Top Apple, China Mobile execs meet to talk “cooperation”
China Mobile is the world’s largest carrier with 650 million subscribers. China is one of the fastest-growing markets for Apple devices. As Apple looks to expand its customer base, this one carrier alone could help it make faster inroads into China. Read more »
Tim Cook in China to meet with government officials — and who else?
photo: China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology says Apple’s CEO is in town to discuss development in China and trends in the IT industry. It’s a pretty safe bet there are far more specific things Tim Cook wants to talk about. Read more »
Meet 7 startups that could define the Chinese cloud
photo: Derrick Harris
I recently spent 11 days in Beijing meeting lots of companies trying to make it in cloud computing and big data. Here are seven with which I had a chance to sit down and learn about their businesses and how to sell cloud computing in China. Read more »
Samsung Galaxy Grand: A big phone going after big markets
Samsung’s Galaxy Grand looks like a large Galaxy S III, but the 5-inch display uses a low 800 x 480 resolution. Still, the Grand may be a smart strategy thanks to other decent specs and dual-SIM support which should generate interest in China, India and Africa. Read more »
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Cleantech and investment in 2013
In 2013 cleantech investing will move toward companies serving unsubsidized markets where software plays a role in reducing power consumption. In many ways this is a return to plays for energy efficiency, and there’s still money to be made from business models built around saving energy. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
No need to panic: Apple sold 2M iPhone 5 units in China this weekend
News footage outside of Apple Stores in China on Friday showed very small or non-existant lines and some investors assumed the worst. But it turned out that those early reports didn’t indicate lack of demand at all. Instead, Apple had its biggest China launch weekend yet. Read more »
Apple sees calmer, less chaotic launch in China with iPhone 5
News coverage showed Apple Store lines in China on Friday were small to non-existant on the first day of the device’s launch in the country. But let’s not forget the steps Apple has taken in improving crowd control after January’s iPhone 4S launch. Read more »
The world’s best paid content market? China, research says
photo: Robert S. Donovan
A majority of Chinese internet users say they pay for digital content. That finding is likely a demographic quirk — but may nevertheless mean a welcome market opportunity for vendors. Read more at paidContent »
Kindle Store, with iOS and Android apps, launches in China
Amazon has launched a Chinese Kindle store with Android and iOS apps for reading ebooks. The store contains around 25,000 ebooks, most priced vastly lower than ebooks in the United States and Europe. Read more »
The world’s largest mobile operator is playing hard to get with Apple
The president of China Mobile told a conference of developers on Wednesday that network compatibility is not what’s keeping him from offering the iPhone. Rather, he says his concerns are related to the potential profits it would get out an arrangement with Apple. Read more »
It’s official: new iPad, iPad mini, iPhone 5 head to China
The iPad and iPad mini that will be for sale in China are strictly Wi-Fi only — no cellular option yet. They hit the shelves on Dec. 7. The iPhone 5 will be in stores in the country a week after that. Read more »
With regulatory approval, iPhone 5 on track for December China launch
China’s Telecommunications Equipment Certification Center says licenses to carry the device have now been approved for two carriers, China Telecom and China Unicom. That’s a good indication that Apple’s most important product is about to go on sale in one of its most critical markets. Read more »
China may have most active iOS, Android devices by early 2013
photo: Robert S. Donovan
The only thing preventing this from happening sooner is the upcoming gift-giving frenzy of iPad minis, Nexus 7 and Kindle Fires in the U.S. China still doesn’t have the iPhone 5 or new iPad mini, but some carriers will start carrying the new iPhone next month. Read more »
An electric motor that’s ditched the rare earth materials
A Chicago startup is ready to commercialize an electric motor that presents an alternative to the conventional motors that require the use of rare earth materials. HEVT hopes to raise money to scale up production. Read more »
Apple’s China challenge: Cheap Androids own 90.1% of market
China may be Apple’s next frontier for smartphone growth, but the company has some catching up to do. Android handsets that cost one-third of the iPhone have taken the market by storm: Android now accounts for 90.1 percent of the smartphone market in China. Read more »
China could get iPhone 5 by the end of November
China Telecom Chairman Wang Xiaochu said “the phone should be by early December if not sooner,” according to the Wall Street Journal. The uncertainty is due to the device winning regulatory approval in China. Read more »
In China video wars, giants battle, upstart rides Android to homes
photo: Robert S. Donovan
Months after China’s largest online video site was formed through merger, Tencent claims its own video site has already overtaken its rival thanks to its incredible diversified digital service scale. Read more at paidContent »
