Recently we have been really overwhelmed by the Cloud. TechNode did one Powering the China Cloud conference which we have it covered intensively, and several days before that, CSDN, the largest developer communities in China co-organized a 3days conference (called the 3rd China Cloud Computing conference) which also focus on the Cloud. Both events were packed with great speakers from different background, ranging from phone manufacturer such as HTC, Ericsson, etc, tablet manufacture such as eBen.cn to traditional internet companies like Tencent, RenRen etc and mobile service provider, doMob (Mobile Ads), iFlyTek (cloud voice solution), Maiku (cloud storage) etc.
We understand that Cloud Computing is not a new concept or technology. It’s been there for years but this Cloud seemed far away, I mean, from the majority of end-consumers in past several years. The reason is quite obvious, there were very few good (Cloud) applications that people really need every day. Thanks to the fast growing mobile Internet market, such as smart phones, 3g/4g networks etc, we have started feeling the change. I mean, from technology point of view, we are more ready for the Cloud Computing. The question is, why is China so excited about Cloud Computing? The answer given by Prof. Ni GuangNan from China Academy of Engineering is a bit surprising, but indeed makes sense:
Cloud Computing is driving China from the era of “Made-in-China” to “Created-in-China”
“In the traditional PC industry, China got no chance.” Ni said, “till now, we still don’t have the core technology of the WinTel architecture, and what we’ve been working on in past is simply Assembling all components.”
In Ni’s opinion, Cloud Computing brings China a huge opportunities. “In Cloud Computing industry, we need the mobile devices such as smart phones, tablets etc and other ‘connected’ device such as Smart TV. And China has the full capability of creating/designing in these industry. In fact, China is already the biggest Internet, mobile phone and cable TV market. In the era of PC, we have to follow WinTel and make sure anything we made is compatible with it as we don’t its core technology. But now we don’t need worry, we can work on the open Linux for mobile OS, and Android is a good example. Companies like Huawei, Lenovo and many others they are now the world-class manufacturers. We are ready for Created-in-China.”
The Shanzai industry also plays an important role in Chinese Cloud Computing industry, Ni believes. “Shanzai does not equal to Copy” Ni said. “We should see it as the example of the Disruptive Innovation, as long as we don’t infringe any intellectual property rights.”
So Shanzai will be one important driving force for Cloud Computing industry in China. Prof. Ni also gave a few examples of good Shanzai products. G’Five, a Shanzai brand has sold 38.6 millions phones to the oversea market (mainly in India where its market share is now No.3 reaching 7.3%); The SuperPad is created in China, it’s much cheaper compared with iPad, but comes with more features such as USB and 2 micro SD card slots; Malata Z-Pad has Mini USB, MircoSD, USB 2.0 and HDMI interface;
I never linked Cloud Computing with Shanzai industry. But I believe it’s time for Created-in-China. How about you?!
In order to enable real cloud services, China will need to improve its network bandwidth, especially 3D data capacity, but also ADSL.