1. Virtual Gaming Items Marketplace 5173 Initiates IPO Process
As online gaming represents one of the largest and most profitable internet business sector in China with over 120 million people engage in online game play, the sector is still seeing fast growth, which reflects in the commonness and prevalence of virtual goods marketplaces.
5173.com is among those burgeoning sites. The marketplace which boasts over 40 million registered users has initiated its IPO process to get listed in HongKong.
For last year 5173.com brought in RMB7b ($1b) in turnover, behind only Taobao Mall ($4.6b) and 360buy.com ($1.5b) which is pretty amazing performance.
2. Xiaomi Mobile Suffers From Paint Loss
Several early-adopter of Xiaomi mobile reported that the high-profile gadget announced couple weeks ago has been suffering from paint loss alongside other prickles, even there is no scrapping or scratching.
Curated by Xiaomi Tech, a Leijun backed startup, Xiaomi mobile took the customers by storm with its unbelievable cheap price tag and stunning tech specs, and is expected to become a strong competitor to other Android phones out there in the market, including models from Meizu, Moto and Samsung.
3. Ku6 Pivoting Towards Video Community, Away From Hulu Model
In a wave that almost every video sites in China is moving towards Hulu model that leads to skyrocketing copyrighted content costs, Beijing-based Ku6 which has just had a layoff turmoil announced its new strategy: appealing to video community.
According to Shi Yu, the Shanda subsidiary’s new CEO, the concept of community is nothing new to Chinese internet sector, but there’s no good video community in the market yet. Ku6 just launched its newly revamped community featuring a campaign calling for people to shoot and upload home-made clips, signaling the site is again sharpen focus on UGC territory, a move away from Hulu model.
Shi also disclosed that Ku6 wouldn’t purchase copyrighted contents to compete with other video sites in movie and TV series streaming forefront in the future.
Ku6 to date has about 300 staff while one third of them will engage in the new community strategy.
4. 3G iPad 2 Available in China Now
3G version of iPad 2 was finally made available in China now since today. China Unicom, the iPhone distributor in China is behind the device without question.
16 GB model for 4,688 RMB ($732)
32 GB model for 5,488 RMB ($857)
64 GB model for 6,288 RMB ($982)
3G iPads is RMB 1k more expensive than its Wi-Fi only counterparts.
Voices
55Tuan.com Xu Maodong: We’re The Only Innovative One Out There
Xu Maodong, founder and CEO of Chinese daily deal service 55tuan.com said during an interview lately that 55tuan is the only innovative group buying site in China with localized innovations and differential competitive strategies while most of its competitors are just copying Groupon.
To flesh out his points, he disclosed that branch sites of 55Tuan are fully empowered to make their own decisions by local managers.
55Tuan founder Xu Maodong
Also, he opposed to the points of “group buying bubble is about to burst and 95% of group buying service are dying by year end”.