This week in China was punctuated by The Global Mobile Internet Conference 2012 in Beijing. But there was no shortage of other news throughout the week. Our wrap up of the week that was is below, followed by a quick run-down of our conference coverage.
1. Tmall to Challenge 360Buy by Subsidizing Electronics SalesThis week kicked off with Alibaba’s Tmall launching a pricing offensive against in the e-commerce space, subsidizing 200 million RMB (or $31 million) in sales in consumer electronics. The move is a threat to traditional electronics retailers as well.
2. Meituan Pads its Lead in Chinese Group Buy SpaceFigures from Dataotuan show that group buy player Meituan has solidified its position as market leader now with 17 percent of the market. This is not a major change, but it looks like there will be more consolidation in this somewhat messy sector. Stay tuned to see how it plays out.
3. Executives Leaving China’s Group Buy IndustrySpeaking of the mess that is group buy, there appears to be a sort of exodus of high-level management from an assortment of companies in the industry. And it isn’t just the little players affected here either.
4. Chinese Lawyer Sues Kane & Lynch 2 Developers for DefamationThe game Kane & Lynch 2 Dog Days offended a certain lawyer in China filed a suit against IO Interactive and Square Enix for “vicious vilifying” of the Chinese people in the game. IO Interactive subsequently issued an apology (of sorts) late in the week.
5. China Unicom to Rollout HSPA+ 3G For Phones Next WeekGood news for lots of iPhone, iPad, and Android users, China Unicom (NYSE:CHU; HKG:0762) – the country’s second-largest mobile telco – will be rolling out higher-speed HSPA+ 3G next week.
6. Censorship Alert: Two Provinces Suddenly Vanish from Baidu’s TiebaTwo major provinces — Chongqing and Liaoning — have disappeared from Baidu’s Tieba. Apparently, just as Melissa Chan has become an unperson online in China, Chongqing and Liaoning have become unplaces.
Round-up of Global Mobile Internet Conference 2012 #(in chronological order)
- Evernote Launches in China With Separate Service, Yinxiang Biji
- HalfBrick, Maker of Fruit Ninja, and its Future Plans in China
- GMIC 2012: Using Social Media to Help Society
- Julu Mobile Aims to Transform the Mobile Ads Experience
- UCWeb’s Yu Yongfu Talks Strategy, Finances, New Evernote Partnership
- ‘The Sexiest’ Chinese Magazine Goes Mobile
- A Discussion on Games and Building Global Brands
- Females In Entrepreneurship: Why No Love?
- GMIC Panel Discusses Mobile Health
- A Bubble in the Startup World?
That’s all for this week, folks! For our full spread of China coverage, you can click here or subscribe to our China RSS feed.
