Title: Hepatitis B Screening Proposed for All High-Risk Adults
Category: Health News
Created: 2/11/2014 12:35:00 PM
Last Editorial Review: 2/12/2014 12:00:00 AM
Title: Gene Exam Might Predict Breast Cancer Progression
Category: Health News
Created: 2/11/2014 5:36:00 PM
Last Editorial Review: 2/12/2014 12:00:00 AM
Singapore is becoming a favorite stop for China’s top tech firms
Feb13
on February 13, 2014
at 6:07 am
It’s still off to an early start for the year 2014, but it seems like there’s already lots to look forward to from a handful of China’s Internet companies that are escalating their efforts in Southeast Asia’s smallest country, Singapore.
An early highlight of the year has been popular Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi – which sold 19 million phones in 2013 and is valued at $10 billion – announcing plans to launch in Singapore. Former Android VP Hugo Barra is leading the company’s global drive, and revealed that the first phone to be released in the country will be Redmi, the company’s lowest-cost smartphone in its range of devices.
Late last year, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba picked Singapore as the first expansion for its Taobao marketplace, and this year it has stepped up marketing efforts in the country — as seen in this mailer I received over Chinese New Year.
Got a Taobao mailer in my letterbox! Sign of pretty aggressive overseas marketing by Alibaba. pic.twitter.com/03IdDYDmF2
— Kaylene Hong (@kaylenehong) February 7, 2014
Tencent, China’s largest Internet firm, is also building awareness for WeChat, its WhatsApp-like messaging service with 270 million active users worldwide – and its efforts in Singapore have been notable. When a WeChat update saw the release of games on the platform worldwide, Tencent chose to hold a launch event in Singapore, where media were invited to get a hands-on of the titles at launch — Craz3 Match, Gunz Dash and 2Day’s Match. This is an indicator of Singapore’s role in WeChat’s global efforts.
What’s more, WeChat was even linked with an IPO in Singapore – though highly speculative, the rumor pointed at Singapore’s strategic importance.
Baidu, China’s largest search company, is also likely to expand its pilot projects in Vietnam, Thailand and other places into fully fledged services soon — and back in 2012 it opened a language technology lab in (yes, again) Singapore to help accelerate its expansion plans, with plans to work on Portuguese in addition to Arabic and Southeast Asian languages such as Thai and Vietnamese.
From the huge Chinese population in their home country to a city of a mere five million — what exactly is it about Singapore that appeals to these Chinese tech firms?
It’s obviously not the market size, but rather the fact that the little red dot is a hub in Southeast Asia — it’s well-placed with flights to its regional surroundings, which means easy access to emerging markets including Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, as well as India.
What’s more, Singapore has a transparent regulatory framework and a friendly business environment, making it easier to wade through the steps for possible investment, setting up offices or even hiring people.
In terms of Internet access, Singapore is a highly-wired nation with a connectivity rate of over 99 percent and a high mobile penetration rate of about 87 percent. All of these factors make it appealing for tech firms to operate in the country, and Chinese companies aren’t any different.
In particular, Chinese tech firms probably also love Singapore because of cultural reasons — the Southeast Asian nation has a population with a majority of Chinese, which means language barriers are of less concern, and in turn doing business may be much more comfortable.
We can expect to see Chinese Internet firms becoming more active in Singapore this year — though whether their initiatives take off or not remains to be seen. After all, having an international outlook means that Singaporeans tend to catch on to US tech trends easily as well. One thing is for sure: Singapore has become a firm favorite of Chinese Internet firms, and is rapidly becoming the first overseas stop in their march for global expansion.
Headline image via Suhaimi Abdullah/Getty Images, other image via Getty Images
Dilbert readers – Please visit Dilbert.com to read this feature. Due to changes with our feeds, we are now making this RSS feed a link to Dilbert.com.
China’s smartphone market may be the world’s largest, but the country posted its first decrease in shipments in more than two years during the final three months of last year.
That’s according to a new report from IDC, which claims 90.8 million smartphones were shipped during Q4 2013, down 4 percent from 94.8 million in the previous quarter. That’s notable because shipment numbers in China have surged thanks to nine successive quarters of growth.
Before we start proclaiming that China’s smartphone revolution has peaked, it’s important to bear in mind a few caveats. China Mobile, the world’s largest carrier, recently switched on its 4G network. Compatible devices are not expected to arrive until early 2014, so the launch of the 4G network may have affected shipments numbers during the final stages of 2013.
While IDC believes that the dynamic is shifting in China — rising smartphone adoption means many people already own a device, presenting a different sales challenge for OEMs and operators — it is bullish that the market is not tapped out, and will continue to grow in the future:
The world has increasingly looked to China as the powerhouse to propel the world’s smartphone growth and this is the first hiccup we’ve seen in an otherwise stellar growth path.
There will certainly be future drivers to unlock further smartphone growth in China, as Apple demonstrated with its China Mobile tie-up in January, and the massive device migration to come of phones only supporting 2G and 3G networks to devices supporting 4G networks. However, we are now starting to see a market that is becoming less about capturing the low-hanging fruit of first time smartphone users and moving into the more laborious process of convincing existing users why they should upgrade to this year’s model.
It remains to be seen if China’s smartphone numbers have peaked, but what is beyond doubt is that the country’s phone-makers are already exploring overseas markets for growth.
Among them, Lenovo is the process of buying Motorola from Google, Huawei has become a top five vendor on market share, while Xiaomi hired a top Android executive and is exploring international waters.
Meanwhile, other markets in Asia are maturing, albeit at a slower rate than China.
IDC ranks India as the world’s third largest smartphone market, though its smartphone shipment volumes “significantly lag China”. Southeast Asian shipments are also growing at a steady rate, fueled by cheap Android devices.
Image via Peter Parks/AFP/Getty Images