Baidu, Sina, & Sohu: The Roundup Of Chinese Internet Sector

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In a new research report by Credit Suisse Group AG (NYSE:CS), Chinese Internet Sector, it offers a broad view of top technology stories from China. It includes general trends, sector trends, and corporate trends for the region.

Baidu, Sina, & Sohu: The Roundup Of Chinese Internet Sector

A brief summary includes the following:

General trend

  • The Qihoo search engine is challenging Baidu’s top position.

Sector trends

  • E-commerce: Price wars continue as Suning launches a second-round promotion for 3C.
  • Online payment: Alipay reaches a strategic cooperation with Shopin to launch a new offline payment solution.
  • Mobile Internet: Xiaomi CEO Jun Lei claims that all Xiaomi I (1st generation) inventory has been cleared.

Corporate trends

  • Qihoo’s rank increased to No. 2 in the domestic search engine industry with over a 10% market share, according to Hitwise.
  • Baidu defended its leading position by blocking Qihoo search.
  • Sina Show, a group video chatting app, debuted on a mobile terminal.
  • Taobao logistics services extended to college campus.
  • Tencent and TCL co-registered a trademark ‘Qphone’ and will co-launch a mobile product ‘iCE Screen’.
  • 360buy pharmacy channel, released one year ago, declared total revenue about Rmb100 mn with average monthly growth rate of 20%.
  • Dangdang released a new book promotion campaign.
  • On August 27, Suning launched another price war on 3C products, which is also a major business line of 360buy.

Other new highlights from the report included the following:

Baidu: Baidu.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:BIDU) has developed a new picture search that has better accuracy than Google’s, according to internal testing. This breakthrough is a result of Baidu’s co-operation with University labs. Baiduer.com.cn also reported the launch of Baidu’s campus website. It includes many online interactive activities, including Baidu courses, Baidu technology experience, and real project exercises.

Sina: According to TechWeb, SINA Corp (NASDAQ:SINA) Wei Bar’s popularity has been growing after the Olympic Games. As of August 26, Olympics Wei Bar had more than 151,677 followers. In addition, Sina Show recently launched a new mobile app, reported Xinhuanet, that allows multiple people to video chat online at the same time.

Tencent: According to Xinmin.cn, Tencent Holdings Ltd (HKG:0700) and TCL will co-launch a mobile product, namely iCE screen. Its functions are similar to a tablet, with the only difference being the 26 inch screen. It can also be used as a mobile terminal.

NetEase, Inc (ADR) (NASDAQ:NTES): The company formally launched a mobile Internet channel portal, focusing on industry trends, analysis, and latest developers updates.

Sohu.com Inc. (NASDAQ:SOHU): Sohu CEO Xiaochuan Wang indicated that Sohu is trying to create products different from Baidu search and 360 browser. Sohu’s current strategy is “attacking Baidu and defending Qihoo 360.”

Amazon China: As of August, Amazon China had over 140,000 Chinese book SKUs, provided by 300 publishers. Amazon China senior official Xiangjie Meng indicates that it expects the total to exceed 500,000 within three years.

Kaixin: According to eNet, Kaixin has officially launched a new user interface for the first time in four years. Users are allowed to switch back to the old version. The new interface encourages users to upload more photos, recent status updates, and to interact with friends more often.

Motorola: While the company is in the process of closing its R&D center, competitors such as NetEase and Xiaomi started recruiting these engineers.

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