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Baidu Acquires App Maker
July 26, 2013 by admin
Filed under Around The Net
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Baidu Inc, China’s top search engine, plans to purchase app store 91 Wireless for $1.9 billion to strengthen its position in the country’s highly competitive mobile computing sector.
Baidu will buy a 57.4 percent stake in 91 Wireless, one of China’s earliest appstores, from NetDragon Websoft Inc for $1.09 billion, and the remainder from other shareholders, both companies said on Tuesday.
“It’s good for Baidu because if you look at mobile, currently apps are more popular than mobile sites because Internet download speeds are slow. So with the acquisition of this appstore, Baidu can work more closely with the apps developer and be able to enhance further their search capabilities,” said Elinor Leung, an analyst with CLSA in Hong Kong.
China’s mobile Internet market is expected to double to about 300 billion yuan ($48 billion) in 2014 from 150 billion yuan in 2012, with the number of active mobile Internet users rising to 749 million from 521 million during the same period, according to research firm Analysys International.
NetDragon’s shares lost as much as a fifth of their value on Tuesday and were down 18 percent at HK$19.74 at 0305 GMT (11.05 p.m ET)
NetDragon also said in a statement that it would scrap the planned spinoff and listing of 91 Wireless on Hong Kong’s secondary Growth Enterprise Market if the acquisition is finalized.
China Debuts Apple iPhone Knock-Off
August 17, 2011 by admin
Filed under Smartphones
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The latest version of Apple Inc’s popular iPhone has already hit the Chinese market — the counterfeit market that is.
The ‘hiPhone 5′ is selling for as little as 200 yuan ($31) on China’s top e-commerce platform Taobao, which is owned by Alibaba Group.
But one has to pay around 800 yuan for a more “genuine” one, according to some store representatives at a mobile phone market in Shanghai.
“Look at this. It’s not the same as the 300-400 yuan ones,” Shanghai-based daily Metro Express quoted a clerk as saying, pointing to one originally priced at 850 yuan.
The ‘hiPhone 5′ is based on leaked images of the yet-to-be-launched iPhone 5 and is thinner and with less rounded edges than the existing iPhone 4, according to the newspaper. However, it is extremely light, almost like a plastic toy, like most pirated mobile phones, it said.