This afternoon, China's State Council held an open meeting, during which it heard a report from the committee assigned to investigate the causes of the fatal high-speed rail accident in Wenzhou this July. The accident became perhaps the year's biggest story on Chinese microblogs like Sina Weibo, and the incensed reaction and harsh criticism of the accident is seen by many as one of the reasons microblogging sites are now being ordered to implement real-name controls. The accident investigators were given a broad mandate to determine the causes of the ...
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Dec 28 2011
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LG’s Prada 3 Phone Launches in Korea, Promises Scheduled ICS Update
The sexy and slim Prada 3 smartphone, which LG (066570:KS) first unveiled two weeks ago in London, is available to Korean customers as of today with release in parts of Europe and Asia to follow in January. The phone will be first available on SK Telecom, and later on KT. This is following on the company’s first two Prada phones, with the Prada 3 featuring — as you might expect — very sleek black design and a smart looking user interface. The fashionable phone is super skinny, measuring 8.5mm thin, and ...
Dec 27 2011
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Dispelling the Myth: US Doesn’t Lose Profit to China’s Apple Manufacturing
I came across this interesting piece over on Forbes today about who exactly benefits from the success of Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPad and iPhone. Those devices remain among the top-selling devices on the planet (particularly the iPhone 4S and the iPad 2 this past year), and many assume that China profits by manufacturing the devices and most of their components. While the original report is from back in July , I thought it was worth sharing as it does break some misconceptions about the effects of outsourcing manufacturing to China. The ...
Dec 27 2011
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Japanese Publishers Cause Amazon To Delay Japan E-book Service [REPORT]
Back in October we told you about how Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) was supposedly winding down late-stage negotiations with Japanese publishers to launch its e-book service in Japan. We had expected to see the online retailer enter the local market sometime in 2011, but according to a Kyodo report today the negotiations have proven difficult. Amazon does not yet have a sufficient number of publishers on board yet to launch its service, and its new target date could be next spring. The Japanese e-book market was worth 65 billion yen ($846.9 million) in ...
Dec 26 2011
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DeNA Establishes Gaming Partnership with Chinese SNS Kaixin001
The folks over at Japanese social gaming giant DeNA (TYO:2432) just made their holidays a little bit happier by announcing a partnership with Chinese social network Kaixin001. In an effort to boost its Mobage gaming platform in China, DeNA is leveraging the 120 million registered users on the Kaixin network in the hopes that many will play Mobage games, and tell their friends as well. As a part of the cooperation between the two companies, Kaixin users will be able to access Mobage China with their own Kaixin logins. In addition, ...
Dec 23 2011
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DST Founder Yuri Milner Invests in Xiaomi
We already knew Xiaomi had scored $90 million RMB in new financing -- they announced that at their press conference with China Unicom on Tuesday -- but Lei Jun has now revealed on Weibo where at least some of that money came from: DST founder Yuri Milner. DST is an investment company, and its name draws a fair amount of attention because it has made some very smart bets in tech companies over the years, including Facebook, Zynga, Twitter, Spotify, and 360Buy. There are also rumors the company continues to flirt ...
Dec 23 2011
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Softbank Pulls the Plug on Myspace Joint Venture in Japan
After originally partnering with News Corp to launch Myspace Japan back in 2006, Softbank is now giving up on that joint venture says Reuters, quoting a Nikkei report. While Myspace was once one of the world’s first and most popular social networking websites, it has since fallen behind newcomers like Facebook to become the butt of more than a few internet jokes about its failure. It was sold to a group that included Justin Timberlake for $35 million back in June. Now with the closing of its Japan office, Myspace ...
Dec 23 2011
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Japan’s KDDI to Open Data Center, Aims to Help Post-Quake Recovery
Japanese mobile carrier KDDI (TYO:9433) has announced that it will establish a data center in Sendai, one of the areas hit the hardest by the earthquake and tsunami this past March. The center will be for managing mobile customer data, and will see up to 700 residents hired — good news for the city where employment is a major problem as the Sendai is still in the middle of rebuilding after the disaster. KDDI’s chairman Tadashi Onodera explained: We need to set up the center to deal with a ...
Dec 22 2011
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Capcom’s Monster Hunter 3G Sells 1 Million Units for 3DS
Japanese game-maker Capcom (TYO:9697) has just announced that its Monster Hunter 3G for Nintendo’s 3DS has shipped over one million units in Japan. The series has sold 20 million units in total since it originally launched in 2004. The success of this latest title is likely one of the main reasons why the Nintendo 3DS has enjoyed a happy rebound, as the console will likely pass the four million mark earlier than anticipated after its disappointing start and subsequent price slash earlier this year. Meanwhile back in the states... And while ...
Dec 22 2011
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Sina to Spin-Off, Then Invest In, Its Product Search Engine in 2012
The Chinese web portal Sina (NASDAQ:SINA) has confirmed that in February 2012 it will spin-off its product and real-estate search engine, Yiqisoo, and then invest in it. The input of cash will reportedly total 10 million RMB (US$1.58 million), and coincide with the site focusing only on home electronics and personal gadgets, which are termed ‘3C’ items. 2012 looks set to see a product search engine war, as Alibaba’s Etao - which has proved controversial this year - faces off against Netease’s (NASDAQ:NTES) planned spin-off from Youdao.com, which will also focus ...
Dec 22 2011
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Smartphone Monetization Platform, Metaps, Announces $4.2 Million in Funding
Having only just formed this past summer, Japan-based Metaps Inc. is a reward advertisement network that allows smartphone developers to create ads that reward users based on actions like installs or registrations. And today it is announcing that the company has raised $4.2 million from a number of venture capital firms. According to the announcement, the funding will be used to help expand its business around Asia, particular its new Singapore-based subsidiary, Metaps Pte. Ltd. A Metaps representative tells me that the company has over 1000 advertisers publishing ads, and over 100 ...
Dec 21 2011
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Softbank to Use SugarSync on New Android Phones for Photo Back-up
California-based file-storage/backup service SugarSync has announced that Japanese mobile carrier Softbank (TYO:9433) will be preloading its service on two new Android phones in order to sync users’ photos to their computers. Both the Panasonic Lumix phone 101P (which might just be more camera than phone) and the Sharp Aquos 102SH will feature the SugarSync app that will automatically back-up your photos to the cloud, without the need to connect to your PC. SugarSync CEO Laura Yecies explained: As the cameras on smartphones become more advanced, and as more of ...
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