Interview | Tech in Asia

A Final Roundup of Startups in Asia Singapore

5 Feb 6, 2012

Rumor: Apple’s Siri Will Add Chinese Support Next Month

11 Feb 8, 2012

Innova Tech is Going to Stop You From Losing Things

5 Feb 3, 2012

SpellDial Wants to Make Phone Numbers History

8 Feb 3, 2012

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Jan 18 2012

2292

50 Million Strong: Shen Si, CEO and Co-founder of Papaya Mobile Speaks

byWillis WeeinGaming, Mobile

We have covered many other social gaming platforms like GREE, DeNA, and mig33, but admittedly, we haven’t written too much about PapayaMobile (from now on we will). So when PapayaMobile’s co-founder and CEO, Shen Si and I briefly met at Beijing a couple of months ago, I thought it would be great to work on an interview to learn more about her experience and ventures. Unfortunately, Shen Si couldn’t meet up with me at the time, but we still managed to shake hands and exchange business cards. With our face-to-face ...

Nov 30 2011

3234

Indonesian Startup Brings Instagram Fun to BlackBerry [INTERVIEW]

byJoshua KevininAsia, Mobile, Startups, Web

We all know how famous Instagram is with millions of users snapping and sharing grungy pictures with it on their iPhones - even in Indonesia. Yet, with most of us smartphone fans here having a Blackberry by our side, we wish it would be ported to RIM’s (NASDAQ:RIMM) OS. Our wish has sort of come true - perhaps for the second time, as Pikubo tried back in August - with BibbyCam (pictured above), which was made by Grace Tahir and Ronald Komalaputra. Although not officially launched yet, the app has gained ...

Sep 20 2011

404

Tokyo Game Show: Interview with Taisei Yoshida of GREE

byRick MartininGaming, Mobile

If you attended the Tokyo Game Show this past weekend, chances are you saw GREE’s mammoth exhibition area, the largest one at the show. And if you didn’t see that, you likely saw one of the many GREE girls on site, or one of the schwag bags the company was passing out. The company’s massive presence at the game show is symbolic of a shift in the gaming space, one that sees new mobile players like GREE and DeNA suddenly eating the lunch of portable console gaming companies, most notably ...

Sep 19 2011

603

All About Aliyun OS: an Exclusive Alibaba Interview

bySteven MillwardinAsia, Business, Gadgets, Mobile

About two weeks ago, a man walked onto a stage and unveiled a game-changing mobile OS. But since he was wearing a peach-colour shirt and not a black turtleneck sweater, we’re not talking about Steve Jobs. The man in question was Wang Jian, and he gave the world its first peek at the Aliyun phone and mobile OS. As the president of AliCloud - a division of China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba - he explained that the cloud-based smartphone and tablet software was Alibaba’s bid to make China’s first open and convenient ...

Aug 10 2011

525

Wego to Expand to Indonesia, Jakarta Office Opening Soon [INTERVIEW]

byJoshua KevininE-commerce

Indonesia is not just a tourist destination (Bali is especially popular) but Indonesians love to travel as well. Realizing this opportunity and the increased internet adoption through the country, Travel search service Wego plans to expand to Indonesia by opening an office in Jakarta, in addition to its Australia and Thailand office. We talked to Graham Hills, General Manager Wego Indonesia, about the company's plan. 1. Who are your competitors? What makes Wego different? Wego is the first South East Asia-focused travel meta-search site and launched in 2006 in Singapore. We have a unique position in Asia ...

Aug 5 2011

256

Q&A With HTC on the Weibo Smartphone [INTERVIEW]

byC. CusterinBusiness, Mobile

A few weeks ago, we showed you HTC's new Sina Weibo phone. The HTC Weike is a reworked HTC Salsa with a dedicated button for Weibo and unprecedented integration of the popular Chinese microblogging service throughout the phone's functionality. We got in touch with Ray Yam, corporate vice president and Head of China for HTC Communication, to learn a little more about HTC's Weibo phone. 1. Apart from FriendStream, where else is Weibo integrated into the HTC Weike? The one-touch dedicated Weibo key on the HTC Weike offers users a host of ...

Jul 31 2011

496

Let’s Powwow: a Chinese LBS That Puts Deals Before Check-Ins [INTERVIEW]

bySteven MillwardinAsia, Business, Startups

Chinese start-up Let’s Powwow is a unique location-based service (LBS), social network, and group buy/deals site. Located at letspw.com, the site has nine employees now, and is notable for having a triumvirate of founders from China, Italy, and the US. Rather than just focusing on check-ins or brands, Lets Powwow instead aims to connect its users more closely with actual venues, create hyperlocal deals, get users to “redeem” deals at venues, and encourage people to bring along friends to a store. There's an iPhone and Android app to accompany the site. Let’s ...

Jul 18 2011

574

Achmad Zaky, Founder of Bukalapak.com Shares His Plans After Investment

byMuhammad Ilman AkbarinStartups

Bukalapak.com, one of the C2C e-commerce sites based in Indonesia, received investment last week from Batavia Incubator, a joint venture between a Japanese venture capital firm and an Indonesian financial institute. To find out more about their future plans after the investment, we contacted Bukalapak founder, Achmad Zaky, for an email interview. 1. What is the story behind this investment deal? Why did you chose Batavia Incubator? It was pure coincidence when I met up with the people at Batavia Incubator. I was introduced to them by my friend when we held a ...

Jul 12 2011

477

Dealised’s CEO Talks About His Plans in Asia

byWillis WeeinAsia, Business, Startups

Dealised, the group buying solution service platform, last week received a US$5.3 million funding round led by SingTel Innov8. With the new investment fund what does Dealised have in mind? We spoke to CEO Jonathan Marchbank last week to find out more. Before we even started talking about Dealised’s plans in Asia, the confident-looking CEO, Jonathan Marchbank, shared a little bit more about service. One thing to keep in mind is that Dealised isn’t a group buying site. Rather, it offers group-buy technology and solutions for large corporations which hope to ...

Jul 12 2011

400

Founder of eEvent Shares His Story as an Entrepreneur

byWillis WeeinAsia, Business, Startups

Edy Sulistyo is the co-founder of eEvent, currently leading the overall technology direction of the company. eEvent is a robust online event management service powered by game mechanics which helps users create viral events. We have previously written a detailed introduction about it here. Edy is also a serial entrepreneur, and prior to eEvent he co-founded a consulting firm in Columbus, Ohio and began several web start-ups. eEvent has gone through several iterations before hitting its stride. So we thought it would be interesting to hear to Edy’s entrepreneurial experiences, and ...

Jul 8 2011

495

[UPDATE] Tough-Talking Jack Ma Admits Acting Unilaterally in Alipay Controversy

bySteven MillwardinAsia, Business, Web

Jack Ma, the Alibaba founder and CEO, has finally spoken up and revealed the thought-processes behind his controversial and cavalier transference of Alipay away from the Alibaba Group - a move that left Yahoo (which owns 39% of the Group) embarrassed, and exposed just how in the dark the American firm is about Alibaba's inner workings. In a tough-talking, exclusive interview today with the Chinese-language China Entrepreneur Magazine, Ma admits to unilaterally shifting its online payment platform Alipay away from the Group, with full consent from neither the board of directors ...