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September 27, 2005
Chinese firm claims rights to Gmail !
All getting very complicated with Gmail, as a UK company claimed they were the first, and now a Chinese claims it was them before Google.
Chinese internet firm ISM's webmail site www.gmail.CN looks remarkably similar to Google's Gmail.COM -- right down to the logo, however, they claim their site was there first... and it looks like it actually was.
Digg article
Gmail's long lost Chinese Cousin
Gmail.cn
Google Chinese Domain Name Problems
Polite request, who ever wins the battle, can I keep my gMail account please.
Posted by shak at 7:11 PM
Happy Birthday Google
Google turns 7 today
Google opened its doors in September 1998, and we’ve been pursuing one mission ever since: to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. For our seventh birthday, we are giving you a newly expanded web search index that is 1,000 times the size of our original index.
Happy Birthday Google
Posted by shak at 5:25 PM
4 weeks since launch
I got the idea for this post after reading a post by Mr C having had his blog up for 1 month.
The 512,000 RMB question ?
Where should this blog/site be headed...
The site has become very popular in a short space of time, having far exceeded my wildest expectations, so now I have to decide where it should be heading, so I thought I'd ask you folks for your opinion.
a few ideas come to mind:
a, keep as is, with a mixture of Business and Internet stuff about China, along with the trials and tribulations of living in Shanghai.
b, become a news site about Internet and Search related stuff in China. strictly no personal stuff, and may include hiring a full time researcher to translate news from Chinese media.
c, as "b" but with more of a commentary/analysis angle.
I honestly don't know, however I would like to clarify the following:
I do NOT see myself as a journalist or news editor.
I do NOT see myself as a professional blogger, whatever 1 of them may be.
I have NO desire to get into Politics of any kind on here.
So over to you folks, would love to hear what you enjoy and what you dislike about Chinawhite at the moment.
Posted by shak at 5:21 PM | Comments (8)
Google Warns Of Search Engine Swindlers In Jiangsu
Some illegally-run companies are cheating unsuspecting advertising clients in Jiangsu Province by promising to help deliver ads on Google's search network.
Local media report that an unnamed victim had spent RMB14000 to buy seven key words from a network company who promised to put their chosen key words on the right side of Google's ad column. However, the products as well as the keywords never appeared on Google's webpage after the victim paid the money.
Staff from Google's agent in Changzhou has told the media that Google provides neither annual or monthly packages, nor ranking service to clients. The company says only those illegal companies provide these types of services in order to swindle money from users.
I wasn't aware Google had an agent in Chengzhou!
The reseller channel is very popular in China, and many ADS including Yahoo, Baidu and Google CPC (cost per click) end up being sold on a CPM (cost per 1000 impressions) or monthly model.
So basically we have two types of companies here:
a, the con artist who promises to do the work but does a runner.
b, a reseller (not necessarily approved by the engines) who buys on a CPC model and re-sells on his/her own terms.
see, ya learn something new every day
Posted by shak at 5:02 PM
September 25, 2005
I'm off to London !
That's it folks ...
No more "Ni Hao", "It's my pReasure" or "Jeans with centre creases"
I'm off to London Today (Sunday 25th)
Only for 2 weeks in case you are interested though
Main reason is to go and attend Adtech London this coming week, and then some business meetings in Europe the following week, It's Chinese National Holiday anyway part of the period so I wont miss much.
fyi, I will be playing Host/Moderator for the Paid Search Session at Adtech SHANGHAI in November.
I hope to be able to post once a day whilst I am away, and this may include some stuff in general about China and the Chinese that I have learnt in the last few weeks.
===
The longer you live in China, the more you want to go home. Not that home was all that great when you lived there, but nostalgia catches up with you and the grass really is greener over there.
I just came across this on the TalkTalkChina blog and thought it was very apt.
See you folks in Europe, or back here in a few weeks.
Miss JB = Don't Forget dinner
Mr JP = How's Life
Mr Jat = Don't Forget to pick me up from Airport
Mr SS = Hope my apartment is clean
Mr CZ = No getting up on stage and dancing shirtless like New Orleans
and the rest of you better pay for the drinks, as I'm a guest ;)
Posted by shak at 7:21 AM | Comments (4)
September 24, 2005
Google Chinese Patent Application
A little birdie has just sent this my way, not sure whether it's already out there or not ?
Systems and methods for translating chinese pinyin to chinese characters.
United States Application 20050209844
Systems and methods to process and translate pinyin to Chinese characters and words are disclosed. A Chinese language model is trained by extracting unknown character strings from Chinese inputs, e.g., documents and/or user inputs/queries, determining valid words from the unknown character strings, and generating a transition matrix based on the Chinese inputs for predicting a word string given the context. A method for translating a pinyin input generally includes generating a set of Chinese character strings from the pinyin input using a Chinese dictionary including words derived from the Chinese inputs and a language model trained based on the Chinese inputs, each character string having a weight indicating the likelihood that the character string corresponds to the pinyin input. An ambiguous user input may be classified as non-pinyin or pinyin by identifying an ambiguous pinyin/non-pinyin ASCII word in the user input and analyzing the context to classify the user input.
Google Chinese Patent Application
Posted by shak at 5:16 PM
Socialising in Shanghai
Every morning I get a copy of the excellent "Shanghai Daily" newspaper in English, it's a great read and keeps me informed of what's kinda taking place out there.
Last couple of days there have been 2 great articles which caught my eye ...
They are written by Michelle Qiao and Michelle Zhang.
We "decent girls" have received decent education, got decent jobs with decent pay, and we speak decent English, just like the guys. In school, we were urged to surpass them in every respect, and we often did.
is a snippet from an article called "Where have all the good men gone"
"In a crowded city like Shanghai, people are physically close to one another but they feel emotionally isolated," says Wang. "Behind the facade of their busy lives is deep depression. These young people grew up in traditional Chinese lifestyle where they had their parents, other family members and classmates around them. But in today's new lifestyle they have to find new ways in which to help one another fulfill their emotional needs."
is a snippet from an article called "Hello strangers"
It's very interesting reading and sharing this kind of news and information, as in my opinion, many people in the west have NO idea that a city like Shanghai or a country like China has many of the same issues as their counterparts in the west.
I may call on a favour in next few weeks and try to meet the authors of the above 2 articles for coffee, as they are touching on a topic which has a lot of interest worldwide, not just China. Let's just hope that they dont A) spill a drink on me to escape , and B} think I have infectious disease ;)
Posted by shak at 12:58 PM
September 23, 2005
China's most famous blogger
As I have said before, the great thing about being in Shanghai right now is meeting so many great people.
So today I got the chance to meet ...
Mr. Jian Shuo Wang
This guy is a legend in the Blog world and it was an honour to meet him, he is also General Manager for Kijiji in Shanghai, the eBay classifieds service.
Anyway, go check the man's blog out ...
Jian Shuo Wang
Kijiji Shanghai
Posted by shak at 5:22 PM
Expert on China
So I have been here just over 3 weeks and got referred to as an "Expert" on China ...
The TRUTH is this:
There is NO such thing as an expert on China, just different levels of IGNORANCE.
I just happen to be slightly less ignorant than most, that's all, so please no more expert commentary requests, I can just about manage to order a cup of tea!
Posted by shak at 12:00 PM
Cup of Tea
Is it really that difficult ...
Me: A cup of Tea please
Her : Teeeeeee
Me: Yes, Cup a tea please
Her : Teeeeeee
Me: Chai, Tea, You no drinkie drinkie.
Her: Ah, Tea
Her: Hot Tea or Cold Tea
Me: Hot Tea please.
Her: Lipton Tea, Earl Grey, Red Tea, Green Tea, Mint Tea
Me: Lipton Tea prease.
Me: Do you have any Cake?
Her: Caiike
Me: Yes Cake
Her: Cheese Sandwich
Me: Z%$*&£$ Cake
Her: Blueberry Muffin ?
I am convinced all this is a set up by some buddies of mine.
Posted by shak at 11:53 AM
2 very loooong days
I am so tired ...
Have had an amazing 2 days, and finally started achieving what I came out here for, the problem is that a lot of it is commercially sensitive stuff, but I'll try and give you a summary:
Wednesday 21st September:
9am = Breakfast Meeting with a New York Private Equity guy who is looking at investments and was in China for dot com part 1 as such, very interesting talking to him and getting his thoughts on what "his kind" are thinking when it comes to China. He pays for Breakfast.
11am = Meet the CEO and President of a Chinese contextual/behavioral marketing company doing some pretty funky stuff with an impressive Client and Partner list, both are EX Silicon Valley guys and speak fluent Chinese and more importantly are doing Business the Chinese way, the way it should be done here, They pay for lunch.
3pm = Meeting with the VP of a an incubator in Shanghai, tells me that he is getting cold called by at least 10 foreign VCs a week looking at pumping money in, and also trying to get local knowledge, shows me some of the stuff they are involved in and I leave suitably impressed. Seriously connected on the ground.
5pm = meeting Cancelled due to heavy rain and NO taxis.
7pm = Get picked up by an UNlicensed taxi driver in Shanghai and I have to dive out whilst he is driving at 5 mph or so, nutter wanted to charge me 10 X the going rate, must think I am a bloody Laowai "Wo Jiao Shak, Wo Shi Ying Guo Ren"
8pm = Dinner at a real nice Middle Eastern restuarant where we sit on cushions and eat like they would in Lebanon, great food followed by smoking of the peace pipe, meeting is with 3 guys who have been here for a few years chasing the dragon, sorry dream I mean. They all say the same thing "Check Please"
11pm = Get dragged to MINT nightclub as it's ladies night and and I have a meeting with someone who has a business idea and needs some advice on how to market this to the West via the Web, 1 thing leads to another and I leave at 2am.
2.30 am = Bed
---
Thursday 22nd September
5.30am = Alarm goes off and I feel like death warmed up
6.05am = In Taxi on way to Airport
8.00am = Flight to Xiamen for an all day meeting.
10am > 5.30pm = In a meeting with an SEM company with 3000 sub agents underneath them, I learn more about search and distribution of the likes of BAIDU, Yahoo, 3721 then I have read in any S1 statement, meeting includes lunch which was very interesting shall we say "1000 year old eggs" and various other things which were looking back and winking at me.
6.30pm = Flight Back
9pm = Stop off for a Pizza
10pm > Midnite = Dealing with emails ...
and you lot think all i do is hang out in Starbucks.
I am so TIRED .......
Posted by shak at 12:16 AM | Comments (4)
Condoms are named after Bill and Monica
It just gets funnier day by day here:
A rubber company in China has begun marketing condoms under the brand names Clinton and Lewinsky, apparently seeking to exploit the White House affair that led to the impeachment of America's 42nd president.
Posted by shak at 12:11 AM
September 21, 2005
Google launches Chinese version of Picasa
Unconfirmed reports that the Chinese version of Picasa has just launched.
Unfortunately Google don't like to share anything about China from what I can gather, or maybe they just don't like sharing with me :( - which I find real strange as this was never the case when I was back in the West ?
Posted by shak at 6:27 PM
Starbucks at Great Wall of China
You just knew it had to happen one day right!
The Starbucks shop at Badaling is the culmination of a campaign dating back to 1999. Starbucks says China, traditionally a nation of tea drinkers, is one of its fastest growing markets and will eventually be one of its largest outside of the US, where it has 6,000 shops. It currently has 40 stores in China.
Press Release (Very interesting reading imo)
Posted by shak at 4:16 PM
September 20, 2005
What does your company do ?
Had a meeting with some guys that were referred to me as being in the "web space" in China, so I thought let's go buy em coffee.
Little did I know ...
After formalities were over and we had a general chit chat, here is parts of conversation:
Me: What You guys do then?
Them: We create the solutions for the problems by using technology.
followed by 10 minutes of babbling about nothing.
Me: What specific areas are you targeted/working in/on?
Them: Which ever area our clients needs and desires require on a certain day.
followed by 10 minutes of babbling about nothing.
Me: What makes you different from your competitors?
Them: We only create solutions, NOT problems.
Me: So You mainly into SEO or PPC
Them: We like SEO because it looks good, but we never watch BBC.
Me: How do you see us working together if at all?
Them: You can maybe take our concept and sell to Western Companies.
So there ya have it folks, If this is the kind of company you need, then I am their official International representative.
Posted by shak at 9:41 PM
September 19, 2005
Sequoia to invest in China
Sequoia Capital, the well-known Silicon Valley venture capital that backed Cisco, Yahoo, Google and others, has reportedly raised a $200 million China fund -- a significant development for the firm that has long focused mainly on the U.S. and whose former leader has publicly dismissed China as being in the midst of a huge bubble.
Matt Marshall from Siliconbeat has a great piece on Sequoia and China.
and a note to Mike Moritz or his partners from Sequoia, if you are ever in Shanghai do let me buy you a drink ;)
Posted by shak at 8:50 AM
Connecting with China
Panlogic from London have an excellent report well worth reading regarding China.
Rather than give businesses a list of mind-boggling figures, the report hones in on the main opportunities provided by the Chinese market by first researching it and then showing where the major opportunities lie across all business sectors.
William Makower , the founder of Panlogic is also a speaker at Adtech Shanghai in November.
Posted by shak at 8:21 AM
Bokee acquires Chinapages
Pacific Epoch blog post that Bokee has acquired ChinaPages
ChinaPages was founded by Alibaba's Jack Ma and He Yibing in 1995. The company develops e-commerce technology and services.
Bokee recently got $10 million in funding from BVP, as was reported here
Posted by shak at 8:06 AM
September 18, 2005
Gatecrashing the MONT BLANC launch party in China
Couldn't let the 3rd Saturday of my stay here be boring, especially after the night out with Mimi and last week's Swedish Crayfish Party.
So this Saturday night, we did it in style, by Gatecrashing the Mont Blanc / Greta Garbo launch party in Shanghai.
The party was held in an Amazing Russian building and was a full out VIP show, so I don't think they were expecting Me and my 3 buddies from Shanghai to stroll down the red carpet at 10.30pm.
But hey in China, you don't know who is a celebrity who has made it, and who isn't and is faking it, for all they know "I could be some dot com entrepreneur from London.
The event must have cost 000,000s of $s as it was something out of this world, but I suppose when launching a luxury brand in China, cost isn't your biggest concern, I was surprised that most guests had no clue about Mont Blanc's pen range and just regrded them as another Luxury brand as such LV, GUCCI, Prada etc etc.
I will try and update with a link to an article, as there were reporters everywhere so surely 1 of the mainstream magazines will pick it up.
And I did try and ask the magic "Google or Baidu" question, but got a funny look and was sharpishly dragged on to the dance floor by some female who said her name was something like "Ng Ng" and that she came from Beijing.
We did leave before 12 as we had previous plans @ Bar Rouge and then on to MINT and finally Dragon Club
Not a bad Saturday nite in Shanghai if I do say so myself. and I hope you guys and girls back home appreciate all the hard work that goes into planning and executing all of this.
My thanks to Derryck Menere for the picture, he was actually a photographere there and I happen to bump into him in a Coffee Shop yesterday morning, weird or what.
Posted by shak at 10:25 AM | Comments (2)
September 17, 2005
Why the world must watch out for India and China
I came across this a few days ago on China Net Investor and thought I'd share with the masses:
China and India. Rarely has the economic ascent of two still relatively poor nations been watched with such a mixture of awe, opportunism, and trepidation.
Well worth a read. When I was deciding on China or India, I decided to choose China as I already speak the Indian language and kinda know the culture pretty well and felt that if I WAS going to make the move, then might aswell go for the deep end.
Posted by shak at 6:29 PM
September 16, 2005
Google to acquire BAIDU ?
So for the last week or so, everyday I get an email asking me what I think of "Google buying Baidu" ?
So here's my take
The time I have spent in China in 2005 and having talked to many Business Folk, End Users, Advertisers, Taxi Drivers and Part Time Girlfriends has led me to 1 thing.
Baidu run the show!
I will try and explain it in simple terms and hope no one is offended by the example I am going to use.
Taking on Baidu or Alibaba in China for Google and Yahoo, is very similar to me wanting to sell Books to Schools in the USA when my competitor happens to be Minister of Education, basically it ain't gonna happen.
In CHINA it's all about who you know and your relationships with these people, and this (in my opinion) can not be bought with $$$s.
Yahoo have obviously realised this and hence decided the best route is getting the local guys to run their business for them whilst taking ashare of the bigger Chinese Mooncake.
Google on the other hand are a kick axx company with some very very smart people and an amazing brand, however China is 1 place where all this can mean very little or very much dependant on the mood of the people, and at the moment it's all about Baidu.
An outright buy or a much bigger partnership would make total sense, as ultimately it's about the advertising $, and this Google has lots of when you look at their advertiser base, Baidu has the user base but very little of the foreign $$$s are coming through, although their marketing activity is being ramped up since the IPO.
For a Western company trying to advertise on BAIDU is similar to me asking for "Toasted Cheese Sandwich" and being handed "Cheese, Bread and a Toaster with Chinese instructions"
As a sidenote, there may be all sorts of political and financial wall street type reasons for the above to take OR not take place, however there are many more qualified folk to share that kind of news with you.
I am just sharing it from my point of view, having been 1 of Google's earliest paid advertisers in 2001, having been involved at Webmasterworld as moderator for the Google advertising forum for 2 years, Having spent millions of $s gloablly with Google, and now sitting here in Shanghai looking at the Bigger picture and being asked questions by Advertisers on how they should spend their search $s in China.
(Comments open on this thread as a trial)
Posted by shak at 10:26 AM | Comments (4)
Note To Chinese Tech CEOs: Markets Can Do Crazy Things
Gentlemen, I agree with the three of you. I would hazard to even say many analysts and reporters know less than 5% about China's Internet universe, but when you get to these low numbers, 5% seems just as good as 15%.
Posted by shak at 10:19 AM
It's a piece of Cake
"But negotiating with them is not an easy job," Roger said. "Sometimes I should talk with the companies again and again to get a good price," he said, noting that dealing with clients is often even more difficult.
SCALPERS are lining up outside bakeries and taking to the Internet to sell coupons for mooncakes in the runup to the Mid-Autumn Festival, which arrives on Sunday.
Mooncake Scalpers busy
Posted by shak at 8:07 AM
September 15, 2005
Google to launch two projects targeting China market
Google Inc plans to launch two projects that target the China market within three to six months of setting up its mainland research and development center, possibly focusing on wireless, e-commerce and entertainment, the South China Morning Post reported, citing court documents.
The Hong Kong-based newspaper said Google has identified improvement of its Chinese-language search results, MP3 search and mobility as key areas of development needed to close the gap with mainland rivals such as Baidu.com. The research center is scheduled to open in the fourth quarter.
Here's a piece I haven't heard covered too much even though it's like 2 days old ?
As for MP3 search, last I heard BAIDU were in talks trying to solve relations with record company executives.
And my $$$s are defo on Google/Baidu teaming up ...
Posted by shak at 6:12 PM
UTstarcom COO to join Google
Johnny Chou, chief operating officer of UTstarcom, will become Google China's next COO, the China Business News reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.
Posted by shak at 5:53 PM
Seeking beautiful Chinese single girlS !
As a follow up to VC David Cowan's post on His blog:
Reliable, inside sources who understandably wish to remain anonymous have confirmed to me that (and I kid you not) Google's recruiters have been directed to hire every attractive single woman they can.
I have decided to act as an unpaid Google employee interviewing Single Chinese women for the expansion and battle against Baidu and Alibaba.
Interviews will be held this Saturday Nite / Sunday Morning 1am > 5am @ Bar Rouge, 18 The Bund, Shanghai.
Don't bother waiting in line, and go straight to desk and inform them that you are here to see "GoogreGuy"
Posted by shak at 2:37 PM
FREE download of Chinese equivelant of MS Office
Problems aside, this is the the beginning of a trend that is going to make people in Seattle and Mountain View nervous. Just as the West Coast is getting used to the competition from India, cut-rate Chinese software, hand-coded in Beijing and Hangzhou, is going to present another challenge.
Interesting post by Jeremy over at Danwei regarding Software from China.
and as a side note, Danwei is a must read, so I highly recommend you bookmark it.
Posted by shak at 11:19 AM
Malaysia, APACs next China ?
"Malaysia has over 8 million users online, about 1/3 of the total population. The online population is 2x that of the entire Singapore population already. Having said that, the internet infrastructure needs to be improved in order for the online population to continue its growth and encourage greater usage of the internet."
Elizabeth Lloyd does a great piece on the growth of Malaysia.
fyi, Elizabeth will also be a speaker at Ad-tech Shanghai in November 2005, which in my opinion is a "must attend" event!
Posted by shak at 10:09 AM
Baidu share price seen at around $27
(Bloomberg) -- Shares of Baidu.com Inc., China's most- used Internet search engine, plunged as much as 24 percent after a Goldman, Sachs & Co. analyst said the stock costs at least 60 percent more than it's worth.
Bloomberg Article
Forbes Article
China Net Investor Blog post
Posted by shak at 10:05 AM
Jim Sterne in Shanghai
One of the added bonuses of being in China at the moment is meeting all the interesting folks who are travelling/passing through ...
Wednesday night I had the pleasure of catching up with the legandary Jim Sterne and Jim's father Mr Sterne senior.
It was a very cool meeting on top of the Peace Hotel overlooking the Bund in Shanghai, and I hope Jim enjoyed our chat as much as I did.
Our last meeting was in a Curry house in London a few months back where I had shared my vision of moving to China, and Jim had been very encouraging and told me to go for it.
Posted by shak at 9:51 AM
September 14, 2005
2005 CEIBS Investors' Forum
CEIBS Investors' Forum is a platform for entrepreneurs and investors to exchange ideas and discuss cooperation opportunities. Successful entrepreneurs and senior investors will talk about how Venture Capital (VCs) could help enterprises. The topics will include: how to form the best management team; how to attract VCs; how to cater the business development to the market change; what is the potential market to start new business, etc.
So I thought I'd attend this event, and I hope to give feedback on what it was like, if you are going, do come and say HI, I'll be the guy with a centre crease in his jeans.
Posted by shak at 12:07 AM
September 13, 2005
Qunar.com seeking funding
There is little doubting the potential of China's online travel sector. The number of Chinese usingthe internet is expected to hit 120m by the end of this year and the online population broadly matches the people who are driving growth in airline ticket and hotel sales.
Pacific Epoch ran a piece that they are seeking funding and I have heard same from other folks here in Shanghai.
Posted by shak at 11:48 PM
Asia Pacific Affiliate Marketing Conference
News just coming in, and I think it's "Breaking News"
Looks like the movers and shakers will be heading over to Singapore in January for the first dedicated affiliate event in Asia.
Affiliate marketing is going to be huge in Asia, and the big guns such as CJ and Linshare no doubt will be attending along with some of the world's top affiliates, many of whom live in Asia.
The original choice of location from what I gather was actually Bangkok, however someone saw sense and decided on Singapore, which I must say is an amazing place.
See you there no doubt !
Asia Pacific Affiliate Marketing Conference
Posted by shak at 7:33 AM
Webmasters in the Sun 4
Let me start of by saying that this event aka WITS has nothing what so ever to do with being a Webmaster, and all to do with what I like to refer to as the "Bad Boys of Search" , the kinda folks that the search engines spend their life improving their ALGO against.
I was lucky enough to attend last years event in Puerto Banus, Spain and can say that it was 2 CRAZY days of fun, the event is strctly invite only, and if you introduce a guest, you also become responsible for them should things go wrong or certain pictures appear which are not meant to go public.
So if you want to attend the ULTIMATE SEO event of the year, I suggest you look at the "Who's invited" list and better start begging/blagging an invite pretty sharpish as there are only a few days to go.
Posted by shak at 7:31 AM
September 12, 2005
Alibaba looking at London for European HQ
Interfax are reporting that China's #1 Internet darling is looking at London for their European Headquarters, maybe Alibaba, Kelkoo, Overture and Yahoo can all play one big happy family in London.
"When a company sets up its headquarters, it must look at where its customers are," Ma said. "We have a lot customers in the U.K"
Posted by shak at 11:35 PM
Assume Nothing II
As a follow up to part 1
Which bit on the Laundry sheet in bright RED that said "Please PRESS/IRON trousers flat with NO centre crease did they not understand"
Give me strength ...
Posted by shak at 8:12 PM
The Most Popular Forum Post Ever In China
Grab a coffee and sit back to read, it's a classic!
Since then, it was been viewed more than 223,000 times, and almost 4,000 people have commented on it.
Posted by shak at 6:41 PM
Disneyland opens in Hong Kong
For all you Mickey Mouse fans ...
The Times article
Hong Kong Disneyland website
Posted by shak at 1:15 AM
September 11, 2005
Alibaba seeks Growth not IPO
HANGZHOU - Yahoo Inc.'s newly acquired Alibaba.com unit will focus on building up several key businesses, but has no near-term plans for acquisitions or a public offering, as it aims to be China's Internet leader, top company executives said on Saturday.
Not that I have met Jack Ma, but from talking to folks here, Jack and his team sure know how to make things work on the web in China.
So not only is this Alibaba/Taobao V eBay, but will also be Alibaba/Yahoo V Baidu/Google and eBay/PayPal, should be a very interesting ride for all concerned. In my opinion a team-up of Baidu and Google would make a LOT of sense when tackling the above and also the overall Chinese web space, this seems more like sleeping with the nice housewife next door rather than the enemy
Posted by shak at 10:03 PM
Clinton addresses China Internet Summit
So I never managed to get an invite, but here is a piece by Red Herring on what happened at Hangzhou
In a panel featuring founders and CEOs of four of China’s leading Internet sites, Charles Zhang, CEO and founder of Chinese Internet portal Sohu.com, and Ding Lei, founder of game-focused portal and email provider Netease.com, took the opportunity to voice doubts about the wisdom of Wall Street analysts and financiers when it comes to the Chinese Internet.
Posted by shak at 2:13 PM
Swedish Crayfish Party in Shanghai
My Saturday night this week consisted of an invite to a Crayfish Party organised by the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai.
All I can say is that the Crayfish is actually an excuse for the Swedes to get totally hammered drinking Absolut vodka, wearing mad hats and singing folk songs really loudly, it was even funnier seeing some of the Chinese guests in attendance doing the same.
My Scandinavian buddies would be so proud of me, and for those who didn't know, I actually spent 10 years of my life in Copenhagen, Denmark from 1975 > 1985 and won paperboy of the year at the age of 9.
Posted by shak at 1:51 PM
China Net Investor
China Net Investor is in my top 3 blogs when it comes to information about the NET in China, the blog is read by 0000s every day including the likes of Bill Gurley from Benchmark.
Definitely one to add to your list.
And I thank Johannes from CNI for the Chinawhite recommendation.
Posted by shak at 1:41 PM
September 10, 2005
Jigga this & Jigga that
Just like the Smurfs, this breed of laowai has been somehow trained that “jigga” is a cure all for speaking Chinese. We've all heard this guy in a bar, “Ni hao. Wo jigga yow jigga peajoo uh uh jigga jigga lee-ang guh.” The waitress will usually stand there with a dumb look on her face and, fair enough, she's trying to be polite and not laugh hysterically at what this guy just said.
Classic post on talktalkchina.com
Posted by shak at 3:40 PM
September 9, 2005
440,000 FAKE Viagra tablets seized
On August 26 this year, local police in north China's port city of Tianjin arrested three Chinese suspects selling the bogus Viagra and Cialis through the Internet, and detected they colluded with Richard Cowley, an American man, undertaking transnational counterfeit drug selling.
And before you ask, NO, I was not involved
Posted by shak at 3:02 PM
Outsourced Blogging service from China
A great read ...
I can tell you that the top 5 blogs we are currently developing are:
A blog written from the perspective of a stray cat in NYC.
A blog written from a 14 year old depressed Iowa girl.
A blog about life as a math professor in a southern community college.
A blog about being a plus sized model in Kentucky.
A blog about being a weatherman in California.
read from bottom up to get the full picture:
Blogoriented.com
Posted by shak at 2:55 PM
Credit Cards and China
One of the biggest hurdles for ecommerce growth in China is the low number of Credit Cards in circulation, this is also 1 of the most common questions I get asked by westerners when talking about "the web" in China.
So over my 50 RMB set lunch today, I read a great article on a report by McKinsey & Co titled "Banks struggle to profit from plastic"
The number of credit cards in China surged to 120 million at the middle of this year from 3 million two years earlier.
Posted by shak at 2:46 PM
Allyes gets funding from Oak Investments
Allyes Information Technology Co., Ltd. is a leading Chinese digital marketing services and technology company. Allyes helps marketers acquire, retain and grow customers across all digital media. The Company is comprised of three operating units - a full-service interactive agency, a provider of digital marketing technologies and expertise, and a performance media affiliates group. Allyes has established a leading position in the ad serving market. Founded in 2000, Allyes is headquartered in Shanghai, China.
China's leading digital and affiliate marketing company has secured a US$30 million financing by IDGVC and Oak Investment Partners.
Having followed the affiliate market both in the USA then UK and then Europe, I can honestly say that China will be a HUGE market when ecommerce explodes here, in my opinion the Chinese will love CPA deals by the dozen.
I hope to meet David Zhu the CEO of Allyes over the next week or two, and he is also 1 of the speakers at Ad-Tech Shanghai in November, an event I shall be talking about a lot over the coming weeks.
Shanghai Daily Article
Allyes.com
Oak Investment
Posted by shak at 2:32 PM
SEO Roadshow 2005 is about to begin.
A message for the folks of Edinburgh City:
LOCK up your Sons and Daughters!
SEO Roadshow kicks off today.
Word has it that SEOs from all round the world have started arriving in Scotland and The George hotel has brought in extra supplies.
Some interesting conversations about creating a few 100 million pages for Google and Yahoo along with testing some new tools will no doubt be discussed.
Boys and Girls, n-joy and have a cup of tea on me.
Threadwatch post
Threadwatch Attendee Confirmations
Posted by shak at 12:02 PM
September 8, 2005
AAMA CONNECT 2005 (The China Playbook) in Silicon Valley ...
AAMA CONNECT 2005 Will Be the Year's Essential Event for Silicon Valley Businesses Focused on China
'The China Playbook' Brings Together 500 Leading Executives, Entrepreneurs and to Discuss Best Practices for Operating in China. The event will take place October 4-5 at the Santa Clara Marriott.
Sure does look like the event to attend if you have an interest in China and can make it to Santa Clara, which I assume most can.
It's national holiday in China that week, I am quite tempted to pop over myself if I can get a meeting or 6 squeezed in, or alternatively find a sponsor for the trip.
Posted by shak at 9:46 PM
Skype in China
Rumors are swirling that China Telecom (CHA) is preparing a major VoIP initiative with the express desire to drive out competing services like Skype.
People's Daily newspaper reports that China Telecom has been consulting with some software and hardware suppliers on issues related to establishing VoIP services in big cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.
China Tech News Article
PacificEpoch Article (Paid)
UPDATE
Word on the street has it that eBay are looking to buy Skype ...
eBay is in talks to purchase Internet-telephony company Skype Technologies SA for $2 billion to $3 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The New York Post said eBay offered roughly $5 billion for Skype, and that according to a source, "Skype has been in exclusive negotiations with eBay for some time, but the agreement expires in the next few days."
Posted by shak at 7:17 PM
September 7, 2005
Dot Com Boom 2.0
Missed the first Internet boom? Welcome back, 'cuz here we go again.
Posted by shak at 6:59 PM
Dangdang.com to Launch C2C Trading Platform
“Dangdang hopes to be capable of competing with two other online auction portals in China – Taobao.com and Ebay EachNet, by the end of next year”, said Chu Mingli, C2C Project Head of Dangdang.com.
http://www.chinaknowledge.com/news_detail.asp?cat=general&ID=990
I wonder if they have any jobs going ?
Posted by shak at 6:52 PM
eBay China expands with cosmetics stores
I saw this the other day whilst in a Taxi and made a note to go back to take a picture and share with the world.
The picture is of a shop in Shanghai which sells perfume, shampoo and mobile telephones, they also had some hair brushes and nail clippers on display.
I'll let you decide whether it's:
a, an official eBay store and their new strategy to compete with AliBaba and Taobao?
b, it's a total rip off by some guys who liked the name, logo and brand of a multi billion $ company?
c, a franchise by eBay where chinese people can auction of their personal care products ?
Maybe Western companies should look at the above strategy in their quest to win over China, Google China Noodle Shops or Yahoo China Massage Parlours. (and I don't mean Googlettes getting free Noodles or Yahooers getting free foot massages)
And to keep on topic, a new question to be asked of the local chinese from today onwards "eBay or Taobao", this is alongside last week's question "Google or Baidu"
Why eBay must win in China article
Posted by shak at 4:49 PM | Comments (0)
What am "I" doing here in China ? (part II)
As a follow up to Part 1. Matt Marshall from SiliconBeat has done a piece on me and Chinawhite based on our meeting last month in San Jose.
http://www.siliconbeat.com/entries/2005/09/05/china_white.html
It reveals certain things which have never previously been publicly disclosed ;)
such as:
1, I have a credit card
2, I should wear Sweaters, as I keep losing my shirt.
also a bit more information to the article:
My 1st Internet venture was a domain name registrar in the UK in 2000.
SMSboy has an internet gravestone for you to visit, and also my interview on CNN.
Posted by shak at 1:52 PM | Comments (0)
Detention time ?
I missed chinese school today :(
Kinda got all a bit messy last night, as a UK based SEO/SEM was in town with his Air Hostess Girlfriend and wanted to sample some Shanghai nightlife, and sample it they/we did
And this morning I managed to have a chat with Mahesh Murthy of Pinstorm, Now here's a company to watch in the global SEO/SEM space based in Asia. Mahesh was in town for Top 100 Private Companies in Asia
I'm off to lunch now and also go take a picture of something very interesting, am hoping I can get the picture without getting beaten up, I'll keep you posted.
So I hope My Chinese teacher decides not to give me detention tomorrow
Posted by shak at 11:42 AM
Making it in China
At SES San Jose, Champagne Jimmy kindly gave me a copy of Business 2.0 August 2005 issue and pointed out an article which he thought I'd like.
It's an article I'd highly recommend you read, even if you have NO desire to come and hang out with me in the Peoples Repubic of China.
I wont spoil the fun for you, but think of it very much like "Selling Shovels" rather than "Panning for Gold"
Seeing Barrett Comiskey lounging in the rooftop beer garden of Shanghai's fabled Peace Hotel at twilight, sipping his cool Tsingtao and gazing down at the hurly-burly street scene below, you may be tempted to call out, "Hey, buddy. You're dreaming." A year ago, Comiskey, 29, came to China to seek his fortune. He brought with him a Stanford MBA and not much else. He speaks some Mandarin, and he has a Taiwanese wife, Jojo Tsai, who is fluent. But for much of the time he's been here, he's hardly had 2 yuan to rub together, and he owes $100,000 on his school loans. His business partner, Andy Mulkerin, seems at first even more out of his depth; he arrived four days ago with a freshly minted Harvard MBA, but he's also deep in grad-school debt and speaks not a word of Mandarin. Weirder still, he just turned down a job at McKinsey that would have paid him more than $100,000 a year. Why? So he could come to China -- the new land of opportunity.
Posted by shak at 4:24 AM
September 6, 2005
Blackcurrant and ???
Me = Black Currant and Lemonade please.
Barman = Black $%&*£" ?
Me = NO mate, Black Currant and Lemonade please.
Barman = Black Coloured Lemonade ?
Me = No matey, Black Currant and Lemonade please.
Barman = Black Corona ?
Me = Coke with Ice but NO Lemon.
Barman = ah ok, Cola with Lemon NO Ice
Me = Google or Baidu ?
Barman = Googer ?
Posted by shak at 3:10 AM
$2 Billion in Internet-related Investment for China
Venture capital is all about potential, and firms are beginning to see a great deal of potential in China’s Internet.
Posted by shak at 12:01 AM
September 5, 2005
Chinese Search Engine Market to Consolidate
Based on their experience with the needs of local users, and their skills in fulfilling these needs as well as being backed by serious financial resources, Baidu will continue to hold the lead in the foreseeable future. However, after Google's comprehensive China strategy bears fruit, it will become a threat to all domestic players, by leveraging its strong lead in R&D and its continuous creativity in applying its technology to new applications. Smaller players will suffer most from this development and will seek to improve their competitive position.
Posted by shak at 11:33 PM
Is the Honeymoon Over for VW in China ?
When I first came to China 6 months ago, I was amazed that Volkswagen (VW) cars were everywhere, this article is a great piece of how it may all be going wrong.
"Of all the early comers to China, Volkswagen (VW) remains the most committed to the China market, never wavering in pursuing its China strategy,"
China International Business Article
Posted by shak at 9:25 PM
Baidu in Court for DDOS attack ?
8848 states in its petition that Baidu used Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) attacks and attacked its server through Baidu's affiliate websites.
I'm trying to get my head round this, so this would be similar to Google doing a DDOS attack against Amazon or eBay or similar right ?
I can NOT find any further info apart from the link above to this, so have NO comment to make on the article.
Posted by shak at 12:44 PM
Back to School
Today I start my Mandarin Lessons at a local language school for foreigners.
3 hours a day, every week day for the next 2 1/2 weeks for basic stage 1, methinks this will be easier said then done.
So 1 day soon, maybe I speak the chinese ...
Posted by shak at 7:24 AM
September 4, 2005
A night out with Zhang Mi aka MIMI
Who is Mimi you may be wondering?
Well, the closest comparison I would make is that she is the Madonna of China, a Pop Star, Model, Actress, and Super A list celebrity.
So there I am sitting in my apartment when I get a call from my good friend Johann of IdeaFactory that we have a night out planned with Mimi and one of her friends.
Must say it was an amazing experience, just imagine that you spend from 8pm > 6am with someone like Madonna, Jennifer Lopez or Angelina Jolie.
The evening consisted of dinner, followed by a crawl of Shanghai's finest clubs and ended up at the famous Dragon Club where the sun had risen by the time we left.
Kinda weird when you walk into a place and people stop and freeze, and you can see them going "is that HER". I even had a few people come ask me if I was Mimi's bodyguard :)
I had a very interesting conversation with the lady on topics ranging from Life in China, Being a Star, the TSUNAMI, her Charity work, her New Book, Desire to go to the USA and learn English and also her wish to meet a nice foreign boyfriend.
She very kindly taught me some Chinese during the course of the night, which consisted of stuff like "You are very beautiful" and "Can I treat you ladies to a drink" in Chinese.
So all in all an amazing first Saturday night in Shanghai.
And to keep the post on topic, I did ask her whether she used Baidu or Google, but I was met with a blank look on her face, so I assume she doesn't use either.
Posted by shak at 3:54 PM | Comments (0)
September 3, 2005
the Middle Class of China
An Interesting study on the middle class of China.
The study group's definition of "middle class" was a person with a monthly income of 5000 Yuan, or about 617 US dollars; with a bachelor degree or above; and who works as a civil servant, company manager, technician or private business owner.
Zhang Wanli said that when the middle class population grows to 30% in China, which is an ideal ratio, they could become a driving force for social modernization, stability, strong social values and high levels of consumption.
btw, you see the ACCOONA logo and search box there ;)
Posted by shak at 4:10 PM
What am "I" doing here in China ?
This seems to be the question I get asked most often by both Chinese and Foreigners here and also via email etc from back in the Western World.
I hope to have an "about me" page up over the next 7 days or so, which should explain in more detail.
For now though, a link to my posts on WMW will give you a clue:
http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum32/999.htm
http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum29/2131.htm
However this is NOT all I'm here for.
Posted by shak at 10:52 AM
The AVON Lady is coming
BEIJING (AFX) - Direct sales in China will become legal from Dec 1, the Information Times reported, citing Shang Ming, a senior official with the Ministry of Commerce.
The newspaper said the new law, just approved by China's State Council, the country's cabinet, requires direct sellers to pay a minimum 20 mln yuan deposit before setting up business and to have a registered capital of at least 80 mln yuan.
Xinhua Official News
Forbes Avon Story
Forbes Direct Selling Article
Let's hope the Chinese Avon folks don't call me CHAZ
Posted by shak at 9:39 AM
Punjabi Restaurant, Shanghai
A round of applause for Mark Suchy of Colliers in Shanghai who introduced me to a FINE Indian restaurant last night.
Mark's lived here for a quite bit and kinda knows the happening restaurants, bars, clubs, people etc along with speaking Mandarin fluently.
Punjabi Restaurant
102 Xiangyang Rd / Nanchang Rd
Shanghai
6472 5464
I quite fancy myself as a bit of a connoisseur when it comes to Pakistani / North Indian cuisine, and I must say the food here was very authentic indeed, this was further confirmed by the number of Indian and Pakistanis at the restaurant.
We opted for the buffet and I have no complaints as such, well no real complaints, a few minor ones, but hey, what ya expect "Good Indian Food in China without any problems"
Sure beats my last visit to an Indian Restaurant in Shanghai "The Indian Kitchen" which I would rate as one of the worst meals of my life.
Smart Shanghai Review
City Weekend Review
(feel free to send me recommendations if you have any, and if you are looking at any form of property investment in China, Mark be your man)
Posted by shak at 9:10 AM
September 2, 2005
VCs invest $10 million in Chinese Blog Portal
Bokee earns money by serving advertisements. It also makes money from telecommunications companies that sell mobile blogging services, such as the ability to post pictures taken with a mobile phone to the web site. The company is doubling revenue each month, Ms. Lee said.
Red Herring Artilce
The VCs blog
Bokee
Posted by shak at 6:56 PM
Google launch Local Search in China
Heard a rumour yesterday that Google were launching Local Search in China, but nothing seems to have hit the press section yet (hint hint Mountain View)
However looks like it's official:
The service is available at bendi.google.com and is similar to the English version of Google map and local search services.
http://www.pacificepoch.com/newsstories?id=39401_0_5_0_M
Posted by shak at 6:16 PM
Let's kill the Cyclist
So there I am in a Taxi on my way to a Poker game in Downtown Shanghai when I realise that the driver is a Psycho hell bent on trying to kill any cyclist on the road (and there are many in China)
The nutter would go out of his way to get real close and then try and ram into them or frighten the daylights out of the poor souls going about their business.
Oh well, Welocme to China I suppose.
Posted by shak at 5:43 PM
Starbucks Shanghai
This picture is especially for my Latte loving world famous AdSense guru and buddy Jenstar
It was pouring down with rain, hence there is no one sitting outside, usually it's packed solid in and out.
The vibe inside is very similar to any Starbucks anywhere in the world, although a few things do stand out:
1, Most people drink COLD drinks, rather than HOT coffee.
2, Price of a coffee is $2 > $3
3, Most people seem a bit over dressed for a coffee shop, although I get the impression that it's kinda cool to be seen Starbucking in China.
So Jen, lots of Lattes here for ya ;)
Posted by shak at 5:36 PM
One a Day
Listen to both sides and you'll be enlightened, listen to only one side and you'll remain ignorant.
Posted by shak at 7:08 AM
Do NOT chat online NAKED
It's 6am and I am having problems sleeping due to the body clock being somewhere in London.
So whilst surfing the web I come across this:
A Chinese researcher has warned of a new threat to public health and morality — naked Internet chatting.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-08/31/content_473771.htm
and before you ask, the answer is NO.
Posted by shak at 6:59 AM
Market Share of Chinese Search Engines
SHANGHAI, China (AP) -- A survey by a Chinese Internet research group has found that Google is losing market share to its biggest Chinese rival, Web search engine Baidu.com.
The survey, conducted by the Beijing-based China Internet Network Information Center, reported that Baidu.com Inc. boosted its market share in Beijing by 10.8 percentage points to 52 percent.
link: http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/050830/china_google.html?.v=2
The real point is that the data on usage in China is really sketchy, and, as one would expect, companies will distort it to their advantage. And investors make decisions based on this data at their own risk.
link: http://bbb.typepad.com/billsdue/2005/08/china_search_ma.html
Posted by shak at 3:06 AM
September 1, 2005
Clinton comes to China to talk Internet
The China Internet Summit at West Lake is an annual event which brings together the leading CEOs of Internet companies from China and around the world for a day of discussion and cooperation. Since its inception in 2000, the event has become the primary summit among Internet leaders in China, with CEOs from more than ten NASDAQ-listed China Internet companies serving as speakers over the years. This year, the Summit will go global, under the theme “Connecting China and the World.”
Organized by Alibaba.com, the China Internet Summit at West Lake is non-partisan in nature, with the focus on open discussion between speakers and attendees. This year, the dialogue will address the key issues facing China’s Internet industry, including globalization strategies, the future of online gaming and the development of e-commerce.
So who can blag me an invite for this event, pretty please with sugar on top.
http://www.alibaba.com/aboutalibaba/press/releases050727.html
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050825/nyth050.html?.v=22
Posted by shak at 7:09 PM
China dissapears from Google Zeitgeist
The folks over at Danwei have an interesting piece on China and the Google Zeitgeist.
http://www.danwei.org/archives/002161.html
http://www.google.com/press/intl-zeitgeist.html
Posted by shak at 4:34 PM
Assume Nothing
When in China, a good bet is never to assume anything!
So remember:
do NOT assume that they will press/iron your Jeans flat, rather than put a great big crease in the middle.
do NOT assume that a request for a "Cold bottle of Evian" would mean just that, rather than a warm bottle with some Ice.
do NOT assume that the Taxi Driver on your return jouney from a club to your hotel at 2am will be AWAKE, he may actually be a bit tired and decide to get some shut eye at the traffic lights.
So there ya have it...
Assume Nothing, because when you assume, you make an ASS out of U and ME.
Posted by shak at 4:26 PM