Baidu Unveils Low Cost Smartphone with Voice Recognition and 100GB of Cloud Storage
There’s an interesting battle taking shape in China, as a number of companies are setting their sights on the nation’s entry-level smartphone market. Over the past few days along we’ve seen Samsung put forth two low-cost handsets for China, and Shanda is reportedly bringing an Android-based phone to market in early June.And now today, search giant Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU) announced that it too is launching its own low-cost handset, the Changhong H5018, which is manufactured by Foxconn and will be soon be available across the country in cooperation with China ...
Qunar Launches iPhone Travel Photo App, LuTu
China-based app LuTu came to my attention for various reasons: I love to travel, take photographs, document my trips, and share with friends. The app positions itself as a travel photography platform for users like myself. According to its description, it is Qunar’s heavyweight product of the year.The app allows you to discover the most wonderful places of interests based on your location. There is also a recommendation tab where you can gather inspiration for places to visit based on the most popular photographs or from featured travelers.At the ...
Samsung Targets Entry-Level Smartphone Market in China with Two New Models
Samsung (005930:KS) recently surpassed Nokia to become the global leader in mobile phone shipments, but apparently the company still wants more. According to a China Daily report over the weekend, the Korean handset maker intends to take a third of China’s entry-level smartphone market this year.Of course this makes a lot of sense considering two important factors which we have noted here on this blog recently: 1) China is expected to overtake the US as the world’s biggest smartphone market this year , and 2) the typical smartphone user ...
Censorship Alert: Two Provinces Suddenly Vanish from Baidu’s Tieba
We spend a lot of time talking about Sina Weibo these days, but Baidu has its own social platform in the BBS-like Baidu Tieba, a massive collection of mini-forums dedicated to everything from niche TV shows to entire cities and provinces. Not all the provinces, though. Yesterday, two major provinces -- Chongqing and Liaoning -- disappeared from Baidu's Tieba. Apparently, just as Melissa Chan has become an unperson online in China, Chongqing and Liaoning have become unplaces.Collectively, these two provinces boast a population of more than 70 million, and the ...
Leaked Screenshots Suggest a Foxconn-Made Baidu Phone With Voice-Based Assistant
Screenshots have emerged (pictured above) of a purported new budget phone from Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU), China’s search engine giant. Rumors in the Chinese media suggest that it’ll be a cheap yet fully-formed smartphone, costing 1,000 RMB (US$159) or less, and the hardware will be made by Taiwanese manufacturer Foxconn (LSE:HHPD; HKEX:2038; TPE:2354) - on which we reported last month.Baidu already has its Android-based Baidu Yi OS that’s currently only for sale in a pricey Dell device - so that software would likely be adapted to fit into this budget smartphone. It’s ...
US Report: 99% of Music Downloads in China Are Pirated, Video Sites a Concern Too
The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) has released a report highlighting areas of concern where intellectual property rights - or, loosely, copyright - infringements “unfairly disadvantage U.S. rights holders in China” and around the world. It slams illegal IP abuse in many forms in China, from pirated digital downloads to fake toys and trade secrets.One eye-catching claim made by the report is that “illegal downloads account for an estimated 99 percent of all music downloads in China.” It adds:otal music revenue (which includes both ...
Sohu Video’s Alliance with Qiyi and Tencent May Be Unstable
Sohu's (NASDAQ:SOHU) video offerings have been in the news quite a bit recently, as Sohu teamed up with Baidu's Qiyi and Tencent's video products to create an alliance that would purchase content rights together to help defray costs. But does Sohu have other plans for its video section?Yesterday during Sohu's quarterly earnings call, CEO Zhang Chaoyang announced that the company was splitting video sales from the rest of its sales team, turning it into a separate group entirely dedicated to video ad sales. Zhang explained this a response to the ...
Casual Reviews: Rollercoaster Creator
Not everyone likes rollercoasters, but who doesn't like games that let you build them? There's something about building an insane track and watching tiny virtual people whip around the screen that I just enjoy -- perhaps I should seek help. In the old days, there was Rollercoaster Tycoon, but now, there's Rollercoaster Creator.The game -- which is appropriately named "Crazy Rollercoaster" in Chinese -- was developed by game.com.cn, which is home to thousands of browser games. It's a clever, casual mix of Rollercoaster Tycoon and a much simpler puzzle game, ...
Baidu Maps Brings Free Voice Navigation for Drivers in Android App Update
Chinese search engine Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU) has today updated its mobile Baidu Maps app for Android and added free voice navigation for drivers. The new feature - packed into the newly-released v3.0 of the app - is usable when offline in conjunction with the new Baidu Mobile Map Navigator plugin and a bunch of downloadable maps that cover most of China. In addition, the app update brings 3D buildings to some points-of-interest around the country.The move - especially because it’s offered for free - will be a threat to China’s Autonavi ...
It’s Official: Sohu, Tencent, and Qiyi Team Up to Buy Content Rights
Yesterday, we passed along rumblings from the Chinese media that Sohu, Tencent, and Baidu's Qiyi were planning to band together to purchase expensive video content that could help them better compete with Youku-Tudou. Now that news is official.An official statement from the companies says they hope the partnership will help reduce the cost of video content, which has skyrocketed in part because of the massive bidding wars that have emerged in China's fragmented video market. But the partnership isn't just about buying cheaper TV soaps to stream; apparently, the three ...
Rumor: Baidu and Other Search Engines Will Have to Stop Indexing Weibo Content
Chinese web researcher Hu Yanping has indicated there are rumors that authorities will ban Chinese search engines such as Baidu from indexing real-time search results from the country’s Twitter-like Weibo sites, such as Sina Weibo.Tests today on Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU) show that the feature is still in operation, with certain trending terms appearing in the form of three microblog tweets on the Baidu first page of results (pictured above). The incorporation of microblogs in Baidu is a relatively new phenomenon, with support for Sina Weibo and then Tencent Weibo added just ...
Rakuten to Close its China E-commerce Venture with Baidu
Rakuten (JSD:4755) announced on its website today (pdf release) that the company would be closing the ‘Lekutian’ e-commerce venture that it had in partnership with Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU) in China. Currently visiting the site at its domain Rakuten.cn, one is greeted with a message stating:We at Lekutian hereby reluctantly inform you of the following important change. After the careful consideration of the management team, Lekutian will stop service as of April 27.While expressing apologies and thanks to customers who have supported it so far, the company also notes that Lekutian ...
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