Much of the tumultuous news from last week has, for better or worse, spilled over into this week — making it equally if not even more dramatic. The search engine clusterf*ck surrounding the rise of Qihoo 360 (NYSE:QIHU) is still ongoing, but we also saw an IP dispute come to a surprising end. For all that and more stories from the tech scene in Asia, read on for our staff picks for news of the week!
Steven’s pick: Rise of Asian Chat Apps Threaten Facebook on Mobile
I’m not a fan of Facebook. I feel it forces me into a bizarre contortion, dealing with old acquaintances, genuine friends, and lots of business contacts all in one service. Perhaps if Facebook had managed its zoning – or circling – a little better earlier on, I might not have gone so sour on it. And the Facebook Android app is – or was, up until this week’s very late update – a bit of a horror story. Now, I’m one of hundreds of millions of folks loving group messaging apps, and rarely check my Facebook save to add a few occasional photos to it. Personally, I use WeChat. And all that social chatter in these new apps has got to be hurting Facebook in the long-term.
Charlie’s pick: Sohu CTO Calls Sohu CEO “Really F*cking Stupid” Over Search Wars
The Qihoo-Baidu search war was entertaining enough before bit player Sohu tossed its hat into the ring. Or perhaps I should say Sohu’s CEO Charles Zhang tossed his hat into the ring on weibo, and (perhaps accidentally) this was almost immediately followed by a Weibo post from his CTO Wang Xiaochuan saying that getting into the Baidu-Qihoo war would be “really f*cking stupid.” Whoops!
Rick’s pick: Chinese Stolen Game Engine Taken Down, Thief Apologizes to Real Developer
Following up on one of the most interesting stories from last week, the case of the Chinese developer who ripped of an entire game engine from a Western developer came to a graceful end. Surprisingly, the thief even apologized to the original developer, noting that ‘copyright isn’t important in China.’
I can’t recall ever seeing this kind of satisfying resolution when it comes to a case like this, and that makes Charlie’s story one of my favorites of the entire year so far. But lamentably, just as one Chinese copycat is put to rest, another springs up to take its place.
Willis’ pick: Inside Life at Qihoo 360
I will shamelessly pick the news I wrote this week. I haven’t had the chance to speak to Qihoo 360’s boss Zhou Hongyi unfortunately, so I took an alternative route to find out more about him. Though he apparently has a gangster-like attitude, a part of me admires him as a entrepreneur who never says die. He is a real fighter who fought with big tech figures in the Chinese industry of course. As eccentric as he is, his fighting spirit is admirable, though annoying at times.
Joshua’s pick: Rise of Asian Chat Apps Threaten Facebook on Mobile
LINE is winning my admiration as I see my friends starting to use it more and more. Facebook might be a long shot to beat, but in the mobile space I believe there are still possibilities.
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