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China’s Wuxi charts hi-tech future

China 28.02.2010 Comments Off

Wuxi is attempting a transformation from a manufacturing hub to a high-tech city.

By Chen Limin (China Daily) – Wuxi, one of China’s top 10 cities as ranked by GDP in 2009, hopes to transform from a manufacturing hub to a hi-tech city by expanding cooperation with domestic and overseas businesses.

As a major city in the Yangtze River Delta, Wuxi, Jiangsu province, landed 12 new projects last month including those in electronic information, biopharmaceutics, new energy and materials and outsourcing, totaling 715.7 million yuan.

Wuxi’s development district has already inked an agreement with consumer electronics maker Beijing Huaqi Information Digital Technology Co Ltd, to invest 30 million yuan in a hi-tech manufacturing base.

Beijing Huaqi, maker of Aigo branded electronics, plans to locate its MP6 wireless technology unit in Wuxi.

“Wuxi is one of China’s bases for the ‘Internet of Things’ industry. This is one of the major reasons we chose to locate here,” said Frank Zhou, general manager of Beijing Huaqi’s MP6 business unit.

The “Internet of Things” is a network of web-enabled objects linked together with online services that interact with these objects. Underlying the Internet of Things are technologies such as radio frequency identification (RFID), sensors and smart phones.

The Internet fridge is probably the most often-quoted example of what the Internet of Things will enable.

Zhou said Beijing Huaqi hopes to leverage Internet of Things technologies in association with its closely related MP6 business.

Beijing Huaqi expects its MP6 business – focused on the firm’s Internet music player – to generate revenue of 2 billion yuan over the next three years. Zhou said the company is eying both Hong Kong and New York as possible future locations for an initial public offering.

Just last year, Wuxi formed new alliances with telecom carriers China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom, to cooperate in research and development, project incubation and other commercial applications. – read more at ChinaDaily.com…

Tags: Aigo, Beijing Huaqi, China, China Mobile, China Telcom, China Unicom, Internet, MP6, Technology, Wuxi
AsiaLynx Top Stories – 2/8/2010

AsiaLynx Top Stories 08.02.2010 Comments Off

Hyundai, Kia stocks accelerate on fallout from Toyota debacle: Shares of Hyundai Motor and its affiliate Kia Motors continue to thrive despite the recent erosion of global stock markets, fueled by strong financial performance and turmoil at rival Toyota. (Via South Korea News.)

Expert: China’s space technology close to moon landing capability: After years of development, China’s space technology is close to moon landing capability, said Fu Yiqing, space expert and consultant to the Shanghai Institute of Space Propulsion (SISP). Fu, also a senior member of American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), said this during an interview with reporters from China News Service. New generations of Chinese taikonauts are studying moon landing technology. (Via China – People’s Daily Online.)

China seizes leading hacker training website: Police in central China’s Hubei Province have seized the country’s biggest hacker training website and arrested three suspects, the local public security department said. The three, who ran the Black Hawk Safety Net, were suspected of offering online hacker tools, a crime that was newly listed in China’s Criminal Law last year. Police have also frozen more than 1.7 million yuan (250,000 U.S. dollars) in assets and confiscated nine web servers, five computers and a Honda Accord. (Via China – People’s Daily Online.)

China Unicom Opens First 3G Mobile Phone Flagship Store In Beijing: Chinese telecom operator China Unicom has announced that its first flagship store under the company’s 3G brand ‘Wo’ has been opened in Beijing. Located in the southern hall of China Unicom’s headquarters building in Financial Street, the three-floor Wo flagship store covers a total area of about 800 square meters. (Via ChinaRetailNews.com.)

JAL to keep American Airlines link: Japanese media say Japan Airlines, which filed for bankruptcy last month, has decided to keep its current tie-up with American Airlines – the Oneworld Alliance. There had been widespread reports that it might defect to SkyTeam under Delta Air Lines. The carrier feared that the switch would confuse its passengers and that it could loose its antitrust immunity from US authorities because it would dominate the trans-Pacific market. (Via RTHK On Internet – Finance News.)

Tags: Airlines, Asia business, Asia news, automobile, China, China Unicom, Delta, hackers, Hyundai, JAL, Japan, KIA, Oneworld, SkyTeam, South Korea, space, Toyota, Wo
Apple’s iPhone to seize 10% of China’s 3G market

China 20.11.2009 Comments Off

By Wang Xing (chinadaily.com.cn) – China’s second largest cell phone carrier said today they expect the Apple iPhone to attract over one tenth of China’s third generation (3G) users in the next couple of years.

A senior executive from China Unicom told China Daily that Chinese business users have showed great interests in Apple Inc’s popular smartphone. “We expect the handset to attract over 10 percent of China’s 3G users in the following two to three years,” said the executive, who declined to be named.

The executive’s remarks came shortly after Unicom’s chairman Chang Xiaobing said on Tuesday that he expects iPhone to become China’s best-selling smart phone.

Unicom was reported to have sold fewer iPhones than analysts anticipated in the product’s debut last month, raising concerns the price is too high to attract customers in the world’s biggest mobile phone market.
The Unicom executive refuted that the pricing of iPhone is unaffordable. He said the pricing is “very reasonable for those who spend heavily on their phone bills every month.”

According to the company, an iPhone without contract costs as much as 6,999 yuan ($1,025) in China, compared with $299 in the United States.

The product will be free when customers select a two-year service plan that cost 886 yuan per month, with Unicom repaying pre-pay bills of up to 7,999 yuan. — read more at ChinaDaily.com

Tags: 3G, Apple, China, China Unicom, iPhone
Apple’s iPhone hits China with high price, without Wi-Fi

China 30.10.2009 Comments Off

iPhone buyers in Beijing. Photo: it.chinanews.com.cn

By Sam Oliver – The iPhone saw its formal debut in China Friday on carrier China Unicom, with the Wi-Fi-less hardware sold via 2,000 stores at a starting price of 4,999 yuan, or $730.

That high price was cited by The Wall Street Journal as the “buzz-killer” over the handset’s debut. The high-end iPhone 3GS sells for 6,999 yuan ($1,024) without a service contract, which is how most people in China purchase their phones. The same handset can be bought for about $800 in Hong Kong.

“When wrapped together with a service plan, as is generally done in the U.S., the phone will cost Chinese subscribers at least $3,120 over two years, compared with the roughly $2,600 cost for the same period for customers in the U.S.,” the report said.

The average cost of a smartphone in China is $350. And Apple must also compete with an estimated 2 million imported iPhones that were already in China as of the summer of 2009.

The cheapest iPhone runs 4,999 yuan, or $630, according to The Associated Press. And all of the officially sanctioned models come without Wi-Fi. But an imported iPhone 3GS with Wi-Fi can be bought from Chinese street markets for 5,700 yuan, or $835. read more at AppleInsider.com…

Tags: Apple, China, China Unicom, iPhone