TMall announced Four New Services
At the beginning of this month, Alibaba Group's B2C e-commerce site TMall announced four new products — TMall Albums, TMall Pre-Sale, TMall Exclusive, and "Warranty Protector" (all unofficial translations). The services which had been tested from April 8 to April 15 at its "New Style" site and are going to be promoted as permanent services. "TMall Albums" is intended to support the platform's apparel merchants, while "TMall Pre-Sale" is intended to support verticals such as home decoration and foods, "TMall Exclusive" targets fashion goods, and "Warranty Protector" is intended to cover 3C products.
Source: iresearchchina.com
Tencent To Integrate E-Commerce Into WeChat
Chinese internet giant Tencent is planning to integrate its messaging service app WeChat, that counts over 300 million users, with e-commerce. According to Norman Tam, head of Tencent's Taiwan and Hong Kong office people can interact with their friends via the service WeChat, and buy goods, pay bills at a restaurant or even complete transactions via the simple mobile app. The regional executive announced that such services will first be available in China.
Source: wantchinatimes.com
Internet Boost Booming Chinese Travel Market
Increasing Chinese incomes and growing Internet bookings are bringing an expected 15 percent growth of China outbound travelers from 2012-2017 in Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR). Today China is the world leader for number of Internet users and smartphones sold, and web giants such as Tencent and Baidu are making inroads in the online travel market. On the other side, the Chinese travel market is a space that sees an intensifying competition between China’s online travel agencies, including Ctrip, Qunar, and eLong.
Source: iresearchchina.com
Intel Is Joining Forces With Baidu For Mobile Space
Intel and the giant Chinese search engine Baidu are joining forces in order to create a software for the mobile Internet market in China. The two companies will use an innovation lab, where developers in China will be able to access computing systems powered by Intel chips. Intel also will give Chinese developers access to software tools, with the hope that the developers will create apps that will include voice-command and facial-recognition features. The agreement signed with Baidu is an important step for strengthening its position in the Chinese market as the chip maker continues its push into the mobile space.
Source: iresearchchina.com
Too many Wi-Fi APs slow Shanghai's internet speed
The high number and concentration points are the main cause for which in a list of this year's internet download speeds in China's major cities, Shanghai's Wi-Fi speed of 137kb/s placed last. There are over 20 Wi-Fi APs in the neighborhood of the city's Hongqiao railway station, lowering the connection speed to less than 1MB. Shanghai areas with a high density of visitors, such as the Bund — the most visited tourist destination in the city — have further burdened the APs available around the site. As a result, Shanghai residents and travelers have been restricted to a maximum speed of 2MB using iShanghai, the city's main public wireless network.
Source: wantchinatimes.com