China Unicom's WO+ app platform unveiled

On December 9, I attended the China Unicom Mobile Internet Industry Summit 2011 here in Beijing. The event was a showcase for WO+, China Unicom's new platform for developers to host their mobile apps. Actually, WO+ is much more than that; Calvin Smith has written a thorough analysis of it over at the Mobisights blog. During the panel discussions on the mobile internet, angel investor Yang Ning made an interesting point about the many app stores and platforms popping up in China. Mr. Yang argued such platforms should be "evolved products" and should not start out trying to be app platform. He advised companies to focus at first on building up a user base by developing applications with a social networking aspect. For this reason he thinks that Ravio's Angry Birds still hasn't reached its full potential.

On a sidenote, it was amusing to see Sina Weibo and Tencent Weibo screens placed opposite each other during this conference, in an imitating of the real-world face-off between China's two microblogging leaders.

Maverick China Interviewed by Reuters on Mobile Payment in China

Maverick China managing director Dave Carini was recently interviewed by Reuters on China's mobile payment industry. Quotes from the interview appeared in both a news article and accompanying video piece.

The news article examined the mobile payment industry's development in China, driven by the consumption boom here. It also covered the new license requirements for third party payment providers by China's central bank. Dave discussed government's policy regarding these regulations:

It's difficult to say what the government's policy is going to be in terms of enforcement, because they haven't really had any chances to enforce things yet.

In the video interview, Dave also looked at the future prospects for China's m-payment market:

In terms of transactions and overall users, it is already as big or bigger than in the US and the other markets. But I think in the next two to fours years, in just about every area, China's online payment market is going to surpass the US.

Maverick China Has Moved to a New Office!

After eight relaxing months in the picturesque suburbs of Changping, it was time to get back to the hustle and bustle of the big city. So on September 20, 2011, we packed up and moved -- right back into the same building we left at the end of last year. We're two floors up from our previous location and have added a new phone number, so please note the changes:

Dongwai Building 10/F #1012
12 Xinzhong St., Dongcheng District
Beijing, China 100027

北京市东城区新中街乙12号东外公馆10层1012室

Phone: +86-10-6416-2686; +86-10-6416-8586

As always, you can find our latest contact information on the Contact Us page.

Making Money from Microblogging in China

According to the latest report from China Internet Network Information Centre, more than 40 percent of the country's 485 million Internet users use microblogging services such as Sina Weibo and Tencent Weibo. Discussion has inevitably turned to making these services profitable. Jiang Zhang at Seeking Alpha lays out several paths to monetization:

Last November, Sina launched a Rmb 200 million fund with IDG and Sequoia for developers to create third-party applications for Weibo. To date, over 36,000 Weibo apps were submitted, of which over 1,600 apps have been approved and launched on Weibo.... The key is for the developers to create relevant and exciting apps that complement Weibo's functionality and value proposition, and are not redundant to the iPhone or Android apps.

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Long Lines and Slow Transactions at China's Banks

Recently the well-known China blogger Imagethief posted a hilarious article about his frustrating experiences with Chinese banks:

"Surely no simple, retail banking transaction could take a freaking hour. But of course it could. I myself have been the jerk at the window on many an occasion, while some pensioner laotou at the head of the line pisses and moans loudly about drag-ass foreigners tying up the teller windows with their sketchy international transactions. It's not that I want the transaction to take forever. I have much better things to be doing than sitting at a teller window, like pulling out my own toenails with needlenose pliers or eating a sandwich made of Wonder Bread and used crankcase grease. But the system moves at the pace it moves at, which is roughly the same pace as continental drift. You know how in 150 million years the San Francisco Bay Area will be in Alaska? That's the exact same time your transaction will be complete."

A colleague of mine at Maverick China tackled a similar theme in March 2011 post as part of a series of payment-related experiences in Beijing:

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One Year of Payments in Beijing

It has been close to a year now ever since I arrived in Beijing, and my internship here is coming to an end. Just to wrap up, I shall list out the top three highlights out of all my blog posts for this one year experience thus far.

3. Beijing's Yikatong and Singapore's Ezlink: The Growth of Contactless Payment
This makes it to the list for being the first thing that awed me when I arrived in Beijing. With buses here costing one seventh and subways at one tenth of their cost in Singapore, it made me wonder if I was being exploited back home. Even though prices continue to rise, China is going to remain a cheap place to live for a long time to come.

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896 Million Mobile Users in China through May 2011

China's mobile users reached 896.21 million at the end of May, 2011, an increase of 21 million from the end of the April this year, according to the latest statistics released by China's telecom operators.

China Mobile, China's largest mobile operator, continues to lead the pack with 611.17 million as of 1^st May 2011, up 11 million from the month of March 2011. China Unicom has a user base of 179.34 million as of 1^st May 2011, and that is an increase of 5 million from May 2011. China Telecom's user base stands at 105.70 million.

Check out our statistics section to find out the latest mobile user numbers, fixed line subscribers, xiaolingtong users, and more.

67 Million 3G Users in China through April 2011

China's 3G users reached 67.57 million at the end of April, 2011, a sizeable increase of 11 million from February, according to the latest statistics released by China's telecom operators. China Mobile, China's largest mobile operator, continues to lead the pack with 29.38 million 3G users, followed by China Unicom at 20.35 million and China Telecom at 17.84 million users.

Check out our statistics section to find out the latest mobile user numbers, fixed line subscribers, and more.

A Web Trend Map for China

Taking inspiration from the fantastic Web Trend Map series by Information Architects, we came up with our own version for China's internet, based on the Beijing subway map. Click on the image for a clearer view of the map. Please note that this is just a draft; feel free to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it your comments and suggestions.

Also, special thanks to Agatha for the design work!

Speaking of China's internet, I will be attending the CHINICT 2011 conference on Thursday and Friday. See ya there if any of you are heading down as well.

Online Payments in Taobao, Part 2

In my first post on Taobao, I discussed the cash on delivery (COD) method and how it remains popular (with me and many others) despite the availability of other options. In this post I'll go over the receipt of items and completion of orders in Taobao.

Only once did my order not arrive, and that was because it arrived at the office on the weekend. Since no one was around, the courier had the order cancelled. Otherwise, in my seven months of Taobao shopping here in Beijing, I haven't noticed any problems with the system.

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