Angry Birds Taking Off in China, with First Partner MadHouse for Mobile Ads

Once again, Angry Birds are overwhelmed by meetings/events/conferences in China. The difference, compared with the April at GMIC, is that at that time only Peter Vesterbacka was the super star, but this week in Shanghai, Angry Birds’ new appointed leader for China/Asia, Henri Holm also showed up together with his China team. They came to our Mobile Monday Shanghai event, went to Shanda event and of course the ChinaJoy. We also know they are checking their office places and starts recruiting more key staffs, the Birds are really taking off in Chinese.

With this ambitious goal of 100 millions downloads by end of this year, and the situation, as Peter said, Angry Birds is already the third-most-pirated brand in China, advertisements on a free version might be the major revenue directly from the apps. So one of the most important partners needed in China to start with is mobile ads solution provider(s). MadHouse, the Shanghai-based China’s leading mobile advertising solution company just becomes the first partner for Rovio to work with in China.

MadHouse is founded 2006 and is reported to offer intelligent targeting technology on a network that reaches 75%+ of all China’s mobile internet users. Read from the press release sent to me by Joshua Maa, the founder and CEO of Madhouse:

As part of this partnership, Madhouse will enable and deliver ads to Rovio properties across China – including placement of in-application banners and rich media ads as well as fully customized marketing solutions tailored to the needs of brand advertisers.

With plenty of lessons from other foreign companies, the Birds obviously understand that they must be a Chinese company. PPW has been appointed as the licensing representative of the Angry Birds franchise; A “Moon Festival” version will be released to entertain Chinese players; a line of Angry Birds shoes will be sold on Letao, China’s largest online shoe company too.

Will Angry Birds will eventually be Happy Birds in China soon?

[picture via VentureBeat]

Related posts:

1. Angry birds Flocks to China Both Online and Offline
2. Angry Birds Wants To Beat Disney in China Within 2 Years
3. Meet Angry Birds, Plants & Zombies and Papaya at MobileMonday Shanghai

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Philippines Digest – 30 Jul

Here you can find some interesting startup news around Philippines, not only in its capital, Manila, but also other their startup hubs such as Cebu, General Santos City, Pasay, Quezon City, and many more.

(1) Real estate giant Megaworld Corporation announced its plan to develop the 7.1 hectare property of the National Police Commission in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig into a P25 billion business complex.

(2) The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the Department of Agriculture (DA), and the Local Government of Quezon City is jointly monitoring supermarkets and wet markets to check on the stability of prices and supply of basic necessities and prime commodities.

(3) The Social Security System (SSS) will release new Unified Multipurpose Identification System or “UMID” cards free to members before the end of the month. The new UMID ID has a contactless chip and a magnetic stripe, which stores information.

(4) Cebu Pacific announced that they have now the biggest market share in flights between the nation’s capital and its southern financial hub, Davao City. Based on its second quarter performance for this year, the Gokongwei led airline cornered 44 percent of the local market that flies between Manila and Davao, or a total of 318,694 passengers.

(5) SM Development Corporation topped off its Princeton Residences in New Manila, San Juan. The single tower development boasts of 1,076 units, several amenities, and its close proximity to the light rail transit station.

(6) According to FindPeopleonPlus.com which tracks over 4.4 million Google+ users since the service went online a couple of weeks back, Philippines ranked #27 on Google+.

(7) DTI-GIZ, under the Private Sector Promotion Program (SMEDSEP), came up with this pretty neat Google Mapping project to map the whole island of Bohol and all of its 700+ tourist sites and tourism-related establishments.

(8) Two Indian philanthropists and a Philippine non-profit development organization are among the winners of the Philippines prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Awards. The annual awards, named after a popular Philippine president who was killed in a plane crash in 1957, are widely seen as Asia’s equivalent of the Nobel Prizes.

(9) Earlier this year, a serial tech entrepreneur, Jeffrey Stewart and fellow entrepreneur Richard Eldridge founded Lenddo, a New York-based company that seeks to administer microloans to working middle-class folks in the developing world. The Philippines became their first market, and they doled out their first loan in March.

We thank nordicfactory for the flag image.

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Mig33 Launches Developer Program, Many Asian Gaming Apps To Come Out In Japan

As we reported here on Asiajin, Japan's largest mobile gaming company Gree[J] partnered with mig33, a Singapore-born and currently US-based social network which has become the most popular in South East Asia.

Mig33 recently launched a developer program, which allows mobile game developers to make revenue by developing games on a platform which is compatible with Gree's one[J]. Attending the program could be a chance to give their apps reach more than 50 million users in the region, and the most popular sets of the apps published on the platform may be migrated for GREE's Japanese mobile users too.

As of this writing, 12 developers from 7 countries has been participating in the program, which may cause keener competition in developing mobile gaming apps because more developers not only in Japan but also those from foreign countries will be forced to sharpen swords on the common international arena, in publishing best-selling apps.

Meanwhile, in terms of global expansion by big name gaming platform operators, DeNA recently announced they would launch their Mobage service in English-speaking countries and Mainland China.

See Also:

• Gree To Take Several Percent Stake In Singapore’s SMS/IM-based Social Network Mig33
• Gree acquires OpenFeint for $104 million as part of global expansion
• Japan’s Mobile Social Gaming Giant GREE Partners With China’s Tencent (QQ)

Mig33 Launches Developer Program, Many Asian Gaming Apps To Come Out In Japan

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Yahoo!, Alibaba and Softbank Come to Agreement over Alipay Dispute

Alibaba Group, Yahoo! Inc and Softbank reached agreement over the controversial transfer of Alipay to a company controlled by Jack Ma, the founder and CEO of Alibaba. Under the agreement, Alibaba will receive no less than $2 billion and no more than $6 billion in proceeds from an IPO of Alipay or other liquidity event or 37.5% of the total equity value of Alipay, and it will continue to participate in Alipay’s future financial performance.

 

Also, according to the agreement, Alipay will continue to provide payment processing services to Alibaba Group and its subsidiaries including Taobao. Alipay claims to be the largest third-party payment solution in China, while Taobao is the largest domestic ecommerce platform.

 

The deal ends a public dispute among Yahoo, Softbank and Alibaba over Yahoo’s accusation of Jack Ma “stealthily transferring” Alipay to an entity owned by Jack Ma without notifying other shareholders.

 

Yahoo! CEO Carol Bartz said after the settlement that “this is a good outcome for Yahoo! and for our shareholders, as well as all the parties to this agreement. Alibaba Group and its management team have an impressive track record of value creation and we look forward to participating in Alibaba Group’s—and Alipay’s—continued success.” While Jack Ma remarked that “this agreement is good for Alibaba Group and its stakeholders, including customers, employees and shareholders. Most importantly, Alipay was able to secure the license it needed to continue operating.”

 

Yahoo! owns 43% of Alibaba. To many investors, Yahoo’s stake in Alibaba is even more valuable than Yahoo’s own online-advertising business. That’s why the transfer rattled Wall Street after Yahoo! disclosed it in May of this year. Although the dispute seems to be settled, analysts still concerned that “Yahoo appears to become a forced seller of one of its key Asian assets”.

 

Related posts:

1. Alibaba's Plan for Yahoo's Share
2. More Trouble For Alipay? Chinese Banks To Compete Into Online Payment Space
3. Yahoo China, Might Be The Next To Say Goodbye

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Plug & Play Malaysia in talks to fund several startups

Several startups are in discussions to tap on Plug & Play Malaysia‘s funding and connections with overseas investors, reported Bernama. Plug & Play Malaysia, also known as Real Plug & Play, is a combination of an incubation centre and a business development ecosystem.

The company is wholly owned by PKNS Holdings, and a licensee of the Plug & Play Techcenter, a thriving global community of over 300 startups. Real Plug & Play was set up by PKNS to address local startups’ lack of expertise in pushing themselves to the technology market and lack of access to funding for commercialization of their product towards regional success.

Lack of funding is also another concern. “Most of the venture capital providers in Malaysia are government agencies that are adverse to big risks. But startups cannot afford to go global themselves, due to the high cost involved,” explained Radha Nadarajah, head of special projects at PKNS.

He added that while local venture capitalists are around, they are usually housed within large corporations and fund innovations within the company.

Training sessions will also be held to coach startup founders on how to pitch their technologies to investors.

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