Internet and Technology Trends in China, as Seen by Trendwatching

Trendwatching just released its free report on China trends, which you can read in its entirety below. The trends cover a wide spectrum but internet services and technologies are well represented in the report. It’s an interesting read, for sure. It touches on a number of standout companies, services, and products, many of which we have covered here in the past:

1. Buykee – A Pinterest commerce site)
2. Handsup – A crowd-sourced deals request site
3. Ubox – An app that brings mobile payments at vending machines in China
4. Huawei Ascend D – World’s fastest smartphone claimed by Huawei in February this year
5. Tianhe – A Supercomputer in China.
6. Weixin – A popular chat app in China and now expanding globally
7. Weilingdi – A Sina Weibo integrated location-based service

While the report is a convenient read of what’s happening in China, it is also important for readers to note that China Unicom doesn’t own Xiaomi. The report, at slide six, says that China Unicom “unveiled” the M1, which is not quite accurate. Xiaomi does have a partnership deal with China Unicom but Xiaomi is still the maker. For a deeper look at the phone, kindly check our past video review here. Now, enjoy the report:

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‘Rage of Bahamut’ for iOS Rising Steadily in Top Grossing App Charts

A few weeks back we told you about how Cygames Rage of Bahamut had become the top grossing Android app in the US. Well, it seems that since the game’s iOS release, RoB has been steadily rising up the US charts to its current position at eleven on the top grossing iPhone game list. In the games category, it sits as the eighth top grossing title.

The game is a card battle title, and it follows a free-to-play model with in-game purchases available. In addition to being the eleventh top grossing app in the US, It’s currently ranked third on Singapore’s top grossing app list, and 14th in Canada. In the ‘Strategy’ category RoB reached the third position yesterday, and now sits in the fourth spot.

I enjoyed the Android version a lot (see my short review here) and I’m looking forward to trying it out on iOS soon [1].

Check out the chart below that shows the titles progress since its launch. Note the green line that indicates the ‘top grossing’ ranking, which I expect the folks at Cygames and DeNA are pleased about.

You can download Rage of Bahamut for iPhone from iTunes.

Rage of Bahamut - US app store rankings

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1. If anyone has a decent referral code that will get me some fun items to start, let me know in the comments.  ↩

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10 finalists for Echelon 2012 pitch competition announced

The 10 finalists for Echelon 2012, a major technology startup conference in Singapore, has been announced. They will be pitching on stage at the event to vie for the title of Most Promising Startup.

The startups come from the following countries: Singapore, Indonesia, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines and Thailand. At this moment, they are fine-tuning their actual day pitches with the e27 team, who are the organizers of the event.

Here’s a list of the finalists (descriptions by e27):

Beatrobo (Japan)

Beatrobo is a social music community that allows you to discover music on YouTube. Users get to save their playlists as robot avatars and are able to share these playlists with their friends.

Between (South Korea)

Between is one of the hottest rising Korean product of VCNC. The intimate app for couples takes on Western players like Pair and Duet, setting itself apart by providing archiving capabilities to store memories of the relationship.

Builk (Thailand)

Builk provides free business applications for small and medium business in the construction industry. By doing so, they create a professional networking site that gathers information related to the construction industry and provides an effective online media for the advertisers.

Dropmyemail (Singapore)

Dropmyemail staked it’s claim as the fastest growing Asian startup with more than half a million user sign ups within a month of their public launch. The application allows users to elegantly backup their various email accounts.

Gimmie (Singapore)

Gimmie provides app and game developers with a gamified mobile loyalty platform that allows brands a new way to reach out to mobile gamers. The platform provides developers with a complementary revenue stream while allowing brands connect with mobile customers more cost effectively.

Klik-Eat (Indonesia)

Klik-Eat is Indonesia’s online food delivery portal, currently focused on Jakarta. The service offers restaurant owners a platform to handle online orders and also delivery services depending on their requirements. To consumers, Klik-Eat offers a wider selection of food accesible through their online portal and also at their convenience, delivered straight to their doorsteps.

Payroll Hero (Philippines)

Payroll Hero provides companies with system to manage employee attendance, work hours, scheduling and payroll through web and mobile cloud application.

Perx (Singapore)

Perx helps merchants identify and grow loyal customers through their social marketing platform by allowing them to engage customers before, during and after their visit.

Ragic (Taiwan)

Ragic provides a flexible business application, called Ragic Builder, that enables businesses to create web apps with a spreadsheet web interface.

SnapDish (Japan)

If you think SnapDish is just another food photo app, you are wrong. SnapDish focuses on home cooked dishes and is looking to become the mobile app where recipes for these home cooked dishes an be shared.

Organized by tech blog e27 for the third year running, Echelon 2012 is a key startup launchpad in Asia with over 1,100 delegates in attendance and 50 startups exhibiting in the Marketplace. Check out SGE’s coverage of Echelon 2012.

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Learning Chinese? Try Sexy Mandarin

SexyMandarin.com is an online service that teaches you Chinese. But there’s a little more to it than that, as its name suggests. Its educational videos teach you about key mandarin phrases, but they also feature hot babes. Check out the example below which will instructs you how to ask the time in Chinese.

I already know the language so I can’t really tell if it would really be that helpful for language learners. But I it think it might be. It will definitely keep guys interested, right? The online videos are very well and professionally made. You can check out the behind the scenes pictures here. It’s seriously professional.

According to Thatsmags, the service was started in December of last year by Mick Gleissner, a German fashion photographer who is based in Hong Kong and his girlfriend, Kaoru Kikuchi, a Japanese fashion/jewelry designer and model.

Both of them enjoy learning Chinese but dreaded the usual boring approach to language instruction. The service does not look to be quite ready or fully launched, I think. Or I don’t see a business model there yet, anyway. It’s still a free subscription service. I bet the company must have invested a lot of money to create videos with such a high production value.

It’s an interesting approach to learning Chinese, especially for beginners. But I wonder whether sex and Chinese can be made into a full course curriculum, while ensuring learners actually understand the language well. But it will certainly be a stimulating experience, to say the least!

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Report: Dianping Replaces Lashou as The Third Group Buying Service in April

Chinese group buying services Meituan, 55Tuan and DianpingTuan ranked in top three by transactions in April, according to a report released by Tuan800, a Chinese group buying market researcher.

Meituan is the only player who generated a sales of RMB 303.61 million, topped the chart while 55Tuan and DianpingTuan grabbed in 264.73 million and 216.16 million respectively, came in second and third. It’s worth to note that, DianpingTuan’s momentum growth help it replacing Lashou as the third. Lashou now falls to the fourth spot with a sales of RMB 194.07 million.

Geographically, Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou are still the hottest place for daily deals.

The report also finds that in April there’re 3052 group buying service in the market, they concertedly pulled in a transaction of RMB 1.69 billion, declined 2.4% quarter-over-quarter.

In April the sector has undergone a series of consolidation, for example, FTuan’s merge with Gaopeng, 55Tuan taking over GanjiTuan’s operation and so on. As investors remain skeptical over the market and survivors keeps struggling, we could expect more similar consolidation in the following months.

See full report (in Chinese) here.

Related posts:

1. Meituan Obtains Eight-digit USD Second Round Funding
2. Baidu Beta Testing Personalized Homepage
3. QQ’s International Version Adds App Box and Speaks Six Languages

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With Tourexplora, find travel packages at the best bargains in Indonesia

From providing maps of tourism hotspots to localized tour packages, Indonesian startup, Tourexplora, maximises travel experiences in Indonesia.

Unlike most apps that are catered for free and easy travelers to plan trips independently, this app calls out to the lazier travelers by providing information of various travel packages offered by different local tour agencies. Think hipmunk for travel packages in Indonesia and you will get Tourexplora.

I got in touch with Founder of Tourexplora, Dicky Johan to find out more on their future plans.

Tell us more about the motivation behind Tourexplora.

Tourexplora was born from the frustrations of planning my own travel trips. I like to maximize my travel time and visit many places within a short period of time. Personally, I would like to be able to see a collage of pictures and easily convert that to a day by day travel itinerary. Pinterest is nice for collecting pictures, but the images on pin boards can’t be converted into a travel itinerary.

Founder of Tourexplora, Dicky Johan. Image: Dicky

The travel industry is really big and competitive. What are some of the challenges faced by the Tourexplora and how did you handle these issues?

You’re right, the travel industry is very competitive, but it is also a trillion dollar industry. This means there can be many players in the industry. I have tried out a dozen travel websites as well, some do not have the functions I need, and some of them just do not have a good user experience, thus I feel there is an opportunity here.

Your team is currently working on Tourexplora from Indonesia. What are some of the advantages or drawbacks of targeting a global market from your home country?

The advantages of starting in Indonesia is that the cost structure is lower, which means, mistakes are not that costly. The drawback is that I am not in an environment that has a lot of engaging users. I agree if Tourexplora eventually wishes to target the global market, it needs to move to a more developed country.

The Tourexplora team. Image: Dicky

How is the traction like for Tourexplora and how do you plan to market your product to reach a bigger pool of users?

For now, Tourexplora is targeting Bali as it is part of our home territory. Furthermore, Bali has become an international destination with many 5 to 6 star hotels opening up soon. We feel that this is the right time to launch Tourexplora and gain worldwide traction. Google SEO strategies are also critical for us to gain traction.

What would you mainly be looking for at Echelon 2012 Startup Marketplace?
At Echelon 2012, we are hoping to get a lot of feedback for Tourexplora, and possibly open doors to some potential investments and partnerships.

Tourexplora will be exhibiting at Echelon 2012 Startup Marketplace. The team pitched their product at the Indonesia Satellite in April.

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With Tourexplora, find travel packages at the best bargains in Indonesia

From providing maps of tourism hotspots to localized tour packages, Indonesian startup, Tourexplora, maximises travel experiences in Indonesia.

Unlike most apps that are catered for free and easy travelers to plan trips independently, this app calls out to the lazier travelers by providing information of various travel packages offered by different local tour agencies. Think hipmunk for travel packages in Indonesia and you will get Tourexplora.

I got in touch with Founder of Tourexplora, Dicky Johan to find out more on their future plans.

Tell us more about the motivation behind Tourexplora.

Tourexplora was born from the frustrations of planning my own travel trips. I like to maximize my travel time and visit many places within a short period of time. Personally, I would like to be able to see a collage of pictures and easily convert that to a day by day travel itinerary. Pinterest is nice for collecting pictures, but the images on pin boards can’t be converted into a travel itinerary.

Founder of Tourexplora, Dicky Johan. Image: Dicky

The travel industry is really big and competitive. What are some of the challenges faced by the Tourexplora and how did you handle these issues?

You’re right, the travel industry is very competitive, but it is also a trillion dollar industry. This means there can be many players in the industry. I have tried out a dozen travel websites as well, some do not have the functions I need, and some of them just do not have a good user experience, thus I feel there is an opportunity here.

Your team is currently working on Tourexplora from Indonesia. What are some of the advantages or drawbacks of targeting a global market from your home country?

The advantages of starting in Indonesia is that the cost structure is lower, which means, mistakes are not that costly. The drawback is that I am not in an environment that has a lot of engaging users. I agree if Tourexplora eventually wishes to target the global market, it needs to move to a more developed country.

The Tourexplora team. Image: Dicky

How is the traction like for Tourexplora and how do you plan to market your product to reach a bigger pool of users?

For now, Tourexplora is targeting Bali as it is part of our home territory. Furthermore, Bali has become an international destination with many 5 to 6 star hotels opening up soon. We feel that this is the right time to launch Tourexplora and gain worldwide traction. Google SEO strategies are also critical for us to gain traction.

What would you mainly be looking for at Echelon 2012 Startup Marketplace?
At Echelon 2012, we are hoping to get a lot of feedback for Tourexplora, and possibly open doors to some potential investments and partnerships.

Tourexplora will be exhibiting at Echelon 2012 Startup Marketplace. The team pitched their product at the Indonesia Satellite in April.

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Startup Grind comes to Singapore – Featuring Anne Cheng, founder of Startup Nation

Founder of Startup Nation, Anne Cheng. Image: Startup Nation

Originating from Silicon Valley in 2010, Startup Grind, a website hosting a community of founders and entrepreneurs, will host its inaugural even in Singapore on the 21st of June 2012 to mark its new chapter in Singapore.

In order to help educate, inspire, and connect local entrepreneurs, monthly events featuring new amazing speakers will be held. Speakers will share their story about their ups and downs, dos and don’t through their whole entrepreneurial experience.

This June, Startup Grind Singapore will be joined by Anne Cheng, Founder of Startup Nation and Rumpelstiltskin. Topics to be discussed include her expereiences as an entrepreneur, the startup culture in Singapore and her involvement at Startup Nation.

Date: 21 June 2012

Time: 6.45pm- 9.15pm

Venue: HUB Singapore. 113 Somerset Road

Agenda:

6:45 – Networking and Pizza

7:00 – Fireside Chat

8:00 – Questions and More Networking

Register here. Do help support the event by paying a nominal fee that will contribute to food and drinks here.

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10 startups to pitch at Echelon 2012 unveiled

10 startups will take the stage on June 11 and face the panel of judges to battle it out for the rights to be named Most Promising Startup of Echelon 2012.

With less than a week to go before Echelon 2012, the 10 startups that will pitch have been selected and are currently undergoing final coaching with the e27 team in order to prepare them for the showdown on June 11. The 10 startups come from countries such as Singapore, Indonesia, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines and Thailand with products ranging for customer engagement to business-to-business solutions.

The startups that are set to pitch, in alphabetical order are:

Beatrobo (Japan)

Beatrobo is a social music community that allows you to discover music on YouTube. Users get to save their playlists as robot avatars and are able to share these playlists with their friends.

Between (South Korea)

Between is one of the hottest rising Korean product of VCNC. The intimate app for couples takes on Western players like Pair and Duet, setting itself apart by providing archiving capabilities to store memories of the relationship.

Builk (Thailand)

Build provides free business applications for small and medium business in the construction industry. By doing so, they create a professional networking site that gathers information related to the construction industry and provides an effective online media for the advertisers.

Dropmyemail (Singapore)

Dropmyemail staked it’s claim as the fastest growing Asian startup with more than half a million user sign ups within a month of their public launch. The application allows users to elegantly backup their various email accounts.

Gimmie (Singapore)

Gimmie provides app and game developers with a gamified mobile loyalty platform that allows brands a new way to reach out to mobile gamers. The platform provides developers with a complementary revenue stream while allowing brands connect with mobile customers more cost effectively.

Klik-Eat (Indonesia)

Klik-Eat is Indonesia’s online food delivery portal, currently focused on Jakarta. The service offers restaurant owners a platform to handle online orders and also delivery services depending on their requirements. To consumers, Klik-Eat offers a wider selection of food accesible through their online portal and also at their convenience, delivered straight to their doorsteps.

Payroll Hero (Philippines)

Payroll Hero provides companies with system to manage employee attendance, work hours, scheduling and payroll through web and mobile cloud application.



Perx (Singapore)
Perx helps merchants identify and grow loyal customers through their social marketing platform by allowing them to engage customers before, during and after their visit.

Ragic (Taiwan)

Ragic provides a flexible business application, called Ragic Builder, that enables businesses to create web apps with a spreadsheet web interface.

SnapDish (Japan)

If you think SnapDish is just another food photo app, you are wrong. SnapDish focuses on home cooked dishes and is looking to become the mobile app where recipes for these home cooked dishes an be shared.

To view the full list of exhibiting startup at the Echelon 2012 Startup Marketplace, head on over here.

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