China’s Vancl Expands To Vietnam, is a Southeast Asia Wave Coming?

Two weeks ago, Vancl, China’s biggest clothing specialist e-commerce site, was reportedly cutting staff. But now the Chinese media (via TechWeb) are reporting that Vancl is marching towards overseas markets – more specifically, Vietnam, with the launch of Vancl.vn.

According to Vancl’s data, Vietnam looks like a viable choice. Vancl, which makes its own-brand clothes, has had an English e-commerce site since 2010. And through that site, Vancl saw growth mainly from Southeast Asia and Russia, with Vietnam contributing eight percent of its total overseas sales, growing at 100 percent annually in the second half of 2012 compared to 2011. Talks with Vietnamese working partners went smoothly, making Vietnam an easy choice of destination for the company’s first specific country expansion.

Southeast Asian countries have been mentioned several times in recent months as the internet industry starts to mature in the region (see stats for Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand internet user growth below). Some might recall that a Japanese gaming company acquired a studio in Vietnam earlier this year. Cyberagent Ventures also has an office at Vietnam.

More recently, we learned that Tencent’s messaging app WeChat is doing pretty well in Southeast Asia, particularly Thailand and Indonesia. Local search leader Baidu has a research center in Singapore but unfortunately hasn’t had a smooth journey in Vietnam so far with its quiet launch of a few social sites.

It’s interesting to note that Tencent’s effort to push WeChat in Vietnam didn’t show any marks of being from Tencent or from China, which might have made the difference in escaping the kind of anti-China backlash that came Baidu’s way during the same politically tense period between China and Vietnam.

It’s safe to say that Vietnam has captured the eyes of Japanese and Chinese companies lately and we can expect more East Asian tech companies to travel down to explore Southeast Asia. I’m betting on China’s biggest e-tailers, Alibaba (with Taobao probably), to be making the move soon. There are lots more high-potential countries in Southeast Asia, including Thailand and Indonesia.

This is a trend I think, and it’s interesting to see Chinese web companies mature to the point that they feel ready to do some careful regional expansion. Fun times ahead.

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Consim Vs Google: Madras High Court dismisses appeal against Google India in Trademark case

An appeal by Consim Info Private Limited, the company which runs marriage portals like Bharat Matrimony and Tamil Matrimony against Google India and four other firms was dismissed by the Madras High Court on Friday, reports PTI.

The Chennai based company had sued its rivals SimplyMarry.com and Shaadi.com along with Google in 2009 alleging that the search giant was displaying results form its rival sites when someone searched for terms like “Bharatmatrimony” or “Tamil Matrimony.”

The single judge court which heard the matter ruled earlier that Google should stick to its existing terms of business while asking the company to refrain from using keywords that were Consim trademarks. Consim Info, which demanded a compensation of Rs 10.05 lakh appealed against the ruling in the Madras High Court.

The High Court upheld the single judge court’s order and dismissed the appeal by Consim against Google India and four others yesterday. According to the PTI report, the Division Bench, comprising of Justices P Jyothimani and M Duraiswamy said “The present arrangement based on the undertaking given by respondents, which is in force for nearly three years, should not be disturbed or deviated at this stage. We are not inclined to unsettle the settled arrangement till disposal of the suit,” the judges said.

The bench also referred the case back to the single judge court for settlement by end of 2013.

Last year in October, Yahoo India sold its stake in Consim Info to Bessemer Venture Partners, Mayfield Fund and Canaan Partners for Rs 100Cr (~$20mn), valuing the company at $190 million. Yahoo held 12% stake in Consim Info, which runs other sites like ClickJobs and IndiaProperty as well.

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Pi Of Life : Wheels of Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurs need to focus, on their fitness as well. Most advice from those who’ve been there and done that to those just starting up often contains one crucial bit about not neglecting your body and building exercise into your schedule.

Image: Bumsonthesaddle.com

And one the easiest ways to build it into your schedule is cycling!

I myself ride around a fair bit, but decided to get serious advice from the pros – so spoke to Rohan Kini, an entrepreneur himself about the whys and hows of it. Rohan quit technology to start up BumsOnTheSaddle a while ago, and is actively involved in not just selling cycles, but selling the idea of cycling itself as well as building a community around it.

Rohan believes commuting is the best way to make cycling a part of your life.

It saves you time. Yes, most other commute options in the city are slower!

• It saves you money! You’re bootstrapping, and of course know which way petrol 9and diesel) prices are headed.
• It takes you no extra time and even a 30-40 kms a week keep you much much fitter.

Cycling gives you a short burst of an endorphin-driven high that not just negates traffic stress, but lifts up your mood. And we all know that hope and positivity are an entrepreneur’s best allies.

In the very early days of your startup, you’re the product and the startup – and cycling adds a lot of “cool” to your image! There are good, savvy, upwardly mobile riding communities in most cities across the world now, and this is a terrific networking opportunity. Like a wise man once said – “Cycling is the new golf!”. You find early adopters, customers, vendors, great hires, advisors, mentors and perhaps even investors in those who’re keen to do that morning ride with you. Folks bond a lot over sports – and from whatever I’ve seen of fellow riders, they’re a candid, honest and outgoing lot who’ll help you if and when they can.

As you get more serious about rides, you start to push yourself. Like Rohan says, “Most people refuse to believe they can ride 10kms when they come in to pick a new bike, but surprise themselves doing a regular 15-20 kms commute within a month”. Its a great lesson as an entrepreneur – learning to push what you thought were your limits, and seeking more. Riding also gives you much needed alone time with your thoughts – where you can re-examine assumptions, relook at decisions and rethink strategy. This is stuff the rush of daily startup life seldom affords otherwise.

Cycling is also a very benign, forgiving activity – the risk of pushing too hard and injuring yourself for the long term is minimal. There’s a good community to get great advice from, a good range of bikes to select from and good support from dealers and vendors.

So go ahead and pick up a bike. Pick something decent – avoid a Bicycle Shaped Object! As an entrepreneur recognising the difference between being frugal and making a decent investment is a critical skill – and applies to this as well. A good bike, a few rides, and you’ll feel way more pumped up and prepared to take on the world!

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Google Weighs in on Acer Aliyun Phone Debacle, But is Google Being Anti-Competitive?

Hands-on with the Acer A800 - But Google seems to have torpedoed its launch forever.

After a couple of days of silence from Google (NASDAQ:GOOG), which looked to have been implicated in the cancelled launch of an Acer phone in China, the search engine has finally released a statement. The phone was to be the Acer CloudMobileA800 running the Aliyun OS, a year-old mobile platform created by Alibaba, China’s biggest e-commerce company.

Referencing its phone-maker partner, Google told the WSJ (paywall) earlier:

[Acer has] committed to building one Android platform and to not ship non-compatible Android devices. […] Compatibility is at the heart of the Android ecosystem and ensures a consistent experience for developers, manufacturers and consumers. Non-compatible versions of Android, like Aliyun, weaken the ecosystem.

So the assertion here is that Aliyun is a “non-compatible” version of Android; but Alibaba insists that it’s built from the ground up, based on Linux, and can run Android apps only by running them virtually and non-natively (a bit like in BlackBerry’s Playbook). Aliyun’s focus is on web apps. In reaction to Google’s words, Alibaba’s VP of international corporate affairs, John Spelich, said:

Aliyun OS is not part of the Android ecosystem so of course Aliyun OS is not and does not have to be compatible with Android. It is ironic that a company that talks freely about openness is espousing a closed ecosystem.

Talking to TiA, John expanded on the ecosystem theme:

This is like saying that because they own the Googleplex in Mountain View, therefore anyone who builds in Mountain View is part of the Googleplex. Will someone please ask Google to define Android.

Previously, Google had told us that it couldn’t comment, while Acer emitted only a very vague apology a day after the last-minute cancellation of the dual Acer-Aliyun launch event in Shanghai. The Acer A800 was to have been the flagship phone for the Aliyun OS, and the first from a big-name hardware brand. Its two other phones are built by local partners K-Touch and Haier.

Anti-competitive?

So, what’s going on here? Google’s words sound even more odd when you think of phone-makers who do actually make what seem to be “non-compatible” Android devices and also regular Android phones – such as we’ve seen with Lenovo’s OPhone, which was a closed-source fork of Android made for China Mobile (but which never really took off as a separate platform). But Lenovo still gets free reign to do that. Perhaps Acer has a different kind of agreement/relationship with Google.

From Google’s words, which seem to have been buried late night Friday in the US (and behind the WSJ’s paywall), we might extrapolate that Google did put pressure on Acer [1] to pull out of the launch. Also, the US giant’s compatibility assertion doesn’t stand up to scrutiny, since Aliyun OS being Linux-based does not make it part of the Android ecosystem. Or perhaps the fact that Aliyun can run some Android apps is the actual – but unstated – core of the objection. But software virtualization isn’t illegal. Either way, Google’s argument looks weak.

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1. Allegedly.  ↩

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A Look at Engineers turned Entrepreneurs [Happy Engineers Day]. Do you really need MBA to startup?

Happy Engineers’ Day! This is celebrated in India today as a mark of respect to one of the earliest, most impactful engineers India’s had – Sir Visvesvaraiah.

To celebrate, we decided to feature some contemporaries who have decided to use their engineering acumen and problem solving skills to address real life issues and turn entrepreneur. This is no way a comprehensive list – but an acknowledgement of how engineers have, and continue to change the entrepreneurial landscape in India.

Engineers turned Entrepreneurs [see the SlideDeck]

Do you still believe that you need MBA to start your own business? Well, think again!

Happy Engineers’ Day!

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Mini-FFC September event highlights Windows 8 development

The Philippine Web Developers Organization is holding a mini-FFC unconference as a precursor to this year's "Form, Function & Class" event in November.

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Mini-FFC September event highlights Windows 8 development

The Philippine Web Developers Organization is holding a mini-FFC unconference as a precursor to this year's "Form, Function & Class" event in November.

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Bing’s China Strategy: Target English Search

Yesterday, Microsoft senior VP Shen Xiangyang announced Bing’s new short-term strategy for China’s search market: differentiate itself by going after the 5 percent of searches that happen in English rather than trying to compete with Baidu in Chinese. The Chinese language search also just launched a few new features, including a developers’ page, but apparently Bing is looking to English, not Chinese, to crack the China search market.

Shen says five percent of China’s search market belongs to English searches, and most of those are from high-end (i.e., monied and therefore valuable) users. Bing’s plan is to offer then better English search, translation, and dictionary services.

On the one hand, this makes total sense. Baidu’s English language search is terrible, and Google.com.hk isn’t always reliable. When my VPN was broken, I’ll admit I did find myself using Bing from time to time to find things.

But therein lies the rub: what percent of those 5 percent of English searches come over VPNs, where Bing will have to compete with Google on even footing? Certainly, nearly every expatriate in China has a VPN. And many high-end Chinese users –the sorts of people who would be searching in English — have VPNs too. Is there really a market there big enough to make any money off? I’m skeptical, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

Whatever the result, China’s search market seems to be experiencing quite the shakeup between this and the ongoing Baidu-Qihoo spat. That’s probably a good thing for users no matter who ends up in the chairs when the music stops. It seems pretty obvious Baidu will be one of them. Is there really room for Bing to squeeze in too?

[Sina Tech via Techweb]

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You Can Buy a Weibo Clone (For Cheaper Than You’d Think)

Trawling, as I sometimes do, for startups this evening, I stumbled across Godpark. It didn’t take long for me to figure out what was going on; the site is basically an exact clone of Sina Weibo. You don’t have to take my word for it; just take a look at these screenshots:

So OK, big deal, it’s not exactly hard to find clones like this on the Chinese web! But I was a little intrigued when I noticed that images work slightly differently on Godpark than they do on Weibo. I also noticed that Godpark offered integration with Tencent and Sina Weibo, as well as other Chinese social networks. That seemed odd for a copycat product.

It turns out that Godpark is just one implementation of pre-built microblogging solution called JiShiGou. JiShiGou is a for-sale weibo solution that seems to be targeted mostly at corporations. At first I was pretty skeptical about this, but the more I thought about it, the more it makes sense. It’s basically Sina Weibo with a slightly different paint job but — here’s the important bit — it’s hosted on your servers. That could be hugely important for companies that want to leverage microblogging technology in their workflows (god, I hate myself for typing that phrase) but aren’t comfortable with using the “groups” feature on Sina Weibo because private information about their company would have to be stored on Sina’s servers.

So what does it cost to buy your own private weibo clone? It depends on the package. You can get the basic web package for just 10,000 RMB ($1,587), but numerous add-ons are also available, from iPhone/iPad and Android phone and tablet apps ($2,380 for iOS apps and $1,587 for Android apps) to text messaging support ($126 per 10,000 texts). With just a few thousand dollars, it seems, you can buy your own microblogging system, complete with apps, texting support, and even auto-backups, updates, and training if you go for the higher-end packages.

I’m still not sure what Godpark is trying to do, but JiShiGou is an interesting if decidedly uncreative solution to the problem of how corporations can use microblogging technology while controlling the system themselves to make sure their data remains safe. JiShiGou is definitely a Sina Weibo clone, but a clone might be just what some companies are looking for.

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Telkomsel Declared Bankrupt!

The biggest telecommunications provider in Indonesia, Telkomsel, was declared bankrupt earlier today by the Central Jakarta’s State Court. According to Indonesian law, any companies that don’t pay debts beyond the maturity date to more than two companies will be deemed bankrupt. That is exactly what happened to the telco giant, which still boasts more than 100 million subscribers in the country.

This all started because Telkomsel indefinitely froze its deal with its voucher top-up distributor Prima Jaya over the Prima voucher cards. The deal is reported to be worth more than IDR 200 billion ($21,000,000). It was supposed to continue for one more year, but on June 2012, Telkomsel stopped the deal indefinitely without providing any clear reason. Prima Jaya went on to suffer IDR 5.3 billion ($557,601) [1] in losses because of it, and the company then tried to settle the issue in court.

The other debt that the telco giant failed to pay is to content provider PT Extent Media Indonesia. According to Bisnis, the company has been suing Telkomsel since November 2011. The telco has not paid a sum of money as agreed upon in a cooperation agreement stretching from July to September 2011.

Telkomsel’s operations will continue normally at the moment. The company has not issued any comments regarding this fiasco, but promises via Detik that they’re going to appeal this decision.

[Source: Detik, Original Image Source]

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1. BeritaSatu reported that the potential loss for Prima Jaya can worth up to IDR 200 billion.

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