The Internet in China

In The Economist there is an interesting article on the internet in China.

Jan 31st 2008 | HONG KONG
From The Economist print edition
http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10608655

China will soon boast more internet users than any other country. But usage patterns inside China are different from those elsewhere

Some of the points made:

1. Internet users has reached 210 million (end of 2007)
2. Only 16% are using the internet, but growth was 50%
3. The government censors and controls the internet
4. Electronic retailing is in its infancy, thanks to an unwieldy government-controlled payment system, so most shopping is still done in person.
5. More than 70% of internet users are under 30
6. Piracy of films and music is rife
7. The biggest market involves the delivery of mobile-internet content to mobile phones (over 500 million mobile phones!)
8. On-line communities are popular, but are limited to China
   

Q1. Where do you think internet commerce will be in China post the olympics?
Q2. What are some of the hurdles in doing internet based business in China?
Q3. What is the potential for marketing in China?

News Corp in new MySpace music talks

Thursday Feb 21 08:16 AEDT

AP - News Corp has approached the four major record labels to discuss launching an online music service through its popular MySpace social networking site, music company executives familiar with the talks say.
The media conglomerate envisions a one-stop music service that offers content in various ways, including via free digital streams, as MP3 downloads and through a subscription plan, one of the executives said on Wednesday.
News Corp proposed launching the service as a joint venture with the major recording companies, which would receive an equity stake in the new company, the executive said.
The music company executives spoke on condition of anonymity, saying they were not authorised to discuss the matter publicly.
MySpace declined to comment.
A call and email to a News Corp spokeswoman were not immediately returned.
Representatives for the recording companies - Vivendi SA's Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group Corp and EMI Group PLC - declined to comment.
MySpace has been a popular music hub for years, prompting established acts and unknown bands alike to create profile pages that often let visitors stream a few songs. Bands on MySpace also can sell downloads of original music directly through their profile pages.
The company may be looking for ways to maintain its lead on rival social network Facebook, which has been gaining in popularity.
With sales of CDs in a protracted decline, recording companies have licensed their content for sale as unprotected MP3s and for free streaming on ad-supported sites such as imeem.com and Last.fm.
News Corp faces a potential deal hurdle with Universal, the largest of the recording companies.
Universal sued MySpace in 2006, claiming the portal illegally encouraged its users to share music and music videos on the site without permission. That lawsuit is still pending.
Sony BMG is a joint venture of Sony Corp and Bertelsmann AG.
©AAP 2008

Doing Business With China

Paymate cashes in on China Business

Julian Bajkowski
The Australian Financial Review | 21 Feb 2008 | Page: 52 | Information

It might be small, but a privately held Australian online commerce upstart has scored a big victory in its tussle with eBay to get onto the silk road to China.

Paymate, which has just six employees, yesterday confirmed that it had been handed an exclusive deal to provide the gateway for local exporters to sell into China through AliPay, the online transactions arm of Hong Kong-listed Chinese internet auction house Alibaba.
To be announced today as a part of the China Australia Business Summit, the deal will hand
Paymate the rights to have payments made in Australian dollars directly from the bank accounts of about 62 million registered Chinese buyers, in the same way PayPal transactions have carved out a lucrative niche connecting buyers and sellers on eBay.

Please go the original article to read the full story.
Check out the following links:
Paymate
Alibaba

Q1. What is significant about Paymate making the deal with Alibaba?
Q2. What are some of this issues in doing business in China?
Q3. What is Alibaba?

Why Do Businesses Need Social Networking?

What business value is there in social networking? There is an enthusiastic push from many marketing commentators that businesses should take advantage of opportunities to use social networking on the web. So what can a business use social networking for?

Inside CRM, on on-line journal has published a list of 50 social networking web sites, with comments on their possible uses for a business. Some appear to offer business value, others may not. What do you think?

1. Is there real marketing value in social networking web sites?
2. Which social networking web sites appear to be the best for marketing?
3. What other social networking web sites could be of business value?

In case the article from Inside CRM is not available there is a copy of the article on our Market Wiz Web site