10 Predictions for China’s Internet in 2011

10 predictions for China’s Internet from Dick Wei of JP Morgan. Although published in January, all the predictions still look pretty much valid up until now.

(1) eCommerce to see wider adoption, driven by convenience, lower-price alternatives to traditional retail, and improved trust & safety. Gross merchandise volume (GMV) is expected to reach Rmb723B in 2011, or less than 4% of retail sales.

(2) Social commerce. Expect social sites to be an emerging and important traffic generator for eCommerce companies. Synergistic relationship between social networks and commerce merchants will fuel growth for both segments.

(3) Gaming segment likely to see re-rating with good game titles launch. Highly anticipated games in 2011 include Duke of Mountain Deer, World of Warcraft Cataclysm, etc., which could generate greater player interest and, as such, sector rerating.

(4) Video advertising to prompt ad dollar shift from TV to internet. With the recent IPO of Youku, a broader range of online video content, growing online video user base, and a familiar ad format, TV advertisers are likely to accelerate the ad budget shift from offline to online.

(5) Mobile Internet to see increased competition. We expect Internet leaders like Baidu and Tencent to formally launch middle-ware products that could include third party application distribution platforms; compete with existing players UCWeb other mobile game platforms.

(6) Search continues to see solid growth, with wider market adoption. Baidu still maintains dominance, other players such as Soso and Sogou still unlikely to gain meaningful market share.

(7) Solid consumer spending trend supports good advertising segment growth. Expect continued good macro environment to support consumer spending. We believe the sector growth story remains intact: Internet usage growth, particularly in lower-tier cities, to drive ad budgets online.

(8) Expect transition from time-base pricing to CPM-base pricing to accelerate in 2011, but remain gradual, driven by user-segregation and better online adserving/tracking technology. Yet, leading portals will still benefit from their own brand influence.

(9) 2011 Rmb appreciation to improve sector profitability. Expect sector margins to have very slight improvements from Rmb appreciation, as only a small portion of costs are in US dollars (game licensing fee, overseas video/sports content fee, and some servers, etc.). Benefits to come from translation gains from Rmb-denominated EPS to US$-denominated EPS.

(10) More IPOs likely in 2011. We expect investors will likely continue to look for growth investment opportunities in 2011. We think China’s internet segment offers good secular growth, as well as a number of sizable private companies. We believe more new listings are likely.

Feel free to add any predictions on top of the 10 listed above.

iPad 2 - Truly Enterprising Chinese

With iPad 2 launched only in the US on March 11, hardcore buyers in China are able to get their hands on it by the same weekend thanks to the ever enterprising Chinese who had sent their troops to station near the Apple Store located on the Fifth Avenue, New York. These chinese scalpers had paid people to line up to purchase the iPad 2. No wonder the iPad 2 were completely sold off minutes after it was opened.

Back in China, the same item was sold between $1,700 to $2,000. Crazy premium taking into consideration that the highest retail price of iPad 2 in the United States is only 829 USD. While there is little that Apple could do to stop this rampant trade, what they could do in the future is to have a same date for worldwide release or perhaps a shorter release date for China.

iPad 2 - Will It Blend?

iPad 2 completely blended and destroyed... Hilarious as hell as always coming from the guys from Will it Blend..

New iPhone 4 TV Ads

Here are 3 new iPhone 4 TV ads that just went live.

Apple launches iPad 2

Apple has unveiled the new iPad 2 promising a device that is twice as fast as its predecessor.

The product, announced by Steve Jobs himself in a rare public appearance since his latest medical leave, is also one third thinner and 15% lighter than the original iPad.

The iPad 2 will begin shipping in the US on March 11 and internationally on March 25.

It will use a new dual-core A5 processor, and be powered by iOS 4.3. The base version will have 16GB of memory, scaling up to 64GB on the highest-end model. It will come in black and white from launch.

It will use the same screen as the original iPad, but use new graphics processing capabilities that Jobs said promises a ninefold speed boost.

As expected, the device will come with two cameras, including a front-facing one capable of recording 720p HD video.

The base model will have an RRP of $499 in the US, the same as the first iPad. To coincide with the launch, prices for the original models have been shaved by $100.

Apple's first-mover advantage should help it enjoy a market lead over Android until at least 2015, when devices based on Google platforms overtake those on Apple's iOS by a margin of 36% to 35%.