Research in Motion launched its new Blackberry Bold smartphone ­ ­ in Australia last week. And hours later in Hong Kong.

RIM’s COO and former CFO Dennis Kavelman came from Canada to make the presentation but did not announce a start date or pricing for the new model.

The Blackberry Bold is an elegant machine which belongs to a world where work is serious and you stay connected with push email no matter what else you are doing. It is not, as it stands, a challenge to iPhone. Nor does the reverse apply.

Since the company started, 16 million Blackberries had been sold worldwide. Which, in mobile terms, is not a lot. But this is no ordinary mobile.

Blackberry Bold appears to be something of an interim model: business-oriented but with a touch of pizazz. Before the end of the year we should see a model that will have some of the mass attraction of the iPhone but still hang on to Blackberry’s security and some of its business orientation especially pushed email.

How big is it in China?

No one is giving figures but the number would be, comparatively, very small. The BlackBerry has been in available in China since 2006 and seems currently available in Beijing, Tianjin, Nanjing, Shanghai, Hangzhou and Guangzhou.

Research in Motion is considering opening a factory in China.

Speaking at a press conference in Hong Kong, again for the launch of the BlackBerry Bold, Norm Lo, a vice-president of RIM Asia-Pacific said, ‘The mainland is a very strategic market for us and our relationship with China Mobile is for the long term. We’re certainly looking at the country as a potential production base.’
Source: Cellular News

The number of Chinese netizens reached 253 million by the end of June, up 56.2% from 162 million in 2007.

According to the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) this is the most in the world. And no one is arguing.

Facts from the report::

* China has the largest number of broadband subscribers at 214 million, more than 80% of the total domestic Internet population.

* The registered “CN” domain has topped 12.18 million and replaced Germany as the largest country in terms of domain numbers.
* 206 million netizens check news online, about 81.5% of the whole domestic online population.
* About 63.29 million shopped online, or a quarter of the whole domestic Internet population.
* 23.79 million paid money through online means.

China has seen a steady increase in its Internet users in recent years. It reported 210 million Internet users through 2007, while on June 30, 2006, the figure was 123 million.
Source: China View

Australian online job search engine Seek has nearly doubled its stake in Chinese jobs Web site, Zhaopin, to capitalize on the growing jobs market in China.

Seek will invest $45 million to lift its shareholding to 42.9% from 25%.

Macquarie Capital, a unit of Macquarie Group, is investing $110 million. Between them, the Australian outfits are said to be making the largest recent investment in the Chinese online recruitment industry. Consolidated Media Holdings holds a 27% stake in Seek.

Seek director of corporate strategy Jason Lenga said the online jobs classifieds market in China is still relatively immature and he anticipates that the strong growth in recent years will continue.
Source: China Update

Yang Ping is the chief of the local Communist Party of China (CPC) discipline inspection commission in Zhuzhou, Hunan province.

But the 47-year-old is better known among local Internet users as ‘classmate Yang’.

Since he first registered and logged onto the Zhuzhou Forum of Hunan-based news portal on May 14, Yang has posted 216 topics that have garnered huge response from the online community.

One of his postings, titled ‘Eight Problems with Zhuzhou Officials’ Work Style,’ was read 18,697 times and received 502 replies.

Yang is just one of the many government officials and deputies to the local and national legislatures — the people’s congresses — who have come to value the Internet as an important channel for expressing public opinion in the country.

President Hu Jintao (seen in our illustration), when Internet users asked how he spent his time online, during an online chat with them on June 20, said:

‘I log on to view domestic and foreign news, to learn of people’s interests, and to solicit their advice and opinion about the work of our government and Party.
‘I am very interested in the advice and opinions raised.
‘We must listen to the people and lean on their wisdom to do a good job.’

Seeking people’s advice from the Internet is now becoming routine for officials.

At the annual session of the National People’s Congress this year, many representatives worked out their proposals by collecting public opinion from blogs.

Much, much more on this HERE.
Source: English People’s Online Daily

The Register has an uncanny knack of scooping almost all computer publications. It has done it again tracking down the biggest supercomputer installations in the world. A list ranking the top supercomputers in China at the end of 2007:

China Petroleum and Chemical’s IBM, a cluster of servers running on Xeon chips.
China Meteorological Administration, also IBM.
Shanghai Supercomputer Center with a cluster made by Dawning.
The China Meteorological Administration again.

All pretty standard.

The systems ranked 5-10 appear to be identical 1950-core clusters built by HP belong to ‘Gaming Company.’ Which is The9 — a video game distributor.

The9 owns at least 12 of the Top 100 machines in China and may have up to 16 systems on the list.

The9 has at least 18,032 cores of processing power - a mix of Xeons, Opterons and even Itaniums - dedicated to distributing games throughout mainland China.

12 of the top Chinese systems rank among the 500 fastest machines in the world.
10% of China’s top computers work at the single task of sending out video games to the millions of local players.

The9 has licenses to so-called MMORPGs (massively multiplayer online role-playing games) Blizzard’s World of Warcraft, Soul of the Ultimate Nation, Granado Espada and its own Joyful Journey West.

Whence the name The9?

Adding to the existing eight modes of art, namely, painting, sculpture, architecture, literature, music, dance, drama and movie, are online games as the ninth mode.

Hence The9.
Source: The Register

Australian telecom giant Telstra has acquired 55% of Chinese online advertising companies Norstar Media and Autohome/PCPop. No financial details were given.

Norstar operates the popular auto site Che168.com and digital device site IT168.com while Autohome/PCPop, runs auto site Autohome.com.cn (illustrated above) and digital device site PCPop.com.

The controversial head of Telstra, Sol Trujillo, seen here, said the company now owns majority interests in three of the leading Chinese companies in the three key online advertising industry segments: real estate, automobiles and digital devices.

All four of the websites just acquired by Telstra are consumer-focused. They generate revenue primarily through online display advertising and product listing fees.

In 2006, Telstra bought 51% of SouFun.com.
Source: Forbes

As an important part of this year’s Cultural Heritage Day activities, the China Cultural Heritage website has opened in Beijing. Click HERE to visit the site.

The report says: ‘The China Cultural Heritage website, created by the China Relic Information Consultation Center, using modern information technology and network communication tools and backed by digital Chinese cultural heritage information, will provide the public services such as popularizing Chinese cultural heritage information, multimedia displays and interactive communication on the Internet.

‘At present, the website has opened eight channels, and nearly 100 sub-columns, disseminating basic knowledge and information about Chinese cultural heritage and it also provides many interactive network communication services, such as a forum, blog, and consulting.’

All of which is correct.

What the news item fails to mention is that it is all in Chinese. There is no English on the site.

That may be a temporary phase. One would hope so because the site looks totally and utterly fascinating.
Source: English People’s Daily Online

A report, The video games market in China: Moving online, produced by KPMG and the Telecoms Research Project Corporate (TRPC) in Hong Kong and Singapore, noted that growth in the number of online game subscribers is now paralleling that of the Internet and mobile markets.

KPMG, citing a 2007 report from Xinhua News Agency, said China’s online gaming market was worth about $970 million, with over 36 million gamers. Made-in-China online games accounted for $20 million in export revenues, and also commanded a 65% share of the domestic market.

China has been dependent on games produced elsewhere but is now producing its own.

Peter Lovelock, TRPC’s director and deputy director of the Telecoms Research Project, said, ‘The market is developing rapidly in China and there is ample room for further growth and development.’

Another significant trend highlighted in the KPMG report is the increasing use of mobile devices to engage in online multiplayer games.
Source: Business Week

Some points from a report issued by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC):

Internet Cafes are a major internet access point for younger Chinese people. 33.5% of primary and middle school Internet users report accessing the Web from i-cafes, and 47.8% of Chinese netizens under-25 do so. Internet cafes are the primary point of access for 59.5% of rural Netizens, compared with 43.5% of urban users.

The average Chinese netizen spends 16.2 hours per week online. Non-students in the under-25 set are far above this, with an average of 20.8 hours per week. College students average 14.8 hours per week, while primary through high school students average 6.4 hours a week.

CNNIC reports that 73.7% of the Chinese youth internet users under 18 play online games, and primary through middle school students are playing games for an average of 3.3 hours a week. Among middle school students, 5.5% are spending more than 10 hours a week on online games.

The report claims that almost 27.1% of youth Netizens have ‘an inclination toward Internet addiction.’

31% of youth Netizens report having used mobile phones to access the Internet in the six months prior to the survey. College students are the heaviest mobile Internet users, with 40.2% having accessed the Internet during that period.

When it comes to messaging youth, but of course, leads the way. 91.3% for the under-25 against the national average of 81.4%.

CNNIC reports that over 60% of college students report having posted messages on BBSs — 26.6 percentage points above the same figure for overall Chinese Internet users.
Source: Digital Watch

MediaG3, a developer for broadband wireless product, has entered a partnership with the Academy of Broadcasting Science (ABS), a division of China central government State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT).

The idea is perhaps to offer interactive TV coverage and high speed Internet in areas of China.

Peiyu Guo, Director of Information Technology Institute, of ABS said, ‘Broadband wireless technology has tremendous market potential in China, especially in vast regions where cable coverage is not feasible. Proven and cost effective broadband wireless technology and applications are two key solutions to satisfy the huge demand in China. We are very pleased to work with MediaG3 to explore and develop broadband wireless applications for connectivity and delivery.’

There have been two years of testing and now a pilot program is being planned.

In the interior regions and rural areas, there are about 900 million Chinese who are under- served or have no connections to the Internet or interactive TV programs.
MediaG3 may be able to fill that gap.
Source: Earth Times