China launches own mobile browser, Baidu Explorer, tosses currency into clouds

China’s biggest search engine launches its own mobile browser, Baidu Explorer 

China’s biggest search engine launches its own mobile browser, Baidu Explorer

Baidu Campus, Beijing, China. Image by hwanghsuhui, via Wikimedia Commons

Chinese-language search engine Baidu has decided to try and capture the massive mobile internet market in China by launching its own mobile browser, Baidu Explorer. 

Baidu is already the dominant search engine China, which has 538m online users, but with 388m of these users accessing the internet via mobile phones, the company needs to tap into this vast market.

Other mobile products from Baidu include a mobile operating system that appears on low-cost smartphones the company produces with its manufacturing partners. But, with Baidu Explorer, it hopes to reach other smartphone users. The target, according to Reuters, is to have Baidu Explorer downloaded by 80pc of Android users in China by the end of this year.

Though there is already strong competition in the mobile browser market, Baidu claims its browser is 20pc faster than its rivals based on internal tests. It also has strong HTML5 compatibility and users can run HD video through the browser without having to download additional apps or software.

Hopes for 80 per cent penetration by year-end

China’s search-and-plenty-more giant Baidu has flagged a $US1.6 billion cloud investment. The investment, announced with a minimum of detail by CFO Li Xinzhe, will go towards building data centres and hiring staff.

The Chinese search firm also announced the launch of the Baidu Mobile Browser, which it says is designed to compete with Chrome and Safari. It claims a 20 percent performance boost over its rivals based on internal testing.

Briefing Asian journalists last Friday (August 31), Baidu said its mobile browser can play high-definition video without plugins or extra supporting software, according to Reuters.

The company said it hopes that 80 percent of China’s handsets will run its browser by the end of the year. By some astonishing coincidence, 80 percent is also the search market share the company claims in the Middle Kingdom, in the absence of Google, which has clashed with Chinese authorities over search censorship.

During August, Google’s local partner Qihoo launched its own search service, relegating Google to an “alternative search option”.

The Wall Street Journal says Baidu’s cloud plans include remote online storage, as well as API access to its map service which last month overtook Google Maps in China. ®

By Richard Chirgwin • Get more from this author

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Upbeat views on Malaysian property

Tang: ‘Investors from China are big time property purchasers in Singapore.’

Substantial inflows and outflows of investments expected for this year

GEORGE TOWN: Despite the global economic crisis, property investments coming into the country and going to overseas this year are expected to increase substantially.

The recently introduced 10% stamp duty for foreigners buying properties in Singapore has increased the attraction of Malaysia as a property investment destination.

Property investments flowing to Melbourne, Australia, are expected to increase between 15% to 18% this year from RM125mil in 2011, thanks to new housing loans for the Australian market recently introduced by Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank).

Property Talk International Sdn Bhd managing director Steven Cheah said that foreigners showing interest in Malaysian properties had increased significantly this year, compared with the last three years, due to the recent 10% stamp duty introduced in Singapore for foreigners buying homes.

“The other reason is that Kuala Lumpur still remain as one of the few South-East Asian cities with attractive property prices.

“Compared to Jakarta, the price for a prime residential in Kuala Lumpur is about 15% lower.

“The buyers are from Indonesia and China and they show preference for Iskandar, Johor Baru and Kuala Lumpur.

“Indonesians prefer Iskandar because it is close to Singapore,” he said.

The Indonesians and China buyers generally go for properties priced between RM600,000 to RM1.5mil in Iskandar and Kuala Lumpur, while in Penang they go for RM1mil above homes, according to Cheah.

The additional direct flights from Jakarta to Penang by Air Asia had also fueled the interest from Indonesia for Malaysian properties, Cheah added.

This year, Property Talk expects to sell about RM55mil worth of properties located in Johor, Kuala Lumpur, and Penang, compared with over RM20mil achieved for 2011.

“Over the past three months, we have sold over RM25mil worth of properties, comprising 35 residential homes located in Kuala Lumpur and Iskandar, Johor Baru.

“We expect to sell another RM30mil worth of properties, comprising 30 to 40 homes, from Iskandar, Kuala Lumpur, and Penang via three more property exhibitions in Jakarta jointly organised by Malaysia Property Inc and private developers before the year ends,” he said.

An aerial view of Melbourne. Property investments flowing to the Australia’s city are expected to increase between 15% to 18% this year.

 

On investments from Malaysia to Australia, Cheah said the loan interest from Maybank was between 4% to 5% per annum compared with 5.7% to 6% per annum by Australian banks.

“This is why we can expect more Malaysians to take up the loan to invest in Melbourne, Australia this year,” Cheah said, adding that the Maybank housing loan was for Melbourne only.

According to Cheah, Melbourne is the top investment destination for Malaysian property investment funds.

“This is because many Malaysians have relatives who have migrated to Melbourne, where you can find a variety of Malaysian food restaurants.

“According to the latest research from Australian Property Monitors (APM), over the last five years, Melbourne has been the standout performer among the major capital cities for house price growth, with prices increasing almost 30% in just 15 months,” he added.

Meanwhile, Henry Butcher Marketing Sdn Bhd chief operating officer Tang Chee Meng said Henry Butcher had recently set up a property show gallery in Beijing, following the imposition of the 10% stamp duty by the Singapore government for foreigners buying properties in Singapore.

“The gallery, set up two to three months ago, showcases residential properties from Klang Valley, Malacca, and Penang.

“Investors from China are big time property purchasers in Singapore.

“With the 10% stamp duty introduced, Malaysian developers are now trying to attract them over.

“We still need to do a lot of education work in China to promote Malaysia as a property destination, as the awareness is still lacking,” he said.

Tang added there were many enquiries from China investors to buy vacant land to develop residential projects in Malaysia.

“We hope they will undertake development in Malaysia and promote the properties in China.

“This will help to increase more awareness for Malaysian properties in China,” he said.

According to Tang, the global financial crisis which erupted in 2008 and 2009 saw foreign interest for local properties dropped significantly. ”In 2010, we see a return of foreign interest, but the volume and value of property transactions involving foreigners still have not not recovered to anywhere near its peak prior to 2008.

“We believe the pace of investment from overseas will remain flat against last year.

“Besides tapping into traditional sources like Singapore, Hong Kong and Indonesia, Malaysian developers are moving into markets such as South Korea and China.

“China is a vast market and if Malaysian developers are able to educate the investors on the attraction of Malaysian real estate, we may see a surge in foreign interest,” Tang added.

Henry Butcher Marketing director for international marketing Jazmine Goh meanwhile said the global economic crisis had created favourable conditions and opportunities for Malaysians to invest in overseas real estate.

“The economic slowdown in Britain has caused property prices to plunge and coupled with the drop in the value of the pound sterling against the ringgit, properties in the United Kingdom have become more affordable and within reach of middle income Malaysians.

“The mortgage defaults in the United States have also resulted in a lot of opportunities to pick up properties foreclosed by the banks at a fraction of the original price.

“Of course, the fear of the prolonged debt woes in Europe has at the same time resulted in a more cautious attitude being adopted by investors,” Goh said.

The popular investment destinations for Malaysians are Australia, mainly Melbourne and to a lesser extent, Sydney, Perth, Brisbane and Gold Coast as well as London, and Singapore, and more recently, the United States, according to Goh.

By DAVID TAN davidtan@thestar.com.my

Put an end to patent battle

An early settlement of the dispute between Samsung and Apple would benefit consumers and the global mobile device industry as a whole. 

An Apple Inc. iPad 2 and iPhone 4S smartphone, left, and a Samsung Electronics Co. Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet computer and Galaxy S III smartphone are arranged for a photograph in Seoul, South Korea, On Tuesday. (Bloomberg)

SEOUL: Samsung Electronics has suffered a crushing defeat in a landmark patent battle against Apple Inc. A US jury last Friday found that the Korean smartphone maker infringed upon a number of patents held by Apple, while the American tech giant did not violate any of its Korean rival’s intellectual properties.

The jury’s judgement is widely criticised here as unfair. But it is highly likely to be upheld by the California court, dealing a serious blow to Samsung, the world’s largest mobile device producer. Samsung accounted for 32.6% of the global market in the second quarter against Apple’s 16.9%.

The nine-member jury ordered Samsung to pay US$1.05bil (RM3.28bil) in damages to Apple. The damages – much larger than expected – could be doubled or even tripled by the judge overseeing the trial, given the jury’s scathing verdict that Samsung “willfully” infringed on Apple’s coveted patents.

Samsung also faces a US sales ban on its mobile devices. Following the trial win, Apple presented to the judge a list of Samsung products it wants barred. Apple identified eight Samsung smartphone and tablet models but did not include Samsung’s new flagships, the Galaxy S3 and the Galaxy Note. Consequently, the sales ban, even if accepted by the court, is unlikely to have a serious impact on Samsung.

The US court’s ruling could also negatively affect patent battles between the two under way in nine countries over four continents. Unfavourable rulings in these countries would pour cold water on Samsung’s ambition to cement its global market leadership.

Furthermore, the jury seriously wounded Samsung’s pride by slamming it as a copycat. This is an insult hard to swallow, as Samsung has worked hard to secure leadership in mobile technology.

Given the high stakes involved, it is only natural that Samsung has decided to file post-verdict motions to overturn what it saw as the jury’s one-sided judgement. It plans to take the case to the court of appeals if its motions are rejected.

This suggests that the patent war will not end any time soon. Samsung is determined to continue the legal battle to make its case that Apple did encroach upon its hard-won patents for mobile technologies.

At the same time, Samsung is seeking to turn the tables in the next round of the battle by utilising its patents for fourth-generation technologies called “long-term evolution.”

Samsung is betting that it would be able to use some of its LTE patents as weapons against its rival because they have not been made open as industry standards. It is wondering how Apple can produce its next-generation model, the iPhone 5, without using its patented LTE technologies.

In light of Samsung’s technological prowess and deep pockets, the company will be able to overcome the grave challenge it is facing now.

For instance, it won’t have much difficulty paying the US$1.05bil (RM3.28bil) damages set by the jury, given that its net profit amounted to US$4.5bil (RM in April-June alone.

Yet Samsung should learn a lesson from the costly patent war. It is imperative for the company to transform itself from a fast follower to a first mover. It needs to go back to the drawing board to make its products truly innovative both in design and functions. It might want to risk a radical design that can differentiate its products from others.

Apple, emboldened by last Friday’s triumph, may be tempted to expand the patent war to collect royalties from other smartphone makers that rely on Google’s Android operating system. Yet it should realise that no company has ever succeeded in establishing market leadership through patent litigations. A company can only become a market leader through competition in the marketplace.

Apple also needs to know that any attempt to drive Android-based smartphone producers into a corner could backfire in the long term, as it will spur their efforts to become more innovative. With their survival at stake, they will be compelled to change the game as they cannot beat Apple at its own game.

In this regard, we urge Apple and Samsung to reach a deal that can benefit both. Apple could set royalties for Samsung at a level that would not undermine the Korean company’s earnings too much. An early settlement of the dispute would also benefit consumers and the global mobile device industry as a whole.

 
By EDITORIAL DESK

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