When historians in decades to come look back on this week, they will agree that it was indeed a week in which time passed and things happened; baby bunnies born, Popes elected, love made, dreams shattered. Plus lots of tech news developments across Asia.
Emily’s pick: Line is getting Into bed with Vietnam’s telcos
Mobile messaging apps are all the rage in this region, with each company trying to bite a larger portion of the huge Asian market share. This week, we received news that NHN’s Line has already kickstarted its push into the Vietnam market by partnering with mobile telcos – perhaps to prevent something like this happening. Is such a partnership a smart move?
Youshen’s pick: Check out the numbers on China’s top 10 social media sites (Infographic)
With nearly 600 million social media users and a 60 percent increase in social sharing in the past year, I certainly feel that China will continue to see a huge boom in social media adoption. Given social media’s penetration rate of 91 percent amongst netizens, China will remain a very promising and exciting web market. How will Chinese businesses continue to innovate to reach out to consumers on these social networking sites?
Minh’s pick: China’s Baidu has a fun animated doodle for Pi Day (GIF)
What can I say? I’m a big fan of playful people and playful marketing. I’m also a big fan of math and science, so with Baidu doing its own unique tribute to pi for ‘Pi Day’, I’m very happy. And I do hope Baidu continues playing around with stuff like this. Maybe it’s not big news but levity is always nice.
Willis’ pick: Indonesia: A market that can’t be ignored
Is Indonesia a market that is overly-hyped? I don’t think so and research proves likewise. This post by our Enricko highlights the confidence of local Indonesians through interviews and also through BCG’s research report. I particularly like this chart which really summarizes Indonesia’s potential in years to come. There will be 141 million middle-class and affluent consumers by 2020 in Indonesia. That number is 23 times larger than today’s Singapore population.
Minghao’s pick: Games still going strong, VNG reports over $90 million In revenue for 2012
I don’t think VNG’s $90 million revenue and high growth for 2012 came as a surprise to many. They are the leading gaming company in Vietnam and it has ventured into many other verticals such as social media, messaging apps, and mobile browsers. With Vietnam’s internet and mobile penetration rate increasing rapidly, we should expect VNG to show only stronger finances and growth in the years to come. I hope they can continue to scale and become one of the inspiring success stories that entrepreneurs in Vietnam and Southeast Asia can look up to.
Enricko’s pick: The next step for North Korea’s internet: Buying a Great Firewall from China
North Korea is slowly opening up to the international world – yes, very slowly and fitfully. But the possibility is there when North Korea one day decides to let its people jump on the web, just like China has done in the past decade or two. Though it won’t necessarily be a free and open internet.
Charlie’s pick: Nearly 35% of Android apps in China are stealing private data
China’s Android market is a wild place, but this latest study from DCCI shows it’s probably even wilder than some people realize. A big percentage of China’s most popular Android apps are stealing user data in some pretty shocking ways.
Steven’s pick: China’s state TV accuses Apple of bias against Chinese customers
Yesterday was ‘consumer rights day’ in China, which meant that China’s state TV broadcaster, CCTV, once again devoted many of its programmes to consumer issues. CCTV’s biggest target this year was Apple. I’d recommend that after reading Charlie’s article, you also jump over to TeaLeafNation to see how the TV channel’s campaign against Apple went off the rails and became a source of outrage among Chinese netizens last night.
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The post Staff Picks: 8 Top News Stories this Week in Tech in Asia appeared first on Tech in Asia.