Money, murder, manga, and several other things that regrettably do not begin with “m” dominated this week’s Asia tech news. Plus, with hundreds of millions in the continent devoted to their social messaging apps, it’s no surprise that we also saw major developments from Line, KakaoTalk, and WeChat.
Willis’ pick: CocCoc: Russian-Financed Search Engine To Spend $100 Million to Beat Google in Vietnam
To invest $100 million in a local search engine is kinda bold. That’s what the Russians did for Vietnam’s CocCoc this week. It’s big news because this sort of investment hardly ever happens at the local level in Southeast Asia. That said, I don’t think it’s a silly investment either. Vietnam’s internet penetration is on the rise and from what I understood from Minh, our American-Vietnamese correspondent, CocCoc does serve Vietnamese users much better than Google. Plus, online search ads in Vietnam is probably worth more than $100 million.
Vanessa’s pick: Taiwanese Gamer Witnesses Murder in Internet Cafe, Keeps Playing Games in Bloodstained Clothes
I felt the need to share this piece of news on all my social networks due to the prevalence of Genovese syndrome in our society these days. How can anyone, especially in such close proximity, not give assistance or seek help when someone is being stabbed to death? It gets creepy when your gameplay takes precedence over someone’s life and it shows how screwed up her values are, doesn’t it?
Minh’s pick: VietnamWorks, Vietnam’s Top Online Recruitment Site, Gets Acquired By En-Japan
This is probably the biggest news in Vietnam for the week, especially considering that CareerBuilder bought VON in February in a similarly expansionist move. This means that the job recruitment scene in Vietnam is accelerating and it’s really nice to see some exits for companies in Vietnam. This will be inspiring for startups who want to make it big in the country and it’s confirmation that the Vietnamese market does have meat to it.
Emily’s pick: Line Enters E-Book Business With Line Manga
It’s really great to see messaging apps, like Line, venturing into new services. First it was games, and now it’s manga! I won’t say that it is exactly innovative, but it might be advantageous to tap into the pretty huge market of manga readers. It is also interesting to note that KakaoTalk also launched its new KakaoPage publishing platform which allows anyone to create and distribute content.
Enricko’s pick: No Funding, No Rich Daddy, Founder of M-Stars in Indonesia Started Up His Way
Another inspiring story written by Minghao about an Indonesian startup that made its exit, albeit a forced one. One big thing that everyone needs to remind themselves of is the dedication and hard work these founders must put in to get to the state they are in. M-Stars Group’s Joseph Edi Lumban Gaol had to borrow money from family to pay his employees in the early days and spent a lot of sleepless nights fretting over how to keep the company afloat. I have nothing but respect for the guy.
Charlie’s and Steven’s pick: Out of 300 Million Total, Tencent’s WeChat Has 40 Million Overseas Users
Charlie: I’ve been wondering for a while how many of WeChat’s 300 million users were overseas users, and now we know. Just getting to 40 million is an impressive accomplishment, but if Tencent can maintain this growth, I’ll be even more impressed – and, honestly, a little surprised.
Steven: I’ve also been waiting for this kind of official stat. While it’s a fairly good figure, it shows that the global reach of Whatsapp and Line is actually far greater than WeChat’s. But it’s still early days as Tencent WeChat has only had an English name and an overseas audience for a little under 12 months.
Andrew’s pick: WeChat Squashes Rumor: We’re Free to Use
This piece of news indeed put millions of WeChat users at ease. I can’t help but to agree that users shouldn’t pay just to enjoy the service of the biggest mobile chat app in China. However, from the telcos’ perspective, someone has to foot the bill for all that extra data usage on its networks. This battle is not over yet.
Minghao’s pick: KakaoTalk Hits Number 1 Spot in Indonesia’s App Stores and is Looking for Local Partners
Last year, we see strong initiatives from NHN’s Line and Tencent’s WeChat in Indonesia. Now we have a new challenger heading into the world’s fourth most populated country. Looks like an intense fight for market share is about to erupt – or has it already started?
Youshen’s pick: Google Apps for Education to Reach 10 Million Malaysians in New Education Program
It is astonishing to have 10 million Malaysian students, teachers and parents to be deployed on the web-based collaboration suite, Google Apps for Education. I would have expected this move myself given that Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore and India have already “Gone Google”. Worldwide, we see similar adoption by universities such as Stanford, Brown, and UC Berkeley. Targeted at students across 10,000 Malaysian schools, I will also agree that Chromebooks are a great way to learn on and easily access Google Apps for Education.
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The post Staff Picks: 9 Top News Stories this Week in Tech in Asia appeared first on Tech in Asia.