Christmas time is here. Soon, China’s tech companies will be waking up, rubbing the sleep from their eyes, and running downstairs to see what Santa has left for them under the tree this year.
OK, maybe not. Christmas isn’t that big a thing in China, and China’s tech companies aren’t little children. But on a holiday that’s known internationally as a day to give and get gifts, everybody’s got something they want. Here’s are the Christmas gifts China’s top tech companies are hoping could bring them success in the new year.
Xiaomi
What it wants: Patents.
Why it wants it: Xiaomi may have conquered China, but its global ambitions are being stymied because of patent-related lawsuits. Its India ban could be just the tip of the iceberg, and the company has already started to put money into developing more of its own original IP.
Alibaba
What it wants: Video games.
Why it wants it: Alibaba has shown strong signs recently that it’s interested in the gaming market, with its new mobile gaming platform and its rumored interest in creating a video game console. But the company doesn’t really have any amazing games it can use to attract gamers to either of these projects at the moment.
Qihoo 360
What it wants: A smartphone.
Why it wants it: Qihoo has been trying to get into the smartphone game for a couple of years now, but partnerships with everyone from Haier to Huawei haven’t panned out. Now the company has teamed up with Coolpad, but with the recent security scandal casting that decision in a less flattering light, Qihoo will be wishing that Santa would just leave a hit smartphone under the tree this year and leave it at that.
Baidu
What it wants: A time machine.
Why it wants it: Baidu has been working on a variety of cool, futuristic things like deep speech, smart bikes, and self-driving cars. But none of this cool stuff is quite available to the public yet, and a quick jump forward in time might be all Baidu needs to change its global reputation from “Chinese search king” to one of the world’s leading tech innovators.
Sina
What it wants: A time machine.
Why it wants it: Remember when Weibo was the hot new social network? It wasn’t crippled by censorship restrictions, and no one was talking about how difficult it was to monetize…those were the days. Plus, in a year where other tech companies made tons of investments into other growth industries, Sina seems to have been comparatively standing still. Baidu may want to jump forward a couple of years in time, but we suspect Sina would like to jump a few years into the past.
Tencent
What it wants: Luck.
Why it wants it: It has the hottest social platform in China, it dominates China’s PC and mobile gaming markets, and it spent the last year investing in everything under the sun so that no matter what the future brings, Tencent has a stake in it. It would certainly seem that Tencent’s in a good position already, but if it turns out to have bet on the right horses with this year’s investments, it could be a completely dominant figure within a few years.
Didi Dache & Kuaidi Dache
What they want: Regulators to ignore them.
Why they want it: China’s taxi apps grew like wildfire this year, but these two rank among the country’s most valuable startups. The only problem: they operate in a legal gray area in some cities, and it hasn’t been entirely decided yet whether all of their services are legal in all of China’s megacities. The wrong regulatory ruling could virtually shut them down in major markets, so although the companies are competitors they’ll both be hoping that Santa can convince China’s regulators to go easy.
This post What China’s tech companies want for Christmas appeared first on Tech in Asia.
What China’s tech companies want for Christmas
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