mobile TV and TV mobile

In China, people raised the arguments on the mobile TV till so far. Should mobile TV/TV mobile be defined as new media or just the new application on the mobile network? Many experts raised their argument base: someone said content is the most important for the new stuff, just like content does to TV, so better be mobile TV; while someone else said the transmission telecom network is so vital that it is only a new technology developed from the mobile base.

I would say it is both. it will carry the content of course, and it is also part of the mobile service. However, behind all the arguments, the basic question is the power fight between the two regulatory departments, Ministry of Information Industry(MII) regulating telecom companies and the State Administration of Radio Film and Television (SARFT).With the merging of the industries regulated by the two regulators, the conflicts has increased a lot, from the Internet shown on TV, to the TV shown on the mobile. The two departments not only has diffferent opinion on how to regulate the new services, but also support different technical standards. For example, the SARFT proposed a new standard, named China Mobile Multimedia Broadcasting, using the STiMi standard, and annouced to use it during the Beijing Olympics 2008; however, the stanford is not very accepted by the MII and the mobile carriers.

The deeper side is also on the two regulators' industry. MII, as one of the nation's pinoeers, has encouraged the competition between telecom carriers and the overseas listing of the four largest telecom companies. The telecom industry created the revenue of over 600 billion yuan last year, almost 7 times of the revenue created by the media industry (regulated by SARFT) with only 88.9 billion yuan. It is understandable that the SARFT may feel a little envy towards the peer. But they should learn more from the peer instead of just trying to grab from MII. Taking a look at the SARFT, it is easily found the pieces containing keywords such as "forbidden", "stop","warning". In fact, the development of an industry should be depend on the regulator's positive attitude, while "forbidden" is definitely not the right word.

We have seen the fast development of Chinese mobile carriers and their must improved customer services. ( if you tried 10086, the customer service line of China Mobile). But then people are still complaing the higher and higher charge of cable fees but still bad customer service of cable companies(usually just TV stations). If customers are satisfied, they will pay more, and in reverse, they will not pay when they could be satisfied. so either mobile TV or TV mobile, who could provide a better service, who will win.

Should Hang Seng index always follow U.S. market?

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index always follows U.S. market, a very easy way for traders to judge its daily up and down. So did today. Now the problem is not only on how the suprime mortgage problem will be solved, but on if the investors' confidence will be rebuilt. The mortgage crisis should just directly affect property and banking stocks. However, funds have been selling out their portfolios because of large amount of redeeming, which as a result leading to the stock falling down in all sectors.

Are investors in Hong Kong too nervous now? I believe so. The market, with over half of the market value from mainland firms, is not the same as the U.S. market. For example, housing and related industry generates over one quarter of U.S.' GDP, while China is still dominated by the prosperous manufacturing industry. Also, the liquidity is totally different: U.S. and European banks have to ask capital injection from central banks, while Chinese banks have enough cash and deposits on hand to meet the loan demand. Just saw one piece quoted Yi Xianrong, a Chinese academic, saying China is even worse than U.S., while I really don't think so. China's personal loan market is still developing very fast from infant, compared to a mature market like U.S. . So Hong Kong investors and traders should realize this huge difference, and react differently. If Hong Kong really wants to build itself as an international finance center, it should always have its own stand. Stock market is one example.

Gmail's keyword ads

Do you often click on Google's Ads when you using your email?

I don't, and never did. I may do it when I use the search engine since it is something I want to know. But for email, I seldom take a look at the ads link on the right since it is not my priority to know more.

Yesterday, found something interesting. I typed something in the sequence of ABC, but then saw accidentally the ads on the rights including some company named in the sequency of ACB. Oh, if that's the truth, then it has nothing to do with my email content. Then I guess who is going to click that.

To me, the ads integrated in the searching engine is something really smart, since that will help boost match between info searchers and advertisers. But for ads inside the email, I still doube the profitability. People writing the email are not in the intention to find something. Then why bother clicking into it?

It's just a deal

When we say Murdoch's deal of Dow Jone, many people just consider it as a bad thing. Here I got someone saying Don't be afraid of Murdoch on NYTimes. In fact, every newsroom gets controlled in some way. It's not Murdoch who set an example of this. Reporters are always the lowest class in the newsroom. So I would not say it is Murdoch's fault for reporters to lose their freedom and independence, it just depends on the boss of the newsroom. All the people get judgement, and it is not a surprise when you meet someone.

So there must be some way to work it out to a more independent and fair news world in this new media era.

Could Jimmy Wales compete with Google?

Seems Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, finally said and did something official against Google. From the starting of Wiki, I could smell the competition against Google since Wiki is a place where people could search definite answer instead of going to good for infinite results. The article in the above link compared Jimmy Wales vs Google with Linux vs Windows. Hmmm, personally, I don't think it is quite right since we still see an innovative Google which has more edge in the research more than monopoly. But it will never hurt to have more search engines, especially professional and vertical ones. I once had the opportunity to talk to Jimmy in Hong Kong, of course, as a big fan. He is very smart, a former hedge fund manager now dedicated to Internet. So I will not doubt his ability to do something outstanding. Let's see.

It's good to see the strategy change for China Mobile

First, I didn't know if it is true or not that China Mobile is behind U.K. private equity group Terra Firma on buying the music company EMI. But at least, it shows that China Mobile is having some new thoughts on buying into the content side, instead of the old thoughts of only buying mobile carriers. That's a good thing for the mobile conglomarate, holding at least 10 billion U.S. dollars in hand, to start thinking the expansion out of mobile network.

I have argued for long that China Mobile will not have the same high profit margin as it used to be on voice usage. The central government has been pressing it to lower the calling fee, cancel the called fee and reduce the profitable roaming fee. So what will be the next profit source for China Mobile, as well as the next big good news to the stock market? Of course, it will be good to see the giant turning itself into a content producer who will connect its wide network to distribute the content. Since China Mobile doesn't own any celebrity now, it is perfect to buy a music company owning a lot of celebrities and music copyrights. We may soon expect China Mobile to stop using celebrity from other companies, and instead, using the one from EMI. (at least saving some costs)

Financing Terra Firma, a private equity, will be a smart decision since Terra knew EMI with the same country origine, and it is already a familiar idea to Chinese regulator after the country's foreign reserve firm buying into Blackstone, a U.S. private equity.

But the problem beyond this is if China Mobile is able to handle an international company since it hasn't run any worldwide business before. Also, music business is very different from the monopoly mobile business. China Mobile needs more talents to support this strategy advance.

But all in all, we expect a smooth and enjoyable music downloading process when using China mobile service.

Another Disney is needed in China

Sorry for not posting frequently these days. A friend was visiting Hong Kong last days and I am her full tour guide.

Hong Kong Disneyland is one of the must-to-visit for many mainland tourists, including my friend. Frankly speaking, you couldn't expect much in a hot summer like these days. More terrible, it is a summer holiday season for many kids who do like Mickey and Minnie. Though the world's smallest Disney theme park, it is tidy, cute and fun. The size is not a problem, but the cultural differences are more important. Most of the staffs are Hong Kong native of course, and they could speak definitely good Cantonese and English. Mandarin, to them, is not strange, but definitely not as good as their mother tongue. Especially, the programs are very different from the one we grew up since the childhood. The cartoon Donald Duck looks similar, but we are more familiar with the Chinese voice of Li Yang, instead of the English one or Cantonese one. Especially, for some interactive program, languages become a huge problem and I don't think my friend, who couldn't understand Cantonese, could enjoy the program as it is supposed to be. I remember I went to another theme park in Shenzhen, where my friends and I could enjoy the conversation from staffs and learn the culture from the Mandarin tour guide. But in Disney, I feel nothing.

So maybe there should be another Disney in Mandarin version if Warner Brother really wants to expand in China. At least it will help Mandarin-speaking people understand more, and reduce the language load of Hong Kong Disneyland.

Do you need a video resume?

How many times you have sent your word or pdf resume to the potential employers? Now you have another tool, making a video resume.

Yahoo put it as the headline today and it sounds very interesting. The video resume, created by the website workblast.com, in fact will show a much more vivid way of the applicants, instead of several lines of your past working experiences and education. Now, you have the chance to speak for yourself, not just write for yourself.

But will employers want to use this to sort out thousands of application? probably not. Employers tell the right candidates(at least the one who will pass the first round interview) by a five-second look through on the paper resume, not a ten-minute video watching on each one.

So my suggestion is that employers could use video resume for the second-round interview before meeting the candidates in person. It will save the effort to judge if the candidates have the fluent speaking ability, and in some extent, their character.

Anyway, fun to make a video resume now, especially if you want to apply a job to some online video companies:)

Will this be the trend?

Just found an very interesting new media project named Assignment Zero started by a vetaran journalism professor Jay Rosen and Wired News. The inniative is to allow citizen and non-trained journalists to contibute their stories, non 100 percent perfect, and the professionals to be responsbile in editting them. The former journalists will act more like an editor on the stories from various resources submitted by the grassroots. Take a look at the website, and it seems to be really easy to be a journalist. Have five minutes? Or five hours? Like to research, write, or conduct interviews? Do you have prior journalism experience or none at all? Any way you dice it, we can use your help.

I believe this is a good way to lead to good online journalism. Now we see too much rubbish content on the web now, and you have to stand it. If there will be someone to help them more clear and understandable, that would be great.

But the problem is that how to maintain the diversity of the content by raising their standards. Journalists usually have a certain way to write the stories, but the readers may want more, something funny, something simple and something easy. Could we achieve the quality and the diversity at the same time? That will be a question.

Is the theme of Allen & Co's 25th conference in Sun Valley possible?

"Cooperation, not mutual destruction"

It should be a smart business motto everywhere, not only in media. but is it easy to achieve? In the Allen conference, we hear this theme talked by many ppl, but then we see the case in which Viacom is trying to take down the Youtube and its owner Google by a US$1 billion deal. It is not sure how this will end, but definitely it is a good example of mutual destruction just as Netscape VS Internet Explorer, or the Napster VS several big music production companies years ago. Google is definitely a strong rival for Viacom, at least strong capital backup for Youtube. So it may be a fair competition now, and let's see who will win.

Speaking of destruction, in fact, the deals should also be counted in. The long-time rumor that Microsoft is going to buy at least part of Yahoo will give us a better idea on the deal that act both as cooperation (between Microsoft and Yahoo) and destruction(to Google and other small newcomers)

So let's forget the theme. It is a competitive market and a ruthless world. Cooperation sometimes is destruction, and you have to survive from it with right business strategy and partners, instead of bearing a well-known motto.

my terrible mathmatic skills

I was reviewing my mathmatic skills these days and then suddenly I forgot how to use the derivatives of a function in my statistics course during college. I was once very good at all the mathematics course, but now seems I forgot to calculate the value of the derivatives of ln(x). How terrible it is!!!

It keeps me wondering how much we miss mathematics, one of the best brain exercise. I became lazy since I have calculator and Microsoft excel. But I still remember the chidhood time when I could easily tell the total number of money my mother should pay for a bunch of goods she bought in the supermarket, much faster than the salesman could tell.

When people grow up, it is easily to assume things based on the previous experience or the tools in the hand, instead of really looking into the problem and figuring out themselves.

Market is the same. We all think Hong Kong market is a grown-up or mature market(everyone thinks it is much more advanced than Shanghai market, to my knowledge). But in fact, is it true? Here is just one example happened days ago when several big Chinese telecom carriers, all of which listed in Hong Kong, annouced a reshuffle in the senior management. Some top securities firms issued analyst reports saying this reshuffle showed the sign of a possible 3G license granting very soon. And the market responded positively.

However, if they could do more research on this, the reshuffle is among the senior management who is in charge of due dilligence or anti-corruption, which means it is more of a sign of bureaucratic move before the 17th National People's Congress later this year. So to the market, it is nothing, at least nothing related to 3G.

A short example shows how Hong Kong and mainland stock analysts have different opinions on certain news, which directly decides on different stock price move. Hong Kong, as a grown-up, should practice the basic skills better to have a view of an insider, instead of an outsider.

So let's do our math harder.

Media moguls in the valley

seems all the American media moguls are showing in the silicon valley for the Allen&Co media conference now. And people expect some big deal like Google's acquisition of Youtube will happen after those private giggle chatting. I saw some new but familiar company names such as Facebook, Joost(created by the skype founder), Ning(created by Marc Andreessen, a co-founder of Netscape) and Slingbox. So will there be some big deal? and we will see.

But I have a question: will the small companies always be bought to support the future growth of big companies? If that's true, then we will see no big changes like those brought by Microsoft or Google. See if that day IBM bought Microsoft or Yahoo bought Google, do we still enjoy a colorful and diversified and convenient computer world now? probably not. So in terms of that, I hope those small companies could think big and do something really coloful besides attractive to the big brothers.

Hong Kong, ten year anniversary

"What you were doing on July 1 1997?" A friend asked me today.

Wow, that's really a good question to me. And I've no idea. It should be a holiday for me that day since I was still in the school. But I totally forgot. The question reminded me the thing I learnt from a U.S. friend. He told me that everyone remembered what they were doing when they heard President Kennedy was assassinated.

So at that time, Hong Kong, to me, must be some place really far way, and really have no emotional connection.

However, now, in 2007, I am here. It is the city's 10 year anniversary of being transferred back to China from the Britain. And Hong Kong has become a big topic in China these days. All mainland media started very early, long time before July on doing the celebration and interview on the 10 year change.

Hong Kong people's feelings must be complicated, as of my understanding of them for these years. Their feeling to the mother country as well as the people in the country must be complicated, too.

When I first arrived in Hong Kong, two friends and me went to a very famous shop in Central selling egg tarts, the sales lady kept guessing we are from Singapore, instead of mainland, since we are very smily and dressed decently.

After going back, we had the conclustion that mainland Chinese, to them, are most likely to be someone really cool, never talk, and dress really poor clothes.

However, it's very common now to meet people speaking Mandarin now. and no one will guess I am from Singapore again. Today, the sales person in the shoe shop tried hard to speak Mandarin to mainland Chinese shoppers. one thing that couldn't be denied is that the CEPA and the policy to open the individual tours to Hong Kong helps the city recovered from the shadow of Asian financial crisis.

Now I started to have more and more Hong Kong friends, and I learnt a close city from them. This is the place where you could be spoiled by the efficiency, the rule obey and the high quality service.

I will feel really hard to leave this city.

Are women born to be the housewives?

It has been some really busy day for me. Meeting new friends, calling old friends, and again and again. Amazing both a new girl friend and an old girl friend are telling me the same wishes: they want to be housewive later. Wo...bo, is the era changing so fast that I haven't paid attention? Are women back to the era to be the housewives?

The new girl friend, a charming young lady and former investment banker, said she would consider to quit the career after she gives birth to the children during a lunch this week. What?? my first response is a big, or huge questionmark. She is such a capable woman, having a very decent job and a very bright future in the career path. Why give up? I asked. "Women are born to be able to give birth to children, and then take care of them". Her answer is.

Still yet to get rid of this amazing impression to me from this friend, I called another girl friend to find exactly the same thing. "I want to quit my job if I find someone rich to marry; just be relaxed everyday, shopping, playing pokers, that will be such a wonderful life", said my friend who is one year younger than me and now works as the strategic planner in a big state-owned Chinese company.

My god.... why those well-educated women all have the same thoughts to give up the career so soon? Is the society becoming too competitive for women to survive, or they are just too lazy to fight for the career promotion?

Now I understand why women are less and less in the senior position. If they are in, many of them are considered "jerk" among all the black-and-white tie men. This is not definitely a healthy trend, and could someone do something? I couldn't help thinking.

a 10,000 rmb offer for refering a right CFO

My friend Marc in Shanghai is looking for a CFO for his company, and the reward is 10,000 rmb for people refering the right person. maybe you know the right guy, and could make a quick money.

Who will gain clients, mobile manufacturers or mobile operators?

Have read from a Wall Street Journal feature piece on the flight last week on a struggle between U.S. mobile manufacturers such as RIM(which makes blackberry) or Nokia and mobile carriers such as AT&T? Seems manufacturers want to serve with more free, built-in functions in the handsets, while the carriers refused to accept or replace with its own charged service instead. This is a very awkward situation, and seems the users are the only ones suffer.

This has been a arguable issue for long. Mobile carriers have been the one who deal with the clients face to face, and they are the monopoly. How manufactuers could provide multi-functional and popular services to clients without passing through carriers is such a difficult question. The carriers now act as a bottleneck for the more advanced technology and services. Someone who could get around will be the one who change the business.

Google's alliance with Sina.com

After getting rid of shares of Baidu, Google now found a new and strong partner, Sina.com. I found it yesterday afternoon when I went to the www.iask.com, the search engine of Sina. When I searched among all the websites, the Google website was poped up.

Is it a good deal? In terms of money, Sina, who definitely will share the adsense revenue with Google, will make some dollars. Google, seeking access to China's Internet users, will also reach its purpose.

However, I don't think it is a good deal(please pay attention, here is just my opionion, not a news story).

First, Sina's strength is its news story. I once wrote a story earlier on the advantages of different search engines, and to me, the news search of Sina.com is a very useful too. And I believe many other users have the same experience. But the deal this time seems didn't include the news search, and users will still stick to Sina, instead of Google.

Second, the Google still lacks the strength in the searching in Chinese compared with Baidu.com. Its Chinese content is not as complete as Baidu. Also, the cache searching is not as good as Baidu, too. Cache searching is one of the good reason for people to use search engines. Even if the website disappeared or the content was removed, the cache would still exist and provide the useful information. However, Google's cache is still unavaible in China for reasons everyone knows. This will still inhibit people's enthusiasm towards using Google.

All in all, Google and Sina should develop further in the partnership, say, improve the Chinese searching and cache searching, and share the more valuable resource with more trust, in order to compete with others.

Flickr got blocked

when I was in the mainland this week, I found I couldn't use the flickr anymore. seems you could go to the website, but the images will not be shown normally. I thought it was the problem of my computer, then found Marc had the same problem with the website. This was outrageous.

the most dangerous thing for China's business world

The most dangerous thing is to consider all the business as politics. Right, part of the business is directly related with politics, but business rule is not same with politics. And it is so dangerous to play with that, since businessmen will turn into politician some day. That's very dangerous since you will lose your direction. Making money or having power, you could only choose one.

one of my last trips in the Post

I hate saying the word "last", but now I am counting my last days with the Post. Don't ask where i will go(though many one already did). It will be a new adventure which will be very much challenging. Give me your best wishes, and thanks.

I am now in Tianjin to attend a very big private equity conference. Tianjin, to my surprise, has developed much more quickly than I thought. The municipal government officials seem working very hard to improve the city's development. Despite of all the bad stories happened to the government officials, you could find a lot of them are still working hard, even harder than investment bankers. You could say that's their responsibility, but that deserve respectation.

This may be the last business trip in my Post days. I'm happy to end this in Tianjin. Now, 1:41am, I am still preparing for my interviews tomorrow. I always find it is the responsibility and curiosity which drive my work as a journalist. and some time before, for the trust and confidence given by the others. That makes those sleepless trips interesting and fulfilled. Those feelings are much more complicated than working for money(which was assumed for granted by many others). And I am very grateful that I could experience all this when I am still very young.

The past one week was very hard for me. lost the close touch with some good friends. Friends, to me, are very important. and I know I should cherish every friend forever without asking any return.

Now, have to go to sleep to prepare the 7:00am morning briefing.