4 minutes estimated reading time
Yandex
Yandex Reports Revenue Up 37% In Q4, Ad Network Revenue Nearly Doubles – Russian search giant Yandex reported a strong Q4 2013 today, with overall revenue up 37 percent from Q4 2012 and continued growth in text-based advertising – Yandex is the sleeping giant of the search world. My friend and fellow former Yahoo Vish Makhijani had worked with them for a number of years. Like Tencent Yandex has innovated in a number of areas from probably the best image search to Uber like services.
Business
How Big Oil Gave Up On the Climate
The architect of Qualcomm’s tech licensing empire invests in networking upstart MagnaCom
Sony says PlayStation4 sales exceed 5.3 million | Japan Today
HP might have known about Autonomy irregularities – Financial Times finds smoking emails
Consumer behaviour
This Map Shows The Countries Where WhatsApp Is Used The Most
Japan and South Korea spend the most money per capita on apps | Techinasia – Japan and South Korea led growth in money spent on mobile apps last year, according to the latest joint report from mobile analytics firm App Annie and market research firm IHS. Game apps led the surge, growing 4.4 times and 5.8 times year-on-year in Japan and South Korea, respectively
US auto buyers shun social media – Car buyers in China are four times more likely than those in the US to be influenced in their purchasing decisions by social media a new study has found
How A Post-90 Chinese Girl Built A Successful Brand
Economics
HSBC flash China PMI falls to lowest in 7 months | South China Morning Post – more on what this could mean later
China Moves to End Its Codependency with US | Yale Global Online
This good news might actually be bad news: Americans are borrowing big again – The great American de-leveraging is over. American household borrowing jumped by $241 billion in the fourth quarter of 2013, compared to the prior three months. That’s the largest jump since the third quarter of 2007
China’s manufacturing hits 7-month low | RTHK
Finance
Dodgy dealings in China’s steel trade puts some big banks at risk – China’s iron ore imports are through the roof: the record-high 86.8 million tonnes (96 million tons) of foreign iron ore China bought in January was a 32% increase on the previous year. What’s weird is that the ore didn’t actually go anywhere
Ingenico, Gemalto Morgan Stanley Leaders in Mobile Payments; Apple in the Wings | TechTraderDaily
China’s Mobile Payment Turnover Soared 317% YOY to $1.59 Trillion in 2013 | Technode – data from People’s Bank of China
FMCG
Glaxo Memo Shows Drug Industry Lobbying on E-Cigarettes – Bloomberg – Nicorette threatened by e-cigarettes, wants to protect lucrative business
Herbalife is doing great in China—but maybe not for long – Nu-Skin mark II?
Coca Cola’s business is being diluted by water | Quartz
Ideas
WhatsApp and the Erosion of the Network Effect – not too sure that the network effect no longer applies, the utility increases as your social circle congregate on one platform
Microsoft cries out to UK government against open source – self-serving bullshit
Innovation
Mitsubishi Develops Compact EV Motor With Built-in SiC Inverter | Nikkei TechOn – smaller cooler motors for electric cars etc
Luxury
Haute Cuisine – designer brands extending from apparel into restaurants, one missed by the article is Agnes B who has a chain of cafes in Hong Kong
Burberry partners with WeChat to strengthen online presence in China – Burberry has announced a digital innovation partnership with Chinese social network WeChat, in order to engage its Chinese customer base and further establish itself on the growing international platform
Marketing
Yahoo Debuts Gemini Native Ad Product for Mobile Search – Yahoo introduced Yahoo Gemini today, which it is calling the “first unified marketplace for mobile search and native advertising.”
2014 PR Trend Forecast: Consumer Marketing
Media
The price is right | Asymco – interesting assessment on the value of computing devices
Mark Zuckerberg – I’m excited to announce that we’ve agreed to acquire WhatsApp – in Zuck’s own words
Facebook to buy WhatsApp for $19 billion in deal shocker | Reuters
Facebook to Buy WhatsApp for $16 Billion
Can someone explain WhatsApp’s valuation to me?
UK music customers still buy physical media | The Register
Philippines
Digital Intelligence :: Top 10 YouTube brand channels in the Philippines – Smart Corporate, Nestle, and Unilever’s Ponds were the top three most views YouTube brand channels in the Philippines during 2014, according to new data via SocialBakers
Security
Here’s the strategy the mobile industry will announce in Barcelona next week – mobile and identity sounds like a winner, because people never lose their smartphones do they?
Going Private in Public with Whisper and anonymous sharing | JWTIntelligence
Germany Considers Counterespionage Measures against United States – SPIEGEL ONLINE
Software
Chitika: Chrome OS web usage share doubles, but is still minuscule overall
WeChat is nothing like WhatsApp—and that makes it even more valuable | Quartz
Telecoms
Why it’s a no-brainer for China to play hardball with Qualcomm – not terribly surprising, expect something similar against European telecoms infrastructure companies
Web or no web
Unlocking the Future Connected Home
Voice of Customer Technology: Without the Science, It’s Just Sizzle Without the Steak
New LIDAR chip will sharpen aerial mapping and autonomous car vision | ExtremeTech
Wireless
IDC: Samsung continues to dominate smartphone shipments in China