I started to think about brand collaborations in Hong Kong. On of the more unusual aspects of marketing in Hong Kong is the amount of co-marketing brand collaboration deals done and the unusual nature of these tie-ups. For instance last year I saw high-end Japanese streetwear brand Neighborhood have it’s brand on Coke Zero cans and worked on a ‘midnight rider’ influence programme.
This was used by Coke Zero to promote nighttime cycling. (It would be cooler and Hong Kong looks spectacular at night.) It also fits in with Neighborhood having been influenced by motorcycle culture. The programme was more Schwinn meets Easy Rider than Rapha style pelotons.
Meanwhile McDonalds is usually better known for tie-ins with Sanrio character franchises. However, now it is running a promotion with Chinese personal care brand Walsh. Think of Walsh as similar to Cussons in the UK. With certain breakfast dishes, consumers get a bottle of body wash free. Beyond encouraging product trial I don’t get the brand collaborations like this which seem to happen regularly in Hong Kong.
Here is the TV advert being run to support the promotion. And no, I can’t really make that much sense of the synergies either, but it seems to work. More on marketing here.
Category: hong kong | 香港 | 홍콩 | 香港
哈囉 – here you’ll find posts related to Hong Kong. That includes the territory, the culture, business, creativity and history. I lived and travelled to Hong Kong a number of times, so sometimes the content can be quite random.
In addition, I have long loved Cantonese culture and cuisine, so these might make more appearances on this category. I am saddened by the decline in the film and music production sectors.
I tend to avoid discussing local politics, and the external influence of China’s interference in said politics beyond how it relates to business and consumer behaviour in its broadest context.
Often posts that appear in this category will appear in other categories as well. So if Apple Daily launched a new ad format that I thought was particularly notable that might appear in branding as well as Hong Kong.
If there are subjects that you think would fit with this category of the blog, feel free to let me know by leaving a comment in the ‘Get in touch’ section of this blog here.
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Brand collaborations in Hong Kong
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Carbon nanotubes & other news
Carbon nanotubes
IBM betting carbon nanotubes can restore Moore’s Law by 2020 | ExtremeTech – interesting, IBM research has been at the leading edge of a lot of semiconductor manufacturing techniques including:
- Copper interconnects
- RISC architecture design
- Multi-core design
- Strained silicon substrates
Carbon nanotubes may join particularly as there is so much speculation about the state and future of IBM’s chip business as management moves towards a software and services based future. Is IBM preparing to sell the chip manufacturing business to the highest bidder?
Business
Amazon China chief replaced with another expat | WantChinaTimes – the back story is that Amazon has about 2 per cent of the e-commerce market in China
Design
Waterproof CD player with vocal removal function | AkihabaraNews – interesting thinking about context. Japan is still a big physical media market (they still have Tower Records) and people love to sing in the shower
Economics
HK’s retail sales fell in May | RTHK – its all about valuable gifts: watches, bags etc dropping by 25%
Ideas
The Future of the Workforce May Be Part-Time, Says Google CEO Larry Page | Re/code – utopian spin on zero-hour contracts?
Korea
S Korea to break away from Windows by 2020 | WantChinaTimes – interesting move: Windows 8 partly to blame, I suspect also the security decisions made around Active X made Koreans think twice before attaching themselves to Microsoft
Online
An Online Shift in China Muffles an Open Forum – NYTimes.com – “This is a new phase for social media in China,” said Hu Yong, a journalism professor at Peking University. “It is the decline of the first large-scale forum for information in China and the rise of something more narrowly focused.” – the authors have positioned this as a Chinese -specific move yet it is mirrored in the west with the rise of Whatsapp, Telegram and other OTT messenger services
Google bans porn from its ad network | CNBC – Google obviously doesn’t need the revenue, which bodes well for ongoing quarterly number going forwards
UK’s Porn Filter Triggers Widespread Internet Censorship | TorrentFreak – The results of ORG’s new tool show that what started as a “porn filter” has turned into something much bigger. Under the guise of “protecting the children” tens of thousands of sites are now caught up in overbroad filters, which is a worrying development to say the least – interesting that some are blocking the Open Rights Group and open source software sites
Thanks To “Right To Be Forgotten,” Google Now Censors The Press In The EU | Marketingland – once you take the 1st amendment driven angst viewpoint out of this, its a great summary of things by Danny Sullivan
Tencent Opening Up API for Wechat Login — China Internet Watch – expect WeChat’s app constellation to mushroom outside the Tencent family. More on WeChat here.
Security
3 Real Security Risks Threatening Your Smart TV Entertainment | Make Use Of – make mine a dumb TV
Technology
CHART OF THE DAY: Apple Is Invading The Enterprise – Business Insider – there is also a credibility issue, go to a developer conference and there is a sea of silver lids, this will knock on into the enterprise
Telecoms
I, Cringely The Secret of Google X – I, Cringely – I think untethered balloons aren’t a smart move either
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Inhibitors and other news
Inhibitors
WPP CEO Sorrell Says Regional Offices Can Be ‘Inhibitors’ | Advertising Age – interesting tension happening here; part of the reason for the inhibitors that there isn’t a power to yes is because the power structures aren’t designed right. A second inhibitor issue is also that the centre is all asking for the wrong things. Often HQ has the power to say no; not the power to say yes where they haven’t come up with the idea. All of these inhibitors means that agency side pan-regional roles will be under threat. More related content here.
Business
Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends in China — China Internet Watch – interesting bits particularly around changing business models
Consumer behaviour
In Europe, knowing your neighbor doesn’t necessarily make you happier – Quartz – interesting consumer data, that asks questions about what community actually means
Growing Up Grows Up | CEB Insights – more democratic collaborative households
Culture
leet speak (FBI) | Muckrock – I love this FBI guide to online acronyms
Finance
How to manage all your financial affairs from a $20 mobile phone | Quartz – another article on MPesa
FMCG
Colgate is betting that you care as much about your pet’s mouth as your kid’s | Quartz – interesting trend
Health
No more fillings as dentists reveal new tooth decay treatment | theguardian.com – sounds really simple but is cool idea
Hong Kong
WATCH: Hong Kong ad depicts domestic worker in ‘blackface’: Shanghaiist – interesting how social media is lengthening this story
Luxury
Global Textile Trends Round-Up: The Implications of Fabric Innovation – Nanotechnology – interesting article by Euromonitor
Marketing
The A to Z of mobile marketing: 26 trends to inspire you | Econsultancy – I find the idea of heavy pages horrifying
Should Brands get Involved in Political Issues? – Euromonitor International – interesting that this is coming out of marketing rather than CSR
Media
Financial Times Testing Time-Spent Ads – Business Insider – interesting move. Will engagement on a page mean that one is more likely to click on ads below the fold or will content just be ignored, would need more detail on click through rates or even conversion rates if possible
As Weather Channel Blows Yahoo Off Apple’s Upcoming iOS 8, App Storms Ahead for Mayer | Re/code – adds a stick to beat management team with, needs to be careful about stocks default app
Online
Are links dead for Yandex? | Econsultancy – interesting article on Yandex SEO
Indian chat app Hike adds private mode and 100MB file sending, as it hits 20m users – looks like a me too product
Retailing
UK shoppers are turning German when they walk into a supermarket | Quartz – Aldi finally getting some respect. I would go there if there was a branch close to where I lived
Security
Nokia ‘paid millions to software blackmailers six years ago’ | Reuters – Finnish telecoms equipment company Nokia paid several million euros to criminals who threatened to reveal the source code for part of an operating system used in its smartphones some six years ago – did this make the move away from Symbian even more attractive?
BlackBerry Launches BBM Protected For Confidential Instant Messaging | TechCrunch – does this mean normal BBM will become less secure?
Software
AnandTech | Manual Camera Controls in iOS 8 – offers interesting application opportunities. How long before we see a Contax camera app for example?
Technology
Qualcomm for ARM? Intel for MediaTek? Pondering Chip M&A – Barrons.com – interesting discussion on tax inversion
HP Machine: Memristor pioneer explains his discovery- The Inquirer – this looks like a really interesting discovery by HP
Telecoms
Nokia ‘paid millions to software blackmailers six years ago’ | Reuters – Finnish telecoms equipment company Nokia paid several million euros to criminals who threatened to reveal the source code for part of an operating system used in its smartphones some six years ago – did this make the move away from Symbian even more attractive?
EU, South Korea to Ally on Faster Mobile Access – WSJ – it is a smart move. Impressive that Huawei is investing 600 million dollars through 2018 on next-generation networks.
Web of no web
Blippar buys augmented reality firm Layar – interesting consolidation
Wireless
EU, South Korea to Ally on Faster Mobile Access – WSJ – it is a smart move. Impressive that Huawei is investing 600 million dollars through 2018 on next-generation networks
Chinese gov’t reveals Microsoft’s secret list of Android-killer patents | Ars Technica – interesting document which gives a fuller idea of Microsoft’s portfolio. admittedly much of it couldn’t be used against many Rockstar members like Sony and Apple – and some of them could be used in a wider attack on Google services
Here’s Why Amazon Is Actually Smart To Make Its Smartphone Expensive (AMZN) | BusinessInsider – interesting analysis of Amazon’s Fire phone
Bihar’s largest radio station is not a radio station at all | Quartz – Hindustan Unilever uses mobile airtime to broadcast 15 minute radio segments to consumers
Qualcomm for ARM? Intel for MediaTek? Pondering Chip M&A – Barrons.com – interesting discussion on tax inversion
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Naspers + other news
Naspers
Red-Hot Web in China Richly Rewards Foreign Investors (David Barboza/New York Times) – great to see that Naspers were getting a bit of respect. Naspers is a South African media company that moved into online retail and venture capital investing. Naspers were fortunate to buy into Tencent in 2001 and become their largest shareholder. Naspers then went on to invest in mail.ru and a number of Indian online startups. Naspers also is Africa’s largest subscription TV provider. Naspers also has a share in Ctrip – China’s answer to Expedia.
Business
Is it really a tech bubble, or is it something else? — GigaOM – narcissism and a tech bubble
Profits Way Up at China’s Tencent As WeChat Goes Global – WeChat now up to 396 million active users
No matter what the boss says about flextime, get to work early – Quartz – morning bias
Consumer behaviour
Phablet Use Distinct From Smartphones, Tablets Re/code – interesting research and bad news for media companies hoping that phablets will be a gateway for streaming and slide loaded content
The new opium of a stressed people | FT – rise of buddhism amongst China’s middle classes
How is Renren Doing in China Social Media Now? | ChinaInternetWatch – about 51 million monthly unique users – no social versus gaming breakdown on this though. Partly down to the fact RenRen is a specific lifetime thing. You are on there during high school
Design
The History Of Dive Watches | aBlogtoWatch – interesting evolution of design
Finance
WePay Blames “The Rules” For Withholding Medical Funds from Sex Worker | Valleywag – still pretty disgusting given that this was for emergency medical services. There are rules and there is knowing when to lift them
America has a new subprime problem: cars | Quartz – not really surprising when one thinks about how the US manufacturers have been propping up car sales with low interest loans before, during and since the financial crisis
FMCG
Digital Intelligence :: Unilever supports start-ups with global digital platform – interesting move, reminds me what PepsiCo and Kraft attempted to do over the past few years
Hong Kong
Li Ka-shing’s rumoured plan to reduce investments ‘could damage Hong Kong’ | South China Morning Post – it makes sense for Mr Li to diversify, Hong Kong is optimally priced; there are bargains to be had elsewhere
20 fantastically helpful IFTTT recipes – the title exaggerates
Ideas
Shanzhai: China’s Collaborative Electronics Design Ecosystem | The Atlantic – interesting how the rise of the maker movement has changed Shanzhai meme from quirky shadowy tech pirates to collaborative design in western media
Korea
How Naver Hurts Companies’ Productivity | WSJ – surprising critique of Naver. Korean consumers wouldn’t use it if Google offered a better search function in Hangul
Legal
That Oracle-Google Appeal | ongoing – interesting analysis by Tim Bray, a prominent contributor to the OSS movement and former Googler
Amazon Patented Taking Pictures In Front of a White Background | Geekosystem – they’ve just patented pack shot photography?
Luxury
Rich pay, rich clients, but luxury retail jobs go begging | South China Morning Post – mainland clients are considered difficult
The Launch and Fall of Burberry’s Tmall Flagship Store | ChinaInternetWatch – really interesting analysis of Burberry’s attempt on TMall
Economist: China Luxury Slowdown ‘Short Blip’ In Big Picture | Jing Daily – expectations that the slowdown will see mass affluence purchases in the future
Marketing
PwC: Marketers not moving fast enough to mobile | Marketing Interactive – While there is plenty of money in social media marketing in mainland China, there’s still not enough attention to the fact that accessing ads and special deals from mobile is just different
Ignore the Silicon Valley Twilight Zone | Marketing Forward – I think that this is the rabbit hole WPP is a risk of going down
REPORT: Engagement Optimization ‘Isn’t The Best Bet’ For Facebook Advertisers – Facebook is a display advertising platform rather than an engagement platform
Geo-Target the Right Audience For Your Tweets With Sprout Social | Sprout Social – this could change the way brands think about Twitter, moving to a global page model, rather like Facebook
Dixons and Carphone Warehouse: A Merger Driven by Interconnectivity | Euromonitor International – personally I think Carphone Warehouse is attaching itself to a turkey. Regardless of any Internet of Things synergies there maybe, the customer service culture of Carphone Warehouse is alien to Dixons. Richer Sounds and Empire Direct may have made more sense?
OnePlus Smash the Past Winner Receives Empty Box, Uploads Unboxing to YouTube | Droid Life – it sounds like buzz marketing gone horribly wrong
9 Successful Ways to Recruit Market Research Participants | PARC blog – good advice
The Trouble With App Install Ads | Ad Exchanger – expensive despite driving growth for Facebook
Media
BBC News will post live #indianelection results via @WhatsApp – 1st serious wide scale ‘commercial’ comms use?
Daring Fireball: ‘For Me, the Movies Are Like a Machine That Generates Empathy’ – I really like this phrase, great films like Blade Runner for me were more than the moving image or ‘air-conditioned darkness’ as Sir Run Run Shaw put it
TV Show Renewals Could Hinge On Social Engagement – focus on quality of viewership with social engagement as a proxy measure
“24″ Win Fails To Boost Youku Tudou | Young’s China Business – probably down to government regulation of media sector
The audience solves a mystery in this real-time interactive TV show powered by a South Korean startup – it reminds me a lot of Majestic
Netflix’s Neil Hunt Says Personalized Recommendations Will Replace The Navigation Grid | TechCrunch – not so sure how I feel about this. It could be reductive since it relies on past behaviour and loses what little serendipity one gets through browsing and discovery to broaden taste and usage
Online
China’s Top Mobile Social Apps by Time Usage | China Internet Watch – why Weibo is overrated and WeChat is so powerful
Meet the People Behind the Wayback Machine, One of Our Favorite Things About the Internet – “The average life of a web page is about 100 days before it’s either changed or deleted,” says Kahle. “Even if it’s supported by big companies: Google Video came down, Yahoo Video came down, Apple went and wiped out all the pages in Mobile Me.” Interesting dichotomy between permanence in terms of effect on reputation versus transient nature of pages
The Wayback Machine Passes 400 Billion Indexed Webpages | TNW – impressive scale but this misses out on the explosion of content created by social network platforms as walled gardens, and that may not be a bad thing
Retailing
Mapping Our Interiors – NYTimes.com – interesting business model by IndoorAtlas, if you are in retail, you should be embracing this
Security
New feature helps Facebook grow ears | FT – integrates with TV (and presumably radio ads?) but you have to wonder about the privacy aspects of this
NSA spying is causing Americans to self-censor their Internet activity | VentureBeat – if you substituted PSB for NSA and Chinese for Americans this could be any other article about China in the western media
Alibaba’s Cloud Business Expands With Hong Kong Data Center | Data Center Knowledge – gradual internationalisation
Chinese Cyber Attacks Trigger US MIDLIFE Crisis | VICE News – interesting analysis the recent U.S. action against China
Taiwan
Taiwan makers struggling to automate equipment | DigiTimes – current automation offerings don’t suit their businesses so the likes of Foxconn et al are developing and manufacturing automation inhouse
Technology
I, Cringely Apple’s iPad Problem – they last too long, more like a PC than like a mobile phone
Users folder vanished after OS X 10.9.3 update? Here’s a fix • The Register – nifty help out
China Bans Use of Microsoft’s Windows 8 on Government Computers | Re/code – if the Chinese government don’t trust it, should consumers?
Chinese Tech Startups are Building Steaming Projectors to Beat Smart TVs TechNode – makes sense when one things about home space
“Tech companies are being left to make all the decisions” | Dezeen – interesting perspective on wearables
Sichuan professor makes biocoal out of leftovers | WantChinaTimes – interesting, particularly as food waste recycling is a bugbear in waste disposal. How can the collection be done efficiently though?
American TV dramas attract high-end ads in China | WantChinaTimes – not terribly surprising as they reach an English speaking, often foreign educated technocratic middle class
Web of no web
Mapping The Hidden Cost Of Mobile Apps | MobileGroove – will be reviewing my use of some of the apps mentioned
Wireless
Bounden on Android delayed: we need your help – Game Oven – rather reminds me of PCs and driver problems, were Sound Blaster compatibility meant that you might be able to get audio on a game
So where are we going in Mobile? | DigitalEvangelist – interesting piece by Ian Wood. The most depressing thing I find out about this is the wasted R&D when so much hard innovation is going begging
Communities Dominate Brands: Lets Do 2014 Numbers for the Mobile Industry: Now we are at 100% Mobile Subscription Penetration Rate Per Capita Globally – that headline number now isn’t as meaningful as it could be. I personally have two numbers on one smartphone. 3UK via the SIM and China Mobile Hong Kong via Jego. It also conceals the continuing gulf between established markets, the developing world and the astonishing acceleration of APAC markets
Huawei Ascend P7 Review | BGR – interesting review of Huawei Ascend P7, interesting that they still have sluggishness issues and the skinning that makes it look like a shanzhai version of iOS7. You would have to pry my iPhone from my cold dead hand though
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Morality + other news
Morality
One in 10 Brits admits to lying pretty much all the time | Quartz – great PR story. How else do you build an empire over a third of the world by guile and a selective approach to morality? The UK tried to establish a common morality with the Empire as mother and the Anglican church as the compass on morality.
Any student of empires knows that the catholic church gave tacit approval to terrible things that happened in the Spanish empire and so is no paragon of morality itself.
Leninism, Stalinism and the Communist Party of China looked to bypass morality all together. If the party said it was good, that was it. China experienced a morality deficit due to the cultural revolution that looked to sweep away history.
Global Views on Morality | Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project – really nice interactive infographic
Business
Why Apple has stopped growing | Quartz – interesting analysis, the last thing I need is a larger iPad or phone though
China Inc joins the big league in oil and gas services | SCMP – (paywall)
Consumer behaviour
How Bad is China’s Moral Crisis? | New Republic – not convinced given that western society tends to view things in black and white and traditional Chinese morals tend to be more nuanced and contextual
Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups and Average Citizens – Gilens & Page – (PDF file)
Europe’s Eurosceptics more united than many think: poll | Reuters – this is going to go horribly wrong
A Third of Americans Think Technology Is Going to Ruin Their Lives | Motherboard – and they are probably right
Jing Daily: 9 key ways Chinese consumer habits are rapidly changing right before our eyes
Culture
Read the Obamas’ tribute to Frankie Knuckles | Dazed – great vintage Warehouse set embedded in this post.
Design
Lightweight 3D Printed Breathable Cast with Ultrasound Therapy – I so wish I had this when I broke my arm
High-Efficiency Hiking: What the Heck Is Ultralight? – Core77
Economics
The eurozone’s creeping danger | HSBC Global
First BRICS. Then PIIGs. Now, The Formidable 5 | The Financialist
A Taxonomy Of The Collaborative Economy –And What Brands Are Doing About It. | Jeremiah Owyang
Inflation in Europe: The Price is Wrong | INSEAD
Ideological Segregation Online and Offline | Quarterly Journal of Economics by Matthew Gentzkow and Jesse M. Shapiro (paywall)
Why more governments should offer their citizens a one-in-a-million chance to win | Quartz – China does a similar thing with restaurant receipts, though some restaurants will offer you a free drink or dessert to get out of giving it
In America, Spending Cuts Are Driven by the Rich | Mother Jones – no real surprise, given that research showed that they thought taxes were fair and the rich thought that they were excessive
FMCG
China Leads the Way in Average Household Spending | Euromonitor International
Brits consume more MDMA than energy drinks, survey finds | Dazed
LeBron James Is Lovin’ McDonald’s — in China | Time – tapping into Chinese love of basketball to pimp burgers
Gadget
Nike Fuelband: Simple math, cultural imperative, might’ve killed it – interesting take on Nike’s recent movements with its Fuelband team, of course we won’t know the true score until Nike makes their next moves or telegraphs them through supply chain leaks or tame executive leaks (a la Huawei’s strategic leaking)
The Wearable Wheel | Visual.ly – interesting but a bastard to read
Daring Fireball: No One Said Following Is Easy – what John Gruber misses is that Nokia’s Symbian phones also had touch for instance the Nokia E90 Communicator had both a qwerty keyboard and resistive touch screen
Youku Tudou, Huawei Launch Internet TV STB | Marbridge Consulting – (paywall)
Sony 4K Ultra HD Media Player – FMP-X10 Review – Sony US – I wonder about the kind of broadband and infrastructure required to support a 4K Apple TV style device
Hong Kong
Squeeze on international-school locals | SCMP – I don’t understand why schools are so expensive in the first place, and if I had a kid starting them off in school I would want to put them into the local school system to learn Cantonese (paywall)
Fear and loathing at the cinema: new films reflect modern tensions in Hong Kong | South China Morning Post – (paywall)
How to
What is Baidu & How to Advertise on Baidu | Reload Digital
#OwnTheMoment – handy forward events calendar
Japan
I heart cherry blossoms, the rise of Japan’s petit nationalism | The Japan Times – more Japan related content here.
Luxury
Louis Vuitton changes the celebrity spokesperson calculation | FT.com – because nothing says affluent luxury like a bunch of old guys in conservatively tailored suits and safe style choices. Especially when YUMMY’s are the new luxury marketing demographic to go after
Hermès encourages app sharing with two-screen content | Luxury Daily
Calvin Klein asks users to flash their underwear online | Marketing Interactive – this could go so wrong
How Luxury Can Move Ahead In China’s Tricky E-Commerce Market | Jing Daily
Rolex Gets a New CEO Jean-Frédéric Dufour – Gear Patrol – these are big shoes to fill, I just hope that Mr Dufour doesn’t decide that luxury equals fashion and starts cycling Rolex models like SKUs at H&M
This Is How Travelers Are Using Their Smartphones And Tablets — And How The Industry Is Adapting
How Paul Smith Stands Apart In China’s Ultra-Competitive Retail Market | Jing Daily
Jing Daily: ‘Brand-tagging’ mobile apps: China’s next selfie sensation
Media
Here’s why Apple will bring iTV to China first | Quartz – really? – not so sure. Media is a strategic industry and online video is coming under increasing regulation as the Chinese government tries to ensure the continued relevance of state-run channels
Marketing
Digital Intelligence :: What clients want from their agencies: Mobile marketing ‘changing ad relationships’ – really interesting piece of research
‘Baby surprise’ tourism promo video could have been done better: STB | Straits Times – video aimed at one market gets slammed elsewhere around the world
A new way to make brands | Wolff Olins
Tencent to Launch Self-service WeChat Ad Platform | Marbridge Consulting – (paywall)
How Advertisers Are Using Snapchat, Kik, Tango, Line, WeChat | Digital – Advertising Age – campaigns on the platform
FDA Publishes First Piece of Long-Awaited Social Media Guidance: Focus is on Accountability
The downsizing of brand building | Guardian Professional – PRs should read this article and burn its words into their hearts
Online
Users Actually Seem To Like Facebook’s Auto-Play Videos | FastCompany – not that convinced
Chat Wars | n+1 | Apr. 19, 2014 – interesting reading to compare and contrast with the current OTT messenger race
WeChat surges past Weibo as China’s top social sharing platform. | Resonance China – not terribly surprising Weibo is so last year
Philippines
Analitika to turn Philippines as analytics hub by 2015 | Marketing Interactive – this makes more sense than you would think. The Philippines enjoys and English speaking, well educated workforce with technical skills and a closer familiarity with American and Latin cultures. It has great core network links, being a focus for a number of trans-Pacific cables (unlike India) and is cost effective
Bad news for Samsung: 85% of people in Philippines willing to buy homegrown smartphone brands | Techinasia – good news for prospective tier 2 manufacturers in Shenzhen who would be doing the badge engineering work on to reference design for Filipino brands
Retailing
Lidl beats Tesco to 10m Facebook fans | BrandRepublic – oh the shame! Seriously Facebook is probably more relevant for Lidl customers
15 ways for companies to increase customer lifetime value | eConsultancy – good marketing data points
PWC: 14% Chinese Shopping Online Everyday | China Internet Watch
Tesco hit by further sales decline as it turns to digital Clubcard and social network | Brand Republic – why would you want to join Tesco’s social network?
Thousands of Chinese spent their “best years” making Nike shoes and now have no pensions | Quartz
Direct selling companies see phenomenal growth in China | WantChinaTimes – Nu Skin apparently grew 10-fold in a year, it also looks like a potential car crash
Security
Behind the Machine’s Back: How Social Media Users Avoid Getting Turned Into Big Data | The Atlantic
Japan’s indigenous stealth fighter to fly this year amid arms race worries | South China Morning Post – many of the technological advances that Japan had shared with its ally on the FSX later appeared on US aircraft – US defence complex ripped off Japanese technology (paywall)
Software
AppleSeed– Apple’s new public beta programme
Personal and Professional Productivity: The Next Frontier for Mobile Apps | Flurry
Samsung Galaxy sofware features not good enough for users, study says | BGR
Amazon partners with Samsung to launch custom Kindle e-Book service for Galaxy devices – looks like Flipboard didn’t get the deal it wanted…
Technology
Big Data is the new Artificial Intelligence | I, Cringely – interesting and disturbing all at the same time
Add ultracapacitors to the list of devices that could benefit from grapheme | GigaOM
Telecoms
The state of the internet is under attack (but it’s also faster) | GigaOM – interesting Akamai data
China Mobile’s profit falls as competition bites | TotalTelecom – including the likes of WeChat
Web of no web
Does Google Glass Have An Optics Problem? And Does Google Care? | Forbes – dog by any other name is still a dog
Emperor of the Glassholes Finally Feels Shame | ValleyWag – the cool has completely gone if Scoble won’t even wear his in public
Among Venture Capital’s Largest Exits, Consumer Tech Dominates | CB Insights
This Bank Ad Hilariously Mocks Google Glass | TIME.com – Google Glass is now the comedy equivalent of the Mother-in-Law