Categories
Investment Tech, Media & Telecom

Xiaomi valued at $45bn after raising $1.1bn in funding

Smartphone maker Xiaomi has raised US$1.1 billion from investors in its latest round of funding, pushing its valuation to US$45 billion, Reuters reported, citing a microblog post from Chief Executive Lei Jun. The valuation reinforces the company’s position among the world’s most valuable private companies following a three-year ascent to become the world’s No. 3 smartphone […]

Categories
Business Practice Tech, Media & Telecom

Xiaomi's strategy helps boost Huawei smartphone sales by 19 million

Huawei has managed to emulate both the strategy and sales of competitor Xiaomi this year as sales of its bargain-priced smartphones rose to 20 million from a year before, Reuters reported, citing data from Gartner. While the increase from sales of just a million smartphones previously through the use of a disruptive, online-only approach may echo the […]

Categories
Tech, Media & Telecom

Mainland now has over 519mn smartphone users, research shows

Mainland China now has well over half a billion active smartphone users, Tech in Asia reported, citing data from market research company Emarketer. The research predicts that the latest estimate of 519.7 million smartphone users will rise to 574.2 million by 2015, representing half of all mobile phone users in the country. Baidu previously estimated that as of […]

Categories
Business Practice Tech, Media & Telecom

Security backdoor discovered in Chinese manufacturer's smartphones

A security flaw has been discovered in smartphones made by the major Chinese manufacturer Coolpad (2369.HKG) that gives hackers complete control of the devices, The Guardian reported. The backdoor, named “CoolReaper”, appears in the software that powers at least 24 models of Coolpad, the world’s sixth-largest smartphone producer according to Canalys. It allows an operator to uninstall or disable all […]

Categories
Economics & Trade Law & Regulation Politics & Society Tech, Media & Telecom

Beijing planning shift to homegrown tech, sources say

Beijing may be planning a purge of foreign technology from its banks, state-owned enterprises, military and key government agencies by the end of the decade, Bloomberg reported, citing unnamed sources. The push comes after a test of domestic alternatives in the northeastern city of Siping that was deemed a success, according to people familiar with […]