[photopress:china_msn.jpg,full,alignright]Microsoft will set up a US$20 million MSN research and development center in Shanghai, the first of its kind in the group’s overseas market. The aim is to strengthen Microsoft’s instant message business in China. It needs a bit of a push to catch up with domestic systems.
Microsoft has purchased a 90,000-square-meter site in the industry zone at the Shanghai Zizhu Science-based Industrial Park in the southwest of the city. Intel and Shanghai Wicresoft, a joint venture between Microsoft and the Shanghai government, have already set up facilities there.
The MSN R&D center will be used to develop software, and offer technical support for MSN Messenger.
More than 15 million people already have registered MSN Messenger accounts in China, and Microsoft has launched paid wireless services, such as MSN on mobile phones with a monthly rate of RMB10 ($1.25).
Lu Bowang, an independent Internet observer, said, ‘All foreign players have to think local if they want to succeed in China.’
According to the China Internet Network Information Center, a state organization, by the end of 2006, China’s instant message market was led by Tencent with 84.4% compared with MSN Messenger’s 13.9%.
Source: China Daily