Investment Opportunities in China’s Impending Baby Boom.Relaxing of one Child policy.

    According to a report from the Wall Street Journal,the ease of one-child policy,will bring most population experts say,  an additional one million to two million babies to China annually—likely more in the first few years, because of pent-up desire or a rush to beat the biological clock.

The boom is likely to have a major impact on local demand. As an absolute number, two million extra babies a year is huge—twice the total number of annual births in Japan, and half the total number in the U.S.

A 2005 survey by Shanghai Social Science Academy showed that it costs 480,000 yuan ($79,000) to raise a child from cradle to college, including costs such as food, education and health care. Those costs have increased, but take those as a base assessment. So if China adds an extra 10 million children in the next five years, that would be $790 billion in additional spending—and that is likely a conservative estimate

China’s Property Firms Hedge Their Bets

   According to a report from the Wall Street Journal,'China’s real-estate developers have been known for taking big risks and then hedging them, sometimes in unusual ways".

"At the moment they seem to be doing a bit more hedging than usual—putting their money in an array of businesses from banks to beverages".

"Guangzhou-based Evergrande Real Estate Group, is splashing out on bottled water. Earlier this month it unveiled a new business line—“Evergrande Spring”—which will distribute spring water from Changbaishan, or “Ever White Mountain” in northeast China.

The property developer, led by billionaire Xu Jiayin, is also looking at setting up a drinking-water system to bring the natural mineral water into some of its real-estate projects, hoping this will add value, according to the firm.

Evergrande, which is better known for backing the only Chinese soccer team to experience international success in recent memory, said Chinese people’s heightened awareness about health issues prompted its decision to invest in clean drinking water".

"Shenzhen-based developer China Vanke meanwhile, has taken an 8% stake in Anhui-based lender Huishang Bank Corp ahead of the bank’s IPO in Hong Kong earlier this month Vanke said it wanted to “better meet its customers’ demands for financial services and boost the firm’s competitiveness in providing overall housing services.”

The move by the market leader could have a knock-on effect.

“It’s still very preliminary but I’m sure it’s got other developers thinking about branching beyond their core business,” said Johnson Hu, an analyst at CIMB Securities.

Japan moves up to 13th place in Web index rankings

Japan has ranked 13th in this year's international survey on Internet usage. The nation was in 20th place last year.

The Swiss-based World Wide Web Foundation on Friday announced world rankings based on a survey it conducted in 81 countries on the Internet usage, web infrastructure and protection of privacy.

Sweden took the top spot for the second year in a row, followed by Norway. Denmark's ranking was 6th. The high rankings of Nordic countries reflect their efforts to promote the Internet.

Source: NewsOnJapan

From the perspective of the People's Bank of China,Bitcoin disregarded

Yi Gang, vice president of the People's Bank of China, said for the first time that China will not acknowledge the legitimacy of bitcoin, a peer-to-peer digital currency, the 21st Century Business Herald reported on Friday. 

"From the perspective of the People's Bank of China, it is unlikely to acknowledge the legitimacy of bitcoin in the near future," said Yi, adding that as a virtual commodity on the Internet, people have the right to trade it freely.

China warns North Korea, blames Japan for tension

China warned North Korea on Friday it would not tolerate chaos on its doorstep, while blaming Japan for the tension between Asia's two largest economies.

Ties between Beijing and Pyongyang have deteriorated since North Korea conducted its third nuclear test in February. China signed on to U.N. sanctions in March, but remains the North's largest trading partner."China will never allow (anyone) to cause chaos and incidents on our home's doorstep and will never accept China's process of development from being disturbed and interrupted again," Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on the foreign ministry's website.
Wang reiterated China's stance that it promotes the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, the solution of problems through dialogue and safeguards to peace and stability in the region.
"The current difficult situation in Sino-Japanese relations has been triggered and caused by Japan," Wang said in what the foreign ministry called a "special report" on China's path of peaceful development.

Source: Reuters

Independent UN experts seriously concerned about Japan's special secrets bill

Two independent United Nations human rights experts today expressed serious concern about a Government-sponsored draft bill in Japan that would decide what constitutes a State secret.

The Special Rapporteurs on freedom of expression and on the right to health requested further information from the Japanese authorities on the draft law and voiced their concerns regarding its compliance with human rights standards."Transparency is a core requirement for democratic governance," the Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression, Frank La Rue, said.
He stressed that secrecy in public affairs is only acceptable where there is a demonstrable risk of substantial harm and where that harm is greater than the overall public interest in having access to the information kept confidential.
"The draft bill not only appears to establish very broad and vague grounds for secrecy but also include serious threats to whistle-blowers and even journalists reporting on secrets."
According to reports, information related to defence, diplomacy, counter-intelligence and counter-terrorism will all be classified as a state secret, while ministers could decide what information to keep from the public.

Source: NewsOnjapan

Japan, U.S. lock horns over autos in TPP-related talks

Japan and the United States crossed swords over automobile issues in three-day bilateral talks held in Tokyo through Friday in parallel to Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade negotiations.

The U.S. side expressed a strong interest in introducing safeguard measures to protect domestic automakers and keeping them in place for a long period, out of concern that imports of Japanese automobiles to the United States would increase sharply once U.S. tariffs are removed under the envisaged TPP pact, sources said.Japanese officials voiced caution about the U.S. approach.

NewsOnJapan

China's banking regulator expanded a pilot consumer finance program

China's banking regulator expanded a pilot consumer finance program to 10 more cities on Friday.

The new rules from the China Banking Regulatory Commission allow qualified non-financial enterprises to set up consumer finance companies for the first time, requiring minimum business revenue of 30 billion yuan ($4.9 billion). It also allows consumer finance companies to operate cross-region.

Source: Global Times

8 more JR Hokkaido sections falsify rail inspection data

Hokkaido Railway Co. President Makoto Nojima on Friday acknowledged that eight more sections of the company, on top of the Hakodate maintenance office, have been found to have falsified track inspection data.

Unveiling this at the House of Representatives transport committee, Nojima apologized for a series of scandals involving the company, known as JR Hokkaido. He promised to ensure the safety of the company's railway services in Hokkaido, northernmost Japan.

Source: NewsOnJapan

Third Point LLC invests $1 billion in Softbank

U.S. investment firm Third Point LLC has acquired SoftBank Corp. shares worth over $1 billion, a Third Point spokesman said Thursday.

The investment followed the carrier's acquisition of U.S. peer Sprint Nextel Corp. in July. Sprint Nextel was renamed Sprint Corp. after the acquisition.

Source: NewsOnJapan

1 killed, 4 missing in Akita landslide

One person was killed and four were missing after they were buried in a landslide during reinforcement work on a roadside slope here Thursday afternoon.

Makoto Sato, 65, was confirmed dead after his body was discovered. The search for the other four, involving about 150 police and Self-Defense Forces members, restarted Friday morning after being suspended Thursday night for fear of a secondary disaster as a result of rain.The landslide occurred on a slope along a sightseeing road in Yashimamachi Motomachi in Yurihonjo, Akita Prefecture. All five are employees of the local firm Yamashina Construction Co.

Source: Yomiuri

Tokyo govt mulls regulating food vendors

The Tokyo metropolitan government is considering regulations on street vendors of bento lunch boxes, a favorite among workers in business districts struggling to find a place to eat lunch.

The number of such street vendors have surged in the past 10 years, partly due to an increase in the number of workers in business districts.But fearing possible food poisoning cases, the metropolitan government is considering toughening regulations on the industry because sanitation measures of many such vendors are considered insufficient and some conduct business without notifying the authorities.
One day, more than 10 wagons and small trucks lined the streets of Tokyo's Nihonbashi business district selling many lunch boxes containing such entrees as miso-boiled saba mackerel and fried chicken cutlets.
All the lunch boxes were priced at about ¥500. Shingo Inoue, a 35-year-old company employee who waited in a long line to buy a lunch box, said he patronizes the street vendors at least four times a week.

Source:  Yomiuri

Cement spills onto Shizuoka park grounds during repairs of shinkansen tunnel

Police in Mishima, Shizuoka Prefecture, said Friday that construction workers spilled cement being used for repairs of a Tokaido shinkansen underground tunnel onto the grounds of a park.

The incident occurred on Thursday afternoon, TV Asahi reported. JR construction crews recently began repairs of the tunnel that runs directly under the park in an effort to strengthen it against wear and tear. Cement being used to fill cracks and tears throughout the tunnel began to overflow and eventually spill onto the park grounds above.

Source: Japan Today

1,000 line up to buy jumbo lottery tickets with top prize of Y700 mil

Year-end jumbo lottery tickets went on sale across Japan on Friday. The top prize this year is a record 700 million yen. Last year, it was 600 million yen.

This year, a jumbo mini lottery is also being held, with a first prize of 70 million yen. Tickets for both lotteries cost 300 yen.As usual, the biggest line was at Tokyo's Nishi-Ginza where more than 1,000 people were lined up when the booth opened at 8:30 a.m. The first man in line said he had been waiting since last Friday, NHK reported.

Source: NewsOnJapan

Guangzhou intl car show kicks off

More than 60 new models of cars are being showcased at the 11th Guangzhou International Automobile Exhibition, which opened on Friday in the south China city of Guangzhou.

As one of the country's three major car shows, the exhibition covers 200,000 square meters with more than 900 vehicles on display, according to the organizers.

Foreign high-end brands, such as Lotus from Britain, Koenigsegg from Sweden and Bugatti from France, are exhibiting for the first time.

The event will last nine days.

In addition to the show, a dealer service exhibition has been organized, which focuses on post-sales, such as finance, insurance, maintenance and sales.

Source: Xinhua

In an article published by the Daily Telegraph on Friday,Chinese PM Li Kekiang, called for efforts to build a stronger China-Europe partnership

Chinese Premier Li Kekiang, in a signed article published by the British Daily Telegraph on Friday, called for efforts to build a stronger China-Europe partnership in the interest of both sides.

In the article entitled "A stronger China-Europe Partnership Will Bring Us All Greater Prosperity", the premier noted that the just-concluded China-EUSmmit has yielded "fruitful results" with the "China-EU 2020 Strategic Agenda for Cooperation" being issued.

"It has announced the launch of negotiations on a China-EU investment agreement and set the goal of bringing China-EU trade to 1 trillion US dollars by 2020," Li said.

Admitting that the 1 trillion dollar goal is "no low-hanging fruit" and "we need to jump to reach it," Li still expressed his confidence in attaining that goal.

"The agenda will definitely provide more opportunities for economic and trade collaboration between China and Europe, including the UK," Li said.

The premier, in his article, reaffirmed China's stance on supporting Europe's integration process, saying "a united, stable and prosperous Europe is in the interest of the world and of China."

"The growth of mutually beneficial business ties between China and Europe will not only bring benefits to both sides; it will also create brighter prospects for China-Europe relations. This should be a win-win endeavor," Li said.

On his upcoming visit to Europe, Li said he will "explore ways to boost cooperation" when meeting prime ministers of 16 central and eastern European countries in Bucharest.

"There is great potential for expanding cooperation between China and these countries and I look forward to working together with my colleagues from these nations to create a new impetus for developing our mutual relations," the article read.

The premier also gave a positive evaluation to the EU economy in a world economy he described as "bumpy and fragile", and called for cooperation between the two sides to meet the challenge.

"...We need to continue to work together and help each other," the premier wrote. In the meantime, "we need to keep our own houses in order."

"I am pleased to see that many European countries are leaving recession behind them and the EU economy is being put on a more stable footing," he said.

China, too, "has a good report card for its economy," Li said, and elaborated on how China has managed to tide over the difficult times.

"At the beginning of this year, the tough, complex situation, both domestically and internationally, placed mounting downward pressure on the Chinese economy. Some were predicting, as reported overseas, a hard landing for the Chinese economy and some even claimed it would go bust," the premier wrote.

"We faced up to that pressure and stuck to the policy of not allowing either the deficit to grow or monetary expansion or contraction. Instead, we adopted a holistic approach based on innovative macro-economic management," Li said.

"Despite a significant slowing down in the growth of government revenue and a 'credit crunch' in the middle of this year when the overnight inter-bank rate surged to abnormal levels, we stayed focused and did not inject liquidity into the economy, despite what many expected," the article read.

He then introduced the detailed methods that Chinese government has adopted to address both current and long-term needs:

"For example, we have steadily released the dividends of reform, provided a level playing field for businesses -- private capital in particular -- and tapped the potential of the market," the article read

"We generated the internal driving force of economic growth, improved supply and boosted domestic demand through structural adjustment," Li said.

The premier said under those efforts, the Chinese economy is "now on a stable footing and stays within a comfortable range," with GDP growth at around 7.5 percent and the inflation rate under 3.5 percent, he said.

Li also said that more than 12 million jobs are expected to be created this year.

"We have been responsible not only for our own sake, but also for the sake of the wider world because this will create more opportunities for global growth and contribute to the recovery of the world economy," the premier said.

On the recent-concluded third Plenary Session of the 18th Communist Party of China Central Committee, the premier noted it has "adopted a series of decisions aimed at comprehensively deepening reform in China."

"These decisions will not only speed up China's social and economic development, but also help address resources and environmental constraints, as well as uneven development between urban and rural areas and among different regions, thus bringing greater prosperity to the Chinese people and creating new opportunities for our relations with the outside world," said the premier.

Li mentioned that the growing ties between China and Europe are chief among these.

"China's modernization program will create historic opportunities for mutually beneficial cooperation between the 2 billion people of China and Europe, including those in the UK," said the premier.

At the end of his article, the premier urged both sides to "seize this opportunity and deliver the benefits which cooperation can bring to all our peoples."

China forbids Government Officials to spend Public Funds on Gifts

The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) of the Communist Party of China released a circular on Thursday forbidding government officials to spend public funds on gifts for the coming New Year and the Spring Festival.

The circular stated that all Party and government organs, State-owned enterprises and financial institutions, as well as all government-backed organizations are barred from buying fireworks, cigarettes, alcohols, flowers or food products with public money.

CCDI also demanded all aforementioned bodies to strengthen supervision and auditing regulations.

Source: Global Times

China. More chances to give advice: top political advisor

Top political advisor Yu Zhengsheng Wednesday promised more opportunities for political advisors to advise on state affairs.

The political advisory body will increase the frequency of consultative meetings with governments and party organs so that political advisors can express their opinions, said Yu, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), at the meeting of the Standing Committee of the CPPCC National Committee that closed here Wednesday.

The 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) adopted a major reform roadmap on Nov. 12, which included arrangements to improve consultative democracy and let political advisors play a bigger role in decision making process.

The reform of the political consultative system must follow the right direction, which is socialism with Chinese characteristics, Yu said.

"We shall not simply copy models from other countries. Or we will tread on the wrong path or go backwards," he said.

The CPPCC will play a bigger role in building consensus and uniting people, he said, calling on political advisors to do research, put forwards their genuine proposals and mediate among different groups.

Source: Xinhua

Death toll from China's oil pipeline blast rises to 44

The death toll from an oil pipeline explosion in eastern Chinese city of Qingdao has risen to 44 from 35, local authorities said on Saturday.

Another 136 injured people have been hospitalized, rescue headquarters said, adding that rescue work is still going on.

The blast occurred at 10:30 am on Friday in Huangdao District of Qingdao, after oil leaked from a Sinopec pipeline flowed into the municipal pipe network, an initial investigation showed.Death toll from China's oil pipeline blast rises to 44

The death toll from an oil pipeline explosion in eastern Chinese city of Qingdao has risen to 44 from 35, local authorities said on Saturday.

Another 136 injured people have been hospitalized, rescue headquarters said, adding that rescue work is still going on.

The blast occurred at 10:30 am on Friday in Huangdao District of Qingdao, after oil leaked from a Sinopec pipeline flowed into the municipal pipe network, an initial investigation showed.

Source: Xinhua

A Chinese Father’s Most Important Job

According to areport from the Wall Street Journal,in a Survey of 500 chinese fathers released earlier this week by communications company JWT, respondents ranked driving their children to extracurricular activities and to school first and second, respectively, as the childcare responsibilities they most viewed as the responsibility of the male in the family. More than two-thirds of Chinese fathers surveyed said they saw these tasks as their responsibilities, not their wives’.

Fathers ranked handling doctor visits, disciplining children and helping with homework third through fifth on the list of daddy jobs.

Chinese men view parenting differently from their American counterparts. In a similar survey completed in the U.S. earlier this year, more than 80% of American fathers said discipline was their top role, with homework help ranking second.

The survey showed that this generation of dads think they’re more involved with parenting than previous generations, though there are still some chores they won’t touch. Less than one-fifth of Chinese fathers said they viewed changing diapers and making lunches as their job.

Kids have long been an obsession in China, but the chatter about family has increased this past week after the government that it would ease restrictions on its longstanding policy of restricting most families to having just one child.

Fathers’ roles have also been featured in the media limelight in recent weeks after a reality show called “Where Are We Going, Dad?”became a hit last month on Chinese television and the online video site Tudou.

Hawks on the Rise alongside China's Exponentially Growing Strength

Senior Chinese military officers are speaking much more loudly than before. Unlike the diplomats who keep making relatively moderate remarks, such as "cooperation" and "reciprocal relationship," some hawkish military officers demonstrate another aspect of China's vision toward the rest of the world.

Their remarks and opinions are invigorating for many ordinary Chinese who have been told for generations by analysts that China needs to lie low and focus on its own development. Along with the country's exponentially growing economic strength, assertive voices from Chinese commentators are on the rise.

Written by Zhang Min, a major general of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and former director of the Department of Operational and Tactical Research, PLA Academy of Military Science, the book Chinese Are Not Afraid: New Threats to Chinese Defense Security and China's Response Strategies, follows the new trend.

The book is popular reading rather than an academic piece. But unlike many shoddily organized and sloganeering books, this one has its own logic, sound and pretty convincing.

The author focuses on China's long-haunting "fear" of confronting major powers, especially the US, in the political and military spheres.

The most valuable part of this book is its extensive research and analysis of Chinese history for over a century in fighting invasion and hegemony, trying to prove that China has long injected the courage to get rid of the "fear" in its veins.

But the author thinks that China might have enjoyed peace for such a long time that it has relaxed vigilance against potential dangers.

"Keeping alert of the danger of war is of vital importance to China." The book said, "It determines whether China can survive or not." Crisis awareness, which Zhang sees as a psychological support for the long dominance of the US, is applicable to China as well.

Most of the content of this book is focused on wide-ranging coverage of Sino-US relations. The table of contents can show readers that the book might have widened its attention too much, trying to render a comprehensive analysis of the bilateral relationship.

Its writing style is fixated on rebutting various ideologies and strategies that the US is advocating and using, such as the "China threat," "pivot" to Asia and "containing" China.

The over-broad coverage makes the book accessible, but prevents in-depth discussions. But this text seems targeted at public opinion more than scholarly evaluation.

Although not an academic book, this book is still worth reading, especially for those who want to learn how China's hawks think.

Source: Global Times

WSJ : Qualcomm Is Still a Smart Bet

   According to a report from the Wall Street Journal,some may believe the party's over at Qualcomm, but it is too early for last call.The stock has jumped 18% over the past four months and just hit its highest level since an inflated dot-com run-up back in 2000. Qualcomm has had a three-year run averaging 31% annual revenue growth and warned investors in its last earnings call that the current fiscal year would see a notable slowdown from those levels.

But the company has many things going its way, some of which are likely to come into play in the coming year.

Gartner projects global smartphone shipments to increase by an annual average of 20% over the next four years, even as the high end of the market slows. This will boost sales of Qualcomm's baseband chips, a key component that manages a device's radio connection to wireless networks and represents the largest portion of the company's revenue.

Increasing demand for tablets has a similar effect, especially as more competing devices gain share against Apple's iPad. Many of those rival tablets also are using Qualcomm's Snapdragon processor, including the latest versions of Samsung's Galaxy Tab, Amazon's Kindle Fire and Google's Nexus.

Competitors are working hard to break up Qualcomm's dominance, but the company maintains a strong lead. Its latest LTE baseband chips are in their fourth generation, while rivals are launching their first.

Qualcomm faces more competition from MediaTek with regards to lower-tier devices in developing markets like China. But Qualcomm has historically been weak in this segment anyway, so any headway it makes will add to the top line.

China, in fact, represents even more of an opportunity for Qualcomm as the country's wireless carriers build their LTE networks. This will increase demand for Qualcomm's chipsets and royalties to its licensing business. About 30% of overall revenue comes from licensing its deep portfolio of wireless patents, and high margins on these mean they accounted for nearly 70% of the company's pretax earnings in fiscal 2013.

The high end of the company's revenue-projection range for fiscal 2014 still implies double-digit-percentage growth. That is above the consensus forecasts for other big tech companies including Apple, Microsoft and Oracle.Qualcomm also plans to return about 75% of free cash flow to shareholders over the next five years, up from 62% over the last five. That target strongly suggests an increase in the company's dividend yield, which, at 2%, lags behind many of its tech peers.

Futuristic Glass Office By AIM Architecture

The Shanghai-based Glass Office, by AIM Architecture (Photo: Jerry Yin)

The ubiquitous office cubicle has redefined how much privacy pencil-pushers can expect during their daily grind, but a new office block in downtown Shanghai by AIM Architecture goes much further than this. The futuristic-looking workplace sports glass walls and mirrored ceilings throughout to stunning effect.

In addition to offering fertile ground for office gossips, the unusual interior layout could also potentially reduce lighting energy needs significantly. Unwanted glare would be a definite concern with all the light bouncing around, but the designers note that they incorporated areas of dull stone and carpet in key areas of the floor to combat this.

AIM Architecture also states that the unique design creates a "double reality, that merges with the stunning views of downtown Shanghai." Pretentious perhaps, but once one embarks upon building an office block interior comprised mostly of glass and mirror, it makes sense to just run with it.

Coming back down to earth, the office block was completed earlier this year and forms part of Shanghai's large mixed-use Fuxing Plaza complex. The office units are currently offered for rent, and boast the benefit of offering customers the opportunity to see exactly what they're paying for.

Source: AIM Architecture via ArchDaily, TECHINASIA.

China’s Sungy app, raising over $80 million on NASDAQ debut

One of China’s biggest app development companies,Sungy Mobile , has just listed on NASDAQ. It’s the firm behind the popular GO series of apps like GO Launcher, GO Weather, GO Locker, Go SMS, and Next browser.

After being initially priced at $11.22 per share to raise $79 million, once Sungy’s stock started trading it climbed quickly to $14.78 per share at time of publishing at midnight Beijing/Singapore time. Aside from the IPO windfall, Sungy has also made $20 million from a concurrent private placement today, making for a total of about $100 million.

Talking to Tech in Asia via Skype from New York just before trading began, Sungy CEO Deng Yuqiang said that the IPO will “help with better recognition among overseas consumers.” Its apps have a collective 325 million downloads around the world with 87 million monthly active users. 70 percent of its app users are from outside of China.

Deng added that in the long term the company is looking to extend its reach by co-operating with game developers on social gaming, as well as exploring e-commerce.

For now, most of its apps are created for Android, and many of them are free. Sungy’s CEO says the focus on Android makes sense as it is, he says, the OS of choice of 70 percent of smartphone users. Android is also more flexible, allowing the firm to build an app empire with things like smartphone launchers and widgets – none of which are possible on iOS.

Most of Go’s Android apps are free, but some have paid/pro versions, and Deng says that revenue from paid apps is up 14-fold this year. Aside from that channel, the company monetizes from ads, as well as from partnerships with third-party app makers for inclusion in Go Launcher.

Source; TECHINASIA

Grata takes 5-star hospitality out of hotels and puts it on your smartphone

We see a lot of travel and tourism startups popping up around Asia these days. So many, in fact, that planning a trip can be overwhelming. While more competition results in better services at lower cost, sifting through every website and mobile app is tedious at best and intimidating at worst. As the occasional traveler, myself, I often just want to ask someone around me where to go, what to do, and how to get there.

This is where Beijing-based startup Grata comes in. Grata has developed a chat app, akin to Wechat, used to communicate directly with travel agents, tour guides, and hotel staff. Currently in beta, Grata is developing the app along with a suite of tools for people in the travel industry to recommend, book, and arrange transport to destinations. The destination content comes from location-based sites like Dianping, Yelp, Foursquare, and Google Maps.

Think of it as having a hotel concierge always available on your smartphone. Just send them a message asking for a good restaurant for a romantic date. The travel expert on the other end can give you suggestions with reviews, send you a map, make a reservation, and arrange a taxi from your current location. The mobile version on the staff side is still in alpha, but for now they can use a desktop version to see who you are, where you are, and past conversation history. Founder Andrew Schorr says this is much more efficient for both parties than making arrangements via telephone call.

Grata has so far partnered with 25 hotel brands including Marriot, Hilton, and IHG – relationships that Schorr made when working on a B2B SaaS platform for guest services. It’s up to the hotels how they want to offer Grata to customers, such as if the service will be limited to in-house guests. Right now the company only operates in San Francisco and Beijing. Schorr says the official launch will take place in early 2014. He says he chose two cities on opposite sides of the world because “the opportunity is bigger than just China.”

Grata is targeted at high-end leisure and business travelers, so don’t expect to see it at youth hostels anytime soon. Schorr says the O2O business model was inspired in part by Uber, the fancy car booking service taking off across major Asian cities, where both the driver and passenger communicate online to arrange an offline service.

Schorr cites three major trends to explain why now is the right time to launch Grata: smartphone adoption, mobile messaging (e.g. WeChat) growth, and increasing complexity in travel products and destinations. These all pushed Schorr and his team to create a humanized network for travelers. “I should be sharing that with you in a perfect medium, not over phone or email,” he says.

Grata plans to monetize using a B2B2C model, wherein the costs are passed to the hotels and travel agents, not to travelers. A freemium model is on the table. Clients can use the chat app for free, but pay a subscription for the recommendation and booking toolkits.

Source: TECHINASIA

Civic Startups, Google Impact Challenge

How can technology positively impact India and the world? That’s the question Google asked Indian non-profit organizations earlier this summer, and thousands of responses flooded in.

A team of up to 160 Googlers got all those submissions down to 10 finalists, and now the Google Impact Challenge has chosen after a day of pitching in Delhi last week – its three winners along with a “people’s choice” award.

The four civic startups chosen each receive a Rs 3 crore ($500,000) Global Impact Award as well as Google mentoring to help get their projects off the ground. Here are the winners:

1. Agastya

Over 80 percent of kids in India lack access to experential, hands-on learning. This startup wants to ensure that the nation’s kids get access to fun and engaging science classes. These mini science labs travel around rural areas via motorbikes. This is a superb idea.

2. Digital Green

Already operating for four years, Digital Green is an online knowledge forum and database of agricultural skills that can help farmers lower costs and increase productivity. It’s not just online, and also operates offline to train up some farmers to teach their fellow land-tillers using video screenings in villages. It’s aiming to use the money to reach a million farmers in 10,000 villages across India.

3. Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship & Democracy

Janaagraha gives people online reporting tools that help them directly reach out to civic representatives. For example, someone could snap a picture of a dangerously crumbling wall or a massive pot-hole, and the idea is that the submitted report reaches the right agency who can fix the issue. The service aims to have 1.5 million users with help from Google’s funding.

4. Social Awareness, Newer Alternatives (SANA)

This one got the People’s Choice award. SANA combines solar-powered micro-ionizing water purification and biodigesting technology to improve water and sanitation infrastructure for rural villages. Basically, it’s a green-tech solution to cleaner drinking water where the waste by-products can be used to generate power.

Google decided to give the six other finalists $250,000 in seed funding. We like civic startups around here because they are a refreshing change from the dross of photo apps and shopping loyalty programs and stuff that’s been done ad infinitum ad nauseum. Hopefully we’ll be hearing from a few of these Indian ventures in future.

Source: TECHINASIA

Goldman Sachs burned by bad currency bets in third quarter

Goldman Sachs Group Inc  lost more than $1 billion (617.70 million pounds) on currency trades during the third quarter, regulatory filings show, offering some insight into why the firm, considered one of Wall Street's most savvy traders, reported its worst quarter in a key trading unit since the financial crisis.

Foreign exchange was the only trading area that was a money loser, according to regulatory data issued in November. In the third quarter, Goldman reported its weakest revenue - $1.3 billion - in fixed-income, currency and commodities trading since the height of the financial crisis.

The data, which come from regulatory filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Reserve, are reported in aggregate and do not always reflect the way banks tally up their own profits and losses on trading desks.

In a statement on Thursday, Goldman Sachs said that the numbers in regulatory filings "are not representative of the manner in which the firm manages its business activities." According to Goldman's internal calculations, it did not suffer a loss in its currencies trading business in the third quarter.

Goldman's trading businesses book profits and losses only on trades that originate within them. Profits and losses from currency trading transactions that originated in another division, and are paired with other kinds of trades, are attributed to that division.

"Accordingly, gains or losses in one product type frequently offset gains or losses in other product types," Goldman said.

According to SEC data, Goldman had negative revenue of $1.3 billion in currencies, while JPMorgan Chase & Co  was $65 million in the red. Morgan Stanley  reported $594 million in currency revenue, Citigroup Inc  reported $558 million and Bank of America Corp  reported $215 million.

Goldman's 47 percent drop in fixed-income, currency and commodities revenue last quarter surprised not only its investors but traders at rival firms, because it is typically one of the best trading firms on Wall Street. In research notes following Goldman's results, analysts said they considered it a one-time event and not indicative of broader problems. 

Source: Reuters

European shares steady, 'fear gauge' hits 7-year low

European shares held steady on Friday while a closely watched measure of stock market volatility sank to a near seven-year low in a further sign of mounting investor confidence about the state of the global economy.

The Euro STOXX 50 Volatility Index which reflects options pricing and demand to protect against falls in the underlying cash market index, fell 2.7 percent to 14.68 points, having hit levels not seen since early 2007 earlier in the day.

The VSTOXX has been falling in a fairly steady fashion since hitting 59.8 points in 2011, helped by intervention by the European Central Bank and other central banks across the world to shore up the debt and funding markets.

"It's (the move on the VSTOXX) the effect of both the improved visibility on the macro front and strong liquidity from the central banks. Very few people feel the need to hedge their positions at the moment, very few people are buying volatility," said Vincent Cassot, head of equity derivatives strategy at Societe Generale.

"That's the short-term picture, however. Investors are feeling relaxed for the rest of 2013, but a little less relaxed for the start of 2014. The curve is quite steep between the spot V2X, and the January contract, which currently trades at 18.65."

The FTSEurofirst 300 was down 0.37 of a point at 1,295.24 points by 1134 GMT, within a whisker of a 5-1/2-year closing high of 1,304.25 seen on Monday. Trading volumes were light, at just a quarter of the 90-day daily average.

Dow Jones industrial average futures edged higher.

WSJ: Gold’s Glitter Is Gone.What went wrong? By Steven Russolillo

  According to a report from the Wall Street Journal,It’s time to crown gold this year’s biggest loser.

Gold for December delivery, the most actively traded contract, slumped Thursday to $1,243.60 a troy ounce, a four-month low, and spot gold was trading lower in Europe this morning. The yellow metal is down 26% this year, on pace for its biggest loss since 1981, when it fell 33%.

Gold had rallied for the previous 12 straight years, a streak that is in serious jeopardy less than six weeks until the new year.

So, what went wrong?

For years, gold was widely viewed as a safe haven during times of turmoil or as an inflation hedge against the Federal Reserve’s easy-money policies. Investors often hold gold as a hedge against rising consumer prices or depreciating currencies.

But that trade has failed this year.

Inflation expectations remain low even amid the Fed’s accommodative policies. And concerns that the central bank could start dialing back its bond purchases, either next month or early next year, have prompted the latest investor exodus out of gold.

“People are finding it hard to find a reason to own gold,” Adam Klopfenstein, a senior market strategist with Archer Financial Services,told WSJ’s Tatyana Shumsky.

Chart watchers say gold could be in for more short-term trouble. The precious metal slumped under its 50-day moving average earlier this month, a line in the sand that often dictates future direction.

Gold futures have dropped another $100 since falling below that technical marker. Chris Verrone, a technical strategist at Strategas Research Partners in New York, estimates it could fall to as low as $1180.

“Gold still looks like a good short in our view,” he said.

To be sure, there are some glimmers of hope for the precious metal.

Appearing at the Robin Hood Investors Conference in New York, hedge-fund manager David Einhorn told CNBC that he plans to keep holding gold “in case things go haywire.” His firm, Greenlight Capital, has the precious metal since 2008 and pointed out how it was a really good investment, up until this year.

Still, the fundamental and technical picture offer few signals immediately that would suggest gold’s recent retreat is poised to turn. If anything, gold prices will likely keep slumping before they get better.

“The precious metals markets are out of favor with investors and set to stay that way,” David Govett, head of precious metals at brokerage Marex Spectron in London, told the Journal.

Xiaomi is experimenting with selling smartphones in WeChat

Today at 12 noon in China, gadget-maker Xiaomistarted an experiment selling its smartphones inside WeChat, the popular messaging app. Xiaomi has set aside 150,000 of its flagshipMi3Android as smartphone to sell within WeChat – though only the TD-SCMA variant for the China Mobile network.

As seen in the screenshots below, the sale can be found within Xiaomi’s WeChat brand account. Clicking on the order button takes you to a payment page (still inside WeChat) where you need to make a reservation with a nominal RMB 0.01 payment. The proper price – RMB 1,999 ($320) – will be charged later if the limited daily stock hasn’t been sold out already and your order is successful.

Judging by previous flash sales run by Xiaomi, those would all sell out in minutes. On China’s ‘Cyber Monday’ sales day earlier this month, Xiaomi sold 200,000 phones in just three minutes via more conventional e-commerce channels. That’s why Xiaomi is spreading out these WeChat sales from today to November 27, with a certain amount of phones up for reservation each day.

WeChat added mobile payments to its feature-set earlier this summer. The messaging app now has 272 million active users around the world, with the majority of those in China.

Source: TechinAsia

Asian Shares Rise on Positive U.S. Sentiment

   According to a report from the Wall Street Journal,Asian stocks rose Friday, as positive political and economic news from the U.S. supported sentiment. Hong Kong-listed Chinese companies were the best performers of the week.

The greenback came off its highest level against the yen since early July. It was at ¥101.02 compared with ¥101.15 late Thursday in New York after spiking earlier in the day.

Japan's Nikkei gained as much as 1.1% in the morning, helped by the Japanese currency weakening beyond the ¥101 mark, but erased most its gains in the afternoon, closing 0.1% higher than Thursday.

Sharp Corp. was one of the biggest gainers in Tokyo, up 7.7%, after a Nikkei report that the LCD panel maker is set to begin production of small and midsize panels to supply China's ZTE Corp.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.9%, helped by energy and mining stocks. Aurora Oil & Gas rose 3.4% and BHP Billiton added 0.7%.

South Korea's Kospi was up 0.6%, while Thailand's SET lost 1.2%.

Hong Kong stocks continued to push higher on Friday, while Shanghai moderated. The Hang Seng Index added 0.5% and the Shanghai Composite was down 0.4%.

Friday's gains come at an end of a week dominated by outperformance of Chinese stocks. Last Friday, Beijing released a broad outline for structural reform of the economy, which boosted Chinese stocks on Monday. Although the initial excitement is over, as data released on Thursday showed that the pace of growth in China's manufacturing activity eased in November, stocks in Hong Kong and Shanghai remain Asia's best performers for the week.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index rose 7.2% in the week, whle the Shanghai Composite rose 2.8%.

Dow ends above 16,000 for first time, boosted by data

The Dow industrials closed above 16,000 for the first time on Thursday as stocks rebounded from three days of weakness, after economic data pointed to a slowly improving labour market and subdued inflation.

Financial shares led the market to its first day of gains after three sessions of losses. Although investors remain unsure about the timing of the Federal Reserve's scaling back of its $85 billion per month in bond buying, some say the market will weather the eventual pullback in that stimulus.

James Bullard, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and a voting member of the FOMC, said on Thursday that the inflation data gives the central bank some leeway to keep the current accommodative policy in place.

"What we need to do is continue with the program for now as we have, but if an inflation problem starts to develop, we have to be willing to move to arrest that problem," Bullard told a University of Arkansas event. "At that point, I'd put on my inflation hawk hat and spring into action."

Expectations that the Fed could start cutting stimulus - but without raising interest rates - have helped to widen the spread between long- and short-run debt. That benefits banks, which make money borrowing at short rates and lending at longer rates.

Source: Reuters

Israeli messaging app Viber

With over 200 million users worldwide, many of whom are in Asia, Israeli messaging app Viber has established itself as a name to watch in the messaging space throughout the continent.

So what are Viber’s plans for Asia in 2014? At the Startup Asia Jakarta, we sit down with Viber CEO and co-founder Talmon Marco to find out how he built Viber to become the respected mobile company it is today and what lies ahead for its future:

 Tech in Asia’s Anh-Minh Do and Marco take the stage.

 Marco opened the stage saying Viber adds half a million users everyday. Before Viber, he started iMesh, a peer-to-peer media sharing client.

Launched in December 2010, Viber started with voice and slowly entered messaging a few months later. The difference between Skype and Viber is that most Skype calls are scheduled, while Viber is more spontaneous. Within the three months after launch, there were 10 people on the team.

 Viber depends on strength of the product to grow the number of users. If he had to choose again, Marco would put money in R&D instead of media. Out of 120 staff at Viber, 100 of them are in R&D.

 Next week, Viber will be lauched on another platform. Marco did not disclose any specifics.

 Viber got 100,000 users in the first 24 hours after launch. By the end of the third day, it reached the millions. With every platform that the company adds, it sees strong growth. Everything it does for one of its user groups reflects the virality of other user groups. Viber adds features that its staff would want to use. Internal staff phone calls and messages are only made through Viber.

 Marco says that when he started developing the app, he knew it’d be a success. Tip for other startups: check with your friends first. If your friends are not interested, then you have nothing. When you start, make sure it’s scalable. Viber also learned this the hard way. When it hit several million users, the app didn’t respond, so it needed some rewriting. Lesson learned: ”You can never be fully scalable.”

 Viber’s philosophy is “everything is blank.” You don’t need to develop everything that users want. In 2011, people complained there was no voice function on Blackberry, so the company released it but it wasn’t a great success. Each version of Viber’s management is assigned to an app store. The team has to read every comment on each app store.

 Viber and the sticker store: There are 20 people working on it around the world. Marco says Viber is pretty much like Violet (the Viber sticker mascot) – the app tries to be minimalistic to stay true to its western heritage, but it still has the fun sticker-loving Asian side.

Marco on the chat app battle: in some markets, there’s already a winner such as in Korea where KakaoTalk dominates the market. At the same time, people were saying the same thing about Line and Facebook. Looking forward, you will see winners in various countries, but they are not going to be the same winner.

 Strategy that matters to Viber is not monetization, but content and user experience, says Marco. It created stickers to give customers the best experience.

 Marco says in five to 10 years, users will be able to move from one device or carrier to another without loyalty. But the mobile apps will adapt.

When it comes to data pricing, we will start to see the race to the bottom in countries like Japan and the US, where most carriers sell packages. This trend is not happening in Europe yet, but we will see it happen. Viber works with some carriers to offer the app with free data costs.

Marco’s comment on SnapChat being worth $3 billion: Marco doesn’t believe it’s a competitor. If Snapchat wants to add messaging and branch out, they have to add more buttons and fuctions, which sacrifices its identity. It will become WhatsApp or Viber. Marco says the pictures on Snapchat don’t really disappear. There’s no way you as a user can know if the picture is really gone. Over time, users will understand that.

Viber takes on the NSA: Marco says privacy is definitely a concern. As of today, Viber never provided any messages or voice to any government. But he would never say that the company was never asked. What ended up happening is that Viber was blocked in Saudi Arabia. The company takes the stance that it will never allow any government to listen to its customers’ conversations.

 “It’s not that rare for an entreprenuer to be successful”. Talking about money, Marco comments that Viber starts to generate revenue as it launched Sticker. When the typhoon struck the Philippines, the company opened the platform for emergencies in which international calls — both incoming and outgoing — could be made for free. This new feature is called Viber Out, and soft launching after the hurricane in the Philippines, Viber will roll this out in other countries as a regular feature on the app.

Source: Techinasia