Here’s data on Malaysia’s Twitter population, where they tweet, and who they follow (INFOGRAPHIC)

Twitter is the world’s fourth most popular social network. Although it originates from the US, English is not the most common language on the platform. In fact, only 34 percent of all Tweets are in English. Malay, which is spoken in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and a few other countries, is actually the fourth-most popular language on Twitter, accounting for 8 percent of all Tweets. But of those tweets, how many actually come from Malaysian residents? Zocial Inc., a leading social media agency in Thailand and Malaysia has come out with an infographic explaining the Twitter landscape in Malaysia. The data was collected from February of this year.

Malaysia is home to 3.5 million Twitter users. However, only 21.8% of these users were active during the month of February. Approximately 162.4 million tweets were published in that time period, which means Malaysians sent out roughly 5.4 million tweets per day. This is quite high considering there are about 4.5 million tweets sent per day in Thai. Also in Malaysia, three out of the five brands with the most followers on Twitter are airlines. In addition, four out of the five top brands are in the transportation industry.

Source: TECHINASIA

Xiaomi Showcases Budget Phablet Red Mi Note for $130

Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi debuts a low-cost phablet, Red Mi Note, on Tencent’s social platform Q-zone yesterday. The new product is opened up for preorder now and will be shipped on March 26 at 799 yuan (roughly US$130) for standard version and 999 yuan for enhanced version, basically on par with the price of Red Mi, a budget smartphone of the company.

Enabled by MIUI 5 OS, Red Mi Note standard version is powered by an octa-core MTK 6592 processor clocked at 1.4GHz and features 1G RAM, 8G ROM and 5.5 inch IPS screen. The camera is 5-megapixel on the front and 13-megapixel on the rear. The phablet is a dual SIM phone, supporting both TD-SCDMA and GSM cards. The enhanced version features 2G RAM, 8G ROM and the same processor, which is clocked at 1.7GHz.

It seems that Xiaomi is shifting to devices with bigger screens which has been on a roll since 2011 as tech-savvy consumers are devoting more times to browse web pages and download contents. In addition to the imminent phablet, Xiaomi recently released a MIUI ROM for Google’s Nexus 7 II and speculations swirled that the smartphone maker is going to release tablet soon.

But Xiaomi isn’t the only Chinese phone maker to eye this market. Huawei’s low-cost phablet Honor 3X which shares similar features with Red Mi Note in dual-SIM capability, octa-core processor and 5.5-inch IPS display, is on sale at Huawei’s ecommerce site Vmall and Yixun today. Huawei announced on the same day of Red Mi Note’s release that standard edition of Honor 3X is priced at 998 yuan. The company spun off Honor, a smartphone brand sharing similar positioning as Xiaomi, to run it independently since the end of last year.

image credit: Xiaomi, Huawei

Join ChinaBang 2014 to Meet Porter for a Behind-The-Scenes Look at Alibaba’s Evolution

It is officially spring and ChinaBang 2014 is just around the corner this Thursday (March 27). In addition to the awarding ceremony to groups of outstanding startups, we are going to debut a fascinating film named “Crocodile in the Yangtze”, an independent memoir on the working experiences of Porter Erisman who worked in Alibaba for eight years as vice president since 2000, at times the only westerner in Alibaba’s senior management team. Porter will join us at the event to share his insights on Chinese tech landscape.

An independent memoir written, directed and produced by Porter, Crocodile in the Yangtze captures the emotional ups and downs of life in Alibaba as a Chinese Internet startup at a time when the Internet brought China face-to-face with the West. The film follows Alibaba chairman Jack Ma, as he battles US giant eBay on the way to building China’s first global Internet company, Alibaba Group. It presents a strikingly candid portrait of Ma and his company, told from the point of view of an “American fly on a Chinese wall” who witnessed the successes and the mistakes Alibaba encountered as it grew from a small apartment into a global company employing more than 16,000 staff. It draws on 200 hours of archival footage filmed by over 35 sources between 1995 and 2009.

As an entrepreneur, cyclist and documentary director, Porter Erisman’s adventures in China began in 1994 when he landed in Beijing to study a year of Mandarin Chinese. He soon fell into a job as a host of China Central Television’s travel program “China Through Foreigner’s Eyes,” traveling to nine provinces as China opened its doors to Western tourists. After studying for an MBA in the US, Porter returned to China in 1998 and soon became involved in China’s Internet boom. When a friend told him that a former English teacher, Jack Ma, was looking for western managers to join his global e-commerce company, Porter became intrigued and decided to join Ma’s company, Alibaba.com. For eight years Porter served as a vice president in Alibaba.com in a variety of roles.

Other amazing speakers of the event include Wen Xin (co-founder, board member and co-chairman of online retailer Lightinthebox), Ji Shisan (CEO of science social networking service website Guokr) and He Keren (dean of Design School of Hunan University, judge of Red Dot Design Award). In addition, more than 200 founders of tech startups will join after-party of the event.

Source: TechNode

Looking to future growth, Xiaomi will build its own campus

Source: TECHINASIA
Chinese phone-maker Xiaomi revealed today that it’ll build its own campus in Beijing’s top Silicon Valley area. The company signed the paperwork today at a ceremony in the Chinese capital, but it didn’t reveal the planned design or its estimated cost. The eventual new home will mean that Xiaomi can move out of its current bases, which scattered across three nondescript office buildings. Once completed, Xiaomi will join local web giant Baidu in having its own sprawling campus facility in the hi-tech Haidian district of the city.

Xiaomi describes the planned new home as a business park which is being built together with software maker Kingsoft. Xiaomi founder and billionaire Lei Jun is a co-founder of Kingsoft and remains chairman of the board. Until we get to see architectural plans for the new campus, check out a few photos from Xiaomi’s Hugo Barra (shameless plug: Barra will be speaking at our Startup Asia Singapore event on May 7 and 8) of one of its current office spaces in Beijing. I hope they keep the slide when they move to the campus

US Equity Markets Lacking Conviction

"The U.S. equity markets closed the week out in mixed fashion as the Dow was able to breach positive territory on the coattails of today's gains, leaving the S&P and the Nasdaq below the flatline. The Nasdaq disproportionately lagged other major U.S. indices, as the week began with the biotech sector coming under heavy pressure in response to some pricing worries. As Schwab's Brad Sorensen, CFA notes in his recent Schwab Sector Views, the tech sector appears far more stable than it was in the late-1990s environment so many still remember. We've been touting this stability as one of the reasons to stick with the group and in fact the sector has outperformed during the past couple of downturns in the market, including the most recent one. 
Meanwhile, as the effects of the long and bitter-cold winter begin to thaw out, some economic data is beginning to warm up. We received reads showing consumer confidence jumped to a six-year high, regional manufacturing activity accelerated more than projected, weekly initial jobless claims were better than forecasted, anddurable goods orders increased more than expected, though, non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, which is considered a proxy for business spending, unexpectedly fell. 

As Schwab's Chief Investment Strategist Liz Ann Sonders, Brad Sorensen, CFA, and Director of International Research Michelle Gibley, CFA, in their Schwab Market Perspective: Lacking Conviction, we believe the secular bull market is intact but that a pullback would be healthy from a sentiment perspective. We believe economic data will improve, interest rates will drift higher, and equities will end the year higher". 

Source: Schwab

Russia Says No Plan to Invade Ukraine After Putin Calls Obama

Stepping Back?

“Russia is trying to cement the status quo by providing assurances to the West that it won’t go further and invade Ukraine,” Fyodor Lukyanov, head of the Moscow-based Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, said by phone today. “I don’t think Putin was planning to but Western leaders clearly feel that he’s stepping back because of the threat of more sanctions.”

Diplomatic efforts are gaining traction, with Kerry planning talks with Lavrov after speaking with his Russian counterpart during a flight home from Saudi Arabia today. The meeting in Paris is planned for tomorrow, Interfax reported, citing the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Putin initiated a conversation with the U.S. leader for the first time in their last seven exchanges by phone, according to the Kremlin’s website. The talks yesterday marked their fifth conversation since the Ukrainian crisis intensified with the ouster of Moscow-backed President Viktor Yanukovych last month.

“We have absolutely no intentions or interest in crossing the borders of Ukraine,” Lavrov said. “We only really insist on working collectively and on putting an end to the outrages that western countries are sweeping under the rug.”

Concern that Russia’s economy would suffer from an extended confrontation over Ukraine has helped push the benchmark Micex Index down 10.6 percent this year. The gauge lost 11 percent this quarter and entered a bear market in March.

Source: Bloomberg