Didi Detours Into Bike Sharing Services

Leading shared car services provider Didi Chuxing said that it will drive into the shared-bike business， throwing a surprise wrench into the two-way battle for control of a massive Chinese market dominated by well-funded incumbents Ofo and Mobike. Didi Chuxing Technology Co. Ltd.， whose backers include Apple Inc. and Uber Technologies Inc.， unveiled the plan to develop its own-branded shared-bike service as part of a broader announcement saying it would launch a comprehensive bikesharing platform within its core car services app. That platform will include the new Didi shared-bike service， as well as rival services offered by Ofo and a third player， Bluegogo， according to Didi. It said that other services could also be added in the future. Didi is already an investor in Ofo Inc.， after pouring millions of dollars into the company in at least two funding rounds last year. The pair further cemented their ties when a top Didi executive became the president of Ofo last summer. Separately， sources said that Didi had agreed to acquire Bluegogo， though neither side would comment at that time. In its latest announcement， Didi said it and Bluegogo had reached “cooperation arrangements on the latters bike-sharing business.”It said users of Didis app would be able to use Bluegogos service without the usual deposit required， but did not make mention of any ownership tie-up between the pair. Chinas new generation of bike-sharing firms differ from similar older municipal services by using mobile technology to let users find and unlock bikes using smartphone-based apps. Users typically pay a small fee for each ride， and can pick up and drop off bikes anywhere they want. By comparison， traditional services require users to pick up and return bikes to fixed racks and have a more cumbersome registration process. Mobike and Ofo were two of the earliest arrivals to the space， and have since each raised over $1 billion. But a wave of later arrivals like Bluegogo have struggled to find a stable audience， and many are either faltering or have gone out of business. Such boom- bust cycles are common in China due to the markets huge potential， which often attracts big investment dollars and inexperienced companies and entrepreneurs willing to gamble on big payouts despite long odds.

Baidu Sued Over Claim It Illegally Obtained UsersData

Baidu Inc.， Chinas largest searchengine operator， is being sued by a consumer-protection organization that claims it collected users information without consent， in the latest privacy dispute involving the countrys tech giants. Two mobile apps operated by New York-listed Baidu， a search engine and a web browser， could access a users calls， location data， messages and contacts without notifying the user， the Jiangsu Consumer Council， a governmentbacked consumer rights association， claimed in a statement on its website. Baidu denied the accusation， saying the apps “do not have the capability of monitoring phone calls and will never do it，” according to a statement published on its social media account. The consumer group filed the case against Baidu in last December， and a court in Nanjing， the capital city of Jiangsu province， accepted the lawsuit on Jan. 2， according to the statement. The Jiangsu consumer council said it talked to 27 mobile app operators in last July about privacy issues and asked them to adjust their operations within two months. Most companies submitted plans for changes but Baidu didnt， the group said. In last November， the council began negotiating with Baidu representatives， but the two sides failed to come to an agreement. Baidu said it had conducted rounds of talks with the council over the past several months to explain the scenarios under which it uses authorization to access users information. The search giant said “Baidu apps obtain users authorization to access location， message and contacts and only use the information in a reasonable scale.”endprint

Logistics Sector Delivers Another Strong Year

Chinas logistics industry is continuing its impressive years-long streak of growth， with revenue in the sector rising 24.5% to 495 billion yuan （$77.6 billion） in 2017. That is more than double the already strong growth of 205 billion yuan in 2014. The figure is part of the 976.5 billion yuan in revenue last year in the countrys overall postal industry， which includes public postal services and privately owned logistics delivery businesses， said Ma Shengjun， head of Chinas State Post Bureau. In 2017， the country delivered 40 billion packages domestically， up from 5.7 billion five years ago， Ma said， adding that 2017 was the fourth consecutive year that China delivered the most packages of any market in the world. Chinas postal network， comprising public and private delivery services， now covers 87% of the country， Ma added. Industry expert Shao Zhonglin said， “Rapid investment among enterprises and changing consumer habits have boosted demand for the industry， which also benefits from strong government support.” The thriving is also fueled by the boom in Chinas e-commerce business. Couriers such as SF Express Co. Ltd. and Shanghai YTO Express Logistics Co. Ltd. offer parcel-delivery services for e-commerce companies like Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and JD.com Inc. Fierce competition has riled the industry recently， as companies race to adopt new measures to expand market shares， including using new technologies and increasing delivery capacities. SF Express， which began testing a drone-delivery service in southeastern China in July， said it hopes to begin commercial use of large drones by 2019， and is exploring other uses for them， such as in emergency logistics. But these couriers are expected to face challenges as e-commerce companies develop their own delivery platforms.

JD.com Unmanned Grocery Store Goes Live

Online retailer JD.com Inc. has launched an unmanned supermarket for general public use， besting rivals Amazon.com and Alibaba in the race to roll out the first such fully automated store for commercial use. The JD.com store， in the coastal city of Yantai in Shandong province， opened over the weekend， with a target of turning a profit within six months， according to Chinas second-largest e-commerce company. Similar to other cashier-less stores， it allows customers to walk in， pick up items and pay for them using smart phones without waiting in line. JD.com has been running a beta version of the store for employees at its Beijing headquarters since last October， but the Yantai opening marks the first commercial version. Rivals Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Amazon.com Inc. both also operate unmanned convenience stores， but only in beta versions not available to the general public. JD.com said that the Yantai store is equipped with advanced technologies， including facial recognition and cloud computing， which can improve the speed and accuracy of the payment process. The company is in talks to open additional outlets across the country this year， including in office buildings and other commercial centers and residential areas. Choice of goods will be localized based on consumption data from JD.com and its partners. The project comes as the automated store concept has made headlines in recent years， both at home and abroad. Amazon.com made headlines when it unveiled its Amazon Go concept stores in 2016. Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba followed by launching a popup store in last July. But neither has commercialized the concept so far. The Amazon Go store is currently open only to employees at its Seattle headquarters， while Alibaba only showcased its store for five days in its hometown of Hangzhou.endprint

Wanda-IBM Cloud Ambitions Turn Stormy

An ambitious deal between Dalian Wanda and U.S. tech giant IBM to join forces and become a top player in Chinas booming cloud-computing market appears in serious jeopardy， with the Chinese property and entertain- ment conglomerate planning deep job cuts in a key department， sources said. Wanda will cut the workforce at the cloud-computing department under Wanda Internet Technology Group， the sources close to the matter said. Wanda cut some jobs in Wanda Internet last year， leading to speculation that the conglomerate was retreating from the segment amid years of slow growth and mounting capital pressure. At an internal meeting， executives blamed the downsizing on problems in its partnership with IBM forged last March， sources said. Wanda will halt its efforts with IBM to sell cloud-computing services and temporarily suspend part of related development and research works， a Wanda employee who attended the meeting said. The layoffs come as Wanda has backed off years of aggressive overseas buying， reflecting Beijings increasing scrutiny of private companies debt-driven investment due to concerns about capital flight and mounting corporate debts. The layoffs may signal trouble for IBMs effort to compete with Microsoft and Amazon in Chinas burgeoning cloud-services market， industry analysts said. But sources close to IBM said it has also tied up with other domestic partners – as required under Chinese law – including data center provider Inspur to compete in the Chinese market. Wanda didnt disclose exactly how many employees will be laid off， but executives said at the meeting that most people at the cloud-computing department – which reportedly has several hundreds of employees – will be affected and “only a few people will stay，”said the employee. A Wanda employee said company executives didnt make clear whether the partnership with IBM has been terminated. Instead， the employee said， “it is hard to push forward at this moment.”endprint