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Showing posts with label Technologies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Technologies. Show all posts

Friday, September 23, 2022

Chinese apps gain popularity globally

 

Though it takes a long time to develop a brand in foreign markets, Chinese companies are good at research and development, meaning products can quickly be technology-driven and meet local needs 

- Fang Han,

From the world's top short video application TikTok to the biggest fast-fashion app Shein and emerging music-video app StarMaker, a rising number of mobile apps developed by Chinese companies are influencing people's daily lives across the globe.

A new report published by market consultancy iResearch showed that the overseas revenue of China's entertainment apps grew 204 per cent year-on-year in 2021.

In addition, a report from US search giant Google said that the downloads of apps made by Chinese developers among the world's top 1,000 applications nearly doubled over the past decade, from 8 per cent to 14 per cent.

Industry experts said this demonstrated Chinese companies' strong innovative capabilities, but they also face challenges amid rising geopolitical tensions.

"Chinese companies are playing a bigger role in global mobile app innovation, thanks to the rapid development of the digital economy. The momentum of digital consumption and 5G commercialisation promoted the continuous innovation and iterative upgrading of digital technologies, thus driving the huge innovative vitality of app developers," said Wang Peng, a researcher at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences.

"The Chinese government has also been making great efforts in driving digital innovation and encouraging companies to deeply integrate digital technologies with the real economy," Wang added.

Wang also said that such efforts have led to the development of a group of industry leaders that are able to leverage their innovative ability to contribute to global industrial development.

The iResearch report noted that Chinese gaming apps continued to be the major revenue driver of the nation's apps overseas, but social networking apps have also displayed growth momentum over the past year.

The United States, Japan and South Korea were the main overseas sources of income for Chinese apps. 

Notably, downloads of Chinese apps also increased in Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia last year, among which the African market was the most prominent, with a total growth rate of 18.9 per cent year-on-year. StarMaker, a karaoke video app enabling users to create and share music videos, quickly went viral in 102 countries and regions, where it has become one of the best-selling music apps.

"The global market is promising for Chinese companies. 

'Though it takes a long time to develop a brand in foreign markets, Chinese companies are good at research and development, meaning products can quickly be technology-driven and meet local needs," said Fang Han, CEO of Kunlun, the developer of StarMaker.

"After success in one market, we are also able to quickly spread this to other countries," Fang said, adding that the company has a dominant position in markets in Southeast Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

Small developers from China are also warming up the global mobile app market. US tech company Apple Inc said that more than 5 million third-party developers in its iOS app ecosystem are from China, up from 4.4 million a year ago, and they have increasingly become a major force in the global app economy.

However, Huang Leping, head of technology, media and telecommunications at Huatai Securities, said that many challenges remain for Chinese companies in going global, especially as many countries have tightened up their data protection policies.

"In the past, companies have been able to build a set of algorithms in China and offer services in foreign markets, where the data can be interconnected. 

'But in the future, companies may need to build supporting facilities in various countries to do that, which will greatly increase their operating costs and risks," Huang said.- China Daily/Ann

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Saturday, March 5, 2022

Cryptocurrencies not recognised as legal tender in Malaysia

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Cryptocurrency Not To Be Considered 'Legal Tender'; Centre To Treat It Like Stocks & Bonds

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Legal Tender? The Regulation of Cryptocurrencies

Cryptocurrencies will never become legal tender

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Demystifying Crypto: Digital Assets and the Role of Government

 

Cryptocurrencies not recognised as legal tender in Malaysia, says deputy minister

 ‘Cryptocurrencies not recognised as legal tender’ 

Useful assets:Although digital assets are not recognised as legal tender, Yamani added it still has many different usage including as a class asset that can be invested in

 

Cryptocurrencies are still not recognised as legal tender in Malaysia as they do not exhibit characteristics of universal money, says Deputy Finance Minister II Yamani Hafez Musa.

Yamani said cryptocurrencies, also known as digital assets, are also not a payment instrument that is regulated by Bank Negara.
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“Digital assets such as bitcoin and Ethereum are not suitable to be used as a payment instrument as these assets do not exhibit characteristics of money.
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“In general, digital assets are not a store of value and a good medium of exchange.
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“This is due to the state of digital assets which is exposed to volatility as a result of speculative investments,” he said when replying to a question raised by Nurul Izzah Anwar (PH - Permatang Pauh) in Dewan Rakyat on Thursday (March 3).
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Nurul Izzah had asked about the government’s role in monitoring and regulating currency as well as cryptocurrency assets.
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She also asked if the government had any plans to create digital currency taking into account Bank Negara’s involvement in Project Dunbar for international money transfers using blockchain technology.
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In explaining the volatility of cryptocurrency, Yamani said bitcoin hit a peak of US$65,000 (RM272,382.50) in April 2021 but quickly saw a decline of 50% the following week.
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He also said cryptocurrency is exposed to the risk of theft in which statistics from 2011 to 2021 showed that digital assets worth US$12bil (RM50.29bil) have been stolen through cyberattacks and hacking.
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He added that bitcoin is also only able to process 10 transactions per second compared to 65,000 transactions per second on current payment systems such as Visa.
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“Also, what is important is the huge impact on the environment because the electrical power that is used to process one bitcoin transaction can process 1.2 milliob visa transactions.
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In 2020, the bitcoin network used 132 terra-watts per hour which is equivalent to the entire electricity consumption of Argentina,” he said.
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Yamani added that currently, Bank Negara has also not decided to issue a central bank digital currency (CBDC) as the country’s domestic payment systems including the Real-time Retail Payments Platform continues to operate safely and efficiently to support Malaysia’s economic needs and allows real-time digital payments.
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“Additionally, the monetary policy tools and existing finances also remain effective in maintaining monetary stability and the country’s finances,” he said.
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Although digital assets are not recognised as legal tender, Yamani added it still has many different usage including as a class asset that can be invested in.
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As such, he said the Securities Commission (SC) as the market regulator has set digital assets as a security under the law and is responsible to regulate its trading activities.- 

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Tuesday, January 7, 2020

Mobile coverage snag as uers in many areas face connectivity issue while Malaysia moves into 5G era!

Pix for representational purpose only.

While Malaysia strives to move into the 5G era, the current 4G mobile network connectivity is still found wanting in many areas in the country, including the Klang Valley.

Mobile users in areas such as Taman TAR in Ampang, Jalan Damai Jasa in Alam Damai, Cheras Hartamas and certain areas in Subang, Selangor, face connectivity issues.

Wong Sew Kin, a senior lecturer at the Faculty of Engineering, Multimedia University, said there are areas within the Klang Valley that face a drop in network signals.

“Even places near my house in Bukit Beruntung, Rawang, have no signal at all let alone the internet,” he said, adding that more needs to be done for telecommunications infrastructure in Malaysia if it is to be on par with nations such as Singapore and China.

“We are venturing into 5G now but there are still problems with connectivity. We should address this to solidify our mobile network infrastructure so that we are able to make quick and steady advancement without having to worry about minor issues. It is important that we iron out the kinks.”

He added the lack of network signals can be attributed to the lack of base stations, or simply known as telco towers, in certain areas.

“As far as I know, the building of base stations has nothing to do with the government as it’s usually up to the telcos and they prioritise providing network connectivity in highly populated and commercial areas.

“However, the government can play its part by providing incentives for telcos to set up more base stations to ensure that we are fully connected,” he said.

Anusha Ravi, a resident of Alam Damai in Kuala Lumpur, told theSun she often has to direct her e-hailing drivers through the phone to her residence as the drivers are unable to use navigation apps due to the poor network signal.

A resident of Taman Billion in Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, said he has faced poor network coverage for years despite being close to commercial areas.

“I have complained about this many times but nothing has been done,” he said, adding that he has to walk some distance away from his house just to make a call.

However, another expert who declined to be named, specialising in base station construction and installation, said the government is already doing all it can to ensure connectivity.

“The government, through the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission’s Universal Service Provision fund, provides contractors and telcos opportunities to develop network infrastructure and connectivity in under-served areas, especially rural places.

“To my knowledge, sometimes we face issues such as a drop in network signals due to lack of base stations within a certain range. Sometimes there is no land to build base stations in between.”

Telcos sometimes face problems when planning to build base stations due to protests by residents in the area.

For instance, residents in Taman Sri Puteri, Bayan Lepas in Penang, successfully lobbied for the removal of telco towers in their area recently.

Among their reasons was that the towers were too close to their homes and thus were a health hazard.

Tutela, an independent crowdsourced data company, noted in its “State of mobile Networks 2019: Southeast Asia” report last year that Thailand beat Malaysia in a test where a mobile connection was good enough for basic internet usage.

The Philippines and Indonesia came out third and fourth.

“All four countries in the report are relatively close when it comes to basic quality. Thailand takes first place, with users able to make a voice over internet protocol call – a technology that allows you to make voice calls using a broadband internet connection or check emails at least 92.5% of the time when connected to one of the country’s networks.”

Source link

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Thursday, November 7, 2019

US adopts blinkered view of TikTok

TikTok, a global music and video platform created in 2016 by Chinese internet technology company ByteDance, is known in China as Douyin. Photo: VCG
A Senate subcommittee hearing on Tuesday focused on discussions about the significant risks that short-form social video app TikTok could pose to US national security and citizens' privacy.

The accusations about TikTok are based on the assumption that its parent company ByteDance may hand over personal information of the app's US users to the Chinese government, thus posing huge risks to users and the country. In addition, there are also claims that TikTok censors content. TikTok denies both charges.

TikTok runs its business according to US law, so how can it threaten US national security? Many people believe that the US is using this as an excuse to crack down on this globally successful Chinese social media app. To date, all popular social media platforms have been created by US companies, but TikTok is an exception. It challenges their monopoly and some American elites are uncomfortable about it.

Over the past 12 months, TikTok's app has been downloaded more than 750 million times, compared with 715 million for Facebook, 450 million for Instagram and 300 million for YouTube. Its success has even worried Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and now Facebook is developing a short video sharing application that mimics TikTok.

It's not a good trait for the US to suppress competitors of American companies by political means. Washington has taken extreme measures against Huawei, such as cutting off the supply of some components, a move that cracks down on competitors at the expense of hurting domestic companies. There are signs that TikTok is the next target. What the US is doing is driven by extreme protectionism and runs counter to a free market economy.

Washington elites should think about that. US-developed social networking sites are popular around the world. Any country can use the same concerns US lawmakers have about TikTok to target Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Without any evidence, if every country conjured up risks to challenge those companies, would the world ever be able to share common applications? If such national security principles were to be promoted globally, US internet giants would suffer the most.

The US internet market is becoming solidified. Americans are supposed to welcome competition from TikTok. China's internet market has changed tremendously in recent years with JD challenging the dominance of Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent, followed by the rise of strong players such as TikTok and PDD, which boost the dynamics of the Chinese internet market. The US shouldn't suppress competition and encourage idleness.

Despite being the strongest country in the world, the US often accuses others of being national security risks. It uses political means to safeguard its existing interests when its technology falls short. But this approach will affect how Americans view modern competition and how American society participates in international competition. In the long run, some American companies may use dishonest practices, not better technology and innovation, in the international marketplace.

The US should carefully study the TikTok phenomenon and learn from it. TikTok has its own algorithm, but it pays close attention to abiding by laws and customs of the countries where it is carrying out business activities. When in Rome, do as the Romans do - this is a universal rule for business activities. All US social media giants have the opportunity to enter the Chinese market if they follow that rule.

We hope the US won't go to extremes. Being open is where US interests lie. Even if they have worries about TikTok, they must exercise restraint. Many people are worried that the US might monitor them through various means every day, but they are restrained and rational. The US has no reason not to do likewise.

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Yes to Belt and Road - Everyone will benefit from BRI

Centre of attraction: China’s President Xi Jinping greeting Dr Mahathir as he
Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad giving the comic book to China's President Xi Jinping as a gift. Image via Twitt. leaves with Russian President Vladimir Putin after the opening ceremony of the Seco

China battles US for AI and robotic space: Who’s ahead?

Robot dominates: Ford F150 trucks go through robots on the assembly line at the Ford Dearborn Truck Plant in Dearborn, Michigan. Robots are also entering areas such as logistics warehousing, chemicals and plastics factories and F&B industries. — AFP
nd Belt and Roa.



Friday, November 1, 2019

President Xi’s Blockchain Push Triggers Frenzy in China Technology Stocks

Blockchain endorsement: Xi said China will increase investment in blockchain technology after chairing a study session last week on developing the industry, state-owned Xinhua reported.— AP
 
https://youtu.be/hfNcct7ZfbE

https://youtu.be/KoDD2Yk0bjE
  • Shenzhen tech index surges 5.3%, the most in eight months
  • Investors urge companies to develop blockchain businesses
BEIJING: Chinese investors snapped up every blockchain-related stock in sight after President Xi Jinping said Beijing wants to speed up development of the technology.

The gains were widespread yesterday, with Insigma Technology Co and Sinodata Co among more than 60 tech shares surging by the daily limit in Shanghai and Shenzhen.

The excitement coincided with a 26% rally in Bitcoin, and also boosted stocks with more tenuous connections to blockchain, like baby-food producer Beingmate Co and selfie-app developer Meitu Inc.

Xi said China will increase investment in blockchain technology after chairing a study session last week on developing the industry, state-owned Xinhua reported late last Friday.

The market reaction shows how far an endorsement from Xi can go in China, where high-level officials yesterday began their first major policy meeting since early 2018.

“Most of these companies, especially those that are just beginning to state their connection with blockchain today, are trying to take advantage of the hype, ” said Li Shiyu, fund manager at Guangdong Xiaoyu Investment Management Co. “It shows how much excitement can be triggered by something stressed as a priority by the top man himself.”

Xi Jinping comments spark rally in China technology stocks

The Shenzhen Information Technology Index closed 5.3% higher yesterday, its biggest advance in eight months.

Hundsun Technologies Inc, Easysight Supply Chain Management Co, YGSOFT Inc and dozens more companies with officially registered blockchain businesses rose by the 10% limit.

In Hong Kong, traders singled out Meitu due to its plans for an encrypted user-identification system.

The shares surged as much as 30%. Pantronics Holdings Ltd - which earlier this month said it will change its name to “Huobi Technology”, a reference to a digital currency exchange - rallied as much as 67%.

American depositary receipts of Chinese blockchain companies also surged last Friday.

Investors pressured other firms to jump on the blockchain hype, using an online Q&A platform to submit thousands of questions on their plans to use the technology.

“Please proactively make expansion plans in blockchain to jump on state policies - doing so would be the best reward to investors, ” urged one shareholder of development-store operator Hunan Friendship & Apollo Commercial Co. — Bloomberg

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Friday, February 15, 2019

Mega trends EAC must address


THE government is to be congratulated for establishing the new Economic Action Council that will give a better sense of direction and priorities for the nation to overcome the short-term economic challenges, such as rising cost of living, cost of doing business, restoring investor confidence and promoting sustainable economic recovery.

The Council should move with a sense of urgency. Its composition is balanced with a cross-section of representation, including from the orang asli community and consumer associations, which is praiseworthy as it does not just represent business interests. The presence of distinguished economists is also reassuring.

But I propose that the EAC also develops a longer term National Economic Strategy. To move forward, we need to identify the key mega trends that will impact on the nation in the next five to 10 years and then develop a comprehensive and holistic national strategy to address them.

I have identified here 10 strategic shifts or mega trends that need to be addressed.

1. On the international scene, we see a shift from geo-politics to geo-economics, requiring nations to adopt a geo-strategic response. This can be seen from Brexit and the US-China trade war. Geo-economics, including the control over economic assets such as oil and gas, will have a greater impact on international diplomacy. Increasingly, we will see economic and trade diplomacy becoming more important than political diplomacy to maintain global peace, stability and prosperity. We need to be able to step up to this level to analyse and strategise our response to geo-economic and geo-strategic challenges.

2. We also see a shift in the global centre of gravity from West to East with the rise of China and re-emergence of Japan as well as the growth of India and Korea. We need to identify a strategy to succeed in enlarging our presence in these markets and create new opportunities for our entrepreneurs and SMEs in China and Japan.

3. The world is also witnessing a rapid technological shift towards digital disruption and the Fourth Industrial Revolution with growing interest and applications in artificial intelligence, robotics and the Internet of Things. Big Data can be a strategic competitive advantage. The impact of drones and driverless vehicles will make a big impact on society. What is our national strategy to deal with these new technological advances? Hopefully, the EAC will also develop a strategic game plan to deal with these challenges and opportunities.

4. We also see an eco-sustainability shift with growing concern over climate change. This will drive demand for green technology and clean energy. We have a dynamic Energy, Technology, Science, Climate Change and Environment Minister. More must respond to support this ministry and its institutions. We need to embrace clean energy faster and more comprehensively.

5. Demographic shift will lead to an ageing society and a hollowing out of the demographic middle where we will have more aged elderly and younger cohorts below 30 but fewer of the middle-aged. It has been estimated that 20% of our population will be above 60 by 2040. Hence, we need new strategies and action plans to deal with the changing demographics.

6. Consumer shift will see the rise of e-commerce as we move from bricks to clicks. The rise of online business and e-commerce will not only impact on retail business but also on traditional banking, education and healthcare with the risk of fintech (financial technology), online learning and distance education, and telemedicine (pic). We need to embrace and adapt to these trends.

7. Globally, we also see a political shift from liberalism to the emergence of the right. The rightward shift led to the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States and is also partly the cause of Brexit. Is this era the end of liberalism? What can we do to bring people back to the centre? This trend has also led to a consolidation of the Malay right-wing with the strengthening ties between Umno and PAS. While the immediate focus of the EAC is economic, it also needs a strategy to deal with this phenomenon as it will impact on race relations and religious harmony, which are so essential for peace and stability to facilitate business and economic growth.

8. A shift in wealth and income has caused growing inequalities. The income gap between the highest earning population and the bottom 20% has grown. The income gap and inequalities can destabilise peace and stability. New thinking and new strategies need to be adopted to overcome the growing inequalities in our society.

9. Urbanisation shift arising from continued rural-urban migration will also cause urban poverty to rise. Urban poverty is a challenge that must be urgently tackled. The urban poor is a microcosm of Malaysian society as it comprises all ethnic groups. The rising cost of living affecting the urban poor needs to be prioritised.

10. A freedom shift is very evident after the 14th General Election with Malaysians feeling more free. This is good as it will lead to stronger support and protection of human rights such as freedom of speech, freedom of expression and freedom of association.

I believe the above 10 strategic shifts and key challenges are important priorities the government and the people must work on together.

We should have new policies to address these challenges. In formulating new policies, it is important to focus on the 4Cs – consistency, clarity, certainty and coherence.

The new Malaysia also needs the 3Is – integrity, inclusiveness and innovation. Old problems need new innovative solutions and new problems also need new ideas to resolve.

We should work together to address the above key challenges. We need to come together as a nation seeking national reconciliation and unity.

With a common purpose, we can move forward with renewed determination to build a new Malaysia that is sustainable and not a flash in the pan.

As the government has already established the EAC, I propose that it should also consider establishing a National Strategy Commission to plan future scenarios for the nation as well as effective strategies to overcome them.

A National Strategy Initiative should also be established to carry out in-depth Futures Studies for the country.

Kingsley Strategic Institute | Where Leaders Meet






TAN SRI MICHAEL YEOH OON KHENG

President Kingsley Strategic Institute






The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) announced the establishing of the Economic Action Council (EAC), which will respond to and take acti.