Who from the West is doing well in China?
BEIJING--Every American company wants to expand into China, but so far none that has is doing that well. Baidu, the Chinese search engine, has a huge lead over Google. Amazon bought a growing local online bookseller to get its business going, but customer service and other issues caused sales to slow.
So what do people here think of U.S. companies? I decided to ask the CNET staff in China and here's what they said:
Apple: The iPod, although it costs a lot by local standards, is very popular, particularly with young consumers. Still, Steve Jobs has never visited China and that rankles people. The view is that he just views China as a market. The iPhone could do well, although it's expensive. Phones that imitate some of its style are already coming out.
Microsoft: Like Americans, Chinese consumers aren't really fond of the big M. For one thing, the software is expensive. A legal copy of Windows XP costs around 1,000 RMB (or $130). That's a monthly salary for some people. Plus, the Chinese think the Zune is ugly. MSN, however, is somewhat popular. The diplomatic overtures that Microsoft has made--Bill Gates inviting China's president to his house and Microsoft's investments in local companies--have helped.
Qualcomm: it's the place everyone wants to work. What? Qualcomm employees get their own offices and the offices are located in the Kerry Center, Beijing's most prestigious address. China Mobile and pretty much any other wireless company is a premier landing.
Google: If you can't land a job in cellular, Google will do. Google, however, isn't succeeding as many thought it might: the search giant only has about 30 percent of the market. Baidu came from nowhere by offering search for MP3s, which then helped them in other areas. Google needs to expand its services. Google's hiring of Kai Fu Lee, heralded in the States as a significant event, hasn't had much of an impact here. Most people shrugged at the name.
YouTube: Everyone knows the Google division, but it's not so popular. It's not in Chinese. Besides, video sites have cropped up like mad.
Yahoo: The company is kind of marginal, even though Jerry Yang is Chinese. People instead wanted to know if Americans knew much about Robin Li, founder of Baidu.
Dell: Dell has done well here, but now it has a reputation for poor customer service and low quality. But the prices are low. Dell also didn't do great PR here on the battery recall: the average buyer thinks the problem was Dell's notebooks, not Sony's battery.
American TV: Bring it on. 24, Lost and Prison Break are all big and viewers know how to get around government restrictions. Such restrictions may loosen up, however. The government is contemplating plans that would let racier content in legally, but only for certain age groups.
Sony: Good products, but expensive.
IBM: Boring. We truly do live in a global village.
other hand ... looked as if none were more than 4 years old ! Along
with the Asian brands and models, of all things, I saw more Buicks
than any other US model. Go figure ...
In China, people are using cell phone more frequently. They forward their home phone to a small local only cell phone like Cricket in the US. Many of my friends have more than 3 phones. It's just amazing how people are SMS each others.
From what I remembered, last year moon festival, there are over 20 million text messaging in one night in China.
There are also many opportunities for small business to trade goods and import goods from US to China. Funny things is that most of the products are still "Made in China"
Huh?
Is that why Micrsoft Window dominates American desktops with over 90% market share, and is by far the dominant desktop operating system in China for Chinese consumers?
I notice you never gave us any actual figures for the iPod's market shrae in China.
As far as I know, local Chinese MP3 makers offering good, very low priced, cheerful MP3 players dominate the Chinese MP3 player market.
Plus the Apple Mac has a much lower market share in China than it does in te US..and china is currently the second biggest personal computer market on the planet, and the prsonal comuter market in China is growing far faster than the US.
least check that. Just assuming someone is Chinese seems racist to
me.
- many smaller business
-
by newviewit
June 1, 2007 8:25 PM PDT
- Those companies you mentioned are all relatively popular over here in China (especially Microsoft who dominates the market, but everyone uses stolen versions). The others are still popular, but not on the level of back home. Reason: because they haven't adopted their product away from western consumers. Plus China's consumer market is still very small (estimated 100m), so it is still in its infancy.
-
Reply to this comment
-
(10 Comments)I'm a Canadian living in Beijing for the past few years and although small, my website design/marketing (soon to expand into BPO) company is doing extremely well. There are many more foreigners like me in various fields but most are not yet in the spotlight (and most don't want the spotlight). Sure many give up after a year and go back home, but over the long term there will be numerous entrepreneurial success stories popping up. People from the west will definitely be hearing more success stories in the future.