Earlier this week, Apple officially released the iPhone4S in China, and as expected, sold out almost immediately after it was on the shelves (at least for the stores that were opened; a store in Beijing put off the sale because the fights broke out and crowd became rowdy). What makes Apple appeal so high in [...]
My first post for the new Rock no Blog is a two parts series about the top 5 popular items in 2011, virtual or real. Observations and ideas were gathered from Weibo, Baidu, and Nikkei Business top product rankings in China. The observations have suggested that Japanese popular culture plays a huge part in today’s [...]
I have left my blog idle for the longest time. Life evolves and now I am studying and working in Shanghai. Everyday is a new challenge and reminds me of my time spent in wonderful Osaka. I thought this is a great opportunity to restart my blog and write about not just China but Asia [...]
I was scheduled to teach English at C-Flat in the afternoon so yet again I was not able to hang out with Ken chan and Cam. Fortunately, there was Dave and 3 other lovely ladies to be their tour guide today! And after my lesson I got to hang out with Naoko, an old friend I [...]
This weekend I am meeting two visitors from Tokyo – my always clumpsy Japanese Boke friend Ken and the biggest slut on this planet Cam. They both have never visited Osaka for leisure so Dave and I (and along with a few others) will be their guide for the weekend! Ken arrived Osaka (on business) [...]
Earlier this week, Apple officially released the iPhone4S in China, and as expected, sold out almost immediately after it was on the shelves (at least for the stores that were opened; a store in Beijing put off the sale because the fights broke out and crowd became rowdy). What makes Apple appeal so high in China?
Currently, Andriod market still holds the number one market in China, but iPhone holds a totally different status. I was reading an article on MIC gadget and trying to get an understanding why iPhone is so popular, and the cool factor with the slick design, and user friendly interface and features, one thing that I did not thought of before is Apple being a status symbol comparable to other luxury items. It is amazing that Apple can reach such status without much of a presence yet in China, and most other brands only built up such status by being in China for a long time.
With such a status, Apple should tread carefully with the scarcity of its products to keep up such status. Rather than pushing more iPhone to the mass market all at once, or dropping the price to capture more market share, Apple should slowly release the product to the market. Scarcity has such an important value in this market, and there are ways to milk it over time. One way to milk it is to have different limited editions from time to time, whether it is different color or collaborative product with other brands. Another way is to break into product with different price range, similar to what happened to iPod and iPod touch.
Either way, Apple will be in the sweet spot for an extended period, and it will be interesting to see how they are going to milk their status with the further roll out of other Apple products.
My first post for the new Rock no Blog is a two parts series about the top 5 popular items in 2011, virtual or real. Observations and ideas were gathered from Weibo, Baidu, and Nikkei Business top product rankings in China.
The observations have suggested that Japanese popular culture plays a huge part in today’s Chinese popular culture as well. Also,China seems to be more wired to the internet and mobile world with the increasing popularity and importance of Weibo, Taobao, and the group purchasing sites.
Here are the top 5:
1) Shonen Jump Comic – Naruto / One Piece / Bleach
These massively popular comic titles from Japan are not only well known in its home country, almost all children and teenagers in China know about them as well. Unauthorized, translated version of these titles appears online at almost the same time the comic is published in the Weekly Shonen comic magazine. Similarly, the anime series can also be found on the local video streaming sites.
2) 3D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy
The first ever 3D soft porn movie produced by a Hong Kong film company. Although there is essentially no chance this movie would show in China as Chinese authorities ban all things porn related, the easy access to illegal downloads meant that many Chinese can watch this movie at home, comfortably in their bedroom. But the selling point of 3D effects can only be experienced in the theatres. Tourist agencies in the Mainland have packaged a Hong Kong tour with movie viewing and shopping together, propelling the film to be one of the most profitable productions in Hong Kong film history.
3) Weibo – Aoi Sora
Speaking of porn, perhaps the one of most popular foreign star, porn or not, is AV idol Aoi Sora (蒼井そら, in Chinese 苍井空). Her popularity in China began when an online mob started following her Twitter account. Since Twitter is banned in and cannot be access in China (unless jump over the firewall), Aoi Sora started her own Weibo account in November of 2010 in order to better connect with her fans and curious followers. After only 8 months, her account has accumulated more than 3.5 million of followers, surpassing other superstars such as Jackie Chan and Aaron Kwok, and became one of the most influential foreign stars in China. Better yet, unlike many celebrities who hire PR professionals to mange their social media accounts, Aoi Sora has maintained her popularity by constantly updating her Weibo with real-time pictures and messages.
Below, aoi sora brags about her popularity in Mascot, a Japanese TV show featuring the hottest AV idols.
4) Online shopping
Online shopping has become a way of life in China. New Internet shopping malls emerge on a daily basis, selling almost anything that you can imagine. Most people try to find deals that help them save money, or for items that are not available for purchase in China. Taobao, the most popular online shopping site in China, have more than 400 million of registered users and estimated 400 billion RMB annual turnover in transactions. Yet, fake items are a huge problem and could be a huge risk to the growth of online shopping. To iillustrate such risk, recently Taobao and its parent Alibaba was involved in a scandal where several executives was indicted to help 2000 sellers to sell fake items, tarnishing the reputation of one of the largest private Chinese companies.
(with reference to RTHK TV show 鏗鏘集 Hong Kong connection, broadcasted on 3/28/2011)
5) Consumer level Group Purchase
Group Purchase is perhaps the hottest trend in the past six months, as many people seek ways to maintain a comfortable lifestyle in the inflationary environment. In the past year, more than 1000 “tuangou” websites have popped up, offering coupons on various goods and services. With huge profit potential, the industry has become a battle ground for positioning, with several leading websites offering “cash reimbursements” on some deals to lock in market share. Global leader Groupon has entered China this year with the joint venture that formed Gaopeng, and is fighting a hard battle to become one of the top group purchase brand. It still has a long way to climb to the top and start becoming profitable. Worst, it appears the group purchase trend is slowing, and incumbents are starting to feel the impact. To read more about this, check the two following articles:
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2011-06/11/content_12675786.htm
http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?id=20110701000067&cid=1206
I have left my blog idle for the longest time. Life evolves and now I am studying and working in Shanghai. Everyday is a new challenge and reminds me of my time spent in wonderful Osaka. I thought this is a great opportunity to restart my blog and write about not just China but Asia in general, with a focus on business, plus side topics including adjusting to life in China. I have many topic ideas and cannot wait to post them up here. Once again, stay tuned!
You can still find the old contents here. Despite inconsistency, I do want to promote the great Working Holiday program, especially with the situation in Japan which has diminished its appeal for many people. I will leave the old contents tagged all under Working Holiday Japan.
I was scheduled to teach English at C-Flat in the afternoon so yet again I was not able to hang out with Ken chan and Cam. Fortunately, there was Dave and 3 other lovely ladies to be their tour guide today! And after my lesson I got to hang out with Naoko, an old friend I made in Vancouver when she was still studying in Vancouver.
Before meeting the girls, the three good-looking sweaty guys headed out for a Kansai style lunch to get energized. What else is better than Okonomiyaki for that gigantic amount of energy???
After lunch, the guys met up with the lovely ladies at the Osaka castle! Yes I am talking about the castle build by Toyotomi Hideyoshi 500 years ago (the one standing right now is largely a replica….the oringial one was burnt down a hundred years ago). Ken and Cam have never been to the Osaka landmark before so they spent time touring the museum, taking pictures at the top of the castle, and being poked by young Shogun soldiers. I love the friendly way the Osaka locals are showing towards tourists especially those from Tokyo : )
Shitennoji was the next destination on their itinerary. The oldest temple in Japan is just minutes away from the Tennoji station which is also pretty close to the station near Osaka castle, so it saved the Tokyo folks a ton of travel time. The gang enjoyed a relaxing walk and took some more pictures….before they got tired and had to sit down for a parfait! Looks good from the picture.
Soon after Ken departed for Itami airport for his flight back to Tokyo. I only saw Ken once this weekend but I will see him again very soon as I will go to Tokyo again in a couple of months!
Next up was dinner which I joined up! I finally met the group at the American Mura at around 7….. we had an awesome awesome dinner. I did one thing that I wanted to do before I die!
And what is that you wonder? I will tell you more tomorrow.
This weekend I am meeting two visitors from Tokyo – my always clumpsy Japanese Boke friend Ken and the biggest slut on this planet Cam. They both have never visited Osaka for leisure so Dave and I (and along with a few others) will be their guide for the weekend!
Ken arrived Osaka (on business) last night and Cam got here earlier in the afternoon and he hanged out at Dave’s room at Minoh Campus for a bit. I was not feeling well in the afternoon so I stayed home and rested until dinner time. Dave picked the Oosho izakaya 王道 in Shinsaibashi for dinner. If you recalled (or see here), that is the first Izakaya that Dave and I went to when we first arrived in Osaka 6 weeks ago. With a reasonably price tag and endless choices in both food and drinks, the place has became one of our favorite hang out place in the city.
We had Cam and Ken picked some items that Dave and I have not tried before. Cam picked 里芋のホクホク揚げ (Fried taro balls) which amazingly melted in my mouth, while Bukka Ken (yes, we called Ken our servants) ordered the oh-so-special yakisoba. We also recommended the Daikon steak that still tasted awesome, and Dave had Cam drank Awamori, which was not really appreciated by Cam because of that uneasy taste. As for myself, I was not feeling well so no Umeshuu tonight, and I had to stick to 燗 warm sake and eating 雑炊 Congee. I also ordered 山芋とベーコンの醤油炒め (Sauteed Japanese Yam and Bacon in soy sauce) which matches really well with the Congee.
Great Food. Fantastic drinks. But more importantly, with the reunion of us four, the stupidity from Vancouver was reborn in Osaka. We started taking stupid pictures soon after we had a few drinks.
Cam “Hey Dave Look at my chest It got bigger after I came to Japan”
Dave “Hah?? What?? I can’t see the difference?”
Cam “Come one try touch it you will feel the difference”
Dave (tocuh touch touch) “What? They aren’t different and soft like woman’s breast? You slut you just wanted me to touch you!!” (awww keep touching)
After dinner we went to take pictures at Doutonburi, and then we went to Jankara and sang Karaoke for an hour. I did not sing at all at the Halloween party last week so tonight I finally can try out some new songs! I did L’arc en ciel’s “Shine” which is not too hard but I probably can do better with some more practise. Dave also did a L’arc en ciel song “Daybreak’s bell”, which is becoming one of his favorite. Cam the biggest slut in the world sang “Toxic” from Briney Spears. The song helped everyone’s tension to go up up up up up, which gave up super powers to perform the Best Ever song there exist – Nine Inch Nails’ “Animal”. Boy, were we intensed!
The karaoke session was too short to our liking but we had to leave because Cam and Dave had to catch the Monorail to go back to Minon Campus (Cam is sleeping over in Dave’s room). Subway stopped running at late 11 O’clock and Monorail to Saitou Nishi stopped running at around 12. It takes about 30 minutes from Shinsaibashi to Senri Chuo, the only transfer point between subway and monorail, so we had to leave Shinsaibashi before 11 in order for them to transfer before Monorail stops running. Considering tomorrow will be a long day of sightseeing though, I think they would be better off to head home and rest well ( for me as well… I felt weak). Explosion awaits tomorrow.
