Chinese court orders freeze on 1.24 billion yuan ($183 million) worth of LeEco assets, Xinhua reports https://t.co/0QuQjgGGTX pic.twitter.com/ggMkD19rL9

— Bloomberg (@business) July 4, 2017

As reported by Reuters, the Beijing-based company is being pressured by the likes of creditors and its business partners, and is also facing a Shanghai court order to freeze its assets due to late bank payments.

More specifically, banks such as China Merchants Bank (CMB) have been applying to have LeEco’s assets frozen because Leview Mobile HK, a subsidiary, was behind on loan interest repayment.

“CMB’s Shanghai branch repeatedly urged repayment without success and so sought to use legal means,” said the bank in a statement.

Reuters notes that the court order had frozen a 26.03 percent stake that founder and CEO Jia Yueting holds in LeEco, and the equity will be out of reach for three years. To add, the court also approved a freeze on assets of Leview Mobile HK and two other firms linked to LeEco worth US$182 million. LeEco’s issue with CMB isn’t isolated, as the company also owes China Mobile around US$2 million.

SEE ALSO: Can LeEco outrun cash problems to achieve its Tesla-sized dreams?

The latest in LeEco’s financial woes comes after Jia shared that its money problems were “far worse than expected.” And to add, the billions that it raised recently was not enough to bail the company out.

LeEco’s financial problems are perhaps emblematic of the common problem that companies face when they reach exponential growth. Jia had admitted last year that the firm had “expanded too fast” and was experiencing something he calls a “big company disease.”

In order to try to salvage the situation, LeEco is looking to sell some of its global properties. Restructuring is also in the works, which will include staff cuts, in order to consolidate some of its business units.

The post LeEco’s woes have just ramped up as creditors order asset freeze appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

SEE ALSO: China’s new Internet rules spark concerns among netizens

The government appears to be tightening control over the use of these VPNs as a popular one has just been forced to shut down on official orders. As reported by Bloomberg, GreenVPN has sent a notice to its customers it will be ceasing operations from July 1 onward after “receiving a notice from regulatory departments.”

Getting around China's Great Firewall just got tougher as a popular VPN is shut down https://t.co/zHMxjcYd0T pic.twitter.com/eZEskEXFRY

— Bloomberg (@business) July 3, 2017

July 1 is a significant date for China as it is the date of the handover of Hong Kong from Great Britain, and this year marks its 20th anniversary.

Bloomberg notes GreenVPN iPhone users reported over the weekend the network had “failed to load.” The icons for GreenVPN as well as SuperVPN were still visible in the App Store, although users were unable to download or turn them on.

GreenVPN is hardly the first virtual private network to get shut down as over the last two years, a handful of VPNs have disappeared from China’s app stores, including ones developed by Baidu and OnePlus.

While VPNs have long enjoyed a spot in China’s regulatory grey area, the government appears to be cracking down more this year.

SEE ALSO: China to ban three most popular live-streaming platforms

According to a “notice” issued by China’s Industry and Information Technology Ministry back in January, the government will be prioritizing the cleanup and regulation of online content in China, which of course includes the restriction of VPNs.

China is going to ban VPN. I now firmly believe we Chinese people don't have human rights and we are oppressed without freedom.

— Sandford Chen (@sandford_chen) June 27, 2017

As VPNs aren’t just used by renegade Internet users, but also needed by the likes of businesses, universities as well as state-run newspapers, it’s unclear what the crackdown will bring to an already limited flow of information in China.

The post Another VPN forced to close as China plugs gaps in Great Firewall appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

#Kakao raises $437M for #KakaoMobility (future spinoff / spinout including #KakaoTaxi)https://t.co/bZCBRbzkFJ @jonrussell

— Seoul Village (@theseoulvillage) July 1, 2017

As Uber was required to withdraw its services back in 2015 for operating without a licence, Kakao and other local ride-hailing players have had quite a headstart on winning the South Korean market.

The company, which has clocked 50 million monthly active users, is orchestrating the spin-off in hopes to foster “swift decision-making and aggressive expansion.” The new ride-hailing app development will be accelerated by one of Kakao’s investors, American investment firm TPG, which has just invested US$437 million into the company’s ride-hailing service.

Oddly enough, TPG’s portfolio companies also include Uber as well as Airbnb and Spotify.

Kakao’s legal entity Kakao Mobility CEO Joohwan Jung weighed in on the company’s new focus on ride-hailing in a statement: “As part of larger global trends, the traditional offline industry sector has been undergoing rapid transformation into developing online offerings, with the mobility business a particularly exciting and high-attention area.”

SEE ALSO: Indonesia: Go-Jek adds five new services to its already-impressive portfolio

“We see infinite opportunities ahead, and will strive to create new value for both users and businesses across the mobility business through strategic partnerships and by securing the top talent.”

This isn’t the first time Kakao has launched a transport-related service in efforts to diversify its offerings. In fact, TechCrunch notes the company is actually best known for its Kakao Taxi service, which makes sense because the app is a staple on more than 95 percent of all smartphones in South Korea. According to the company, the service currently fields 1.5 million ride requests every day.

Related business units include designated driver app Kakao Driver, which has 2.7 million monthly users, and navigation service Kakao Navi, which has 10 million registered users since its 2016 launch.

The post South Korean Kakao raises $437m for ride-hailing service appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

Xiaowei is the AI assistant by Tencent with face recognition. Backed by the data of WeChat and Didi Chuxing https://t.co/69qw0Rpwy9 pic.twitter.com/S6VpbAmpe5

— Foresight Factory (@futurethoughts) July 1, 2017

While TiA points out Xiaowei is “nothing new” when it comes to what’s currently available on the smart assistant market, the fact it’s a Tencent product is validation enough. This has to do with its access to an ocean of user and enterprise data.

“Tencent has a lot of data sources. WeChat is simply one channel,” Xiaowei head Mao Hua said, adding beyond WeChat, Tencent also gleans data from its music, news and video platforms.

SEE ALSO: Looking smart: Amazon’s Alexa virtual home assistant dominates CES 2017

Amongst its many competitors, Tencent has an edge because it has developed an ecosystem of portfolio companies and licensing deals. Besides being a stakeholder in the ride-hailing, food delivery and education spaces, it also has licensing partnerships in the film, music and sports industries. On top of that, WeChat clocks 938 million active users each month.

Apple’s new HomePod is the technology company’s offering in the AI assistant market. Source: Apple

Xiaowei is in the early stages of development but it already has 100 employees plugging away on the product, spanning across Tencent’s AI Lab, WeChat, Tencent Music, Tencent Video, and Youtu Labs units. The idea is that these various product lines will be able to contribute unique AI capabilities to Xiaowei.

WeChat, in particular, will be able to train Xiaowei to grow in the areas of speech recognition and natural language processing. In the future, Xiaowei will be able to do things like multilingual translation and object detection.

SEE ALSO: HomePod, iMacs, iPads: Roundup of Apple’s notable announcements at WWDC

The post Tencent jumps into AI voice assistant game with Xiaowei appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

It would seem that they’re also fighting it out in the ride-hailing and bike rental space as well.

And now, as reported by Bloomberg, the latest sector for the Internet giants to feud in is the online travel arena.

Tencent’s Meituan Dianping, which was one of the key players in the food delivery battle, is also gearing up to drop “hundreds of millions of dollars over three to five years” to fight the Baidu-backed Ctrip, the current leader in the online travel space.

Meituan Dianping’s product, called Meituan Travel, is a one stop shop travel booking app that can sell you a flight, hotel room, dinner reservations, and museum admissions all in one place. This is apparently a rather specialized service that Ctrip currently isn’t offering.

Meituan Travel aims to dominate China's domestic market – Tnooz https://t.co/bR9HQLAuzp pic.twitter.com/S19TQ7t83e

— Trevor & Lilly (@TravConsult) May 30, 2017

The interesting thing about the battle for China’s online travel space is that, unlike bike rentals, which is currently anybody’s game — travel is already dominated primarily by Ctrip.

Meituan, which is currently running a Groupon-esque platform, is hoping to convert its users which are already doing things like booking hotels and dinner reservations.

SEE ALSO: Tencent ranks in top 10 of global brands, signals China’s emergence

Marie Sun, an analyst with Morningstar Investment Service weighs in:

“If you want to convert them to travel users, Meituan may need to spend more on marketing dollars or give discounts, and compared to Ctrip and other travel sites, the price will have to be more attractive.”

Alibaba also has similar ambitions for online travel, which is why Meituan is also declaring war on Alibaba’s Millennial-targeted travel brand Fliggy (formerly known as Alitrip) which has over 500 million customers.

Bloomberg notes that the proxy wars between B.A.T are “waged via multi-billion dollar investment deals and proxies.” Their target? They’re looking to win over the affluent middle class which is made up of big spenders, and also gain any opportunity to score user data.

Online travel is an incredibly lucrative space in China, as eMarketer points out that digital sales running the gamut of hotels to flights may grow 28 percent to reach US$113 billion this year.

The post China’s tech giants are now duking it out for dominance over online travel appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

As reported by TechCrunch, Derek Shen, who was key to the company’s 2014 launch into China, has resigned and will be leaving his post by the end of the month. The company’s head of international engineering, Francis Tang, will be stepping up as interim president of China until it finds a replacement.

Since its launch in China, LinkedIn has received much criticism surrounding the censorship of its China-based users, which was a part of the deal to launch in China.

Head of LinkedIn's China operations, Derek Shen announced his exit from the company today. pic.twitter.com/AJ3MOZvCvT

— ChinaTechInsights (@CNTechInsights) June 23, 2017

“It’s clear to us that in order to create value for our members in China and around the world, we will need to implement the Chinese government’s restrictions on content, when and to the extend required,” said LinkedIn in a statement.

In a release tied to Shen’s departure, LinkedIn shared exactly how integral he was to the company’s move into China, despite its controversial nature. The statement also stressed that it’ll push on in China and beyond in the coming days.

“[Derek] has transformed the business from a startup into a viable business in a position of strength and creating economic opportunity for millions of professionals and companies…LinkedIn will continue to ensure its China business operates with the autonomy it needs to create great local product experiences and is also set up to leverage the scale and expertise more effectively in the APAC region and globally,” the company said.

SEE ALSO: LinkedIn celebrates crossing 100 million-member mark in Asia Pacific

LinkedIn’s user base in China, according to China Daily, has reached 32 million to date. While it seems to be a small portion of its global 500 million registered users, if you consider that LinkedIn has grown its China base up from 4 million prior to its localization strategy – then you can see what an impact Shen has made on the organization.

Other social networks have had varying censorship experiences in China. The likes of Twitter, Facebook, and Snapchat are currently blocked in the country, with Pinterest recently being added to that list, which makes LinkedIn’s growth in China rather noteworthy.

The post LinkedIn waves goodbye to China chief, Derek Shen appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

As reported by TechCrunch, the broadcasts are being targeted due to “unsuitable political content.” Microblogging platform Weibo wrote in a statement that the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television of the People’s Republic of China (SAPPRFT) has asked the social network to cut all live broadcasts.

“The SAPPRFT had recently requested the local competent authorities to take measures to suspend several companies’ video and audio services due to their lacking of an Internet audio/video program transmission license and posting of certain commentary programs with content in violation of government regulations on their sites, and Weibo is named as one of these companies,” the social network wrote.

Tightening of Live Streaming Leaves Future of Many Chinese platforms Unclear | China Film Insider https://t.co/LHw43v3Ty5 pic.twitter.com/ljhTDsINKr

— China Film Insider (@china_film) June 26, 2017

TechCrunch notes that perhaps the bans were “inevitable” due to the lucrative nature of live streaming as a medium. According to Chinese tech blog TechNode, the live-streaming market in China grew by 180 percent last year as companies raked in US$3 billion in revenue. With such popularity comes regulation, which is why the government is cracking down now.

Earlier this month, regulators had enforced a new set of stringent cybersecurity laws. A week following the newly implemented rules, Reuters reported that the government “forced” WeChat and Weibo to shut down 60 celebrity gossip social media accounts.

At that time, a post on the Beijing Cyberspace Administration’s social media account noted that websites should “actively propagate core socialist values, and create an ever-more healthy environment for the mainstream public opinion.”

SEE ALSO: Entertainment sites shut down in China with new cybersecurity law in effect

As a part of the new cybersecurity laws that came into effect on June 1st, websites are required “not to harm the reputation or privacy of individuals.” As celebrity gossip sites are extremely popular in China, some of which claim to exist to keep the rich and famous accountable, the likelihood of more being shut down in the near future is high.  

The post China to ban three most popular live-streaming platforms appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

Unfortunately, it was just propelled forward by a whole lot of hype.

The project, which was being tested in the city of Qinhuangdao, did go through trial runs last year between the months of August and October. Although just a year after being announced to the public to great fanfare, the TEB is now apparently “covered in dust [and] will be moved to a nearby parking lot for next steps.” This is according to an unnamed local official.

Those supposed next steps appear to be the transport graveyard, as according to a site worker, the contract between the local government and the developer will not be renewed.

SEE ALSO: Toyota and NTT partner up to make connected cars future of transportation

Why did the TEB fail? It appears that it was a mess of miscommunication and a case of being overly optimistic. Besides local residents complaining that the bus was a “traffic obstacle,” city authorities had apparently not been made aware of the road tests. Investors in the project, which donated via peer-to-peer investment platforms, were also apparently misled by developers, a Chinese asset management company, into believing that the project was actually feasible.

The TEB has reportedly been dismantled and moved to a nearby site, awaiting the future decisions. Source: TEB

The state-run Global Times, at the time of the tests, reported that the TEB was “stuck in a concept with no real breakthrough” and did not take actual traffic problems into consideration.

The hype of the project apparently had overshadowed the infeasibility of the project, mainly due to the fact that the bus would have trouble navigating turns because it can only run on straight and wide roads. As such, anyone who happens to be driving beneath the TEB may also struggle from limited road vision.

SEE ALSO: WATCH: Toyota on track to develop first ever Olympics-bound flying car

The post China’s ‘straddling bus’ gets scrapped appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

This is due to a push for multinational tech companies to set up an Indonesian entity, the pressure being accelerated by the likes of Google who has been allegedly getting away with not paying the minimum taxes required.

In the case of Facebook, it currently has an office in capital city Jakarta. “I see good intention and spirit from Facebook. What we care about are taxes and responsible content,” said Thomas Lembong, who is the chairman of Indonesia’s investment coordinating board. Reuters notes that Facebook can incorporate locally by being set up as a limited liability company.

SEE ALSO: Indonesia: Facebook should open local office to take down fake news

Resty Woro Yuniar, a Jakarta-based technology journalist, weighs in on the push to have Facebook set up a local entity and the challenges that it’ll have to face.

“Brace yourself, Facebook, for yet another tax scrutiny from the Indonesian tax agency. Now that you’ve gotten the nod to set up a domestic business here, the government would apply a specific tax scheme for multinational tech firms like you,” she writes in her Medium blog, noting that since the government has just settled their tax dispute with Google, the tax agency will now focus on Facebook.

Besides tax issues, Woro Yuniar points out that another big hurdle that Facebook will have to face in Indonesia are protectionism rules. These include regulations that requires all foreign companies, especially banks and technology firms, “to store the data of Indonesian citizens inside Indonesia for the purpose of law enforcement and protection of the data of its citizens”.

#Facebook gets Indonesia nod for local unit, country's investment chief says – @Reuters : https://t.co/DkQ9MRCk8T

— FB News (@NewsFB) June 22, 2017

As many multinationals have their Asia headquarters set up in Singapore, this will eventually have to lead to a launch of an Indonesia-based data center, or a partnership with a local data storage provider.

Either way, experts in Indonesia’s IT sector believe that this will just be another layer of regulation that squeezes innovation and in the same vein, does not bring much business value.

The post Indonesia finally gives Facebook a thumbs up to establish local unit appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

Besides acquiring green-friendly supermarket chain Whole Foods for a whopping US$13.7 billion, its largest buyout yet, the American company has also launched a “try-before-you-buy” feature called Prime Wardrobe. The service is not unique, as Stitch Fix and Trunk Club, two services that are a part of Nordstrom Inc., are currently offering “try-before-you-buy features.”

As reported by Reuters, the service is a part of the Amazon Prime shopping club. How it works is it allows members to order three or more items, take a week to decide whether the prospective purchases are a good fit, then can return them without being charged.

Apparel is one vertical that has been slower for Amazon, which is why the company is launching new features to encourage adoption of Prime—its membership program that includes things like speedy shipping and video streaming.

SEE ALSO: Amazon eats up Whole Foods to further develop insights into grocery trends

Just because apparel is slow for Amazon, doesn’t mean that it’s doing badly. Reuters notes that “surging apparel sales” has helped Amazon challenge Macy’s Inc for its spot as the “dominant retailer in the category.” With the introduction of Prime Wardrobe, Macy’s should be concerned.

Morningstar analyst Bridget Weishaar confirms this: “If I were Macy’s, I’d be scared by this. Amazon is offering a very convenient way to avoid going to stores.” And it’s true. One of the biggest reservations that people who avoid online shopping have, is that if the clothes don’t fit—they’ll have to go through an annoying refund process. Prime Wardrobe addresses this problem.

https://t.co/5oxAwGBkRX plans to roll out Amazon Prime Wardrobe… but shares are dropping for retailers like @Nordstrom & @jcpenney pic.twitter.com/ZR7ZrchhRY

— Janelle Brandom (@JanelleBrandom) June 21, 2017

Prime Wardrobe users will have access to over a million items running the gamut of shoes to clothing and accessories. It operates with an incentive that shoppers will get a 20 percent discount if they end up keeping more than five items.

Brands on board include the likes of Calvin Klein, Hugo Boss, Adidas, and Levi’s. Besides creating the program to encourage users to shop for clothes, Amazon may be trying to score more user data. Similar to Amazon’s Echo Look, a voice-controlled camera and app that recommends outfits, Prime Wardrobe is likely to be able to provide the retailer plenty of data consumer preferences.

The post Amazon leaps into the world of apparel with Prime Wardrobe appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.