Cheers from Laos, I’m in the capital Vientiane getting a new visa. And it turns out this is sleepy city is a good place to hide during the coronavirus situation. No crowds. No subways. I rarely pass anyone on the street. I’m literally sitting all alone in a café right now. In terms of Asia […]
I recently attended WeChat’s Open Class in Guangzhou. It is their big annual event for developers and there were lots of updates on WeChat Work and Mini-Programs. I will be writing about these in subsequent articles. But it was WeChat founder Allen Zhang’s introductory comments that have really stayed with me. He talked about how […]
Happy Friday everyone. Three quick reads for the Daily Update. Have a great weekend. – jeff TikTok Is Rocking Facebook TikTok continues to go international fast. Here is a good summary at SCMP, which claims Tiktok was the second most downloaded app globally in 2019 (although take these numbers with a big grain of […]
Hi everyone, As part of the Asia Tech Class, we are doing a 30-day New Year’s Challenge. The idea is to create a new habit that moves you towards a big goal. Here’s my challenge to you: 1) Choose a big, inspiring goal that you are excited about – and that you can accomplish in […]
In this class, I discuss my visit to JD’s new 50,000 sqm e-space in Chongqing – and the question of what new retail (i.e., online-merge-offline) will mean for department stores and shopping malls. You can listen here or at iTunes and Himalaya. Articles / podcasts cited in this class: JD’s E-Space Is a Fascinating New […]
This is Part 2 on my list of cool stuff JD is doing. Not necessarily the big initiatives – but the smaller and often more inventive ideas. In Part 1, I talked about their farming initiative, which is pretty intriguing. In this part, I look at their trash sorting program and how China’s smart cities […]
Hi everyone, Here is the daily update. Cheers, -j Suggestions for Questions for the CEO of Huawei? I’m going to Shenzhen next week to interview Guo Ping, Huawei’s CEO. Super excited about this. The Huawei campus is pretty awesome as well (see pic). The interview should be about an hour so I’m hopefully going to […]
I keep a short list of cool stuff China’s digital giants are doing. Not just the big initiatives – but the smaller and often more inventive ideas. And JD tends to have a lot of these. From building their own robotics and drones to trash sorting / redemption programs and farming initiatives, JD has lots […]
In Part 1, I laid out why I think JD’s e-space was a pretty bold move – and opens a new frontier in OMO retail. My argument was that as you move from retail about buying products in the supermarket to visiting shopping malls and department malls, you start to really merge products, services and […]
Why are so many things free on the internet? And on our smartphones? And what does this mean for the economics of traditional products and services as they become smart, connected and infused with software? So the question is why are things free on the internet? My answer is the sexy but dangerous economics […]