With this monthly report we hope to: 1) highlight the best content and opinions from non-mainstream independent bloggers. 2) provide overviews and commentaries on the views of innovators, and 3) give thoughts on both hot and new topics in Chinese web industry.

1. [1]
This month's StartWatch is edited by
WEB20SHARE’s WatsonXu and
MOBINODE's LuGang, CindyJiang, This
is a monthly bilingual report. Thanks much
to our English translator MoyHau. We look
forward to hearing your feedback through
mobinodetv ATgmail.com
STARWATCHOctober, 2010
星观察
With this monthly report we
hope to: 1) highlight the best
content and opinions from
non-mainstream independent
bloggers. 2) provide overviews
and commentaries on the views
of innovators, and 3) give
thoughts on both hot and new
topics in Chinese web industry.
TRANSFORMATIVE CHANGE
October – it’s when the seasons change, and we find ourselves with a gradual cooling off and the rapid onset of
winter. Some people like to demarcate stages of their business proceedings with the start and end of the seasons.
Some people like to demarcate stages of their business proceedings
with the start and end of the seasons because it implies change in big
leaps and bounds just like the forces of weather and climate. In this
issue we’ll be exploring “transformative change” and the things it
entails and implies.
As with before, many people have sights set on group purchasing and
games industry. In the group purchasing area, we can look at what’s
going to happen or change in that crazy mini-landscape, a topic which
surely will bring up a wide variety of opinions. As for the future of
game industry, we’ll look at how a number of players, innovators and
networks are doing what they do, what role their fans play, and of
course also what changes we can predict for them in the future.
We’re also making some changes ourselves. In line with feedback
from readers, starting with this issue, we’re simplifying the English
title of this publication from StartupsWatch to the better-sounding
StarWatch.
Gunning
for the market,
and recognising the
power and value of
innovation.

2. [2]
According to this news (Chinese), early this afternoon, ex-
founder of Citydeal which was acquired by Groupon early
this year and now Groupon’s business development director
have held several meetings with five popular Chinese
Groupon clones, Meituan, FTuan, Lashou, Aibang and
QQTuan. (you may also read our previous article
Comments and Reviews on Chinese Groupon services)
The news says Groupon met these clones one by one and
the detail of each meeting can not be disclosed due to the
NDA. But according to Lin Ning, CEO of FTuan who
attended the meeting, he said he could confirm that Groupon has not signed any deal with any
Chinese clones.
An insider said Groupon’s visit to China this time had two purposes, firstly to understand the local market
and local regulation; secondly to look for the right local partner. He said, likely Groupon will follow the
same strategy when it entered Japanese market, i.e. acquiring one local clone.
Sarah Lacy of TechCrunch used to question about Groupon’ slow response to Chinese market and suggested
Rob Solomon of Groupon not to underestimate the Chinese speed. And Rob said, “Over time, we will figure
out China..” Now it seems that Groupon finally took one step further to China.
So what would be the next? And which one will eventually be the super lucky guy being acquired by
Groupon? Probably no one knows it yet. But what’s for sure is that Chinese market could be much more
costy and risky than Japanese one as the market already goes crazy.
Enjoy the following two cases:
Case One – 200 Smart cars were sold on Taobao’s group-buy site within only 3.5 hours! Every buyer saved
rmb41,000 (~$6,190). Note that one resource said that the total number of Smart sold in China in 2009 was
only around 4,000.
Case Two – Lashou is running a campaign right now to attract more attention. The biggest winner of this
luck-draw promotion campaign will be given a Flat which worths rmb200,000 (~$30,198). Only two days,
258,484 users have registered to join the draw, and still 8 days to go.
what would be the next?
Challenges and Changes in the Chinese Group
Purchasing Area
Focus

3. [3]
Looking at Tokyo Game Show 2010 as a model for success
How can China’s CP be internationalized?
TGS is one of the largest game expos in the world, and have massive
impact in the industry. This year’s TGS was dominated by exciting
displays from Sony and X360, which attracted enormous attention
domestically within Japan on the part of both gamers and the media.
We first attended as spectators in October of 2010. Ten years later, finally
there as exhibitors, we felt it really was a new high in what’s been a great
ride. We also see China really taking the world stage on the wireless and
mobile games front, which feels great.
We exhibited our Android game development kit as well as two games
for the platform, and learned a great deal about the landscape in Japan in
the four days we were there. In this piece, I’ll share what knowledge we
gained.
Build A Strong Base of Domestic Users
At TGS, a common sight was queues, hundreds of people long, waiting
to try out new games, usually for just a few minutes. Waiting times of 1
hour were common, with some lines stretching to the 2-hour mark.
Girls have become the focus of game shows in China, with the games
themselves almost taking a back seat. In Tokyo, the show girls are better
selected and are presented more as decoration, but the focus is on the
games. Taiwan-based Gamania put on a bikini performance this time,
which attracted a good number of photographers, but the majority of
gamers weren’t buying it.
It should be noted that Japanese gamers really invest, whether it’s in
product knowledge, or techniques, or time and money that they are
willing to spend on the games they like. Either way, games are huge in
Japan, something that’s the dream of every country’s gaming sector.
Dragon Quest flew off the shelves, with sales in the range of 3 to 5
million copies – equivalent to one copy for every 30th person in Japan.
That equates to a total sales volume of two billion Yuan. Adding in
another one to two million copies sold overseas, the total is closer to
three billion. Classic games have become an art, and the gaming industry
just keeps turning out better and better product.
Good Development of Human Resources
A large part of TGS this time around was schools for game developers,
which sharply contrasted with the large number of so-called training
centers in China, many of which amount to little more than scams. These
schools offer two year curricula that involve not only aspects of game
development but also organization, user experience, game design, and
other topics. They produce graduates with real, marketable skills.
Focus

4. [4]
Good, Competitive Products
We saw good differentiation in core products held by the big names
this time, in terms of genre, style of play, and artistic feel. This reduces
copycatting and the stale feel it brings, helps the games compete on
their own, widens the market, and increases profits in conjunction with
potential fanbase. Konami came out with a dating sim for the NDS,
Loveplus that features great locations and scenery as well as characters
and interaction modes that really earned it some serious praise.
Hard Holes to Fill
Japan isn’t perfect, though. Costs are incredibly high, high to the point
where we they have break-even points in the range of a million units
for some titles. This is a country with more money, but it’s still an
issue for developers. Furthermore, consumers have incredibly high
demands, and the systems are becoming more and more complex. This
increases dev time and adds corresponding complexity to the process.
Their incredible lead over everyone else is waning slowly, and it
would be hard to regain once lost. Right now is the best time in 25
years for foreign developers to get in on the Japan channel.
Of course, the above doesn’t apply to Nintendo. Those guys know
what they’re doing, have excellent strategy, turn their weaknesses into
strengths, and are all around bosses.
In these 10 years the Japanese game industry has grown in an immense
way. They have done an excellent job, and we have a great deal that
we can learn by looking at their path of ascension to greatness.
Square Enix’s Yoichi Wada said at the exhibitors conference: In Japan
we’ve had great success taking our games to the global market. It’s
been a task we’ve undertaken gladly, and thus I want to share this
advice with our Chinese colleagues. Work hard. Make good games,
and ship them abroad, too. I’d love to see you all succeed in this.
This section was written by Henry
Zhang, general manager of Gallme.
Gallme is a company focus on
developing mobile application.
Currently Gallme more focus on
the business development in
Japanese mobile market.

5. [5]
10yuan.info is a fixed-price online commerce
platform that went online in September of this year.
All products and services for sale on the site are, of
course, 10 Yuan in price, and payment is conducted
through third-party providers. The network allows
people to get their problems solved and see what
skills they have that can be used to solve other
people's problems, as well as pay and be paid for it.
The range of services offered on the site is vast – as
long as someone wants or is willing to provide a
service and thinks it value, it can be posted. It's likely
inspired by Fiverr, is blowing up like a firestone tire
on the Alexa rankings, and is even seeing domestic
clones now, such as Tenerer
Link：http://www.10yuan.info/
Wiyun is an aggregate mobile services platform that
caters to the greater China community of app and
game developers, providing cloud services, including
WiAd and Wigame, with new services in the pipeline
already. WiAd as a platform follows trends in the
advertising landscape and provides media and sales
plans to clients. Through integration in mobile apps
that plug into a proprietary groundbreaking data
analysis system, the company provides high-quality
services to advertisers and works to maximize profit
for developers, as well as brings useful information
to end-users.
Link：http://www.wiyun.com/
Jingling.cn provides photo enhancement software for
mobiles. It's incredibly simple to use and requires no
special knowledge to operate. Users are able to
remove wrinkles, enlarge their eyes, add various
photo effects such as sheen or blur among other
things for better photos of themselves. The download
is free.
Link：http://www.jingling.cn/.
Ruzuo.com is a site that applies the group purchase
concept to movie tickets. People can view what
showings are being "mobbed" by the site, usually on
Saturdays and Sundays, and then organize groups of
friends to attend. People can invite friends to the site
and arrange meetup details – an exciting concept
overall.
Link：http://www.ruzuo.com
Tomsix brings the LBS concept to multimedia, with
a number of special features. It currently supports
iPhone, Android, and the Lenovo Lephone platform.
Through the service, users can upload pictures and
audio marked with GPS coordinates anytime,
anywhere to share with friends and family. Like
many other LBS ventures, the service can also be
used to post one’s location and find nearby friends,
restaurants, entertainment and lodging venues.
Link：http://www.tomsix.com/
Explore

6. [6]
In September, we turned out focus to the creation of new products,
and invited 4 excellent speakers to talk about their own experience
with and ideas about developing new products, in accordance with
user needs. Our guests touched on both hot points and weak points in
the market, as well as the discovery and mapping of user needs, and
the fine tuning and detail-oriented nature of finishing a product in
order to put something out there that consumers will trust and stick to.
In the wrapup, speakers also touched upon the qualities, experience,
principles, and objectives that leaders need to have to do these things,
as well as shared some stories of failures and what was learned from
them. Product histories and development paths were discussed, and
dangerous pitfalls were pointed out.
NTALKS 群音荟 is an offline event organized by MOBINODE on
a regular basis to tighten the connection among local start-ups, as
well as a platform and community for grassroots and startups to
demonstrate their works, share their experience and communicate
with the potential partners and investors.
You can watch the event video hereReview

7. [7]
Special Thanks to OrangLabs Beijing, BlueRun China and TrilogyVC
Feel free to contact us via：
mobinodetv@gmail.com
Please keep a lookout for our blog：
www.mobinode.tv
www.mobinode.com
www.web20share.com