Tencent the 800 lb Gorilla of China, resistance is futile

WSJ has an article on how well Tecent is doing in China.

  • August 14, 2012, 11:16 a.m. ET

 

Internet Breadth Helps Buoy Tencent

As Western social-media and Internet companies from Facebook Inc. FB +2.99% toGroupon Inc. GRPN -2.81% struggle to meet investor expectations on earnings and share price, their biggest peer in China is still going strong.

The share price of Tencent Holdings Ltd., 0700.HK -0.17% China's leading Internet company—with businesses from online gaming to instant messaging—has soared 48% this year in Hong Kong. Analysts expect that its results for the quarter ended June 30, to be released Wednesday, will show healthy growth, despite slowing online advertising outlays as the Chinese economy softens.

 

How big is Tencent?  It is referred as "life, death, or Tencent"

Tencent's speedy execution of new projects like WeChat has led Chinese technology entrepreneurs to coin the phrase "life, death or Tencent"—meaning the choice is between cooperating with Tencent or being crushed by it, so unlikely is the option of outcompeting it.

When upstart smartphone company Xiaomi launched a mobile-chat service in 2010, Chief Executive Lei Jun told a conference in May, it expected Tencent to take a while to launch a rival service.

"We thought maybe it would take six months," he said, but in fact WeChat was out within two months—and it has proved far more popular than Xiaomi's service.

At first I thought of the 800 lb Gorilla 


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But, in the WSJ article it sounds more like tho Borg.

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Facebook adds a smaller 3rd data center to Prineville site

ABC via AP Reuters via The Bend Bulletin report that Facebook is adding a 3rd smaller data center site in Prineville.

Facebook Plans Third, Smaller Oregon Data Center

 PRINEVILLE, Ore. August 14, 2012 (AP)

 

Facebook Inc. has filed plans for a third data center in the central Oregon city Prineville, but it won't bring additional jobs.

 

The social network company has a 334,000-square-foot facility up and running in Prineville and a twin under construction next door. The third facility would be smaller, about 62,000 square feet.


12 cameras remote controlled, moving images 10 seconds to editors

Taking pictures is a powerful concept.  If you have seen the hundreds of cameras scattered around the Olympics, there was big change where some of the best pictures were taken by remote control.  The below video show what Sports Illustrated did at the Olympics.

There were terabytes of generated each day.

What drove this change was the speed of what can be done.  This photographer had 12 cameras remote controlled, and could identify images within 10 seconds to send to his editors.

pre-IPO Video gives hints of Facebook's strategy

I was talking to my neighbors enjoying the evening breeze and she asked what I thought of the future of Facebook.  I told her the number 1 issue is Google is laser focused on beating Facebook, and that is Facebook's biggest challenge.  Why?  Because Facebook is Google's top competitor for Ad Dollars.

HBR has an interesting article on the right way to run an IPO show and of course chooses to poke at Facebook.

The Right Way to Run an IPO Road Show

by Peggy Klaus  |   8:00 AM August 9, 2012

Over the past 17 years I've worked with hundreds of executives to raise billions of dollars
— from private equity to hedge funds to IPOs. I've seen road shows done right, but I've also seen every mistake in the book.

One part that HBR digs in at Facebook is on pre IPO video.

Procrastinating creates not only a very stressful environment but ultimately a show that is not as well-conceived, customized to the audience, and polished as it must be. If you need proof just look at Facebook's stale video pitch, which was scrapped on the second day of its road show amidst widespread complaints from important institutional investors that it left them little time for their key questions, and was boring to boot.

I watched the video and found it was obvious why Facebook bought Instagram.

 

 

The data center related topic is brought up around the 27 minute mark.

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I don't know about you, but watching the video the easiest person to watch was Chris Cox, VP of Product.

Business Insider called Cox “a triple threat -- an engineer who can build company-defining products, an operator who can recruit and manage good people, and a long-term strategic thinker,” and named Cox number 2 on its list of 10 Rock Star Tech Execs You’ve Never Heard Of.[5] He is also known for his focus on bringing people and technology together. “Technology does not need to estrange us from one another,” Cox told Wired. “The physical reality comes alive with the human stories we have told there.”[6]

Cox envisions a future in which what your friends recommend on social networks plays a bigger role in what you buy, do, or watch on TV. He told The Wall Street Journal that he believes there will be a time “when you turn on the TV, and you see what your mom and friends are watching, and they can record stuff for you. Instead of 999 channels, you will see 999 recommendations from your friends."[1]