August, 2014


www.us- tech.com


Page 21 An Exciting Time to Be Chinese By Philip Stoten (@philipstoten) I


n mid-July, the CEA (Consumer Electronics Association) announced that, for the first time, they would stage a second CES (Consumer


Electronics Show), this one happening in Shang- hai. The themes of CES Asia will be innovation and connectivity. This speaks volumes about the importance of China, not just as a manufacturing base, but also as a region for innovation and just as important, consumption. This is unsurprising, given the recent trend of


suppliers to the electronics manufacturing indus- try to switch to product launches in China instead of launches in Europe or North America. For this to happen at the top of the food chain is an indica- tion of the importance of China’s con- sumers, and interestingly China’s brands. The list of pre-registrations for


CES Asia is impressive, with Intel, Amazon, Ford and Gibson already reg- istered alongside Hisense from China, and over recent years we’ve seen a greater pressence from brands from Asia including Hisense, Huawei, Haier, Xiaomi, Tencent and Alibaba. Xiaomi is a great example, hard


to pronounce but easy to understand. This company makes inexpensive smartphones and having launched in 2011, sold more than 18 million units in 2013 and expects to hit 40 million this year. The company’s CEO, Lei Jun, is certainly a creative thinker and has lately been using social media to ask consumers for product innova- tions as well as marketing ideas. Xi- aomi recently sold 150,000 units in 10 minutes on WeChat, a popular Chi- nese social media app owned by Ten- cent, that has more than 300 million users.


The success of these brands


seems to come from bravery and a naivete that’s refreshing, as well as a genuinely deep understanding of the local market, a market, which is al- ready massive and continues to grow dramatically. With understanding comes fo-


cus; many of these brands seem to be largely happy focusing on the domes- tic market without diverting too much effort elsewhere, which is understand- able with so many consumers. Hav- ing said that, the brands mentioned were all participants in CES Las Ve- gas this past January and Xiaomi re-


cently enticed Hugo Barra, a big hitter from Sili- con Valley, away from Google Android. As China becomes a hotspot for consumer


electronics, it is also becoming a hotspot for inno- vation, supported by venture capital, product inno- vation and fast product introduction. Real market maturity and independence come when innova- tion, capital and manufacturing all succeed along- side each other and operate close to or within and a solid,growing marketplace. In short, if the peo- ple making smartphones can’t buy smartphones, create apps for smartphones and even develop the next big thing in smartphones, the market will not prosper by itself.


China is far from the communist market of


the past, struggling to cope with capitalism and all that such a struggle brings. It is now a fast-mov- ing consumer market, with a vibrant electronics industry staffed by entrepreneurs as well as engi- neers, managers and workers. The Chinese are ambitious, they have access


to capital, they are becoming more and more inno- vative in their products and their marketing and they are right in the middle of a huge growth the likes of which the US and Europe has not seen for decades and are unlikely to see again. It is a very exciting time to be in electronics and an equally ex- citing time to be Chinese. r


Philip Stoten is an internation- ally recognized EMS industry


expert. Known for his skills as an inter viewer, reporter and


panel moderator, Philip is a fea- tured multi-media contributor to U.S. Tech on a regular basis.


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