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eBayEachnet Pushes New Mobile Service
(Comtex Business Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)BEIJING, Jun 09, 2006 (SinoCast China IT Watch via COMTEX) --eBay's branch in China eBayEachnet has launched a WAP-based mobile shopping platform in cooperation with Tom Online (TOMO).
Under their agreement, Tom Online provides wireless technology for eBay Eachnet, and the latter pays an undisclosed fee.
As the new platform just opened, there are not many goods on the new platform. But Huang Jile, a senior supervisor from eBay Eachnet's Marketing Department, says that the goods there will be abundant after the database for the new platform is connected with that of the eBay Eachnet's current database.
Apart from Tom Online, eBay Eachnet will also cooperate with more wireless value-added operators. With this new platform, users can do their shopping through any WAP-enabled mobile phones.
Despite it is the first online auction website in China, eBayeachnet.com now has legged behind after years' development and several round of adjustments and restructures.
Jack Ma, chief executive of Alibaba.com, China's leading Internet marketplace, said that previous mistakes by eBay have made it difficult for the company to gain traction in what is an increasingly important beachhead for e-commerce.
"In China, they are gone," Ma said during an interview Friday with members of The Chronicle's business staff. "They have made so many mistakes in China, and we're lucky."
Ma's assessment conflicts sharply with eBay's vision for China, which includes transforming its site there, EachNet, into a major moneymaker after first spending heavily on technology and marketing. EBay executives hope to revive a slowdown in the company's overall growth with the help of China's burgeoning Internet population and the increasing wages of its citizens.
Failing would be a major blow to the San Jose online marketplace and its goal of being the dominant e-commerce site across the globe.
EBay's current position in China isn't exactly dire, despite Ma's pessimism. The company was second among consumer auction sites there in 2005, with 31.5 percent of the market, versus 57.7 percent for Alibaba's Taobao.com auction site, according to Analysys International, a technology research firm in China.
Meg Whitman, eBay's chief executive, acknowledges that the push in China sacrifices short-term profit for the company; it spent USD 100 million in China in 2005. But she insists that the country is far too important to ignore and an integral part of the firm's future.
Among China's leading businessmen, Ma is known for his bombastic comments. He routinely uses eBay as a dartboard while simultaneously praising it as one of the companies he most admires.
Ma started Alibaba in 1999 as a Web site where businesses could buy from one another, and later founded Taobao.com for the consumer market along with an online payment service. Millions of Chinese now buy and sell products on Alibaba's sites, making it one of China's Internet giants.
The attraction for users is partly financial: Ma has forgone revenue for now by allowing them to list items for sale on Taobao without paying fees. After initially balking at matching the free offer, eBay has also eliminated some of its usual fees to stay competitive.
From China Business, Page 1, Thursday, June 08, 2006
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