Microsoft looks for space in China's living room
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(InfoWorld) - Microsoft wants to play a bigger role in China's living rooms, and the company is willing to spend millions of dollars to get there. The company's latest home-entertainment moves in China include aÂ planned $12.3 million investmentÂ in Sichuan Changhong Electric. The deal, announced earlier this week, gives Microsoft a small stake in one of China's largest TV makers, which in turn agreed to develop TVs and other products able to link with the Internet. "Microsoft and Changhong have partnered in exploring the use of digital media technologies to benefit the consumers for a better in-home networked digital entertainment experience," Microsoft said Friday in an e-mail statement. Its investment is intended to build goodwill, rather than bring a specific product to market. "The investment is more like a gesture of saying, 'We're friends strategically,'" said Jason Yin, managing director at In-Stat China. Critics have compared the Changhong deal to Venus, an ill-fated project launched in 1999 to develop Windows CE set-top boxes for the Chinese market. But that's not an accurate comparison. "It's very different," Yin said. Unlike Venus, Microsoft isn't trying to bring a new piece of hardware to market. Current versions of Windows are capable of connecting a TV with the Internet, and these types of systems are already available in China. Changhong's own M10 Living Room Entertainment Center is an example. Based on Windows XP Media Center Edition, the M10 is designed to connect with a television and comes with a remote control and wireless keyboard, allowing users to access music, videos and the Internet from a couch instead of a desk. Changhong also offers other consumer products that connect to the Internet. For instance, it sells a 32-inch LCD (liquid crystal display) television with a camera that can be used for Internet video calls. And the company has worked with China Telecommunications Group Corp., one of the country's two major fixed-line operators, to sell IPTV (Internet Protocol TV) set-top boxes. Microsoft hopes closer ties with Changhong will strengthen the channel through which its home-entertainment software reaches Chinese consumers. Those products include Windows Media Center and Mediaroom, the company's IPTV software. "Microsoft now has a better understanding of the value of local partners in penetrating China's market," Yin said, citing the example of Xiamen Amoi Electronics, which develops and sells Windows Mobile smart phones in China. Whether Microsoft's small investment in Changhong yields the desired result remains to be seen. In past years, the company used investments to build closer relationships with Chinese partners to varying degrees of success. "The investment doesn't always mean they get what they want," Yin said. The Changhong investment is just one part of Microsoft's home-entertainment push in China, and the company continues to seek out new deals and alliances. On Thursday, Microsoft signed an agreement with Shanghai Media Group (SMG), the country's second-largest media company. Under the terms of that deal, SMG will use Microsoft products across its new-media division, which includes Internet video, IPTV and mobile television. The partners hope their combined strengths in software and content will convince more companies to join them. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. Â
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SHANGHAI/SEATTLE  - In his first official visit to  the United States in 2006, China President Hu Jintao arrived  for dinner at Microsoft Corp.  Chairman Bill Gates'  house with a gift for the host.
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The Xbox video game console and  software for viewing movies on TV screens have brought  Microsoft Corp. MSFT.O into customers' living rooms, Chairman  Bill Gates said on Wednesday, and new partnerships will help  the software maker expand outside the PC arena.
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Microsoft will step up its investments in AsiaÂ over the next two years as part of a bid to strengthen its relationship with partners and corporate customers in the area of mission-critical technologies.ADVERTISEMENTNEW IT SERVICES FROM IBM: EASIER TO BUY AND IMPLEMENTDiscover a simpler, more cost-effective way to get the solutions your company needs to grow more flexible and efficient.
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(InfoWorld) - Microsoft will display paid search listings from Baidu.comÂ among the search results of certain Microsoft Web sites, the companies announced on Thursday. Baidu, which operates China's most popular search engine, will have paid search listings on MSN, Windows Live, and other partner Web sites in China. Baidu battles Google in China, although not necessarily in the same areas.Â Baidu goes head to head with Google in searchÂ and has the biggest share of China's search market, but its reach is limited by its focus on Chinese-language searching. It has attempted to compete against its rivals through deals with major international players. In October, Viacom's MTV Networks and Nickelodeon said it will make 15,000 hours of theirÂ content available in China via Baidu Web site. That included both English and Chinese-language programs, including Nickelodeon's "Sponge Bob Square Pants" and MTV's "Pimp My Ride," along with programs produced locally for Chinese audiences. Viacom does, however, have similar arrangements with Google and AOL. Financial terms of the deal with Microsoft were not disclosed.
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Microsoft Corp.'s  online  portal MSN.com will launch a China job search service this year  to attract young netizens in the world's second-largest Web  market, a company spokesman said on Monday.
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One of the challenges Microsoft and computer makers face in marketing Media Center PCs is persuading consumers that it&#39;s worth putting them in their living room, supplanting the normal setup of TV, VCR, DVD player and/or personal video recorder.
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Efforts by Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) and the PC industry to expand into to the living room will get a boost next week as they show off technologies that try to balance Hollywood's piracy fears with the appeal of digital media.