The ACT team hand-picks the most watchable news of the day from China’s booming tech industry. Don’t miss out on these headlines:
Lyft’s John Zimmer on 3rd trip to China to launch new app with Didi
John Zimmer, the co-founder and president of Lyft, is making a few trips to China to discuss its strategic partnership with Didi Chuxing following Didi’s investment in Lyft back in September. Zimmer made his third trip to China in two months on Nov. 2. The goal of this trip is to discuss how to integrate Lyft and Didi apps so that both apps can be used in both China and the US. Lyft and Didi also plan to develop seamless navigation and payment functions in the future.
JD.com denounces Alibaba over Double 11 measures
Yesterday, JD.com condemned Alibaba in public, accusing Alibaba of disrupting the e-commerce market. JD.com said in its open letter that Alibaba has warned its third-party merchants to exit other e-commerce markets, with severe repercussions on Alibaba’s own platform if they did not comply. Last year, the 11.11 shopping day held by Alibaba made a new record of a 57.1 billion RMB (USD 9.3 billion) sales in only one day.
Alipay app temporarily removed from Google Play
Alipay was removed from Google Play on Tuesday, according to Sinatech. According to Alipay, it was removed because Alipay’s Android version contains its own update system. Google Play has a rule that apps can only be updated through the Google Play store. However, Alipay says the modified version has already been uploaded and will soon be available through Google Play again.
Zhihu, Chinese Quora receives USD 50 million
On Tuesday, Zhihu.com, the Chinese version of Quora, received USD 50 million in its C-round financing, giving it a valuation of USD 300 million to USD 400 billion, according to 36kr.com. Tencent took the lead in this investment, followed by Softbank Asia Infrastructure Fund, Sogou.com and Innovation Works.
Baidu launches Baidu Mall, its third attempt at e-commerce portal
Baidu’s e-commerce portal Baidu Mall has been launched, just before the 11.11 shopping festival. Baidu Mall targets middle-class consumers with products in a relatively high price range such as Beats headphones. This is Baidu’s third attempt at launching an e-commerce portal, but neither of the last two were successful. Baidu also invested in two retail sites Mia.com and Bolome in the past two months.