Domestic News

Suning took the lead in significantly lowering the price of the iPhone XS series, up to 1,000 yuan

According to news on March 5, Suning Mobile's official Weibo said that Suning.com and Suning.com Tmall flagship store have taken the lead in lowering the price of iPhone XS products, up to 1,000 yuan. During the Renewal Festival and Queen's Day, you can also enjoy many services such as installment and trade-in.

After adjusting the selling price, users can also receive additional coupons. After this discount, the iPhone XS 256G version is priced at 8,888 yuan, 1,211 yuan cheaper than the previous price of 10,099 yuan on Apple's official website; the iPhone XS Max 256G version is priced at 9,388 yuan, 1,611 yuan cheaper than the previous Apple official website. At present, it is unclear whether Suning’s behavior of lowering the price of iPhone was authorized by Apple.

Happy Times announced the completion of the acquisition of BIGO, with a total transaction value of approximately US$1.45 billion

On March 5, YY Joy Times (NASDAQ: YY) announced the completion of its wholly-owned acquisition of overseas video social platform BIGO (BIGO Technology Pte. Ltd.).

In this transaction, YY acquired approximately 68.3% of the remaining issued and outstanding shares of BIGO held by other shareholders, including BIGO shares held by Li Xueling, chairman and acting CEO of YYY Times, with a total transaction value of approximately US$1.45 billion. This includes US$343 million in cash, 38,326,579 YY Class B ordinary shares issued to Li Xueling, and 313,888,496 YY Class A ordinary shares issued to Li Xueling and other shareholders (each American depositary receipt (ADS) is equivalent to 20 ordinary shares).

Alibaba teamed up with Office Depot to build an online store to compete with Amazon in B2B

According to news on March 5, Office Depot (hereinafter referred to as "Office Depot") issued a statement saying that it has reached a strategic cooperation with Alibaba.com, a B2B trading platform under the Alibaba Group, in order to win the favor of small and medium-sized business owners in the United States and thereby compete with Amazon.

The two companies will create a joint online store, which will be opened on Alibaba's website, and will jointly provide sales support and conduct marketing activities for small and medium-sized enterprises. After the cooperation is further expanded, the two parties will improve cross-border distribution and logistics, shorten delivery time, and establish new sales channels. In other words, Office Depot and Alibaba hope to use their respective advantages to attract customers with the convenience of launching a one-stop mall.

Foreign News

Japanese companies will launch a “finger swipe” payment service and launch empirical trials in May

It was reported on March 5 that Hitachi and Toshiba will launch a "finger swipe" payment service. The service utilizes Hitachi's finger vein biometric authentication technology and Toshiba's POS terminals. Empirical testing will be launched in May and we will strive to reach practical levels in 2020. It can reduce the risk of counterfeiting such as counterfeit cards, and biometric authentication technology has begun to be promoted in the financial and payment fields.

Pressing your finger on the reader at the checkout counter authenticates you based on your finger's vein pattern, allowing you to complete your electronic payment in seconds. If the user has preloaded cash at a dedicated terminal in the store, there is no need for a credit card or mobile payment. The payment system and personal information are managed by the retail store. This service will be tested at supermarket chain EVERY in Hiroshima Prefecture. About 100 employees of the company will be tested for about two and a half months starting in May to verify the accuracy of the certification.

Apple acquires a large number of Lighthouse patents or develops AI user identification technology

On March 5, according to technology media Appleinsider, Apple acquired a large number of patents from Lighthouse AI, a discontinued home security camera company, and the company is likely to further develop its artificial intelligence user identification technology. Apple purchased this patent portfolio before December 2018, but official intellectual property transfer information was not displayed in the USPTO database until the end of February.

Apple acquired a total of eight patents. According to a report by foreign media IAM on Monday,Although some patents are in the standard security category, many involve depth sensing technology, including U.S. Patent No. 9,396,400 for “Computer Vision-Based Security System Using Depth Cameras,” and U.S. Patent No. 9,965,612 for “Light-emitting Method and System for Capturing Video Images under Low-Light Conditions Using Depth-Sensing Cameras.” The company also acquired apps that are still under review.

Financial Investment

Kolmostar received US$10 million in financing led by Yuanshi Capital

It was reported on March 5 that Kolmostar (Muxing Technology), a company focusing on the development of low-power and high-precision GNSS (GPS, Beidou, etc.) positioning algorithm solutions, received US$10 million in Series A financing, led by ABI Yuanshi Capital, followed by Fengrui Capital, Bell Capital, Star VC, and Qingkong Guochuang.

It is understood that Kolmostar’s current round of financing will be mainly used for team building and product implementation, including expanding the R&D team in China and the United States, and launching GNSS positioning solutions that meet the needs of different industries and applications. Tong Xin, co-founder of Kolmostar, said that Kolmostar currently provides revolutionary positioning solutions based on the team's inspiration from the LIGO (The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) gravitational wave detection project in the form of chips + software + cloud services, which are mainly used in the Internet of Things, mobile wearable devices, smartphones, autonomous driving and other fields.

SPAX, a developer of smart fitness equipment systems, completed US$4 million in Pre-A round financing

According to news on March 5, SPAX (Rhythm Dance), a developer of smart fitness equipment systems, announced the completion of a $4 million Pre-A round of financing, led by Amoeba Ventures, followed by Spades Capital, and continued investment by old shareholders KPCB and Vision Capital. In February 2018, SPAX completed a multi-million dollar Pre-A round of financing, led by KPCB China and followed by Vision Capital.

SPAX is an intelligent fitness system developer, committed to the intelligence and content upgrade of fitness equipment. The core product "SPAX" provides a screen-based underlying OS, interactive content and sensing equipment, allowing users toMonitor their movement and perform multi-dimensional movement data analysis on speed, steps, cadence, heart rate, calories, distance and other data.