Facebook in China, Cashless Societies, Fashion Leads Digital

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is dealt another blow as China has successfully blocked all WhatsApp services. Disruptions started a short while ago, but where restricted to photo, video and voice messages, but the final step in blocking all messages seems to have now been implemented. The perfect solution has hit the market for the more paranoid iPhone user. Full-face masks are being sold online as a preventative measure to having your iPhone X unlocked while you sleep. This all seems a bit much when you could just deactivate Face ID and use a passcode instead, but we thought we’d let you know just in case sleeping in a full face mask has ever appealed to you.

• China blocks WhatsApp
• Chinese vendors are already marketing face masks as iPhone X security tools
• China is leading the next revolution in mobile technology
• China’s Best Social Media And Internet Stocks
• In China, Trading Begins on WeChat

Dior is increasing brand relevance to millennials worldwide, using Weibo Story in China, and Instagram in the west. The short narrative created using video clips and photos has proved very popular in China, and with millennials in particular. This love of Weibo Story fits with recent data that shows the next generation of consumers is more interested in spending their money on experiences and leisure time than on acquiring more things. When we are enjoying our experiences we also like to take part in another phenomenon of the digital age, taking selfies. Apparently we are so determined to take the perfect selfie, we’ll spend hundreds to buy an unremarkable camera that claims to take the perfect selfie.

• Dior Debuts Weibo Story, Stays in Lead With Chinese Millennials
• Minimalist Consumers Buy Experiences Not Things
• How Casio is selling $900 selfie cameras in China
• The Fashion App Transforming Social Mobile Commerce in China
• China Billionaire’s 24-Year-Old Wife Boosts JD.com’s Fashion Growth

Alibaba have consulted their crystal ball and have seen the future. It lies in quantum computing and AI. They’re committing to 3-year $15 billion investment that will see several new research labs open, and they hope will put them ahead of the curve in discovering breakthrough technologies. If you like your future speculations a little more affordable, then downtown Changning’s entrepreneurship and innovation week might be of more interest. With over 2000 start-ups in the region, over 30 of the best are showcasing their products, and advancements in AI seem to be taking center stage. It seems we’re already on our way to fulfilling President Xi Jinping’s wish to make China a country of innovators.

• Alibaba to invest $158B into artificial intelligence, other futuristic tech
• Startup companies display ideas at innovation week
• China’s Xi calls for more technology development
• Players ‘applaud’ Xi Jinping in Tencent game
• Intel invests US$60 million in startups, including one from China

China has seen a huge increase in e-payments over the last two years, with the total last year surpassing $5 trillion. It’s not surprising to discover we could become one of the first cashless societies. Paper money is so yesterday. Is this a contributing factor in China’s central bank governor predicting an extremely healthy seven percent growth forecast? Although actual growth has been high recently, economists expected it to start decreasing, while this prediction suggests a small increase.

• Cash is quickly becoming obsolete in China
• China’s Central Banker Gives a Gravity-Defying 7% Growth Forecast Ahead of the Party Congress
• Sino-foreign joint-venture universities open doors for international students
• Global Kunqu opera digital museum opens at Cambridge University
• 1 billion could be using 5G by 2023 with China set to dominate