The 6th China (Guangzhou) International Automobile Exhibition will open at China Import and Export Fair Pazhou Complex from Nov 19th – 25th 2008 (Nov 18th is the Press Day).

“Hi-tech Promise Future” as the theme with continuing “High Quality, International and Comprehensive” orientation, we pay more attention to improve the quality of exhibition, to present an excellent pageant of auto industry for domestic and oversea visitors.

Auto Guangzhou 2008 is covering a total area of 125,000㎡. It is 25% bigger than previous one. For the first time that all thirteen exhibition halls will be used at area A in Pazhou complex.

Among these, the size of Passenger Cars Zone is 85,000㎡. More brands and famous companies will participate with their most up to date vehicles, technologies and concepts. Some new exhibitors, such as Lotus, Daihatsus, Fiat, Foton Motor etc., will have their first attend.

The size of the professional auto exhibition has a further expandation by the joining of Japanese Auto Parts Purchasing Zone and the domestic exhibition delegation group in Auto Parts and Accessories Zone. Over 400 manufacturing companies, about 40,000 trade buyers will stimulate the Auto Guangzhou professional exhibition zone to become the largest international purchasing platform in South China.

I. Overview of the Development of Global Digital Camera Market in 2006

(I) Current status

(II) Basic characteristics

1. Technology and industry chain

2. Product trend

3. Application trend

(III) Strategy of major vendors

II. Size and Structure of China’s Digital Camera Market in 2005

(I) Size and growth of the market

(II) Product mix

1. Structure of different imaging components and devices

2. Structure of different pixel levels

3. Structure of different optical zooming

4. Structure of product price segment

(III) Brand structure

1. Brand structure of overall market

2. Region - brand market structure

3. X X -Structure of brand market

(IV) Market structure

1. Structure of regional market

2. Structure of channel market

3. User market structure: demand for first-time purchase vs replacement

(V) Basic characteristic of the market

1. Stages of market development

2. Market concentration

3. XXX

4. XXX

III. Analysis of the Strategy for Leading Vendors in China’s Digital Camera Market in 2005

(I) Analysis of the marketing strategy for leading vendors ( Top5- 10)

1. Vendor A

(1) Development profile and overall commentary

(2) Brand / product positioning

(3) Channel architecture

(4) Analysis of salable/typical models

(5) Commentary and analysis of grand strategic adjustment

2. Vendor B

(II) Analysis of the strategy for growing vendors (2-3)

1. Vendor A

(1) Development profile and overall commentary

(2) Brand and product orientation

(3) Analysis of salable/typical models

(4) Analysis of the cause for fast growth

2. Vendor B

IV. Analysis of the Expected Purchase Behavior in China’s Digital Camera Market in 2006

(I) Brand preference

(II) Price preference

(III) Channel preference

(IV) Channel preference for information acquisition

(V) Demand for innovative functionality

V. Analysis and Forecast of the Trend of China’s Digital Camera, 2007- 2010

(I) Main factors influencing the development of future market

1. Socio-economic development

2. Policy environment

3. Complementary product

4. Competitive product

5. Industry chain and technology

(II) Analysis of the market growth trend

1. Product and technology

2. Market competition structure

3. Channel and terminal

4. Price trend

(III) Forecast for market size

1. Forecast for sales volume

2. Forecast for sales value

(IV) Forecast for market structure

1. Structure of product market

2. Structure of regional market

3. Structure of channel market

VI. CCID’s Recommendations

(I) Product strategy

(II) Pricing strategy

(III) Channel strategy

(IV) Service strategy

(V) Brand strategy

Namtso Kiss In one of the world’s most remote regions, a Tibetan peasant dressed in animal skins attends to her grandson near Namtso Lake.
In Sight of Shalu With prayer beads in hand and guided by homemade spectacles, a pilgrim approaches Tibet’s Shalu monastery.
The Road to Majang On the desolate Tibetan road to Majang, snowcapped peaks rising beyond 21,000 feet guide a nomad’s journey.
Morning’s Milk At an elevation of more than 17,000 feet, a Nyenchen Tanglha herder milks her goats. The nomads of the region roam the land with their animals and sleep in Yak-haired tents.

Faithful Debate At the six hundred year-old Sera Monastery, young monks gather each afternoon to debate the principles of Tibetan Buddhism.
Monastery Ritual Monks remain deep in thought after an early morning prayer meeting at Drepung Monastery.
Of Smoke and Sacred Offerings Pilgrims burn sacred evergreen offerings at a “Chorten” as they prepare to walk hundreds of steps to Potala Palace, once the home of the Dalai Lama. Many wait their entire lives to have the opportunity.
Horseman in Red A Tibetan horseman wearing traditional racing attire gathers his energy before a village competition outside of Lhasa.

Excerpts from a note published by Citigroup analysts Mark Mahaney and Jason Brueschke released yesterday:

Head of Google (GOOG) in China said that Google is open to using M&A in China as a way to grow its talent base, technology and portfolio.

Our reading of GOOG’s M&A history to date and its strategy is that the most likely M&A candidates in China would be small technology/R&D shops or unique localized applications. That said, there are several potential candidates that might offer distinct advantages in terms of increased user bases or expanded Web traffic.

We think Google is likely looking for companies with unique technology skills sets or companies that can help Google localize its offerings for the China market.

If Google were to depart from its practice of making primarily technology-based acquisitions, it is interesting to consider who, among publicly-listed Chinese Internet/Media companies, Google might consider acquiring:

Baidu.com Inc (BIDU): The Obvious Choice. The issues are likely to be: (1) Management resistance – Baidu founder Robin Li is the obvious person to run the China operations were such a deal to happen, but Google has hired two talented people to run its operations already; (2) Government resistance – While it is a generally held view that the Chinese government is reluctant to allow Sina (SINA) to be acquired, it is unclear if the Chinese government feels the same way about Baidu and the Search market. Our view is that a takeover of Baidu would meet significant government resistance; (3) Google needs Baidu more than Baidu needs Google – Baidu is the leader and appears to be pulling away from Google in China. As a result, there are fewer reasons for Baidu to sell, in our view. Nevertheless, Google already owns a small percentage of Baidu, purchased when Baidu was a private company, so a deal is not out of the question. Near-term, we expect Google to choose to compete with Baidu, rather than trying to take control of Baidu.

Sina (SINA): The Best Fit. Sina has tremendous Internet traffic that continues to grow. Google could benefit from this traffic. Moreover, Sina’s search engine has basically failed, meaning Sina is not likely to effectively monetize its traffic on its own via CPC Search anytime during the next several years, in our view. A deal would thus benefit each party significantly, and they could be natural allies similar to AOL and Google in the U.S. However, the Chinese government would likely prohibit Google taking a controlling stake in Sina. As a result, we believe the most likely result would be for Sina and Google to reach an agreement whereby Sina uses Google’s search engine to monetize its traffic in exchange for most of the revenues — perhaps 90%+ of the search revenues. It is possible that a small equity stake by Google – say 9.99%, which would not trigger the Sina poison pill – could cement the deal without being vetoed by Beijing. However, in our view, such an equity stake is not necessary for such a Sina-Google strategic partnership.

51job (JOBS): Leader in Online Classified Job Market. 51job would bring Google access to the dominant player in the online job market in China. While 70% of 51job’s revenues are print based, its online business and traffic is still the strongest in China, in our view. The #2 player, ChinaHR, is already controlled by Monster Worldwide, and hence is not available. 51job investors recently sold a 15% stake to Japan’s Recruit, with the option to take this stake to 40% over the next three years, which could make 51job a less attractive target for Google (unless an accommodation with Recruit could be reached).

Sohu (SOHU): Strong Assets, But Not Likely. Sohu would be an attractive fit for Google, as its seven properties have traffic levels on par with Sina and Baidu. However, Sohu has a strong search effort fully under way, and Sohu has been publicly quoted as saying it believes Google will ultimately fail in China. With a controlling shareholder/founder determined to beat both Baidu and Google, Sohu seems an unlikely seller, in our view. Finally, Sohu likely faces similar government approval issues as Sina would.

Online Gaming Companies: NetEase (NTES) a Possibility, But Not Likely. While NetEase has significant traffic, much of it is youth-focused due to the company’s strength in online gaming. If Google were to acquire a gaming company, NetEase would be the one, in our view. Shanda and, especially, The9 are more pure-gaming plays and thus likely to be less desirable to Google, in our view.

Wireless VAS Players: Tom Online (TOMO). Like NetEase in Gaming, only one player makes any sense in the WVAS sector: Tom Online. The largest player in this space, Tom excels at monetizing traffic via mobile phones. However, Tom actually is weak in terms of traffic compared to the Portals, and needs to grow its own traffic and brand ahead of full-scale 3G launch in China, in our estimation. Such a deal would add little to meet Google’s most pressing needs, in our view.