From Huawei's US entry to Wechat's Future with Juro Osawa

Juro Osawa, reporter at The Information joined us in a conversation to discuss the recent challenges faced by China’s technology giants, Huawei and Tencent. We discussed why Huawei’s deal with AT&T in the US had fallen apart and its implications to other foreign companies trying to enter the US market. At the same time, we discussed the recent turmoil within Tencent on the future of Wechat.

Here are the interesting show notes and links to the discussion (with time-stamps included):

• Juro Osawa (@JuroOsawa , LinkedIn, The Information), Reporter at The Information [0:38]
  • How did you start your career? [1:16]
  • How do you end up joining as a reporter in The Information? What are the areas and companies you cover there? [2:54]
  • Throughout your career journey, what are the interesting lessons you can share with my audience? [4:08]
• Why Huawei’s deal with AT&T in US fell apart [5:00]
  • References: “Inside Huawei’s Plans to Challenge Apple in the US” and “AT&T Deal Collapse Forces Huawei to Rethink Global Plans” (requires subscription)
  • Can you introduce Huawei as a company to my audience and who are the key executives of the company behind the smartphone division? [5:25]
  • Can you describe the backstory to Huawei trying to launch a phone in US and the deal with AT&T collapse? [8:02]
  • Why did Huawei’s deal with AT&T collaspe at the last minute? [9:32]
  • What are the preparations made by Huawei to enter the US market? [11:04]
  • Does that it mean that it will be difficult for other Chinese companies such as Xiaomi to enter the US market? [12:57]
• Turmoil at Tencent [15:38]
  • Recently, WeChat just turned seven and has a major conference in Jan 2018. Can you provide the background behind the creator of WeChat, Allen Zhang and his team and how they take WeChat to become a key player within Tencent? [16:02]
  • Can you talk about how the Wechat team views Allen Zhang and how did he got the status of “WeGod” in the Wechat division? [18:48]
  • Why are some Wechat early employees or key product managers leaving Wechat? [21:15]
  • What is the internal tension about the future of WeChat? [22:41]
  • What’s Allen Zhang’s eventual vision for WeChat? [25:23]
  • Will Allen Zhang leave Tencent eventually? [27:03]
• Closing [27:36]
  • How do my audience find you? [27:38]

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The show is hosted by Bernard Leong (@bernardleong & weibo) and are sponsored by Ideal Workspace (Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn) with their new Altizen Desk (Twitter, Facebook, Medium). Sound credits for the intro music: Taro Iwashiro, “The Beginning” from Red Cliff Soundtrack.