Qihoo 360’s Spending Spree

Qihoo 360 has been on a spending spree. The company invested in 3 companies during their IPO in Hong Kong recently: $5 million in Tian Ge Interactive, $20 million in Beijing Digital Telecom, and $10 million in Color Life Services Group. Qihoo is cash-heavy (at the end of March it held $902 million in cash) and is trying to invest some of it.

Japan’s Mobile Phone Landscape

The competitive landscape of mobile phones sales in Japan is quite different from that of China. Apple is the market leader in Japan, followed by several Japanese phone makers as seen in this list:

(Total shipment: 6.51 million units)
Apple – 48%
Sharp – 13.2%
Kyocera – 10.3%
Sony – 7.6%
Panasonic – 6.9%
Others – 14.1%

Apple’s share percentage in smart phone market is 67.4%

In China, Samsung is the leader and several Chinese brands as well as Apple have significant market shares. One of the Chinese front-runners is Xiaomi, an Android device manufacturer that shipped 26 million handsets in the first half of 2014, up 271% from a year earlier.

DOTA 2’s Huge Prize Pool

According to Gamasutra, the DOTA 2 tournament prize pool has now surpassed that of the U.S. Open. Valve is offering $10 million for its record eSports prize and it will be interesting to see which nationality snags the winnings, as DOTA 2 is popular across the world but especially popular in Asia and Southeast Asia.