By JONAH GREENBERG
(Virtual China News, June 30) Hong Kong's Pacific Century Cyberworks (PCCW) hit the competitive China portal market with a vertical Internet portal, or "vortal," called NOW.com that seeks to attract both desktop PC-users with living room TV-watchers.
In a week when Beijing-based Netease.com becomes the third Chinese Web portal to list on the NASDAQ exchange, the launch of Now.com signals the intent of Hong Kong-based Internet players to play catch-up.
Also this week, Tom.com went live after a suspenseful wait following their monster IPO in May on the GEM exchange in Hong Kong.
Tom.com, backed by Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing, launched with Chinese-language content.
Home Movies Times Ten
NOW, which stands for "Network of the World" offers sports, news, and interactive games. It is broadcast to PCCW's 130 million cable television subscribers throughout Asia, as well as being available on the Web. It is best viewed over a high-speed Internet or cable connection and the company is promoting it as a "converged" portal network that will eventually combine the role of desktop computer and living room TV.
NOW's cutting-edge weather channel, the "Mother Ship," enlists its users from around the world as ad hoc weather reporters.
The portal also offers young film makers and musicians a venue to be seen and heard. In addition to an MP3 center for the down- and uploading of digital music files, NOW's entertainment channel "E-Mage" offers a platform to nascent film makers to screen their work.
"Your short could be broadcast to millions of people across the globe via the Internet and on satellite television as part of a Global Interactive Film Forum," reads the NOW.com Web page.
Everything's For Sale
Although the content is only in English, the company plans to introduce Japanese and Chinese language versions during the next year, according to Alexander Arena, managing director of Pacific Century Cyberworks.
Thursday's launch was the first phase of a two year roll out that hopes to offer users an integrated channel for interactive entertainment and anything that can be purchased on the Internet.
Arena explained that NOW represents PCCW's strategy to win over Chinese users without investing in hardware or infrastructure. The portal will instead lure them with content and with broadband connectivity offered by satellite transmission.
"We do not need to own anything in China to do business in China," Arena said at a New York Internet conference in May.
With sophisticated flash animation and stimulating audio feeds, that are all best viewed with a high-speed Internet or cable connection, NOW has all the bells and whistles of a cutting-edge Web portal. The site generally lacks community-oriented features, such as bulletin boards and chat rooms.
For now, NOW is free, but PCCW will begin charging for access as early as next year.
"We'll eventually be moving toward a subscriber, e-commerce, and advertiser model," John Colmey, senior vice president, told Reuters.
To reach Jonah Greenberg email: jgreenberg@virtualchina.com
