Will Alibaba’s magic touch in online shopping extend to entertainment? That depends on whether it can persuade Chinese consumers to actually pay for content, a tricky task in a land awash in free Web streaming and pirated DVDs.
The Chinese e-commerce giant has thrown around at least $3 billion lately to invest in various bits of entertainment, from a film studio to a stake in a Chinese version of YouTube. Alibaba’s regulatory filings for its U.S. listing don’t make clear how these pieces fit together.
But a fuller picture is now coming into focus, and at its center lies a set-top box. Introduced in April, the box sells for 299 yuan, or just under $50, on Alibaba’s Tmall site, and is stylized with feline features, an allusion to Tmall’s Chinese name, which includes the character for “cat.”
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Aaron Back, The Wall Street Journal via CHINA US Focus http://ift.tt/1o5CePC
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