Author: JT

Baidu seeks mobile games talent from Canada

| July 16, 2014

Baidu aims to take advantage of foreign talent in order to excel in the mobile gaming market

Mobile gaming is becoming more popular in China and companies that have helped the growth of these games, such as Baidu, are beginning to seek expansion beyond the country’s borders. Baidu is China’s largest search engine company and has played a pivotal role in the expansion of the mobile games sector. The company operates a mobile gaming platform that accounts for some 100 million application downloads each day. Baidu recently visited Canada in order to spark relationships with talented game developers.

Company meets with developers from Vancouver and Toronto

Representatives of Baidu Mobile Games met with more than 20 game developers in Vancouver and developers from Toronto. Both Vancouver and Toronto are considered “hot spots” when it comes to animation talent and mobile game development and, as such, Baidu has been making an effort to connect with this talent in the hopes of making new mobile games more available in China. Competition in China’s mobile gaming space is beginning to grow at a rapid pace and more companies are looking for foreign talent to give them the edge in the booming market.

China is an attractive market for ambitious game developers

Mobile Games - CanadaChina is a very attractive market for the game industry as a whole. An estimated 300 million people play mobile games every day. These people are willing to pay for the games they play, if these games are able to hold their attention and are not too big in terms of data. Many foreign development studios have been trying to break into the Chinese market, but doing so has been quite difficult. Having the backing of a company like Baidu can make this process much simpler and give developers access to a huge demographic that is hungry for mobile gaming.

Baidu has yet to announce partnerships with Canadian developers

Things move quite quickly in the mobile gaming world, so the developers that Baidu has met with may already be creating games for the Chinese company. These games may be released in a matter of months, but Baidu has not yet made any official announcement concerning any partnership it has made with Canadian game developers.

Information about a new mobile commerce platform has been released

| July 11, 2014

Tisch project revealed to be called Spring, a new mobile commerce platform that has raised $7.5 million in Series A funding

A new mobile commerce project has been in the works by David Tisch for the past year. Tisch has kept quiet about the project for some time, referring to it only as “Jello Labs,” but more information concerning the project has finally been released on the heels of a successful Series A round of funding led by Thrive Capital. The project is called Spring and has managed to acquire some $7.5 million in funding from various venture capitals.

Platform could see an official release in August or later in fall

According to Tisch, Spring is set to launch at some point in fall, with August being a likely time to release the platform. Little more is known about the platform, apart from the fact that it is forming partnerships with large retail and fashion brands. These brands have long been interested in mobile commerce, but have lacked the tools to engage mobile consumers effectively. Platforms like Spring can resolve this issue, if they can manage to capture the attention of these brands.

Platform has attracted the attention of several large retail and fashion brands

Mobile Commerce Platform InformationMobile commerce can be a tricky business, especially where retailers are concerned. The mobile space is alluring because of the number of consumers that use smartphones and tablets on a daily basis, but engaging these consumers can be difficult because of their fickle nature. How Spring will help brands connect with mobile consumers is uncertain. Other platforms have attempted to enable brands to connect with mobile consumers through various marketing endeavors and loyalty programs that have had varying degrees of success.

Spring wins the support of investors like Google Ventures and SV Angel

More information about Spring will likely become available as the platform comes closer to its official release. Spring has attracted investments from various organizations outside of the technology field, which is somewhat uncommon for a new mobile commerce platform. Several technology-focused venture capitals have also invested in Spring, including Google Ventures and SV Angel.