image from appdata.com

Having already been competitive (and in the green) long before this round of funding, the $17.5M in the bank is a bonus for them. Besides expanding the gaming platform, it’s very likely their company expansion will take them beyond Hong Kong and tap talent from the US and it won’t be surprising to see 6waves operating from both Hong Kong and the US.

Expect some great things from them in 2010.

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With an encoding service, you not only reach those devices that can connect online, you’re also able to reach the vast number of existing multimedia/desktop/mobile devices that are already in the marketplace. In addition to encoding and downloading videos, Ankoder can also encode and segment files for iPhone HTTP streaming.

Here are some features Ankoder offers:

• a flexible API with multiple steps notifications.
• Encode into theora - the open source video codec for HTML5
• Auto scale with maximum 10 minutes queue time.
• Handle direct upload (minimize file transfer)

Signing up for Ankoder is free but it’s a pay-per-use service. That means you are charged for the bandwidth used for uploading of source video and the download of the transcoded video.

Despite their recent entry into this space, they are already helping others run large scale outdoor video shows.

Ankoder is a service by RoRCraft based in Hong Kong and Australia. You can learn more details about Ankoder on their blog.

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Thumbdive won’t be going to the grave completely though. I’ve been told that they are working on a new version of Thumbdive, for the enterprise. With their already proven system with privacy and control, the move from consumer to enterprise service seems to be a better suited direction for them, not to mention, the possible revenue that comes with targeting enterprises.

We’ll have to wait and see how Thumbdive for the enterprise will shape up to be. Maybe we’ll be looking at a service similar to Yammer, the enterprise microblogging platform?

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What do you guys think? Does that look like hair to you?

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I skipped the math on the plan, but by glancing over it, it’s a welcome mat for 3 HK to rape you (I’m sure that’s true with AT&T in US too), it always is. Lucky for people in Hong Kong, Apple store will eventually sell the iPhone separately. If you are current users, I’d suggest against upgrading with 3 HK just so you can get the 3GS (I’d expect to see it online in about a week’s time, don’t quote me though). Instead, shell out a bit more and get the phone by itself, so you don’t get tied down with a 2-year contract, unless I mean you enjoy their service then by all means. Be sure to read the fine print so they don’t screw you over.

There’s no word on the price of the standalone phone, but if Australia is any indication, the price will remain the same as the iPhone 3G, which is around HKD$5500-$6400 (approx. $700-$850USD) for 16GB and 32GB respectively. That’s a lot of cash for a friggin phone, not to mention the games, apps, music that you end up purchasing during ownership. But, knowing how people in Hong Kong go through phones like they go through toilet paper (I’ve heard lifespan for mobile phones for the younger demographics is around six months), the iPhone 3GS will likely be a hit in Hong Kong, again.

The iPhone 3GS is calling me and I will soon be a iPhone virgin no more. Will this be the best $700USD I’ve ever spend? iPhone owners please tell me.

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Moosh does a good job with accessibility also, where some local startups tend to overlook. Their mobile version and both Traditional Chinese and English language sites cater to both the local and the large expat community here. This site is appealing and comprehensive and could be the best site to gather movie info in Hong Kong.

Moosh was launched back in March 2009 and comes from the same team that developed aNobii, the social book cataloging website. Although the site is online, Moosh is still early in development and Moosh will slowly make its way to the market, this is likely because the bulk of focus is still on aNobii.

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Working together with the Entrepreneur Center at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the goal of the From 0 to 0.1 program is to get students to build a web service in 13 weeks, basically during their summer vacation. If during the program you and your team are on to something great, they may even set you up with some angel investors to pitch to (but let’s not get ahead of ourselves here).

This looks to be a promising program and could give a much needed kick start to tech minded individuals here. Interested students should seriously consider this.

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Yahoo! Hong Kong, Hong Kong’s leading portal, has long provided a blog service here and can safely say most locals use them more than other blog providers. They have their own product blog (in Chinese) and it’s one of the most, if not the most engaging blogs in Hong Kong. I have never seen people comment like this, locally. The number of comments are anywhere between the teens to the thousands for a single post, the Yahoo! HK blog user community is buzzing.

However, the blog itself doesn’t get updated frequently and it doesn’t offer much content other than being a channel to communicate notify users of mostly updates or system outages, upgrades, etc.

So, why are users so active and leaving so many comments? Well, all the comments are of users venting their frustration with the releases or upgrades and the service and commitment in general, one after another, the negative comments pile up to the hundreds and even thousands.

But can you blame the community? Yes and no. Yahoo! HK has seemingly ignored these conversations that’s going on under their nose now and in the past and it doesn’t appear to affect their brand at all.

In comparison, Yahoo!’s other property, Flickr, having launched a Traditional Chinese version since 2007, has had a local community manager (but based in US) for a year now watching over the (Traditional) Chinese language community, mainly Taiwan and Hong Kong. She’s been active in their forums and communicates openly with them. It makes us wonder why there’s no such person dealing with the growing frustration locally.

I’m not sure how much longer they can ignore this, but I’ll admit, they’ve had “success” sweeping it under the rug for years, it’s bound to catch up with them one way or another.

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Similar to other services, Thumbdive lets you write your own updates, but in 150 characters or less (by the way, in Hong Kong, some carriers allow for 160 characters for SMS). Updates created within Thumbdive are shared privately within your SharingPools, or user groups, that you create and manage your audience. You can also choose to aggregate your already public content from popular social mediums, such as Twitter, Flickr, blogs, Facebook status and last.fm.

The service is currently available for PC and the iPhone but said to have plans to roll out to other mobile platforms in the future. I just like how they visually laid out their content (below is from the PC version, which is very similar to iPhone designs).

And if you’re wondering about their business model… According to their website, Thumbdive is a system that allows for advertisements. They claim I did not notice any ads while trying out the private beta version.

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I have mentioned in my Twitter before that there has been a handful of acquisitions by large corporations in Asia and US, late last year and into this year. I am now listing them here. With this intent purchase by IBM, the lists now includes Hong Kong.

Here’s the list of startups that I’m aware of (and therefore probably incomplete) that have been acquired since September 2008:

• TNC, blogging platform (Korea), acquired by Google Korea
• Me2day, microblogging platform (Korea), acquired by Naver
• J2M, online gaming (Korea), acquired by EA Sports
• Roiworld, casual gaming/avatar startup (Korea), acquired by Lifetime Networks
• Outblaze, email and messaging service (Hong Kong), acquired by IBM
• Update: OpenSourceFood, cooking social network (Japan), acquired by Tsavo Media
• Other acquisition include Focus Media (China) by Sina

It has been a busy shopping season at the end of the year for companies in Asia and US and it has been good for Korean startups. And although the economy is bleak and despite recent news that Google is shutting down a number of services they acquired earlier, I do expect more acquisitions down the road for startups in Asia.

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