Crowd Sourcing (With WU Ying in Background)

choi

(1) Jenna Wortham,  Start-Ups Look to the Crowd. New York Times, Apr 30, 2012.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/3 ... h-not-yet-made.html

My comment:
(a) I wonder who wants to get a digital watch for $99, whose underlying technology is "e paper"--the same as e-readers, which now sells less than that.
(b) Kickstarter
http://www.kickstarter.com/
(c) Pebble: E-Paper Watch for iPhone and Android; A Product Design project in Palo Alto, CA by Pebble Technology. Kickstarter, as of today.
http://www.kickstarter.com/proje ... -iphone-and-android
(d) Pebble
http://www.getpebble.com/

(2) Letters to editor. Economist, Mar 24, 2012.
http://www.economist.com/node/21550735
(under the heading "Fear of innovation," about WU Ying)

Note: China's supreme court overturned Ms Wu's death sentence, which was reported on Apr 20 2012.

(3) Simon Rabinovitch, Pawnbrokers Fill China Loan Gap; General Financial; News analysis; State-owned banks are shying away from small lending. Financial Times, Apr 28, 2012.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/40690b ... e-00144feab49a.html

Quote:

"Visitors to Baoruitong, China’s biggest pawnbroker, are greeted by display cabinets of Swiss watches, diamond rings and jade ornaments. But the real action is in the private offices at the back, where agents appraise the value of much larger objects – houses and cars – as collateral for loans.


"Only about a tenth of Baoruitong's lending is what conventionally thought of as pawning [such as jewelry]. Up to 60 per cent is backed by property and 30 per cent by cars, with almost all of the money going to the owners of small businesses. Other pawnshops report similar figures.

"China has thousands of vigorous companies which, ignored by banks, are willing to pay high rates for loans. Sensing opportunity, cash-rich businesses such as industrial groups, private equity firms and peer-to-peer websites have started offering loans to the 'unbanked.'

"A property-collateralised loan is capped at 3.2 per cent a month, which works out to a hefty 46 per cent annualised rate – a seemingly punitive level. But the financing is only meant to be for a few months and businesses have lapped up the pawnshop loans.

My comment: To read the report, there is no need to sign in.