Smartphone Ascend P1 unveiled by Huawei Technologies

KUALA LUMPUR: With smartphones becoming an indispensable tool for staying connected on the social media networks, China-based Huawei Technologies has launched an affordable yet feature-rich model.

Many queued up as early as 6.30am to get their hands on the Ascend P1 at the introductory price of RM999 during its launch in KL Hilton yesterday.

Ong Boon Lin, 35, who was first in line, said he bought the phone for his wife as the larger screen would make it better for “reading news and books”.

“The Ascend P1 is a fast smartphone with a camera for capturing and sharing contents while on the move,” said Huawei country director for consumer business group Wong Wey Hwa.

A model with the Ascend P1 smartphone at the launch.

The phone has a large 4.3-inch screen, making it easy to browse the web, view images and watch high-definition videos. It also comes with 4GB of storage to store content, applications and games.

“Huawei has been working behind the scenes for many years by supplying infrastructure for network service providers,” said Wong. “We are now trying to grow our brand using online and social media with the Ascend P1.”

The smartphone, which is available currently in the Klang Valley, is expected to hit shelves nationwide in the coming weeks. The introductory price is valid until Malaysia Day.

Meanwhile, Bernama reported Huawei country director for consumer business group Wong Wey Hwa as saying that the company was aiming for double-digit sales growth in the Malaysian market.

“Last year, we did US$40mil sales in Malaysia for all our products,” he said, adding that the smartphone was expected to contribute 20% to 30% of the targeted double-digit sales growth.

Wong also announced the expansion of Huawei's device business under a new distribution partnership with ECS ICT Bhd via its wholly-owned subsidiary, ECS Astar Sdn Bhd, which would open up access to over 3,000 resellers nationwide.

“Through our formal partnership with ECS in Malaysia, we are able to expand our product reach and offer more accessibility of our devices to everyone looking for value-added mobile connectivity,” he said.

Wong said Ascend P1 would be available at participating ECS retailers in the Klang Valley and in other places in the next few weeks.

For a review of the Ascend P1, check out TechCentral.my.

By CHONG JINN XIUNG starbiz@thestar.com.my  

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Singapore moves to discourage shoebox apartments

Singapore will cap the number of homes that can be developed in suburban projects as it seeks to curb the increasing trend of so-called shoebox apartments.

The government plans to limit the number of homes for apartment projects outside the city’s central area to “discourage” shoebox units, the Urban Redevelopment Authoritysaid in a statement posted on its website today. The new rules will be implemented from Nov. 4.

The island state’s population growth, scarce land and surging property values have prompted developers to shrink housing space.

Residential prices surged to a record at the end of 2011 in a city that’s about half the size of Los Angeles, and the government said in May it’s concerned that shoebox apartments are mushrooming as private home sales surged to a three-year high with record purchases of units that are smaller than 50 square meters (538 square feet).

“The new guidelines will discourage new developments consisting predominantly of ‘shoebox’ units outside the central area, but at the same time give flexibility to developers to offer a range of homes of different sizes to cater to the needs of various demographic groups and lifestyles,” according to the statement.

Shoebox units will increase more than four-fold to about 11,000 units by the end of 2015 from 2,400 at the end of last year, the authority said.

‘Almost Inhuman’

Singapore should curb the trend of shoebox apartments because they are “almost inhuman,” said Liew Mun Leong, chief executive officer of CapitaLand Ltd. (CAPL), Southeast Asia’s biggest developer. The government should intervene because these projects are “wasting” the country’s scarce land resource, he said in the interview in May.

The smaller apartments helped boost sales, comprising 2,766 units or 42 percent of the sales in the first quarter, Li Hiaw Ho, executive director at CBRE Research, said in an e-mailed statement in July.

Home sales have climbed to 12,254 units this year through June 30, according to data from the authority. Suburban projects will be the “driving force” for developers in the second half of 2012, PropNex said.

The government’s guidelines are a “welcome move” amid concerns of smaller homes dominating the suburbs, according to Jones Lang LaSalle.

Consumer Trends

“The policy itself is well thought through,” Jones Lang, a Chicago-based property brokerage, said in an e-mailed statement. “Central area, where land prices are high, is excluded thereby allowing market forces to continue to dictate the relevant housing form especially through the measures of financial affordability and equally that of consumers’ preferences and trends.”

The government doesn’t want shoebox units to form a “disproportionately large portion” of the housing supply in Singapore, the Urban Redevelopment Authority said today. Some new housing developments are made up mostly of these smaller units, sometimes as much as 80 percent of a project, it said.

A large concentration of such developments could add stress to the local road infrastructure with more units that the government had planned for, according to the statement.

By Pooja Thakur - Bloomberg

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Malaysian property market remains resilient: housing robust but commerical glutted

Developers optimistic of H2 but not sure about 2013

PETALING JAYA: The Real Estate and Housing Developers' Association Malaysia (Rehda) expects the housing and property market to plateau in the second half of 2012, but will remain resilient.

According to a survey Rehda conducted, property developers are optimistic of the second half and more respondents plan to launch projects.

The survey is based on a sample size of 180 companies, out of the 1,003 Rehda members.
Property developers are less optimistic of the first half of 2013 due to certain factors, including the outcomes of the 13th general elections and Budget 2013. The current global economic situation also contributes some uncertainty.

The results of the survey show that the property market in the first half of this year is still driven by the domestic market, despite beliefs that foreigners are buying more local properties. Last year, only 2% of total properties transacted were from foreigners.

Rehda president Datuk Seri Michael Yam said the Government should review building less low-cost homes. In 2011, 1.04 million units out if the total 4.51 million total residential stock were low-cost homes.

 

“As Malaysia moves towards striving to reach developed nation status by 2020, the Government should review if there is a need for so many low-cost homes,” Yam said.

Rehda national treasurer N.K. Tong said: “Perhaps the Government should consider implementing a limitation to low-cost homes like what Singapore has done with the HDB (Housing and Development Board) flats.”

HDB flat owners-to-be are not allowed to own any other properties in Singapore, or in any other part of the world. Tong said if such a plan was implemented in Malaysia, there would be less abuse of these properties, unfairness caused to developers and to a larger extent the people.

“I'm more concerned with the supply factor. It is moving downwards due to the shortage of prime land and rising building costs. Come 2015, if the Government is serious about implementing the build-and-sell plan, the supply (of houses) will reduce by about 80%,” Rehda past president Datuk Ng Seing Liong said.

His main concern if the plan was implemented was that property prices would continue to trend upwards due to the supply and demand equilibrium.

“In terms of the property sector, we must look at a long-term scenario,” he said in regards to future plan implementations.

Rehda public relations, communications and publication committee member Che King Tow said the Government usually owned the best-located properties.

He said it would benefit the public if the Government could consider releasing its land in high-density areas such as Jalan Duta and Selangor Golf Course in the upcoming budget.

“Those are suitable prime land for mass housing. They can cut down on ownership of cars, and use public transport instead,” he said.

Yam also urged the Government to establish an automatic-release mechanism to enable the release of unsold bumiputera units. Although Rehda has not complained about allocating a portion for bumiputera buyers, the unsold properties are affecting the developers.

“More projects are having unreleased unsold bumiputera lots which impact the developer's cash flow. An auto-release mechanism should be put in place to automatically release the unsold properties after a stipulated time to prevent this,” he said.

By WONG WEI-SHEN weishen.wong@thestar.com.my

Housing market robust but commercial property glutted

Malaysia's residential property sector will continue its upward momentum thanks to ample supply and demand as well as a change in the demographic structure, according to figures from the National Property Information Centre (Napic).

Last year, 269,789 residential deals valued at RM61.83 billion were recorded, the largest in the past five years.

Napic's statistics also showed that demand for units priced below RM150,000 was strong, accounting for 145,785 deals, or 54 percent of all the residential transactions for 2011. Moreover, this is an increase of 12.6 percent compared to the previous year's 129,441 transactions.

"On a similar upward trend, the demand for high-end units priced above RM500,000 increased gradually to 21,905 transactions from the 16,782 transactions recorded in 2010," said the Napic report, adding that the Malaysian All House Price Index soared to 154.6 points from 140.7 points in 2010.

"This was (also) attributed to the increase in affordability level and supported by the ease in borrowing and attractive loan packages offered by the financial institutions," commented Datuk Ng Seng Liong, Past President of Real Estate and Housing Developer's Association of Malaysia (REHDA).

However, there are concerns that Klang Valley's commercial property sector is facing a supply glut, said Dr Ernest Cheong, Principle of Ernest Cheong PTL Sdn Bhd. He believed that the problem can be solved by creating additional demand or stopping construction of commercial property.

La-Brooy, Chief Executive Officer at Axis REIT Managers Bhd, concurs. He explained that rental and occupancy rates will be pressured later this year because as much as five million sq ft of office space are scheduled for completion for the remainder of 2012.

For the latest property news, trends, resources and expert opinions, visit our Property News section. Home buyers, sellers or property renters looking for Malaysian Properties, may like to visit http://www.propertyguru.com.my today.

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China launches own mobile browser, Baidu Explorer, tosses currency into clouds

China’s biggest search engine launches its own mobile browser, Baidu Explorer 

China’s biggest search engine launches its own mobile browser, Baidu Explorer

Baidu Campus, Beijing, China. Image by hwanghsuhui, via Wikimedia Commons

Chinese-language search engine Baidu has decided to try and capture the massive mobile internet market in China by launching its own mobile browser, Baidu Explorer. 

Baidu is already the dominant search engine China, which has 538m online users, but with 388m of these users accessing the internet via mobile phones, the company needs to tap into this vast market.

Other mobile products from Baidu include a mobile operating system that appears on low-cost smartphones the company produces with its manufacturing partners. But, with Baidu Explorer, it hopes to reach other smartphone users. The target, according to Reuters, is to have Baidu Explorer downloaded by 80pc of Android users in China by the end of this year.

Though there is already strong competition in the mobile browser market, Baidu claims its browser is 20pc faster than its rivals based on internal tests. It also has strong HTML5 compatibility and users can run HD video through the browser without having to download additional apps or software.

Hopes for 80 per cent penetration by year-end

China’s search-and-plenty-more giant Baidu has flagged a $US1.6 billion cloud investment. The investment, announced with a minimum of detail by CFO Li Xinzhe, will go towards building data centres and hiring staff.

The Chinese search firm also announced the launch of the Baidu Mobile Browser, which it says is designed to compete with Chrome and Safari. It claims a 20 percent performance boost over its rivals based on internal testing.

Briefing Asian journalists last Friday (August 31), Baidu said its mobile browser can play high-definition video without plugins or extra supporting software, according to Reuters.

The company said it hopes that 80 percent of China’s handsets will run its browser by the end of the year. By some astonishing coincidence, 80 percent is also the search market share the company claims in the Middle Kingdom, in the absence of Google, which has clashed with Chinese authorities over search censorship.

During August, Google’s local partner Qihoo launched its own search service, relegating Google to an “alternative search option”.

The Wall Street Journal says Baidu’s cloud plans include remote online storage, as well as API access to its map service which last month overtook Google Maps in China. ®

By Richard Chirgwin • Get more from this author

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Upbeat views on Malaysian property

Tang: ‘Investors from China are big time property purchasers in Singapore.’

Substantial inflows and outflows of investments expected for this year

GEORGE TOWN: Despite the global economic crisis, property investments coming into the country and going to overseas this year are expected to increase substantially.

The recently introduced 10% stamp duty for foreigners buying properties in Singapore has increased the attraction of Malaysia as a property investment destination.

Property investments flowing to Melbourne, Australia, are expected to increase between 15% to 18% this year from RM125mil in 2011, thanks to new housing loans for the Australian market recently introduced by Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank).

Property Talk International Sdn Bhd managing director Steven Cheah said that foreigners showing interest in Malaysian properties had increased significantly this year, compared with the last three years, due to the recent 10% stamp duty introduced in Singapore for foreigners buying homes.

“The other reason is that Kuala Lumpur still remain as one of the few South-East Asian cities with attractive property prices.

“Compared to Jakarta, the price for a prime residential in Kuala Lumpur is about 15% lower.

“The buyers are from Indonesia and China and they show preference for Iskandar, Johor Baru and Kuala Lumpur.

“Indonesians prefer Iskandar because it is close to Singapore,” he said.

The Indonesians and China buyers generally go for properties priced between RM600,000 to RM1.5mil in Iskandar and Kuala Lumpur, while in Penang they go for RM1mil above homes, according to Cheah.

The additional direct flights from Jakarta to Penang by Air Asia had also fueled the interest from Indonesia for Malaysian properties, Cheah added.

This year, Property Talk expects to sell about RM55mil worth of properties located in Johor, Kuala Lumpur, and Penang, compared with over RM20mil achieved for 2011.

“Over the past three months, we have sold over RM25mil worth of properties, comprising 35 residential homes located in Kuala Lumpur and Iskandar, Johor Baru.

“We expect to sell another RM30mil worth of properties, comprising 30 to 40 homes, from Iskandar, Kuala Lumpur, and Penang via three more property exhibitions in Jakarta jointly organised by Malaysia Property Inc and private developers before the year ends,” he said.

An aerial view of Melbourne. Property investments flowing to the Australia’s city are expected to increase between 15% to 18% this year.

 

On investments from Malaysia to Australia, Cheah said the loan interest from Maybank was between 4% to 5% per annum compared with 5.7% to 6% per annum by Australian banks.

“This is why we can expect more Malaysians to take up the loan to invest in Melbourne, Australia this year,” Cheah said, adding that the Maybank housing loan was for Melbourne only.

According to Cheah, Melbourne is the top investment destination for Malaysian property investment funds.

“This is because many Malaysians have relatives who have migrated to Melbourne, where you can find a variety of Malaysian food restaurants.

“According to the latest research from Australian Property Monitors (APM), over the last five years, Melbourne has been the standout performer among the major capital cities for house price growth, with prices increasing almost 30% in just 15 months,” he added.

Meanwhile, Henry Butcher Marketing Sdn Bhd chief operating officer Tang Chee Meng said Henry Butcher had recently set up a property show gallery in Beijing, following the imposition of the 10% stamp duty by the Singapore government for foreigners buying properties in Singapore.

“The gallery, set up two to three months ago, showcases residential properties from Klang Valley, Malacca, and Penang.

“Investors from China are big time property purchasers in Singapore.

“With the 10% stamp duty introduced, Malaysian developers are now trying to attract them over.

“We still need to do a lot of education work in China to promote Malaysia as a property destination, as the awareness is still lacking,” he said.

Tang added there were many enquiries from China investors to buy vacant land to develop residential projects in Malaysia.

“We hope they will undertake development in Malaysia and promote the properties in China.

“This will help to increase more awareness for Malaysian properties in China,” he said.

According to Tang, the global financial crisis which erupted in 2008 and 2009 saw foreign interest for local properties dropped significantly. ”In 2010, we see a return of foreign interest, but the volume and value of property transactions involving foreigners still have not not recovered to anywhere near its peak prior to 2008.

“We believe the pace of investment from overseas will remain flat against last year.

“Besides tapping into traditional sources like Singapore, Hong Kong and Indonesia, Malaysian developers are moving into markets such as South Korea and China.

“China is a vast market and if Malaysian developers are able to educate the investors on the attraction of Malaysian real estate, we may see a surge in foreign interest,” Tang added.

Henry Butcher Marketing director for international marketing Jazmine Goh meanwhile said the global economic crisis had created favourable conditions and opportunities for Malaysians to invest in overseas real estate.

“The economic slowdown in Britain has caused property prices to plunge and coupled with the drop in the value of the pound sterling against the ringgit, properties in the United Kingdom have become more affordable and within reach of middle income Malaysians.

“The mortgage defaults in the United States have also resulted in a lot of opportunities to pick up properties foreclosed by the banks at a fraction of the original price.

“Of course, the fear of the prolonged debt woes in Europe has at the same time resulted in a more cautious attitude being adopted by investors,” Goh said.

The popular investment destinations for Malaysians are Australia, mainly Melbourne and to a lesser extent, Sydney, Perth, Brisbane and Gold Coast as well as London, and Singapore, and more recently, the United States, according to Goh.

By DAVID TAN davidtan@thestar.com.my