While I didn't get a chance to attend Open Web Asia in Seoul today, it looks like they managed to snag a few big names. The most recognizable name on the bill was Jason Calacanis, CEO of Mahalo (meh...). While I have yet to see his speech from today, I was curious to see his thoughts on China after he spoke to Christine Lu recently:

The problem is, of course, is there advertising yet in China? Not really. And credit cards, not so much. So I would say that China's really, at least five years off from being a great market for American companies. (See full video interview)

I'm not a big Calacanis fan, but he does make some sense here. China is a massive market, but you'd better be sure your product is good enough to make people part with their money before making the jump over here. Hopefully, conferences like Open Web Asia and the upcoming China 2.0 tour can help people in the West better understand what they're getting into.

Similarly, George Godula recently informed me that they're doing a survey over on goingeast.asia in order to gather the experiences of companies which have already expanded into Asia. Their findings will be shared on November 14 during the China 2.0 tour.

Now, of course, these conferences are not all about innovative western companies peddling their wares in Asia. There are quite a few Asia-based companies that are doing some really neato things here as well.  Here are a few Chinese ones that I really like:

Kaixin001.com--The latest Chinese Facebook clone. I'd have probably put this on the list if the site was nothing more than their parking wars app. Read here on why I think they're more than just another clone. I'm totally addicted to this site, it's ridiculous... (in Beta, drop me a line if you need an invite).

Juice--This is a really neato Firefox plugin that totally changes your browsing experience. I expect to hear a lot about these guys in the future. (Cheers to John Biesnicker for the tip. Go over to his site if you want a Beta code.)


Dianping.com--An oldie but a goodie. You need to find a restaurant in China, this is the place. I'm not sure why I never hear much about them on the Net, though. Excellent site.

Youku.com--Everybody knows about youku. Nuff said...

NiuDown--An interesting way to search for documents of various formats. Someone should do this in English so I don't have to use Google advanced search anymore...

City8.com--Their recently released Street View is way cool. A bit clumsy on the interface, but way cool nonetheless. h/t to Tom K.

 

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