Page 161 - How China Is Winning the Tech Race

At the conference was an influ-
ential fan of Chen’s: Kaiser Kuo,
“I knew right then and there this was good
then Red Herring’s China bureau
luck. We had good chemistry, and this deal
chief. Kuo took his friend, Ameri-
was going to work.”
can tech investor Bill Tai, aside and
clued him in on the innovative Bill Tai,
browser. Before long Tai and Chen partner, Charles River Ventures
were enjoying a relaxing Chinese
foot massage at a local spa and
talking nonstop about Web soft-
ware. On the spot, Tai told Chen that he would fund the Chinese firm. With
the deal in the works, Tai raced to the airport and just made his flight. His
seat number was 88A—8’s symbolize wealth in Chinese culture. Tai used his
camera phone to snap his own photo holding up the boarding pass. “I knew
right then and there this was good luck. We had good chemistry, and this
deal was going to work,” Tai said.
1
The deal showcased the impressive technology coming today from China
and the gold rush to make money from a new Silicon Valley on the other side
of the Pacific.
Chen’s start-up, Maxthon, produces a made-in-China browser that
improves surfing on the Net in a communist country that censors content on
the Web. Its surf-friendly features surely will have a positive impact on Chinese
society. Think of all those teens in Beijing and Shanghai Internet cafés. It was
satellite television beamed from Hong Kong into Mainland China that first
gave the Chinese a view of the Western world. Now the Web offers nearly
infinite possibilities for seeing the world. A better browser is a key to the
enormous resources on the Web for businesses and consumers alike.

Maxed out

Maxthon is one of the first Chinese tech inventions to go global. About one-
third of its users live in the United States and Europe. Maxthon is available in
20 languages, including English; not bad compared with Internet Explorer,
which is available in 25 languages. But its backbone is Chinese. Maxthon’s
development team and most of its partners are in China. Some features,
though not specifically designed for locals, appeal to Chinese users. They

Maxthon—The W ay China Surfs the W orld 135