LBS service is next for Sina
By Zhu Shenshen |
March 5, 2011, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
SINA Corp, with more than 100 million microblog or Weibo users, will launch its own location-based service - the latest move for the Nasdaq-listed company to make profit from its Twitter-like service Weibo, Shanghai Daily learned yesterday.
Different from other LBS providers, the new Wei Ling Di service, which combines LBS and social networking, allows Sina Weibo users to know friends and store locations and check a celebrity's updates directly through the mobile client end.
It's now available for iPhone and Android phone users and Nokia users can probably access it next week, according to Sina's LBS partner GyPSii, a Shanghai-based start-up firm.
Both sides plan to officially launch the Wei Ling Di service next week with a new website, wld.sina.com, Shanghai Daily learned.
"In China, it's only a matter of time before large Chinese social networks start to roll out their own location-based services to retain users and expand their bases," Jeff Lin, senior vice president and managing director of GyPSii, said in a previous interview.
Sina and GyPSii will probably share the LBS income and reach a financial agreement, industry insiders said.
At present, Weibo has about 60,000 celebrity bloggers, some 5,000 corporate users and 2,700-odd media users, making it the hottest online community in China. But that brings little real money to Nasdaq-listed Sina.
LBS services can pinpoint the geographical position of a mobile device and offer localized information and entertainment to the device owner, helping him or her find stores or cash machines in the vicinity or the whereabouts of a friend or colleague.
Different from other LBS providers, the new Wei Ling Di service, which combines LBS and social networking, allows Sina Weibo users to know friends and store locations and check a celebrity's updates directly through the mobile client end.
It's now available for iPhone and Android phone users and Nokia users can probably access it next week, according to Sina's LBS partner GyPSii, a Shanghai-based start-up firm.
Both sides plan to officially launch the Wei Ling Di service next week with a new website, wld.sina.com, Shanghai Daily learned.
"In China, it's only a matter of time before large Chinese social networks start to roll out their own location-based services to retain users and expand their bases," Jeff Lin, senior vice president and managing director of GyPSii, said in a previous interview.
Sina and GyPSii will probably share the LBS income and reach a financial agreement, industry insiders said.
At present, Weibo has about 60,000 celebrity bloggers, some 5,000 corporate users and 2,700-odd media users, making it the hottest online community in China. But that brings little real money to Nasdaq-listed Sina.
LBS services can pinpoint the geographical position of a mobile device and offer localized information and entertainment to the device owner, helping him or her find stores or cash machines in the vicinity or the whereabouts of a friend or colleague.
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