Apple names Isabel Ge Mahe as Managing Director of Greater China

Photo from Business Insider

Appleannounced that Isabel Ge Mahe, the company's vice president of Wireless Technologies, has been named vice president and managing director of Greater China, reporting to CEO Tim Cook and COO Jeff Williams. In this newly created role, Isabel will provide leadership and coordination across Apple’s China-based team.

“Apple is strongly committed to invest and grow in China, and we are thrilled that Isabel will be bringing her experience and leadership to our China team,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “She has dedicated a great deal of her time in recent years to delivering innovation for the benefit of Apple customers in China, and we look forward to making even greater contributions under her leadership.”

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Chinese company behind the ‘Straddling Bus’ concept is being investigated by authorities

China Xinhua News

You might have seen around the internet before photos of the Transit Elevated Bus (TEB), a concept that came from China where the “straddling bus” looked a lot like a moving tunnel. It was being developed with the end goal of reducing the fuel consumption and carbon emissions of the country. But it looks like the entire thing was a scam. Beijing police is investigating the company behind TEB for alleged illegal fundraising. Over 30 people associated with Huaying Kailai, an online financing platform that was selling an investment product to help raise money from individual investors to help develop the bus, are being held by authorities. The police are looking to recover the money taken from the individual investors, which is estimated to be around US$1.3 billion. It’s said that 72 of those investors have already filed suits against the company.

TEB did its first road test run back in August on a 300-meter track in the northeastern port of Qinghuangdao city. But after that it’s just become a giant roadblock. Local authorities already plan to remove the tracks by the end of the month.

Source: Quartz + Digital Trends

Nokia is ressurected in China with the Android powered Nokia 6

Nokia is back in a big way but only in China. The Nokia 6 smartphone, which is likely to be unveiled at Mobile World  runs on Android 7 and has a 5.5-inch full-HD (1080x1920 pixels) 2.5D curved display with Corning Gorilla Glass 3.

The smartphone is powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor coupled with 4GB of LPDDR3 RAM. Nokia 6 packs 64GB storage which supports expendable storage via microSD card (up to 128GB).

The smartphone runs on Android 7.0 Nougat and supports dual-SIM. Nokia 6 sports a 16-megapixel rear camera with dual-tone LED flaash and is powered by a 3000mAh battery. This handset, created by HMD Global with permission from Nokia.

VW's Phideon is a revamped Phaeton for the Chinese market

The VW Phaeton was the brand's super-luxurious sedan that shared the Bentley's platform and many of its amenities. While it was an impressive feat of engineering, the Phaeton cost too much and was hell to maintain. Some owners considered it one of the best cars VW ever built and a second hand market of collectors swore by the luxury and performance on a budget that the Phaeton offered.

Now that China is one of the most voracious consumer economies and with a growing taste (and budget) for the finer things life can offer, the Phaeton suddenly makes a lot of sense. VW is a particularly strong brand in China and has been for many years so, in a way, ushering an ultra-luxe platform under the Phideon monicker (essentially a new Phaeton).

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