Xerox to tap document solution market
WHEN a speaker is asked about background material on his speech in the future, all he or she need do is to press his mobile phone for immediate access to his firm's database. He can choose the material he needs and pass it to the audience's mobile phones.
Ships laden with foreign tarde
CHINA'S export container market has been brisk over the first six months of the year with its composite index climbing to 1,182.28 points yesterday, up more than 30 points since January.
SII president: 'Be crazy if don't invest'
SCHENECTADY International Inc (SII), a family-owned chemical company, intends to set up a factory in Shanghai.
WTO pledge benefits more foreign insurers
SUCCESS in the world of business is often about diving into the market. Which is what two European insurers will be betting on as they become the latest foreign firms to enter the Chinese insurance market.
Sales of residential housing keep rising
LOCAL property experts are very satisfied with the performance of Shanghai's real estate market and optimistic about its prospects.
Software creator on campus
WANT to make your own career in the hottest IT field in your 20s? That's what a lot of young people aspire after now. And Fu Zhangqiang is just one of them.
On-line shopping volume set to soar
NINETY per cent of surfers interviewed for a recent poll said they are likely to shop in cyberspace for items ranging from a Barbie doll or a WAP phone to a sedan this year.
Memory stick makes PCs, TVs, phones compatible
AT first glance, it looks just like chewing gum.
Air conditioners' sales hot
By Tian Xiuzhen
SHANGHAI residents are able to enjoy a much cooler summer even though the temperatures are getting hotter thanks to the dazzling array of air-conditioners available to buy. Some want to buy air-conditioners to equip their new houses and some just want to replace their old ones. Dong Pinsheng and his wife decided to upgrade the decoration of their newly-bought apartment to enjoy a comfortable summer. They checked the department stores to find a new air-conditioner suitable for an 11-square-metre room in their new house. After carefully inquiring and reasonably comparing, they finally stopped in front of one hanging unit in Qingdao-based HiSense sector in Shanghai No 6 Department Store at Xujiahui shopping centre. "I will surely choose the cheaper one if the quality and after-sale service of two brands are close to each other," Dong said. He said with the advanced technology, prestigious makers, domestic or foreign, such as Shandong-based Haier Group and Shanghai Sharp Air-Conditioners Co Ltd, all have particular advantages to attract customers. The demand for a comfortable life is being fuelled by increasing personal incomes, so air-conditioners become affordable and necessary for an increasingly larger number of local families. However, several thousand yuan a unit is not yet easy for an average family. Liu Zhengdao, a newly married teacher at East China University of Science and Technology, said he and his wife at the moment have to use an electric fan to lower the temperature in the apartment leased by the university. But he plans to buy an air-conditioner to fight the scorching summer by moonlighting to make extra money, because his salary limits his choice of air-conditioners. "I hope the price war between producers and sellers of air-conditioners will turn hotter," Liu said. "Then it is quite likely for us to be able to afford one at a favourable price." The price war is already being waged in the north in Beijing and Tianjin since late February, when HiSense abruptly slashed prices of its products by up to 20 per cent, or 1,000 yuan ($120) a unit, affecting many domestic makers in this field. However, Shanghai still remains much quieter largely because the wiser customers are not so easily or blindly led by the many advertisements with different preferential conditions. The local market appears to be not so turbulent as expected, though prices are comparatively lower than those of last year for domestic and foreign makers of air-conditioners to survive and win a larger market share.
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