Information Technology News
- Alibaba launches new business software firm
Date: 11-Jan-2007 Sources: (Xinhua Online)
CHINA'S largest e-commerce firm Alibaba.com on Monday launched a business software company to serve small- and medium-sized enterprises in China, and said it expected the new venture to turn a profit this year.
Unlike Alibaba's existing businesses, which aim at consumer- and business-focused online trading and which until recently were mostly free, the new firm, Alisoft, will begin to charge a fee in the first half of this year.
'We hope to become China's best software company in three years' time,'Alibaba Group chief executive officer Jack Ma told reporters. Alibaba has invested 100 million yuan (US$12.8 million) in Alisoft.
Alisoft, which will provide online software tools to help customers with tasks such as inventory and customer management, sales and marketing, has 500,000 active users and over 3 million registered users after one year of free testing.
The service aims to undercut industry heavyweights such as Oracle Corp. and SAP AG, but Alibaba declined to comment on pricing plans.
Alisoft will initially target Alibaba's 18 million small- and medium-enterprise customers, Ma said.
China, with more than 120 million users, has the world's second-largest Internet population after the United States.
Alibaba absorbed Yahoo's China business last year, and Yahoo Inc. bought a 40 percent stake in Alibaba.
Sponsor Results:
