Amazon has undergone a name change in China--from Joyo Amazon to Amazon.cn, "a sign that the company is ready to stand alone on its global brand," Penn Olson reported. It had been called Joyo Amazon after the company purchased Joyo.com seven years ago in order to enter China, and the name change is "actually more significant in the Chinese language, as there has been a 100% switcheroo in the Chinese characters used in the branding of the site."
Penn Olson added that Amazon's sales in China have been less than impressive thus far: "The phenomenal growth of books- and 3C-seller 360Buy in China in the past few years--to be number two in the B2C sector--shows that Amazon missed its prime opportunity in the country."
Hoping to increase its impact on the Chinese market, Amazon is in talks with regulators to introduce its Kindle and Kindle Fire in China. Reuters reported that Amazon's senior v-p Marc Onetto told Sohu IT yesterday the products are still under discussion regarding copyright issues and that the company does not plan to work with domestic vendors initially. "We hope to launch products in China that are simple and user-friendly," Onetto said. "If there are too many vendors participating, the product will become very complex. We are not only concerned with the speed to market in China but also with user needs."
