Niko News is a filter of the most important news items and bits of information concerning the games markets of China and Southeast Asia uncovered by Niko each week. Our multilingual analysts review dozens of news sources from several countries, and as a team Niko reduces the long list of articles to 3-4 "must read" items for you. We then provide our Niko analysis to these items, making them relevant and highlighting the importance for the market. This service is one of the many ways we help distill the confusing, conflicting information about the games markets of Asia for our clients and readers. 

3 million TVs shipped in China in Q1 2012 were smart TVs, according to a recent NPD report. This is 30% of all TVs shipped in the country in the quarter. We know that Lenovo launched a smart TV in China in Q2, and it was preloaded with a system-on-chip by JiaJia TV, a console-alternative company that is paving the way for local multiplayer gaming on TVs without the need for a console. Smart TVs are connected to the Internet, and Internet connectivity enables other gaming functionality as well. If the trend continues for smart TVs to have brisk sales in China, and if more TVs come pre-loaded with console alternatives, gamers may have their choice of a few legal game platforms to play games on despite the ban on true game consoles.  

Tech in Asia identified highlights from the Apple WWDC conference in San Francisco that are relevant to the Chinese market. For one, Siri will now be supported in Chinese in iOS 6. Apple's new Mountain Lion OS will also have many Chinese features. Apple's Tim Cook has said that the company's sales in China have risen dramatically in the past 2 years and has implied that there is strong growth potential in China yet to come.  

Taiwan has moved on past standard handsets and is fully embracing smartphones. A recent report by IDC says that in Q1 2012 smartphones made up more than 70% of sales of mobile phones in the region of Taiwan. Of the smartphones, Android phones were 73.4% followed by iOS and then Microsoft's Mango OS. The overall price of smartphones is falling but the expensive iPhone4 is buoying the average sales price.