Krypton Evening News | Alibaba's AI flagship app Quark tops the Apple App Store in Taiwan, China; JD.com launches the "Hundreds, Thousands, Billions" plan for new product growth; China and Vietnam sign a memorandum of understanding on industrial supply chain cooperation.
Large Companies:
Google Faces £5 Billion Lawsuit in the UK for Abusing “Near-Monopoly” in Search Market
Google is facing a potential compensation lawsuit of over £5 billion (approximately $6.6 billion) in the UK, accusing the US tech giant of abusing its “near-monopoly” in the online search market to drive up advertising prices. A class-action lawsuit filed at the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal on Wednesday (April 17) claims that Google has consolidated its market dominance by restricting competing search engines, making itself the only viable option for online search advertising. The lawsuit was brought by competition law scholar Ao Brook on behalf of hundreds of thousands of UK institutions that used Google's search advertising services between January 1, 2011, and the time of filing. (Sina Finance)
Suning.com Holds 2025 Retail Cloud Partners Conference
36Kr learned that on April 16, Suning.com's Retail Cloud held a partners conference in Changsha. More than 50 home appliance, home furnishing, and 3C brands showcased over 100 new products and 1,000 popular items. The conference created a “County-level AWE” through an innovative form of “channel premiere + on-site display + instant transaction” to promote the accelerated entry of high-quality home appliances into county and town markets.
Alibaba's AI Flagship App Quark Tops the App Store in Taiwan, China
Quark has topped the download list of tools on the App Store in Taiwan, China, becoming a new trendy app sought after by the public. Recently, as Alibaba's AI flagship app, Quark launched an “AI Super Box” for 200 million users, creating an all-in-one AI assistant. It is understood that Quark is another mainland AI “magic tool” to enter Taiwan after DeepSeek, and its in-depth thinking and photo question-searching functions are widely favored by Taiwanese people.
Qingdao Marathon is about to Start, Tencent Maps Launches Exclusive Navigation for the Event
36Kr learned that on April 20, the Qingdao Marathon will kick off. As the official map service partner of the event, Tencent Maps has brought a new theme map for the Qingdao Marathon to the runners. The main page of the event features a route preview video that highly restores the actual track situation, presenting key positions such as turning points and critical intersections in real-time, providing runners with an intuitive track experience and ensuring a smoother event experience.
AI Network + Autonomous Driving, Mogo AI Brings Large AI Models to the Streets of Haikou
36Kr learned that recently, the 5th China International Consumer Products Expo opened in Haikou. During the expo, Mogo AI, in collaboration with the Hainan Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology, the Haikou Municipal People's Government, and the Hainan Expressway Co., Ltd., built a miniaturized “full-scenario, multi-functional” vehicle-road-cloud integrated demonstration project in Haikou, comprehensively demonstrating the new picture of intelligent transportation empowered by large AI models to the public. Mogo AI deployed two “AI smart intersections” along the Haikou Island-Circling Tourist Highway, forming a 4.6-kilometer AI road experience section. This section is open to the public, supporting real-time access of intelligent connected vehicles of multiple models and brands to roadside information and providing an immersive experience.
36Kr learned that on April 16, Taobao and Tmall announced a solicitation of opinions on the “Regulations on the New Real Experience Score for Taobao Platform Stores,” announcing the upcoming launch of a new version of the store evaluation system, the “Real Experience Score.” The announcement said that Taobao and Tmall will re-establish a store evaluation system that can truly reflect consumers' experiences to solve the chronic problem of false ratings in the industry, enhance consumers' confidence in purchasing decisions, and encourage merchants to improve service quality. The “Real Experience Score” will establish a complete set of real, objective, and transparent consumer experience feedback mechanisms based on three aspects: product quality, logistics speed, and service guarantee, reflecting the real consumer experience of the current store.
JD.com Launches the “Hundreds, Thousands, Billions” Plan for New Product Growth
36Kr learned that on April 15, the 2025 JD.com New Product Annual Ceremony was held in Beijing, officially launching the “Hundreds, Thousands, Billions” plan for new product growth. That is, in 2025, JD.com will increase investment by 10 billion in traffic and 10 billion in funds, and comprehensively upgrade marketing and digital capabilities to achieve annual sales of over one million for 60,000 new products, over ten million for 6,000 new products, and over one hundred million for 600 new products.
New Products:
On April 15, the Zeekr 007GT was officially launched and announced that it will be the first in the industry to be equipped with a new generation of full-domain lane-level navigation based on a 3D high-order real-time rendering engine, bringing a visual experience like a 3A game with full-scenario and full-element 3D high-order rendering. This function was jointly developed by Amap and Zeekr, aiming to transplant the “dream-making ability” of game pictures to the automotive field and achieve a qualitative change in map navigation from an “efficiency tool” to an “immersive digital twin.” It is understood that this function will be gradually rolled out to Zeekr models with the 8295 intelligent cockpit platform through OTA upgrades in the near future.
Didi Qingju Launches the Industry's First Shared E-bike Meeting the New National Standard
On April 16, the Didi Qingju Open Day with the theme of “Inspiration for the Next Journey” was held in Hangzhou. At the meeting, Didi Qingju introduced the industry's first e-bike model meeting the new national standard and comprehensively demonstrated Qingju's cutting-edge exploration and innovation in the field of green travel through real vehicle disassembly, component display, on-site riding experience, etc. It is reported that the new generation of Qingju e-bikes has a total vehicle mass of 54.89 kg (including safety function components such as helmet locks and multi-person detection), with a plastic ratio of 5.38%. The main structure is made of carbon structural steel through bending and welding, which is safe and reliable. In the future, Didi will continue to increase R & D investment and keep exploring to inject more innovative vitality into green travel.
Red Magic Launches the First Product of the New AIR Series - Red Magic 10 Air
36Kr learned that the e-sports mobile phone brand Red Magic officially launched the first product of the new AIR series, the Red Magic 10 Air, at its seventh-anniversary brand ceremony, with a starting price of 2,999 yuan. It is understood that this product features a ultra-thin 7.85mm body and a lightweight design of 205g, and is equipped with the third-generation Snapdragon 8 combined with the Red Core R3 to form an e-sports dual-core.
Today's Views:
Greg Ahern, the chairman and CEO of the US Toy Association, said in a program on CNN on April 15 (local time) that the high tariffs imposed by US President Trump on China may endanger “children's Christmas holidays.” “Currently, China is no longer producing toys (for export to the US). Reports say that major US retailers have actually started canceling orders. So, Jack, Christmas is at stake,” Ahern said on CNN anchor Jack Tapper's program. (Cailian Press)
Other Noteworthy News:
36Kr learned that the Treasury Department of the Ministry of Finance has decided to conduct the fourth operation of the central treasury cash management time deposits in 2025. The deposit term of this issue is two months, with a planned deposit amount of 100 billion yuan. The interest accrual date of the deposit is April 21, 2025, and the maturity date is June 23, 2025. This deposit is scheduled to be tendered from 9:00 to 9:30 am on April 21 through the tendering system for the central treasury cash management commercial bank time deposits business, targeting the participating banks in the central treasury cash management commercial bank time deposits business, in accordance with the “Tendering Rules for the Central Treasury Cash Management Commercial Bank Time Deposits.”
China and Vietnam Sign a Memorandum of Understanding on Supply Chain Cooperation
Today (April 16), it was learned from the Ministry of Commerce that recently, China and Vietnam signed the “Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China and the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam on Strengthening Supply Chain Cooperation.” The two sides will give full play to the role of the bilateral mechanism and encourage enterprises of the two countries to strengthen supply chain cooperation in multiple fields through trade, investment, and technological cooperation. In recent years, economic and trade cooperation between China and Vietnam has been continuously deepened, and the supply chains of the two countries have been deeply integrated. The signing of the “Memorandum” will promote the two countries to jointly build a smooth, stable, and resilient industrial and supply chain and further deepen trade and investment cooperation. (CCTV News)
The Government Service Robot “Xiaobao” Goes on Duty in Bao'an District, Shenzhen
36Kr learned that at 6:10 pm on April 15, the AI intelligent agent robot “Xiaobao” at the Government Service Center in Bao'an District, Shenzhen, received the business handling materials submitted by an enterprise and issued the first receipt. With the help of artificial intelligence applications, the “Nighttime Government Services” in Bao'an have broken through the service bottleneck of “time misalignment” and solved the pain points of government service handling, such as “no time to handle during work hours and nowhere to handle after work.” It is reported that the intelligent agent robot “Xiaobao” is mainly used in the nighttime duty business handling scenario, including functions such as verifying the consistency of the person and the ID, verifying the original ID, scanning and uploading documents, receiving paper materials, business reservation, and business consultation and guidance. Currently, the intelligent agent robot “Xiaobao” can achieve intelligent guidance and handling and intelligent auxiliary receipt for high-frequency matters such as the “issuance of subsidies for the elderly.”