Simmering tensions between Qihoo 360 and Tencent broke into open war last week, as Tencent disabled its chat software on computers running 360 antivirus software. This move was the most aggressive yet in a serious of escalating attacks between the two companies that resemble nothing so much as a barnyard brawl. Microsoft appears to be the only winner of the fighting to date, with MSN Messenger acquiring a number of users fed up with the behavior of both companies.
Just measured in terms of size, Qihoo 360 is the underdog here, the Chinese equivalent of Norton Antivirus with a user base of only around 300 million machines throughout China. Tencent is one of the largest Internet companies in the world, and probably the closest thing China has to Google. Want more information? Join Sinica regulars Jeremy Goldkorn, Gady Epstein, and Will Moss as they examine the fracas from the comfort of our studio. Kaiser Kuo also joins us with an audio postcard that fills in the back story of conflict that you won’t read in the news. And finally, we are also joined this week by Malcolm Moore, correspondent for Britain’s Daily Telegraph, who shares his thoughts on the significance of David Cameron’s ongoing visit to Beijing.