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As a person have actually used TaoBao, JD, and Amazon.cn, I can tell Amazon.cn was far behind them on both execution and product variety. I only have a vague i

As a person have actually used TaoBao, JD, and Amazon.cn, I can tell Amazon.cn was far behind them on both execution and product variety. I only have a vague impression of China's rules imposed on business, if they did, for sure Amazon was screwed so badly it didn't move a single inch over the past few years. Literally done nothing at all to compete. I'm not surprised they gave up.

contingencies 7y ago
Never used z.cn but saw a few neighbours ordering from them in Shenzhen. Probably recent tech books in English I guess. I did try AWS in China and it was absolutely shocking. Clearly they never prioritized China and the inevitable happened. I run a business in China, it's not easy but it's interesting.
- ConfusedDog 7y ago
  I heard AWS works in China, just not sure how well. Considering the GFW, I wouldn't have chosen it for projects serving Chinese users. Likely same consumer mentality is also playing a part against Amazon.cn and other foreign tech giants.
  - baybal2 7y ago
    A local company bought a franchise for AWS from Amazon in China
- philsnow 7y ago
  In amazonaws.cn there's no KMS and they only gave the ability to use virtual MFA devices at the end of 2017 [0] All of this is to say nothing of the additional restrictions imposed by the government -- I agree with contingencies that it's "not easy" to run a business in (AWS) China, but I think that at this point everybody who's seriously thinking about doing so knows what to expect. [0] https://www.amazonaws.cn/en/new/2017/now-add-additional-protection-to-your-aws-accounts-by-enabling-virtual-mfa-during-sign-in/ https://www.amazonaws.cn/en/new/2017/now-add-additional-prot...
  - cheeze 7y ago
    They offer KMS literally every region except China. No point in running a security/encryption service in China when they're just going to steal the keys.
    - steelframe 7y ago
      The tragedy here is that the government isn't the only adversary. Without encryption, users are being left exposed to black hats who can get at the backend storage, either through hacking or through failure to securely decommission physical storage media.
- mooreds 7y ago
  AWS in China is not run by AWS: "To provide the best experience for customers in China and to comply with China’s legal and regulatory requirements, AWS has collaborated with China local partners with proper telecom licenses for delivering cloud services. The service operator and provider for AWS China (Beijing) Region based out of Beijing and adjacent areas is Beijing Sinnet Technology Co., Ltd. (Sinnet), and the service operator and provider for AWS (Ningxia) Region based out of Ningxia is Ningxia Western Cloud Data Technology Co., Ltd. (NWCD)." https://www.amazonaws.cn/en/about-aws/china/ https://www.amazonaws.cn/en/about-aws/china/
  - contingencies 7y ago
    It was when I used it in 2016. And they'd been there for years. And it was shit. See https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11209227 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11209227
    - teknologist 7y ago
      Yeah your company needs government licenses to do anything in China. That's nothing new. Don't blame Amazon for that.
      - contingencies 7y ago
        I blame them for the China is an afterthought, screw the customer, we will deploy processes from abroad that don't work attitude.
  - benzheren 7y ago
    As an active user of AWS China, let me tell you that don't take those words at face value. AWS China business actually is growing really fast for past several years.
    - mooreds 7y ago
      Sorry, which words do you mean?
- sk5t 7y ago
  AWS in China is, like, doing the best job that the government in China allows them to do. It's not very good. Almost everything that might provide an inconvenient security barrier to inspection is absent.
leemailll 7y ago
And the benefits of Amazon China prime members are way less than that of us
ksec 7y ago
>Literally done nothing at all to compete You see that is the thing. Actually I was too afraid to type this in my another comment as it might anger man. But that is exactly what I felt. And I don't even understand why, they didn't even try. TMall ( Spin off from Taobao offering higher quality products ) was only established in 2014, and that was targeted as slightly premium segment where Amazon could or should have been. So it proves the market did exist, Amazon for what ever reason failed to capture it.

contingencies 7y ago

Never used z.cn but saw a few neighbours ordering from them in Shenzhen. Probably recent tech books in English I guess. I did try AWS in China and it was absolutely shocking. Clearly they never prioritized China and the inevitable happened. I run a business in China, it's not easy but it's interesting.

ConfusedDog 7y ago
I heard AWS works in China, just not sure how well. Considering the GFW, I wouldn't have chosen it for projects serving Chinese users. Likely same consumer mentality is also playing a part against Amazon.cn and other foreign tech giants.
- baybal2 7y ago
  A local company bought a franchise for AWS from Amazon in China
philsnow 7y ago
In amazonaws.cn there's no KMS and they only gave the ability to use virtual MFA devices at the end of 2017 [0] All of this is to say nothing of the additional restrictions imposed by the government -- I agree with contingencies that it's "not easy" to run a business in (AWS) China, but I think that at this point everybody who's seriously thinking about doing so knows what to expect. [0] https://www.amazonaws.cn/en/new/2017/now-add-additional-protection-to-your-aws-accounts-by-enabling-virtual-mfa-during-sign-in/ https://www.amazonaws.cn/en/new/2017/now-add-additional-prot...
- cheeze 7y ago
  They offer KMS literally every region except China. No point in running a security/encryption service in China when they're just going to steal the keys.
  - steelframe 7y ago
    The tragedy here is that the government isn't the only adversary. Without encryption, users are being left exposed to black hats who can get at the backend storage, either through hacking or through failure to securely decommission physical storage media.
mooreds 7y ago
AWS in China is not run by AWS: "To provide the best experience for customers in China and to comply with China’s legal and regulatory requirements, AWS has collaborated with China local partners with proper telecom licenses for delivering cloud services. The service operator and provider for AWS China (Beijing) Region based out of Beijing and adjacent areas is Beijing Sinnet Technology Co., Ltd. (Sinnet), and the service operator and provider for AWS (Ningxia) Region based out of Ningxia is Ningxia Western Cloud Data Technology Co., Ltd. (NWCD)." https://www.amazonaws.cn/en/about-aws/china/ https://www.amazonaws.cn/en/about-aws/china/
- contingencies 7y ago
  It was when I used it in 2016. And they'd been there for years. And it was shit. See https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11209227 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11209227
  - teknologist 7y ago
    Yeah your company needs government licenses to do anything in China. That's nothing new. Don't blame Amazon for that.
    - contingencies 7y ago
      I blame them for the China is an afterthought, screw the customer, we will deploy processes from abroad that don't work attitude.
- benzheren 7y ago
  As an active user of AWS China, let me tell you that don't take those words at face value. AWS China business actually is growing really fast for past several years.
  - mooreds 7y ago
    Sorry, which words do you mean?
sk5t 7y ago
AWS in China is, like, doing the best job that the government in China allows them to do. It's not very good. Almost everything that might provide an inconvenient security barrier to inspection is absent.

leemailll 7y ago

And the benefits of Amazon China prime members are way less than that of us

ksec 7y ago

>Literally done nothing at all to compete You see that is the thing. Actually I was too afraid to type this in my another comment as it might anger man. But that is exactly what I felt. And I don't even understand why, they didn't even try. TMall ( Spin off from Taobao offering higher quality products ) was only established in 2014, and that was targeted as slightly premium segment where Amazon could or should have been. So it proves the market did exist, Amazon for what ever reason failed to capture it.