Alibaba

ByteDance

CATL

Huawei

Meituan

Tencent

Xiaomi

Most Followed

Market News

Listings (IPO)

Earnings Reports

Venture Roundup

Big Tech

Automotives

Retail and Commerce

Collections

News

Features

Insights

Press Releases

Anta

DeepSeek

Geely

Li Auto

Mixue Bingcheng

Pop Mart

Going Global

Latest

Collaborate

Earnings

Auto

Retail & Commerce

… domestic consumer VR market, ranking first, while the Pico 4 Ultra was among the country's major VR product launches that year.
<a href="https://counterpointresearch.com/en/insights/global-xr-ar-vr-headsets-market-share-quarterly">Counterpoint Research</a> data showed that Pico accounted for approximately 5% of XR headset shipments as of the first quarter of 2026. Meta continued to dominate the global VR market, while Pico remained one of the few companies outside Meta to regularly launch standalone consumer headsets.
The global XR market is now diverging into several product categories. Traditional VR headsets remain focused largely on gaming and entertainment, while MR devices are expanding into spatial computing, productivity, and enterprise applications. Smart glasses have also emerged as another growth segment.
Meanwhile, Project Swan marks Pico's transition from its existing standalone VR lineup to a new generation of MR devices.
Li’s first major priorities as head of Pico will include launching the company's next-generation MR headset and moving Pico OS 6 from an early developer preview toward broader deployment.
KrASIA features translated and adapted content that was originally published by 36Kr. This <a href="https://36kr.com/p/3905176863721349">article</a> was written by Li Zhaofeng for 36Kr.

ByteDance names Li Xiaokai to lead Pico’s next phase

East Asia

China

Augmented and Virtual Reality

Deep Tech

… atmosphere has made Xiaohongshu a community that crosses barriers.
Similar comments were once made about Baidu Tieba. The difference is that Xiaohongshu is not organized around strictly vertical communities or hobbies. Even within the same interest group, users are often shaped by their life experiences, geography, and interests, and may develop different discussion tendencies around the same content. Some people play games because they like the mechanics. Some enjoy the world inside. Others are drawn in by a particular character.
The World Cup content that has recently gone viral on Xiaohongshu follows the same logic. In traditional communities such as Hupu, users may focus on results, player performance, and similar topics. On Xiaohongshu, users discuss and cosplay as Norwegian professional football player Erling Haaland, complain together about the abstract <a href="/industry/ai">artificial intelligence</a>-generated ads inserted during the World Cup, and generate many kinds of expressive content. Even the platform’s official accounts join in from time to time with the memes.
But in the end, the World Cup will end, and everyone will return to daily life, just as every game will eventually be cleared. If users can be seen and accepted, the enthusiasm for communication does not disappear.
KrASIA features translated and adapted content that was originally published by 36Kr. This <a href="https://36kr.com/p/3905036594628224">article</a> was written by Beiguo Shu (alias) for 36Kr.

Why Xiaohongshu has become harder for game marketers to ignore

Xiaohongshu

Gaming

Creative

… made by a small team. The other is a long-term, premium project built around IP that has grown on Bilibili’s own platform.
Escape from Duckov was the best example of a breakout at this year’s BW.
Published by Bilibili and developed by the five-person Team Soda, the game topped Steam’s bestsellers chart in the China region on the day of its October 16, 2025, release. It also reached second place on Steam’s global bestsellers chart.
Within six days, it had sold more than 520,000 copies and generated more than USD 6.1 million in revenue.
Six months later, worldwide sales had exceeded three million copies. The game had a 96% positive review score on Steam, earning an “overwhelmingly positive” rating. Its peak concurrent player count on Steam alone surpassed 300,000, setting a record for a Chinese indie single-player game.
At this year’s BW, Escape from Duckov had already received its summer special update, which added an island-themed challenge map. Meiqiu, an NPC (non-playable character) whom players first encountered in a winter-themed challenge, could also be recruited again in the new challenge.
The five-person team generated more than RMB 170 million (USD 25.1 million) in revenue from a game priced at RMB 58 (USD 8.6). That figure would not be trivial in the annual reports of many publicly traded companies.
Bilibili’s publishing effort did not appear to rely on a large advertising budget, celebrity endorsements, or steep discounts. Instead, it leaned on creativity, community, and word of mouth among players.
That marks one of the more significant shifts in Bilibili’s approach to gaming over the past two years.
<figure id="attachment_163180" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-163180" style="width: 1280px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-163180" src="https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Bilibili-World-2026-Escape-From-Duckov.jpg" alt="Photo shows Escape from Duckov’s booth at BW2026." width="1280" height="720" srcset="https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Bilibili-World-2026-Escape-From-Duckov.jpg 1280w, https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Bilibili-World-2026-Escape-From-Duckov-720x405.jpg 720w, https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Bilibili-World-2026-Escape-From-Duckov-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Bilibili-World-2026-Escape-From-Duckov-768x432.jpg 768w, https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Bilibili-World-2026-Escape-From-Duckov-480x270.jpg 480w" sizes="(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-163180" class="wp-caption-text">Escape from Duckov’s booth at BW2026. Photo source: 36Kr.</figcaption></figure>
The Three Kingdoms: The Ravages of Time represents Bilibili’s in-house development and publishing strategy.
The game is adapted from “The Ravages of Time,” a comic by Hong Kong artist Chan Mou. The series began publication in 2001 and has been serialized for 25 years, with more than 80 volumes released. It is described as the world’s longest-running comic based on the Three Kingdoms period.
The first and second seasons of the animated adaptation were co-produced by Bilibili and iDreamSky, produced by LX Animation Studio, and directed by Fu Haiqing. Created with Unreal Engine 5, the series premiered in 2023 and has accumulated more than 200 million views on Bilibili. It has a rating of 8.7 on Douban.
Bilibili is developing and publishing the game itself, while the animated series also streams on its platform. This chain, in which an IP grows on the company’s own platform and is then adapted into a game by its own team, is a combination of resources that other companies would struggle to reproduce.
At BW, The Three Kingdoms: The Ravages of Time made its worldwide public hands-on debut. Its first closed beta test is scheduled to begin July 30.
The game follows two protagonists, Sima Yi and Liaoyuan Huo, as it recreates the source material’s dark vision of the Three Kingdoms, a world shaped by rival warlords and competing strategists.
Its art direction combines a dark Chinese aesthetic with comic-style framing. Ultimate attacks, the user interface, and health bars all use thick outlines, halftone textures, and onomatopoeic visual effects to create what the developers describe as an “immersive battlefield on paper.”
Its main gameplay differentiator is reportedly its strategy and tactics system.
Strategists including Sima Yi, Zhou Yu, Jia Xu, and Xu Lin each have a signature tactic. The system shifts the focus away from the stat-driven clashes common in conventional tactical games and turns the source material’s strategy-centered ethos into a playable mechanic.
Taken as a whole, Bilibili did not make a dramatic gaming move at this year’s BW compared with last year. But its gaming business appeared to be advancing across multiple fronts, and that breadth may be the most distinctive development in Bilibili’s gaming strategy over the past year.
KrASIA features translated and adapted content that was originally published by 36Kr. This <a href="https://36kr.com/p/3905618377512065">article</a> was written by Liu Shiwu for 36Kr.
Note: RMB figures are converted to USD at rates of RMB 6.78 = USD 1 based on estimates as of July 23, 2026, unless otherwise stated. USD conversions are presented for ease of reference and may not fully match prevailing exchange rates.

BW2026 shows Bilibili expanding its gaming push across multiple fronts

Bilibili

… faded, China’s retail sector split into two new areas: on-demand retail centered on delivery within about 30 minutes, and discount supermarkets built around low prices and value.
For several years, on-demand retail had been treated largely as an extension of food delivery.
In 2025, it became a major field of direct competition among China’s largest internet platforms.
JD.com entered food delivery and launched a self-operated quick commerce service. Meituan elevated its long-established Meituan Shangou operation into an independent brand and a major strategic priority.
Alibaba upgraded its one-hour delivery business into Taobao Shangou, gave it a top-level entry point, and displayed the service prominently on the Taobao app’s home page.
During 2025, on-demand retail moved from the edge of the business to the center of competition.
The previous round of community retail competition had taught the internet companies the value of closer control over sourcing, warehousing, and inventory.
As the on-demand retail contest intensified, spending moved further upstream.
In November 2025, Taobao Shangou introduced a convenience store chain. Built around a warehouse-centered quick commerce model, it was expected to expand gradually to more than 200 cities nationwide.
Meituan Shangou announced a range of growth programs for domestic and international brands. These included plans to develop warehouses with more than ten thousand brands and build supporting supply chain infrastructure.
JD.com took a different approach. It began converting its 7Fresh supermarkets through a combined warehouse-and-store model, seeking to shorten fulfillment times by reusing existing resources and coordinating online and offline operations, inventory, and delivery.
The rise of on-demand retail reflected growing expectations for faster delivery.
Demand moved from next-day pickup toward delivery within an hour, and sometimes within minutes. Platforms redirected more investment toward local warehouses and last-mile delivery networks.
Because on-demand retail depends on short distances and rapid fulfillment, discount supermarkets, which emphasize low prices and limited product selections, also became important to the largest internet companies.
In August 2025, three of them entered the sector within a short period.
<div class="embed-container"><iframe src="https://flo.uri.sh/visualisation/29756967/embed" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen> frameborder="0" scrolling="no" sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-forms allow-scripts allow-downloads allow-popups allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation"></iframe></div>
<div class="embed-container"><iframe src="https://flo.uri.sh/visualisation/29756985/embed" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen> frameborder="0" scrolling="no" sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-forms allow-scripts allow-downloads allow-popups allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation"></iframe></div>
Freshippo announced that Hema NB would be renamed Chaohesuan NB and opened seventeen stores across ten cities, including locations in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai.
Meituan opened its first Happy Monkey supermarket in Hangzhou.
JD.com opened its first discount supermarket in China, a 5,000-square-meter store in Zhuozhou, Hebei.
Although all three companies were competing in discount retail, Alibaba, JD.com, and Meituan pursued different approaches. Each adapted the format to its existing strengths and broader aims.
Commenting on the growth of discount supermarkets, angel investor Guo Tao said consumption stratification and inflationary pressure had combined to increase demand for products offering strong value.
The trend, he said, closely matched the needs of mass market consumers.
The retail transformation led by China’s internet platforms is far from complete.
The closures of 2025 increasingly resemble not the end of an era but the beginning of another reordering.
Part of Wang Xing’s motto has been not to dwell on the past and to keep moving forward.
The warehouses that technology companies once spent heavily to build are now supporting on-demand retail and discount-focused supermarkets.
After Meituan Youxuan closed, Zhang Yutong noticed a sudden increase in emotional messages from users mourning the service.
During its expansion, Meituan Youxuan’s network reached more than 2,000 cities and counties across China. More than half of its pickup points were in towns and townships.
Even in mountainous counties such as Ganzi in Sichuan and Shuangbai in Yunnan, customers could place an order one day and collect their goods the next from a small store near the entrance to their village.
Zhang struggled to describe how she felt when she read the messages.
Only in hindsight did she recognize that the business had carried a meaning larger than its financial results.
“Meituan Youxuan was still something aimed at generating long-term returns,” she said. “In the short term, it consumed enormous amounts of labor and material resources, and the work brought little immediate reward.
“The significance of doing business in rural areas was that it could expand our social influence and our value to society.”
“That day was simply too far away,” she said. “No one managed to wait until it arrived.”
KrASIA features translated and adapted content that was originally published by 36Kr. This <a href="https://36kr.com/p/3895307402722308">article</a> was written by Tian Jiaxin for 36Kr.
Note: RMB figures are converted to USD at rates of RMB 6.78 = USD 1 based on estimates as of July 23, 2026, unless otherwise stated. USD conversions are presented for ease of reference and may not fully match prevailing exchange rates.

After the cash burn: What remains of China’s community group buying boom

JD.com

Pinduoduo

Taobao

Freshippo

On-demand Services

E-commerce

Logistics

Food Delivery

Grocery Delivery

Retail

Consumer Economy

Chinese President Xi Jinping called for greater cooperation on <a href="/industry/ai">artificial intelligence</a> among developing countries to close the international technology gap, as Beijing used a major domestic tech event to project its ambitions to a global audience.
Speaking in person on July 17 at the annual World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai for the first time, Xi said China has strengthened its innovations in AI, which Beijing regards as a strategic technology critical for self-reliance and in which it is narrowing the gap with the US
Noting that the smart industry economy is worth at least RMB 1 trillion (USD 147.5 billion), Xi said China will provide developing countries with 5,000 AI training opportunities over the next five years.
"AI development should not be a solo performance by a single country, but a symphony of international cooperation," Xi said.
Guests at the WAIC included Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet and Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul—an unusual convergence of two leaders overseeing a fragile detente following <a title="" href="https://asia.nikkei.com/politics/international-relations/thailand-cambodia-conflict/airstrikes-lay-bare-thailand-s-tactics-and-cambodia-s-vulnerabilities" target="_blank" rel="noopener">border clashes</a> late last year—as well as ASEAN secretary general Kao Kim Hourn.
Chinese state media highlighted Beijing's engagement with the Thai and Cambodian leaders as part of its efforts to help resolve the two Southeast Asian states' border dispute.
Ahead of the four-day conference, on July 16, China inked an agreement to establish the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization with 29 countries including Indonesia, Laos, Pakistan, and Russia. Based in Shanghai, the organization aims to promote cooperation and global governance on AI.
Held since 2018, this year's conference drew more than 1,100 companies showcasing over 3,000 exhibits, according to the organizers.
One is Shanghai startup StepFun, which brought the StepX Neo, billed as the world's first "agentic" AI smartphone capable of carrying out multiple tasks across apps using large language models.
Server maker <a title="" href="https://asia.nikkei.com/business/tech/semiconductors/chinese-chipmaker-hygon-calls-off-merger-with-top-shareholder2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dawning Information Industry</a> was due to showcase the Sugon Dawn 8000 Dengfeng, a domestically developed supercomputing and AI platform designed to support research and industrial upgrades.
The displays reflect Beijing's determination to prioritize AI development as a driver of a new wave of scientific and industrial transformation.
Chairing a Communist Party Politburo study session on AI in April 2025, Xi called on the country "to seize this critical moment and win superiority" by mastering core technologies such as advanced semiconductors and foundational software.
He also called for strengthening governance rules and technical standards, while helping developing countries in the global south enhance their capabilities.
"The WAIC has steadily evolved into a policy-oriented forum, with Beijing using it to deliver key messages on AI cooperation, safety and what officials now call 'AI diplomacy,'" said George Chen, partner and chair of digital practice at advisory firm The Asia Group.
China, Chen added, sees an opportunity to present itself as a more stable partner in AI development for emerging countries amid uncertainty surrounding US export controls on American company Anthropic's Claude models.
On July 17, Xi also pledged to ensure equal access to AI capacity building for developing countries to prevent the creation of "new historical injustices" and urged the international community to jointly oppose overstretching the concept of national security in the field of AI.
China is rising as a counterweight to the US in AI, Stanford University said in its 2026 AI report, finding that Anthropic's leading model outperformed Chinese rival <a href="/company/deepseek">DeepSeek's</a> score by just 2.7 percentage points as of March.
China accounted for 17.8% of AI research publications in 2024, compared to 11.1% from Europe and 7.29% from the US, according to the report. While the US ranked highest in top-cited publications between 2021–2024, its share had gradually declined, while China's, in second place, had increased.
The race has inflamed the often bitter rivalry between the world's two largest economies. Last month, Anthropic <a title="" href="https://asia.nikkei.com/business/technology/artificial-intelligence/anthropic-accuses-alibaba-of-largest-known-distillation-attack-on-claude" target="_blank" rel="noopener">accused</a> China's <a href="/company/alibaba">Alibaba Group</a> of illicitly copying Claude.
Xi said AI offers both opportunities and risks, and told the WAIC that countries should establish a global governance framework for the technology and enhance alignment on technical standards.
This article first appeared on <a href="https://asia.nikkei.com/business/technology/artificial-intelligence/xi-dabbles-in-ai-diplomacy-at-shanghai-forum-with-thai-cambodian-pms">Nikkei Asia</a>. It has been republished here as part of 36Kr’s ongoing partnership with <a href="https://www.kr-asia.com/nikkei-teams-up-with-36kr-in-asia-tech-news-coverage/">Nikkei</a>.
Note: RMB figures are converted to USD at rates of RMB 6.78 = USD 1 based on estimates as of July 21, 2026, unless otherwise stated. USD conversions are presented for ease of reference and may not fully match prevailing exchange rates.

Xi dabbles in "AI diplomacy" at Shanghai forum with Thai, Cambodian PMs

Artificial Intelligence

… profit to fall 69–79% year-on-year. Gansu Huangtai Wine-Marketing Industry and Swellfun (Shuijingfang) are both expected to post losses.
Speaking with 36Kr, some analysts said they believe the current decline in baijiu earnings stems from long-term structural pressures across consumption, occasions, and channels.
“Baijiu consumers are aging, and young people do not have the habit of drinking baijiu. Consumption occasions that used to revolve around banquets and gift-giving are collapsing. The established distributor model is gradually losing effectiveness,” one analyst said.
In that person’s view, it will be difficult for the baijiu industry to return to growth at scale in the short term. Xiao added that “the channel inventory accumulated across the industry will take at least one to two years to clear. What determines a company’s value in the future will no longer be the size of distributor payments, but the real number of bottles opened and the repeat purchase rate.”
At Moutai’s shareholder meeting in June, management said past crossover projects, including the Moutai-flavored latte developed with Luckin Coffee and Moutai ice cream, did not fit the company’s long-term brand strategy.
There is sound logic to that. In the short term, younger consumers drawn in by the latte are unlikely to become buyers of Feitian Moutai. Rather than dilute the brand for traffic that may not convert, Moutai may be better served by focusing on high-net-worth consumers with stronger purchase intent.
The bigger question is whether that accessible market will keep shrinking as baijiu fades from the habits of a younger generation. Clearing inventory and making market-oriented adjustments are only the first step. Once they survive the downturn, all baijiu companies, including Moutai, will need to keep thinking about how to use effective product innovation to meet the real needs of the next generation of consumers. That will be the key to whether the entire industry can continue.
KrASIA features translated and adapted content that was originally published by 36Kr. This <a href="https://36kr.com/p/3905234473158279">article</a> was written by Xie Yunzi for 36Kr.
Note: RMB figures are converted to USD at rates of RMB 6.78 = USD 1 based on estimates as of July 22, 2026, unless otherwise stated. USD conversions are presented for ease of reference and may not fully match prevailing exchange rates.

Kweichow Moutai’s price hike gives baijiu makers a brief rally, not a recovery

… would function as “device agents.”
With a tap, users can access coupons, membership services, marketing campaigns, and other offerings coordinated by Xiaoyu, Alipay’s merchant-facing agent. The system extends Alipay’s AI interface into physical retail locations.
Ah Bao handles online interactions, while “Tap!” serves offline ones. Alipay’s approach therefore has two parts: a conversational interface for digital services and a network of physical touchpoints for merchants. Both operate on the same open AI foundation.
WeChat Pay’s advantage is the breadth of the WeChat ecosystem.
WeChat contains a vast number of accounts, mini programs, channels, and third-party agents. Consumer demand is spread across many settings rather than concentrated in a single service interface.
For WeChat Pay, the more practical approach is to make payment a standardized component, open it to external developers, and allow different agents to connect to it securely.
In June, <a href="/company/jd">JD.com</a> released its A2P2 autonomous-agent payment protocol. Drawing on its e-commerce and supply chain operations, the protocol provides different implementation levels for different situations.
Its payment functions cover consumer voice payments and automated business-to-business supply chain settlements, allowing JD.com to move relatively quickly in enterprise settings.
The routes chosen by Alipay, WeChat Pay, and JD.com reflect the resources each already possesses.
Companies with their own service ecosystems are more likely to build centralized interfaces. Those operating across dispersed services tend to emphasize connectivity. Companies with extensive supply chain operations are more inclined to begin with business applications.
Together, these approaches show how AI is beginning to alter the payments industry.
Whatever route a provider chooses, the same question remains: will users trust AI with their money?
The answer may depend less on technical capability than on whether users feel they remain in control.
The industry’s early systems share one principle. The user keeps final authority over the transaction.
WeChat Pay separates the AI card’s funds and requires confirmation for every payment. The card sits within the user’s WeChat Pay balance. Users transfer money into it themselves, keeping the funds separate from their main accounts. For each transaction, the AI selects a product, places the order, and initiates payment. Before money is deducted, the user must confirm the purchase and enter a password. Funds can be moved into or out of the card at any time.
“The prerequisite for users to feel comfortable handing money to AI is that they always know, and always control, how much the AI can spend and what it can spend the money on,” the WeChat Pay representative said.
Alipay has built its safeguards around identity verification, traceability, and spending controls.
The system includes a proprietary identity-verification method, end-to-end transaction records, and limits on authorized spending. Alipay says these measures are intended to contain unauthorized transactions and misuse when payments move across platforms. Every action taken by an agent, including each payment, can be traced.
For now, restraint appears to be the industry’s common position.
KrASIA features translated and adapted content that was originally published by 36Kr. This <a href="https://36kr.com/p/3896720584738435">article</a> was written by Wang Hanyu for 36Kr.

Alipay wants more than a supporting role in the AI era

Ant Group

Alipay

Fintech

Payments

… estimates as of July 21, 2026, unless otherwise stated. USD conversions are presented for ease of reference and may not fully match prevailing exchange rates.

China's automakers squeezed as materials suppliers rake in profits

GAC Group

Seres

Aito

Transportation

Electric Vehicles

Mobility

… coach.”
A camera-based training product can identify a player’s movement and offer suggestions without relying on specialized equipment. Its limitation is that it cannot alter the exercise as it happens.
Aura begins not with the analysis but with the feed.
Pongbot’s large model, trained for sports analysis, records where the ball lands and attempts to explain why. Was the backswing late? Was the contact point too far from the body? Did the player fail to transfer their weight in time?
The system communicates its assessment through voice prompts after each shot. It then adjusts the next sequence of balls.
For Zhang, coaching must begin with the feed. A machine should observe, assess, and adapt during practice rather than wait until the session has ended.
That process also generates data. Pongbot estimates that, once Aura reaches the market, its machines could collect more than five million hours of useful sports-interaction data each year. The estimate is the company’s own, and the value of the data will depend on its quality, consistency, and users’ consent to its collection.
Pongbot describes Aura as the world’s first “all-in-one” coaching robot for multiple sports. The idea nevertheless divided the company during development.
Zhang recalled that employees worried users might see Aura as a jack of all trades and master of none. Partners and investors raised the same concern.
He continued to support the product for two reasons:
<ol>
<li aria-level="1">Sports equipment is usually sold on the assumption that a person first chooses a sport, then buys the equipment required to play it.</li>
<li aria-level="1">For beginners, the order can feel reversed. They are expected to buy equipment before they know whether they will remain interested in the sport.</li>
</ol>
Reports from the Professional Pickleball Association, Monitor Deloitte, and other organizations have estimated that pickleball participation has grown by more than 30% a year in North America. The number of padel courts in Europe has nearly tripled in five years, while tennis still has the largest global participation base among racket sports. The figures require links to the original reports before publication.
The three sports have meaningful differences, but their courts, movements, and beginner populations overlap.
Aura supports all three kinds of balls and allows users to activate each sport separately.
“You don’t have to make a decision before buying the device,” Zhang said. “You can start with tennis. If you decide one day that you want to try pickleball, you can unlock it by paying the corresponding subscription fee in the app.
“For roughly the cost of a single introductory lesson, users can find out whether they are interested in another sport.”
According to Zhang, nearly every customer selected a version that included AI coaching, while more than half chose the multisport option. The company did not disclose the number of customers represented by those percentages.
The response may reflect a familiar tendency in consumer purchases. People do not necessarily use every feature in a multipurpose product, but the availability of those features can make the purchase seem more worthwhile.
“It sends a signal,” Zhang said. “An all-in-one function means gaining access to several sports for the cost of one device. The value-for-money advantage is self-evident.”
“Users want to have that option, even if they do not need it right now.”
whereRelatedArticle
<h3>A software business inside a machine</h3>
A multipurpose product may also offer Pongbot a less expensive way to enter several markets.
Aura uses a standardized mechanical platform. Most adaptations are made through adjustments to the wheels and changes to software settings. The same machine can therefore support tennis, pickleball, padel, and potentially other sports.
This allows Pongbot to reuse components, simplify production, and spread development costs across several groups of customers.
The hardware brings users into the product. Software determines how many sports and training functions they can access.
A customer can buy a version that supports one sport, then activate pickleball or padel through a monthly or annual payment in the app.
For Pongbot, the arrangement creates continuing revenue without requiring the customer to buy another machine. It also allows training records from several sports to remain within one system.
“A user might learn tennis with Aura today, and that data will accumulate in Pongbot’s system,” Zhang said. “Three months later, if the user wants to try pickleball, there is no need to buy another machine. They only need to pay to unlock it through the software.
“The device has not changed, the user has not left, and the data continues to grow.”
The commercial appeal is clear. Pongbot can sell one machine, charge for later software access, and build a proprietary record of how customers train.
Whether that record becomes a durable advantage will depend on more than volume. The system must produce feedback that users find accurate, timely, and useful. It must also handle personal data in a way that earns their trust.
Players are unlikely to value a machine merely because it contains many functions. They are more likely to value one that follows a practice session, recognizes a recurring problem, and changes the next exercise in a helpful way.
Pongbot is trying to combine hardware, software, and training records in a consumer product that improves as it gathers more information about the player.
Aura’s larger claim is therefore not that one machine can launch several kinds of balls. It is that one machine can follow a player from one sport to another and continue learning how that person moves.
The idea may not settle how AI should be used in sports equipment. But it raises a useful possibility: Beginners could move among several sports without buying a new machine each time, while the same system remembers every swing.
KrASIA features translated and adapted content that was originally published by 36Kr. This <a href="https://36kr.com/p/3896586337978244">article</a> was written by Huang Nan for 36Kr.

Pongbot’s Aura raises nearly USD 4 million for multisport coaching robot

Robotics