Alibaba’s UCWeb mobile browser arm looks to ramp up international expansion
UC browser now world’s second-most popular mobile browser
UCWeb, the mobile web browser arm of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, is looking to ramp up its international expansion by forming new partnerships with media organisations around the world.
That initiative follows the company’s UC browser reaching a milestone of recording more than 400 million monthly active users globally, which has extended its lead over Apple’s Safari as the world’s second-most popular mobile browser, according to UCWeb’s presentation at the annual Global Mobile Internet Conference in Beijing on Thursday.
Yu Yongfu, the president of Alibaba’s mobile business unit and a co-founder of UCWeb, said the proposed media alliances would transform the UC mobile browser into a new media platform that benefits users with customised news feeds, while helping media outlets increase readership.
What UCWeb wants to do is to help users access more accurate and precise information that is tailored to their preferences
“The challenge of the internet now is that there is an information overload,” Yu said. “Before the internet, people had difficulty accessing information … what UCWeb wants to do is to help users access more accurate and precise information that is tailored to their preferences.”
Yu said media outlets would have “content stores” on the UC browser the same way online merchants have stores on Tmall .com, Alibaba’s business-to-consumer e-commerce platform.
UCWeb’s media partners will also be able to include advertisements in the content displayed within UC Headline’s customised news feed, which employs “big data” obtained across UCWeb’s products to personalise content.
The feature is currently live for mainland Chinese users and will be available to international users next month.
The company has already formed content partnerships with online portal Sina, China Business News and mainland internet company Netease