Kingsoft software to capitalise on Microsoft's Office woes in China
Chinese IT company seeks to poach users of software giant's Office suite as mainland campaign promotes use of domestic products
Software firm Kingsoft is looking to steal market share away from Microsoft's Office users on the mainland, taking advantage of Beijing's call for government departments and state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to move to domestic software and hardware because of cybersecurity concerns.
"The so called 'de-IOE' is certainly positive news for Kingsoft," Zhang Hongjiang, the chief executive of the Zhuhai-based, Hong Kong-listed firm, said, referring to a campaign that originally targeted the products of US firms IBM, Oracle and EMC.
The campaign has been going on for at least a year, but accelerated in May after Washington indicted five Chinese military officials for industrial espionage.
Microsoft has been targeted by mainland authorities on antitrust grounds.
Zhang Mao, the head of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, earlier this week said that Microsoft's sales of its media player and internet browser software on the mainland had been "problematic" and the software developer had not been fully transparent with information about its Windows and Office sales.
In May, the mainland banned the use of Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system on all new government computers.
IBM is one US firm that has weathered the storm, announcing on Tuesday that Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) had deployed a new IBM mainframe computer system.