China Focus: Is China in an age of Internet oligopoly?

Booking a taxi, ordering food, reading the news, watching movies and playing games -- the seemingly infinite number of apps on the Chinese market, gives the illusion of an open, competitive market.

However, the plethora of apps notwithstanding, experts warn that the majority of apps on the market are BAT- (Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent) run services.

According to Analysis International, all but one of September's ten most downloaded apps were BAT products. In fact, Sogou Typewriting, the only exception, later received investment from Tencent.

Industry insiders said that BAT's rapid mergers and acquisitions have left startups with little room to compete.

Concerns have been raised over whether innovation and user's rights may both fall by the wayside as the Internet behemoths become too big to fail.

HELP OR HINDERANCE?

The Internet, for many, is an essential part of modern life but it is not without its issues.

For example, links to products on Alibaba's Taobao cannot be opened within Tencent's WeChat, China's most popular instant messaging app. Instead, the address has to be laboriously hand typed as both companies have walled off information sharing.

JD.com, another online shopping portal, refuses to list Alibaba's hugely popular Alipay among its payment options. So, the "one wallet for all" does not live up to expectation. < The BAT giants are also cornering startups, aggressively buying them or bullying them into submission.

Liu Nan, the creator of mother & child product platform Miyabaobei,said that a leading B2C online shopping platform, which she declined to name, once said to her: "Either you accept our investment or we'll make you feel the pressure."

"Small companies want to be seen, which is impossible without support from the leading Internet giants. They will not get any Internet traffic if they don't host adds on the most visited sites," said Chen Yan, general manager of Guangzhou Wolf Information Technology Co. Ltd.

When Alibaba and the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) butted heads on Wednesday, it highlighted the risks associated with companies that wield too much power.

The SAIC had several meetings with Alibaba's Taobao over it selling counterfeit goods, but little came of the talks, an SAIC official who requested anonymity, told Xinhua.

Although the public are split over the issue, it is clear that government intervention needs to be better defined.

"What the government can do is to maintain a fair and open market while stepping up law enforcement and supervision," said Yi Peng, director-general of PanGoal, a public policy research Institution.

INNOVATION KEY TO SURVIVAL

However, others are more sympathetic toward industry leaders like BAT. They argue that the current oligopoly, if any, was only temporary and that today's market leaders may fall out of favor with customers.

"Through years of industry observation, it is not uncommon for Internet companies to die out," said Chen Ou, CEO of China's leading online cosmetics store, Jumei.com. "For survival, companies must be innovative and unique."

"In the digital age, three to five years is a huge amount of time. There is not a single moment when the big players are not worrying about their future," said He Shixiang, vice general manager of the telecommunication, media and technology (TMT) investment arm of Fortune Capital.

"There's always a chance that new faces will find success,"He added.

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