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"2013 was a year that saw exciting things happen in China's tech scene -- and there have been certain key trends that stood out in particular.\r\n\r\nAs the world's largest smartphone market continues to grow, mobile devices probably took pole position among the top trends of this year -- and as Chinese firms reach saturation point in their home market, they are starting to take over smaller firms, enter alliances, and even move overseas.\r\n\r\nHere's a look at the seven key trends (or events) that took place in China this year.\r\n\r\n1. The Xiaomi craze\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nChinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi\u00A0has been on a tear this year, becoming one of the hottest phone-makers in the country. The young company was\u00A0founded three years ago and released its first device in 2011, but 2013 was when it shot to recognition across the world, firstly by\u00A0nabbing Hugo Barra, previously\u00A0Google VP for Android.\r\n\r\nBarra was only one facet of Xiaomi's steamroller year though.\u00A0One of the greatest milestones for the company was when it notched up an impressive\u00A0valuation of $10 billion\u00A0in its latest funding round.\u00A0Its\u00A0revenue for the first half of 2013 reached $2.15 billion\u00A0after it sold 7.03 million devices \u2014 just shy of the 7.19 million units it sold during the whole of 2012 -- and it has likely already hit its\u00A0target of shifting 15 million devices\u00A0for the whole of this year.\r\n\r\nXiaomi released four smartphones in total this year. In April, it launched the variants of its then-flagship smartphone, the\u00A0Mi-2S and Mi-2A. Subsequently, it unveiled its lowest-priced phone yet in July -- the $130 Hongmi. Following that, it launched its latest flagship device Mi-3 in September, along with a smart TV, in the process displaying its immense popularity in the world's largest smartphone market. Further proof of its popularity in China came when it\u00A0overtook Apple on market share\u00A0in\u00A0the second quarter this year, according to\u00A0figures from\u00A0Canalys, an independent analyst firm.\r\n\r\nIn 2013, Xiaomi also took its first foray into the international realm,\u00A0launching its mobile phones in Hong Kong and Taiwan.\r\n\r\nThe new year will only herald in even more milestones for Xiaomi. After hiring Barra, it is a natural step for the company to head overseas -- and it seems like Singapore may be its next stop. After all, Xiaomi recently revealed that users of its Android-based MIUI firmware span 58 countries, with the second-largest group of users after China coming from the US.\r\n\r\n2. The iPhone comes to China Mobile\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nIt's been a long time coming -- years, in fact. In 2013, Apple's iPhones finally made it to the world's largest carrier with over 740 million subscribers: China Mobile.\r\n\r\nThis came as China also claimed another milestone in 2013, after Chinese authorities\u00A0issued\u00A04G licenses\u00A0to the three major telecommunication operators, heralding in the super-fast network. Earlier this year,\u00A0Apple gained regulatory approval\u00A0for its iPhones to\u00A0run on the TD-LTE standard used by China Mobile for its 4G networks.\r\n\r\nThere has been a lot of hype over the China Mobile-iPhone deal. It seems like for Apple, being present on the carrier would significantly widen its reach and sales efforts in China\u2019s mobile market -- but whether or not that turns out to be true remains to be seen.\r\n\r\nIn the meantime, Apple has had a pretty impressive run in the world's largest smartphone market in 2013 -- after it\u00A0turned things around in China\u00A0in Q4 FY2013.\u00A0CEO Tim Cook said that the company was able to grow its relationships with the government and carriers in China, resulting in the greater China region generating $27 billion in revenue for Apple in the full fiscal year of 2013, a 14 percent increase.\r\n\r\n3. Chinese firms eye the US\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nAs Chinese firms settle comfortably into their domestic market, the next step for them as they seek to spread their influence globally and capture more opportunities is the US -- and at no point has this been clearer than in 2013.\r\n\r\nChinese Internet giant Tencent is a prime example of a local firm taking big strides this year, as it seeks to conquer overseas markets. It was rumored to be leading a financing round into Snapchat, after it\u00A0led a $150 million investment\u00A0in design-focused e-commerce service Fab in June.\r\n\r\nE-commerce giant Alibaba has also made a play for the US. In August this year, Alibaba was said to have\u00A0paid $75 million for a minority stake in two-day shipping service\u00A0ShopRunner, and subsequently it also led a $206 million round in the same service.\u00A0ShopRunner represents a strategic investment for Alibaba, as it offers a viable competitor to\u00A0Amazon\u00A0Prime and can help familiarize Alibaba with the US market.\r\n\r\nIn June, Alibaba made another investment,\u00A0also in the US market, by backing sports apparel vendor Fanatics.\r\n\r\nAlibaba has also been making its way overseas to other English-speaking markets. It made a subtle-but-significant play for Western companies in October by launching an English-language microsite for\u00A0Tmall, its B2C shopping site for brands -- and earlier in September\u00A0launched\u00A0its\u00A0Taobao\u00A0marketplace in Singapore incorporating a dual-language registration page, seeking to make its mark in Southeast Asia.\r\n\r\n4. A string of investments, mergers and acquisitions\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nChina's tech industry witnessed a string of mergers and acquisitions in 2013, as Internet giants prepared for battle.\r\n\r\nThe biggest one in particular was a huge buy by Chinese search giant Baidu in July -- the acquisition of\u00A0third-party app distribution platform 91 Wireless for a whopping $1.9 billion.\r\n\r\nEarlier this year, Baidu also announced it would buy\u00A0PPS Video\u00A0for $370 million,\u00A0becoming China\u2019s biggest video provider as it already owns\u00A0iQiyi\u00A0after\u00A0buying a majority stake\u00A0last November.\u00A0In August, Baidu also purchased a majority stake in e-commerce website operator Nuomi for about $160 million and, to round off the year, it acquired e-bookstore Zongheng for about $31 million.\r\n\r\nOther than Baidu, Alibaba has also been on a buying spree throughout 2013, as it pursued more alliances to beef up its presence.\r\n\r\nThe most notable one for Alibaba was in May when it\u00A0purchased an 18 percent stake in\u00A0Sina Weibo, arguably the nation\u2019s most important social networking platform. This marked Alibaba's strategy\u00A0of collaborating\u00A0with established players in the social space to enrich its shopping experience -- leading to\u00A0the\u00A0launch of a \u201CWeibo-Taobao\u201D platform to make it easier for customers on the Twitter-like microblogging platform to shop on e-commerce site Taobao.\r\n\r\nAt the start of this year,\u00A0Alibaba confirmed that it was acquiring\u00A0Xiami,\u00A0a popular social music-streaming service -- and in April its Taobao Marketplace rolled out functionality for\u00A0Xiami, apparently to help transform the retail site from merely a shopping platform to a lifestyle and media platform.\r\n\r\nIn May, Alibaba also confirmed that it made a\u00A0$294 million investment\u00A0for a 28 percent stake in China\u2019s top mapping platform\u00A0Autonavi, while in July it confirmed that it inked\u00A0a strategic investment in outbound travel site\u00A0Qyer.com\u00A0for an undisclosed amount, to boost its travel offerings on marketplace site\u00A0Taobao.\r\n\r\nIn November, Chinese analytics provider Umeng confirmed that it was acquired by Alibaba too, and in December Alibaba invested $364 million in electronics manufacturer Haier Group as it looks to expand its logistics and delivery capacity.\r\n\r\nTencent has not been resting on its laurels in 2013 either. Other than making investments in the US, in September Tencent\u00A0announced that it invested $448 million in Sogou for a 36.5 percent stake, and merged its Soso search-related business with Sogou, stepping\u00A0up its presence in the search market as it sought to become a credible rival to Baidu.\r\n\r\n5. The Bitcoin rollercoaster in China\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nCrypto-currency\u00A0Bitcoin\u00A0made waves in China in 2013 -- consisting of highs and lows, essentially going through a rollercoaster in the later part of the year.\r\n\r\nIn November, it was revealed that\u00A0BTC China\u00A0had overtaken Japan-based\u00A0Mt. Gox\u00A0as the trading system processing the largest volume of Bitcoins, while it announced\u00A0a $5 million Series A round. Back then, it was noted that\u00A0BTC China handles 80,000 transactions per day -- over $50 million worth of the currency.\r\n\r\nThe demand in China and among investors has been high throughout 2013 despite one Chinese platform disappearing\u00A0with $4.1 million in customer money.\r\n\r\nHowever, in early December, China's central bank finally spoke up in response to the hype around Bitcoin, saying that banks and other financial institutions are not allowed to handle\u00A0transactions made with the digital currency. It says it doesn\u2019t recognize Bitcoin as a legal currency, but gave the green light for individuals to use Bitcoin online \u2014 at their own risk.\r\n\r\nSubsequently, a series of incidents in the country\u00A0culminated in BTC China\u00A0stopping deposits in Renminbi, China\u2019s currency --\u00A0following reports that\u00A0the Bank of China (BoC) had\u00A0outlawed\u00A0transactions between Bitcoin exchanges and third-party payment systems. This sent Bitcoin's price crashing.\r\n\r\nIt remains to be seen how Bitcoin will adapt to the changes in the Chinese system during the new year, but the unfriendly environment is making it difficult to operate in -- and challenges are aplenty.\r\n\r\n6. WeChat becomes a platform\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n2013 was the year when wildly popular Chinese messaging service WeChat (users in China get a version known as Weixin) expanded its services and progressed toward becoming a platform.\r\n\r\nIn August,\u00A0Chinese Internet giant\u00A0Tencent\u00A0rolled out an update to\u00A0its mobile messaging app\u00A0Weixin,\u00A0incorporating payment services, a game center and a sticker store, in a bid to monetize the free app. The availability of mobile payments on Weixin\u00A0lets users simply link an online bank account to pay for items, while Tencent's payments solution Tenpay does the necessary backend work. In the meantime,\u00A0the five mobile games it\u00A0released\u00A0have passed 570 million cumulative downloads, as revealed in November.\r\n\r\nAs Tencent deepened Weixin's online-offline commerce link this year, in September it announced that\u00A0users in China can pay via the chat app when they get a drink from its dedicated vending machines located across Beijing. The Internet giant has\u00A0also reportedly been finalizing its online-to-offline collaboration with merchants through the year, which would see large chain restaurants get on board to let Weixin users pay with the app.\r\n\r\n7. Smart TVs become mainstream\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nChinese Internet companies flocked into the smart TV space throughout 2013 as they strived to conquer the living room.\r\n\r\nMany new smart TVs arrived in China in recent months, as companies\u00A0hoped to draw in consumers with impressive large screens to form the centerpiece of households, and includes a range of Internet entertainment services.\r\n\r\nIn early September, popular Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi\u00A0announced its move beyond handsets as it\u00A0launched a 47-inch 3D smart TV\u00A0which is retailing for\u00A0CNY2,999 ($490).\r\n\r\nIn July, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba\u00A0announced that it had developed\u00A0a smart TV operating system\u00A0and was working with a number of partners, including\u00A0Cisco and Chinese manufacturers, to develop smart TVs, set-top boxes and services to run inside them. The culmination of those efforts resulted in a total of three smart TVs unveiled in September, manufactured\u00A0in collaboration with\u00A0Skyworth.\r\n\r\nA little over a month after Alibaba announced its smart TV OS, fierce rival\u00A0Baidu\u00A0also jumped into the space as it\u00A0partnered with electronics maker\u00A0TCL Multimedia\u00A0to sell smart TVs, which include content and branding from its video platform\u00A0iQiyi.\r\n\r\nTo round off the year, Tencent launched an Internet TV in December, which features integration with the Chinese version of WeChat -- in\u00A0terms of program controls and even payment solutions.\r\n\r\nWhat to expect for 2014\r\n\r\nIn 2014, China's mobile presence is likely to grow even stronger -- as this year's trends already indicate. Mobile devices are being used increasingly for leisure and entertainment, which will lead to mobile video and games becoming increasingly appealing, and companies will strive to get that right. Mobile is also extending its influence into payments, which will be played out in e-commerce. Most importantly of all, social communication is what ties mobile interaction together -- and Chinese firms are likely to take steps to cement their presence in that area.\r\n\r\nPerhaps, with wearable devices being produced by so many companies all over the world as well, it may be that China could see its domestic firms breaking into the market as well.\r\n\r\nHeadline image via Shutterstock, images via Xiaomi's blog, Getty Images, Getty Images, Getty Images, Getty Images, Bryanlyt\u00A0and\u00A0Xiaomi"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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