There is a newly launched Hong Kong based startup Ziddu that introduced free file hosting service which is increasingly popular among Chinese. Ziddu has been available in English, Chinese Simplified, and Chinese Traditional. Since it offer unlimited storage space for users, and supports a variety of file formats such as audio, video, document, software, image, etc., it is becoming an attractive alternative to store files and share those among friends. Unlike other file hosting service providers that restrict users on certain areas, such as, hidden charge, or persuade users to upgrade their accounts to premium accounts, the only limitation you can find on Ziddu is that they limit maximum per file size upload is 200MB.

There are few very good features you can find on Ziddu’s offering. Put an example, if you upload several photos to this site, you can share with your friends, and your friends can view all your photos in an album or slide show through a Ziddu URL link. Additionally, Ziddu allowed users to download multiple file simultaneously, without any restriction on waiting time.

The market for free file hosting service has been thriving, albeit that the overall market size is small and storage vendors are pervasive on the Web. To attract users to use Ziddu, Ziddu is operating a business model which reward each unique download from the files you share on Ziddu and the provision of referral commission scheme. An user can earn from the unique downloads from a low of US100 to a high of US1,000. To know more how it works, you can visit the earning chart provided by Ziddu.

AOL is in the midst of launching the Chinese versions of its portal: Both of the Taiwan and Hong Kong portals are available to the users now.

For the Taiwan version, it features lot of AOL’s free contents and services, such as Email, AIM, daily news content, video search and etc. According to AOL, “People in Taiwan are among the world’s most sophisticated Internet users,” said Maneesh Dhir, Executive Vice President, AOL International. “Our goal is to deliver an experience that leverages the depth of our product and content offerings, tailored to the individual interests of online users in Taiwan.”

Moreover, AOL will also deliver a co-branded AOL/HP portal for users of HP desktop and notebook PC’s in near future.

In pertaining to AOL’s Hong Kong portal, it was created by a joining force with China.com Corporation, the leading pan-Asian integrated Internet service company, and its affiliate China Internet Corporation. Like the Taiwan portal, its services offered to the Hong Kong people will also include Email and AIM. At the same time, Hong Kong users are entitled to access the message boards and built-in chat, i.e. “ICQ - I seek you”. However, unique content such as Feng Shui, Chinese cuisine and recipes, Cantonese pop entertainment, horse-racing forums by famous Hong Kong commentators, and Hong Kong stock market update can also be found on the portal. In all, this portal will be managed by the AOL Hong Kong team and thus, it was mainly focused on serving the Hong Kong users.

Apparently, AOL has its vision in Hong Kong, as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of America Online, Inc., Steve Case said: “Our goal in Hong Kong, as around the world is to help make the interactive medium a central and valuable part of people’s lives. AOL Hong Kong offers the Internet and much more: local Chinese content, powerful global content and community, and simplified access to the Internet. At the same time, AOL is delighted to join with our partners, China Internet Corporation and China.com Corporation, in helping fuel Hong Kong’s development as a key Internet hub in Asia.”