It’s true that most of China’s major Internet companies started life as pretty obvious clones of popular foreign sites. But all the companies listed above have grown into innovators with products and services very different – and, in many cases, entirely superior to - those offered by the companies they once set out to imitate. After all, consumers living in a mobile-first world need new products and services built with mobile in mind, not as an after thought or "nice to have".

Take WeChat as an obvious example. Already, WeChat, a mobile message board with more than half a billion users, has gone far beyond a social media or instant messaging tool. WeChat combines the best of Facebook and WhatsApp — and then adds a whole host of monetizing innovations of its own. From playing mobile games and hailing taxis to posting video, sending voice messages and making online payments, WeChat is an all-you-can-use mobile service. There is nothing like it in the West.

Meanwhile, manufacturer Xiaomi is busy upsetting the Apple cart with its $50 mobile phones and innovative marketing techniques,leaping into the international spotlight as the third largest smartphone vendor by shipments. Xiaomi is commonly described as “China’s Apple” and founder Lei Jun as “the Chinese Steve Jobs”, yet the company is only four years old and did not release its own smartphone until 2011.  And an important side note here: while Apple is rightly a much-celebrated brand, it did not invent the mobile phone, the MP3 player, the smartphone nor the smartwatch; rather, it recognized unarticulated consumer needs and went ahead and served those needs. That is innovation worth credit, too.

The Operator/OTT challenge

The OTTs or, more appropriately, the digital service providers (DSPs) emerged out of garages, and have almost dominated the telecom market, posing existential threat to the incumbent operators. We may finally be starting to get on top of this challenge in the West – or, at least, we’re certainly talking about getting on top of it. But the Chinese operators have been visionary about this threat, and have taken strategic steps to sandbag their businesses against the "OTT wave". They are a market that the West can really learn from in that respect.

China Telecom is a good example. The company recognized the threat faced by the OTTs/DSPs long before many of its counterparts. China Telecom knew it had to turn this threat into an opportunity, and saw serious merit in partnering with these players, and reselling converged products into the marketplace. It was a strategy that paid off – the incremental value added to China Telecom’s top line has been significant – an annual figure running in billions. These practical innovations may not be particularly earth shattering, but the critical point is that they keep operators relevant to the digital value chain. That’s an important take-away for operators in the West.

The landscape for innovation

The sheer volume, combined with their maturity of the cycle, makes for a thriving digital landscape in China. The market is changing so rapidly that Chinese companies have to be agile, nimble and innovative to keep up.  In other words, copy/manufacture/undercut is a model that is not only entirely out-of-date, it’s just not practical in this incredibly competitive and fast-moving market. Europe and the rest of the world will need to keep a close eye on China’s innovations because, as well as threats, they will bring opportunities – including ideas that may just be worth taking inspiration from.