News and Research on Noah Education Holdings, Ltd. (NED)
Business Description
Noah Education Holdings, Ltd. provides interactive education content in China. The company develops and markets interactive, multimedia learning materials mainly to complement prescribed textbooks used in China’s primary and secondary school curriculum, covering subjects, such as English, Chinese, mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, geography, political science and history. The company delivers its content primarily through handheld digital learning devices (DLDs). It also sells E-dictionaries. It also offers after-school tutoring programs.
Content and Services
As of June 30, 2007, the company had developed a collection of approximately 28,000 courseware titles, each of which corresponds to a chapter of a printed textbook or a topic covered by a textbook. It develops courseware titles based on standardized textbooks and other print-based content that which it licenses from domestic and international educational publishers, including Oxford University Press, People’s Education Press, Foreign Language Teaching & Research Press, Beijing Normal University Press and Riverdeep Interactive Learning Limited. The company’s primary users are school children in China between the ages of 5 and 19. In June 2006, the company established its education Web site, www.noahedu.com, through which its users can download learning materials to their DLDs.
Basic English Language Training Courseware Titles: As of June 30, 2007, the company had developed approximately 32 series of English language learning courseware, each based on a different series of textbooks. These titles constitute approximately half of its basic courseware titles. Of these, the titles developed for primary and secondary students are organized by semester and correspond to the English language curriculum typically taught in primary and secondary schools. The titles developed for college students and professionals are designed as preparation courses for standardized English aptitude tests. Test scores are used as measurements for English proficiency in various situations where English proficiency is considered a prerequisite, including college graduation, entrance to master’s degree programs, employment opportunities or job promotions.
Other Basic Education Courseware Titles: The company’s other basic courseware titles cover standard subjects, other than English, that are typically taught in primary and secondary schools in China. These include Chinese, mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, geography, political science and history. These titles are organized by semester and by subject.
Premium Courseware Titles: The company’s premium series is a collection of its courseware titles. These include video presentations on course subjects and test preparation classes by teachers. These also contain bonus study materials on difficult course subjects and solutions to advanced level practice questions, with illustrations in animation and other multimedia form.
Practice Question Database: The company offers a searchable practice question database on DLDs with approximately 300,000 practice questions. These questions would initially focus on the subjects of mathematics, physics and chemistry. Each practice question would contain 24 searchable fields and links to solutions and related questions and courseware titles.
Dictionaries: The company has licensed and compiled approximately 150 dictionaries, including 16 dictionaries related to the English language, 10 dictionaries related to other foreign languages and approximately 120 professional dictionaries on subjects including medicine, law and engineering.
Online Tutoring Sessions: The company’s users can log-on to its Web site and post questions regarding their homework. Other students can participate in the exchange and post their answers as well.
After-Class Tutoring Programs: The company also offers after-class tutoring programs targeted at primary and secondary school students from two ‘Noah’ branded tutoring centers located in Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan Province in the southwest of China. Its initial courses cover subjects, such as Chinese, mathematics, English, physics and chemistry, which are taught by approximately 30 instructors.
Sales Offices
As of June 30, 2007, the company had five branch sales offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu and Harbin, 30 provincial distributors and 300 local distributors, covering approximately 8,500 points of sale and approximately 2,000 download centers. In addition to China, the company also distributes its content and products to Hong Kong, South Korea, Malaysia and Turkey.
Suppliers
The company suppliers include Shenzhen Jinghua Displays Co., Ltd., Nanjing Hwuary Liquid Crystal Display Technical Co., Ltd. and Jiangsu Shenlian Circuit Electronic Co., Ltd.
Relationships
The company has collaborative relations with various OEMs, including Shenzhen Shifaxin Electronic Co., Ltd. and Shenzhen Jianwei Electronic Co., Ltd. It also has partnerships with OKWAP and Shanghai Yu Hua Telecommunications Technology Co., Ltd.
Competition
The company’s main competitors in the DLD market include Shanghai Ozing Digital Technology Limited and Guangdong Bubugao Electronic Industry Limited. Its main competitors in the E-dictionaries market include Guangdong Bubugao Electronic Industry Limited and Global View Co., Ltd. It also competes indirectly with online education content providers, such as Beijing No. 4 Middle School Net and Hu Bei Province Huang Gang Middle School Net, and providers of interactive education content through CD-ROMs, such as HUMAN Education & Technology Co., Ltd. and Guangdong Dongtian Culture Enterprise Co., Ltd.
History
Noah Education Holdings, Ltd. was founded in 1999. It was formerly known as Noah Technology Holdings, Ltd. and changed its name to Noah Education Holdings, Ltd. in 2006.
