This was a week of big news across Asia, so much so that it might be difficult to separate the signal from the noise and figure out what’s really important. That’s where we come in. At Tech in Asia, we’re here to help, and today we’re here to help you by filling you in on the top stories from this past week. Feast your eyes upon them:

Steven’s pick: Just Short of 2 Years Old, WeChat App Surpasses 300 Million Users

Lots of big numbers popped up this week, so I’ll choose the biggest of them all: 300 million. That’s now the size of the registered user-base of Tencent’s WeChat app (known as Weixin in its native China), which it achieved in just a few days under 24 months. Not even Line app will surpass that rate of growth. Check out our graph of WeChat’s major milestones inside.

Charlie’s pick: Baidu Prepares to Take on Qihoo on Security in China

Baidu is setting the stage for what may be the final battle with Qihoo, coming after it on its home turf by preparing a security suite to go head-to-head with 360 Security.

Rick’s pick: NHN Japan’s Line Chat App Passes 100 Million Users

Not unlike WeChat above, Line is another mobile chat app which has seen a pretty spectacular year of growth as well. Just yesterday it reached the 100 million user milestone, which puts it right up there among WeChat, WhatsApp, and KakaoTalk. NHN representatives recently said that they hope the application can reach between 300 and 400 million users by the end of 2013.

Willis’ pick: Alibaba Founder Jack Ma Confirms Retirement From CEO

I think some of my friends would know that I respect Jack Ma alot. Whenever I’m losing the entrepreneurship fire within me, I often watch his interview/speech on YouTube to get myself inspired. Alibaba Group has done a fantastic job over the years under Ma’s leadership. So it’s natural for the public to feel some uneasiness when Ma decided to step down. But Ma being Ma, I trust that he knows when is the best time to step down and, as he said, to make space for “the next generation of Alibaba people who are better equipped to manage and lead an internet ecosystem like ours.”

Minh’s pick: Vietnamese Handicrafts + E-Commerce = Lola.vn

As a big returning fan of Pinterest (It used to bore me in the first year), I’m happy to see a version of this design being released as an e-commerce site in Vietnam. I think Pinterest’s design is great and the community they’ve built is really strong (even though I’m a much bigger Quora fan), so I think Lola.vn is bound to catch on in the next year.

Vanessa’s pick: Alibaba Founder Jack Ma Confirms Retirement From CEO Role at Ripe Old Age of 48

I chose the same news as Willis this week. It is undoubtedly big news over here in Beijing, as we discuss on the qualities that the next CEO should possess in order to fill the big shoes that Jack Ma has left behind. It is definitely forward looking of Ma too. He understands that the future belongs to the younger generation – that it is time for them to step up and generate fresh ideas to contribute to the technology startup scene. I’m looking forward to May 10, as Alibaba unveils its new leader.

The post Tech in Asia: Our Picks for News of the Week [Jan. 19] appeared first on Tech in Asia.

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