Lifestyle says goodbye Hong Kong, hello Asia

Luxury online magazine Lifestyle Hong Kong will merge its Bangkok and Singapore brands into a single Lifestyle Asia portal this week.As the company readies for expansion into Beijing and Shanghai in 2009, Christopher Lindvall, director of Lifestyle Hong Kong, said the primary purpose behind the move is to streamline the Lifestyle Asia offering to advertisers and readers."The decision to have one brand for Asia was a very natural move," he said."As we bring more and more countries under Lifestyle Asia, they will be provided with this same service all across Asia."In April this year the company expanded its services to Singapore and in August launched in Bangkok.Lindvall said Thailand has become one of the "surprise success" under the Lifestyle umbrella."There is a very strong online community in Thailand and they seem to be open the idea of an online magazine."With the expected launch of Lifestyle in three additional markets next year, Lindvall said he was confident the online magazine would continue to grow."It's no secret that magazines are losing money from the internet. We're looking to open up new markets as soon as possible, I think 2009 will be a very good year, but we don't want to play too high a risk at the moment," he said."But if we do everything right in China, I think we will be unbeatable."