Tired of foreign domination of its telecom market share China...

Huawei Joins Open Handset Alliance

According to information from the Open Handset Alliance, China's telecommunications manufacturer Huawei and 13 other companies, including Vodafone, Toshiba and Sony Ericsson, have jointed the alliance to lend support to the Android open source platform-based Google phone.

The new members say in a joint statement that they promise to support the open source Android mobile device platform developed by Google and will be committed to its commercial success. In addition, members of the Open Handset Alliance will produce handsets based on the Android operating system and provide professional programming skills, mobile phone products and services to the Android source code project.

Li Jilin, vice president for Huawei Communications, says Huawei is committed to deploy Android devices in 2009. The company believes that the Android platform will provide an innovative edge in end-user satisfaction.

The Open Handset Alliance was jointly founded by Google and 33 other companies, including Intel, HTC, China Mobile, Motorola, Qualcomm, T-Mobile, Telefonica de Espana, LG and eBay. The first Android-based Google phone named G1 was launched by T-Mobile in October 2008 and the second Android-based Google phone Agora is reportedly to be launched by the Australian company Kogan at the end of January 2009.

In MWC (Mobile Wireless Conference), Huawei showed a possible prototype of a Google Android phone. It kind of looks like an iPhone, you know the drill, a phone built around a touch screen LCD display. However, its just a mock up. Boring.

In other news, I'm afraid Acer has to try harder. They look like HTC rehashes to me.



Taiwan's Acer moves into mobile phones

The move illustrates two trends in the mobile phone industry: the growing attractiveness of the high-end market for "smartphones" and the arrival of traditional laptop computer makers in this segment.
by Staff Writers
Barcelona (AFP) Feb 16, 2009
Taiwan-based computer manufacturer Acer announced a move into the mobile phone market on Monday, unveiling its first range of high-end handsets at an industry event in Barcelona.

The group, best known for its laptops, unveiled eight "smartphones" that have Internet and powerful processing and memory capabilities as well as core phone functionality.

"The smartphone market is a natural direction of our long-term mobile strategy," said chief executive Gianfranco Lanci during a press conference at Mobile World Congress.

The first four handsets are expected to go on sale worldwide in March or April, marketing manager Sylvia Pan told AFP.

The touch-screen phones, demonstrated here mostly in black with a design that resembles the top-selling Apple iPhone, will connect to the Internet via a Wi-Fi connection and run with the Windows mobile operating system.

The move illustrates two trends in the mobile phone industry: the growing attractiveness of the high-end market for "smartphones" and the arrival of traditional laptop computer makers in this segment.

Laptop maker Toshiba already manufactures handsets and rumours abound that US rival Dell is preparing to launch its own range.

Sales of smartphones, the industry term for high-end powerful handsets, are forecast to grow by 15 percent year-on-year for the five years, predicted head of phones at Acer, Aymar de Delenqcuesaing.

Lanci underlined that "for a large part of the world population the first opportunity to connect to the Internet will be via mobile computing, either through smartphones or netbooks."

Acer had indicated its desire to enter the mobile phone market last year when it acquired Taiwanese handset manufacturer E-Ten.

Analyst Nick Lane of mobile phone consultancy Direct2 Mobile said that high-end smartphones were "still only a tiny percentage of the market" but that this would change as prices come down because of competition.

"The high-end device of today will be the midrange device tomorrow," he told AFP.

The first Acer models will be called DX900, X960, M900 and F900.

Besides Huawei, another Chinese OEM phone maker, Yuhua, has announced plans to make a touch screen phone using the Android OS.



"According to Linux Devices, the Xphone-SDK runs Android on a PXA-310 SoC clocked to 624MHz making it very similar to the DSTL1. Similarly, it seems to come with the same 3-inch Sharp touchscreen and tri-band GPRS/EDGE capability. The Xphone design provides a 3 MP camera, WiFi and Bluetooth although GPS and accelerometers are missing. Specifications for the Xphone-SDK are listed after the jump."

In other news, ZTE has announced it has accomplised a world's first, a VOIP call using EV-DO Rev. B over its CDMA 2000 system.



SHENZHEN, China, Feb. 24 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- ZTE Corporation ("ZTE"), a leading global provider of telecommunications equipment and network solutions, today announced another technological breakthrough by achieving the world's first EV-DO Revision B (Rev.B) VoIP Call on its CDMA2000 system, marking the first time in the industry that a CDMA vendor achieves an impressive 9.3 Mbps download rate and 5.4 Mbps upload rate. This remarkable feat once again demonstrates ZTE's leading position in the CDMA industry. The excellent results were announced by the company in the recently concluded 3GPP2 Standards Conference 2009 held in Shanghai, China from February 16-24, which was jointly organized by ZTE and China Telecom to promote next-generation wireless broadband communications.

I seem to notice that big US companies that are now doing badly in the US still seems be doing well in China, like GM and Motorola.

Moto just announced a new and a first, a dual mode phone with GSM and for the TD-SCDMA local grown 3G. Nothing really cool except being dual mode.



All that TD-SCDMA business has made a mess in China's 3G situation and left the infrastructure behind to the rest of the world. Now the carriers are in massive binge trying to implement 3G, but there is now 3 competing standards---W-CDMA (HSPA/HSDPA) by China Unicom, CDMA-2000 (EV-DO) by China Telecom and the local home grown TD-SCDMA by China Mobile.

First, I got this article where a Mullah and a Guantanamo graduate at that is now a convert to a new '"religion"---the Apple iPhone.



"KABUL — Mullah Abdul Salaam Zaeef is a former Taliban ambassador to Pakistan. He spent almost four years in Guantanamo. He wears a black turban, has a thick beard — and is never without his Apple iPhone."

"Zaeef, who reconciled with the Afghan government after being released from U.S. custody, says he uses his iPhone to surf the Internet and find difficult locations, employing the built-in GPS. He even checks his bank account balance online."

Ah but what does this has to do with Chinese telecom?

Down the article, we see this.

"Many shops in Kabul sell a Chinese-made iPhone copy that shop owners say can do most things a real iPhone can. The fake sells for $300. "People use the Internet on it and it goes for a reasonable price," Orash said."

So what is the Chinese knock off of the iPhone? I researched and came to this, though it may be one out of several.





So what is this mythical Meizu M8 phone?

The specs are pretty impressive for a mere copy.

"The M8 is said to measure in at a scant 57×105x11.5-mm and packs both a GSM and Chinese TD-SCDMA 3G radio, a 3.3-inch 720×480 pixel display, Bluetooth, a 3 megapixel camera, and an ARM11 CPU capable of recording video at 30fps at the device’s full 720 x 480 resolution."

That's a resolution double of that of the iPhone and comes with TD-SCDMA. The ARM 11 is currently the flagship of the ARM RISC family with a bit of serious firepower.

From my own feeling about the cellphones, 3G just doesn't offer anything essential for consumers or for the economy, so China can afford to take its time. I believe there are some technical advantages of TD-SCDMA as well, such as the carry capacity.

Yes there is some protectionist element to it but why not use something without foreign license fees, with technical advantages, and something Chinese consumers can feel good about?

From my feeling in Asia, is that smartphones are more important than cars. In fact, more than anything. Because of this priority, they will save money more to buy on a smartphone than any other appliance or luxury. Because of the disposable income allotment, there is stronger interest pressure on buying a better and more featured smartphone, and in particularly when its taken as a status symbol.

Now why China? For people here, connections are everything. What is stored in the smartphone represents all of your Guangxi connections and therefore your very life, fortune, value and worth as a human being.

Now why 3G? More and more people are being internet connected, and there as many internet connected people in China equal to the entire US population. That's a lot of netters, with an enormous demand for internet sites and use. 3G makes mobile internet quick and mobile internet is the driving point for 3G.

I'm not sure if TD-SCDMA is better than CDMA-2000 or W-CDMA. All three are being implemented in China today anyway. HSDPA (3.5G) offers the highest possible download speeds until EV-DO Rev. B (for CDMA-2000). Licensed or not, Chinese companies like Huawei and ZTE has totally mastered making 3G routers and stations in both CDMA-2000 and W-CDMA, and have many off shore contracts.

I am not to familiar with cell technology, but why are the chinese mobile company so focusing on cdma technology when basically a lot of them right now use GSM phone especially the knockoffs. In China and Hong Kong, getting a temporary sim card is as easy as buying food from the store with prepaid minutes and no activation fee. (compare to Canada as part of the developed country this is sad)

There are six big mobile carriers in China. Some of them are using GSM like China Mobile, but others are using CDMA like China Telecom. I don't know why the situation is allowed to be that way, since its similar to the US where AT&T and T-Mobile are GSM while Verizon, Sprint and Alltel are CDMA. S. Korea also has a split GSM/CDMA personality but most other countries like Europe, Japan, South East Asia are all predominantly GSM.

crobato said:

From my feeling in Asia, is that smartphones are more important than cars. In fact, more than anything. Because of this priority, they will save money more to buy on a smartphone than any other appliance or luxury. Because of the disposable income allotment, there is stronger interest pressure on buying a better and more featured smartphone, and in particularly when its taken as a status symbol.

Now why China? For people here, connections are everything. What is stored in the smartphone represents all of your Guangxi connections and therefore your very life, fortune, value and worth as a human being.

Now why 3G? More and more people are being internet connected, and there as many internet connected people in China equal to the entire US population. That's a lot of netters, with an enormous demand for internet sites and use. 3G makes mobile internet quick and mobile internet is the driving point for 3G.

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If anything I feel Chinese are *over* invested in cellphones. Only a tiny professional elite use any smartphone/pda functionality (Chinese don't even like voice mail, and never got into answering machines). The rest as you say, is all image. Chinese have better things to spend their money on, and this might happen if government would encourage the market to cool down a little.

I'm not sure if TD-SCDMA is better than CDMA-2000 or W-CDMA. All three are being implemented in China today anyway. HSDPA (3.5G) offers the highest possible download speeds until EV-DO Rev. B (for CDMA-2000). Licensed or not, Chinese companies like Huawei and ZTE has totally mastered making 3G routers and stations in both CDMA-2000 and W-CDMA, and have many off shore contracts.

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I'm no expert on this, but it seems US and Europe both saw a competitive necessity in having their own standard. Consumers don't need this of course, but that is how the game is played. Why should China lose out?

ahho said:

I am not to familiar with cell technology, but why are the chinese mobile company so focusing on cdma technology when basically a lot of them right now use GSM phone especially the knockoffs. In China and Hong Kong, getting a temporary sim card is as easy as buying food from the store with prepaid minutes and no activation fee. (compare to Canada as part of the developed country this is sad)

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CDMA is a spread-spectrum technology unlike GSM. The technology makes better use of bandwidth and it can gracefully degrade service quality. Consumers notice this directly with much less dropped calls. GSM had better licensing terms (see all the sim cards) in the early days. CDMA may have improved its license recently which could be why China is picking up on it.