China has their own 3G standard. First thing you may be asking yourself is why? China has always done their own thing, and by developing an alternative to WCDMA they save themselves the burden of having to pay for WCDMA royalties. Every decision in today’s mobile world, and I mean every single bloody decision from the materials used to make the body of a device, to whether the instruction manual inside the package comes printed in color or black and white, comes down to money. Nokia (NYSE: NOK) feels that with China’s population of 1.3 billion people, playing their game and making devices that work on their network would be beneficial to their bottom line.

Politics out of the way, does anything make the 6788 special? Well it has two 8s in the product name, which is a big thing in China. Some Chinese, a fair bit actually, are still superstitious and believe that the number 8 will bring them good luck. When picking a mobile phone number, they want to make sure it has as many 8s as possible, and they’ll even pay to have a phone number with a lot of 8s. Specification wise you have a massive 2.8 inch screen that is sadly QVGA (320 x 240) resolution, a 5 megapixel camera, and it’s powered by S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 2. The 6788 will star shipping in December on China Mobile (NYSE: CHL), price unknown. Looks like Colin Giles, Nokia Senior Vice President for Greater China, Japan and Korea, kept his promise.

[Photo below via All About Symbian]
[Press Release]

Samsung is preparing a new all-touchscreen phone for China Mobile (NYSE: CHL), which as you can see from the image above looks like some other Samsung models we’ve seen in the past.

The device name/mark is GT-i6330 and unfortunately we don’t have all the details at this stage. We do see a 3.2-megapixel camera on the back as well as a small camera for video calls on the front. That said, it’s safe to say this baby will run on TD-SCDMA waves, used by the world’s largest mobile operator.

Pricing and exact release date are unknown at this point, but considering we’re approaching the holiday shopping season, we would expect to see China Mobile starting to offer this baby within weeks.

[Via: Unwired View]

Everyone wants a piece of the Chinese mobile market and Samsung is not an exception. They’ve prepared a version of the Omnia II device marked as i8180, specially customized for the consumers in the “world’s fastest growing economy.”

And by special version we mean WAPI (China’s flavor of WiFi), TD-SCDMA radio (instead of HSPA/EV-DO) and CMMB (China Multimedia Mobile Broadcasting) support. Rest of the specs are pretty much the same as far as I’ve understood, meaning that the glorious 3.7-inch AMOLED touchscreen stays on board, which is cool.

Exact release date is unknown at the moment and the same goes for pricing…

[Via: Unwired View]

By now we all realized Motorola (NYSE: MOT) is super serious when it comes to their support for the Android platform. In that sense, we were not surprised to learn that they will be making phones for China Mobile (NYSE: CHL), which plans to introduce 8 MOTO-made Android-powered devices during next year. Of course, we’re talking about the “OPhone version” of Android that is used by the world’s largest mobile carrier by subscribers.

I’m glad Motorola is steadily finding its way out of the crisis which it faced after the RAZR glory has passed away. On that note, I’m sure adding some “China sales” will help their bottom line and hopefully make their R&D work even better.

[Via: Reuters]

Android is capturing the hearts and minds of smartphone users around the world. Surprisingly, China’s Red Wall of Censorship hasn’t gotten in the way of Google (NSDQ: GOOG)’s Chinese aspirations. A new Android phone has broken cover at the PT & Network Comm China show, giving the Chinese masses yet another Android option to fawn over. China’s home-grown Android platform, dubbed oPhone, has already been announced for the LG GW880 and looks like a potential winner, but the newly unveiled Access CPhone might give it some competition.

The CPhone apparently runs a customized version of the Android OS 1.5 “Cupcake” build. From what we can tell, the CPhone features a cartoonish widget-based user interface and support for China’s CMMB TV mobile television service. With China Mobile (NYSE: CHL) laying claim to the oPhone (which has been rumored as the cause for Apple (NSDQ: AAPL)’s iphone negotiation troubles with China Mobile) and China Unicom taking on the iconic iPhone itself, word has it that Access is courting China Telecom to carry the CPhone. The Chinese Android handset is even being heralded as the oPhone killer.

We like the CPhone’s large touchscreen and sleek design – thin display bezels have a way of making a handset look amazing. It’s just too bad the CPhone’s user interface makes it look like a “my first Android smartphone.”

[Via: Ubergizmo]

China Mobile (NYSE: CHL), the world’s largest operator, has broken the half billion mark. They have 502 million customers. That is all.

[Photo via Boston.com's The Big Picture]

Apple’s got a pretty big appetite for NAND flash memory modules. Now that the iPhone 3GS boasts 32GB of onboard storage, and is headed to China Unicom’s massive subscriber-base, Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) is gobbling up flash memory chips faster than suppliers can punch them out. DigiTimes is reporting that the world’s main NAND manufacturers are prioritizing Apple’s increased flash demands, which will leave other customers out of luck in the short term. The shortage is bad enough that Samsung Electronics sent out a notice that it will halve its September NAND flash supply. Micron Technologies has gone so far as to tell their other customers that NAND flash memory supplies are tapped out. When Apple wants NAND, they get NAND.

Apple buys so much NAND flash memory for its iPod and iPhone devices that memory chip manufacturers cater to Apple’s demands. Even if it leaves the smaller fish out to dry – Cupertino’s business is that important. In the flash memory market, there’s Apple and then there’s everyone else. When Apple ramps up their NAND demand, the world takes note. People like us, get curious.

Apple’s increased demand for NAND flash memory might signal the company’s intention to push millions more iPhones to China Mobile (NYSE: CHL)’s 600+ million subscribers. On the other hand, China Unicom is already on board to push iPhones in China, so Apple may just be getting ready to ship WiFi-less iPhones for that deal. Still, If Apple does manage to crack China Mobile and get the iPhone onto the world’s single-largest wireless network, iPhone demand might very well skyrocket – and along with it, demand for NAND chips.

And you know Apple will get what they need.

[Via: DigiTimes]

China Mobile (NYSE: CHL) and Symbian Foundation announced a partnership agreement to collaborate on a series of key initiatives to “improve the mobile ecosystem in China and to stimulate the development of the market for CCMC’s locally developed 3G network standard, TD-SCDMA.”

Aside from wowing to support the China’s flavor of 3G, Symbian launched a brand new website in Chinese language, and has agreed to simplify the Symbian Signed testing services for developers submitting applications to China Mobile’s newly launched application store. In addition, the Foundation has also laid out plans to establish an office and local operation in Beijing…

And now it’s time for some short video action, featuring representatives from China Mobile and Symbian Foundation. Enjoy if you can.

China Mobile (NYSE: CHL) will work with Taiwan’s Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) to develop 4G technologies. During a visit to the Hsinchu Science Park in Hsinchu City, northern Taiwan – China Mobile’s Chairman Wang Jianzhou also confirmed that he will meet with Morris Chang, founder and chairman of the world’s largest chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC).

Wang is visiting Taiwan to explore opportunities to forge alliances with local high-tech enterprises, and since his arrival on August 21, he has signed a memorandum with HTC to jointly develop smartphones and relevant technologies. Moreover, he also met with many local high-tech tycoons, including Chunghwa Telecom Chairman Lu Shyue-ching and Acer’s Chairman J.T. Wang.

Wang said he has “great hopes” for strategic alliances with companies within the Hsinchu Science Park. We’ll see how that goes…

[Via: eTaiwanNews]

Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) has already locked down China Unicom as their Chinese iPhone partner and is still trying to strike a deal to bring the iPhone to China Mobile (NYSE: CHL)’s massive 500-million-strong customer base. But, China Mobile recently launched OPhone smartrphone operating system and their own mobile applications store which compete directly with the iPhone OS and the iPhone AppStore, respectively. That puts a kink in Apple’s plans to bring the iPhone to the world’s largest wireless carrier. So what’s Apple going to do? A new report from Wedge Partners research analyst Matt Mathison speculates that Apple could partner up with Chinese cellphone retailer Di Xing Tong to sell iPhones. These iPhones could be unlocked to work on China Mobile’s network.

Mathison says that Apple could push the iPhone through Di Xing Tong’s hundreds of storefronts throughout China, helping increase iPhone penetration in the massive Chinese market. He believes that Apple would sell the iPhones with the understanding that they could be unlocked to work on China Mobile’s network – Apple won’t sell unlocked iPhones directly, they just won’t prevent customers from unlocking them.

The Di Xing Tong retail chain is owned by Foxconn, Apple’s iPhone manufacturer. The retailer’s close ties to Apple could help facilitate an iPhone distribution deal.

There’s a problem though. China Mobile’s 3G network is incompatible with the iPhone. That would leave any would-be Chinese iPhone unlocker limited to China Unicom’s 3G network or China Mobile’s 2G GSM network. The Chinese iPhone doesn’t feature WiFi, so China Mobile’s 2G network might be a tough pill to swallow.

[Via: BusinessWeek]