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China Mobile may be offering Android-powered handsets, according to industry sources in Taiwan. Here are the facts that suggests we may see this happening in the near future:

• China Mobile is the only China-based mobile operator that is a member of Google’s Open Handset Alliance.
• In September 2007, China Mobile and Google, Marvell, China-based software developer Borqs International formed a technology alliance to promote a Linux-based open mobile system (OMS), integrating mobile applications specifically for the China market.

Originally, Chinese mobile operator planned to starting offer a Google phone by the end of 2008, with OMS applications to be developed by Borqs, the sources indicated. However, because the development of applications has lagged behind schedule, China Mobile is likely to postpone launching the handset until Q2 2009.

Alternatively, China Mobile may partner with HTC to offer an Android handset first by the end of 2008. And while we’re talking about HTC, the Taiwan-based smartphone maker plans to set up a subsidiary in China with clear idea to gain some market share in the “world’s fastest growing economy.” We’ll see where this goes…

[Via: DigiTimes]

China Mobile is expected to launch the iPhone on its network in the near future, but with some functionality removed to comply with regulations in the country. Various reports from within the country have noted that 3G and WiFi will apparently be disabled on the Chinese model.

Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry, the company that puts together iPhones for Apple is waiting for confirmation from China to give the ‘green light’.

China Mobile is expected to build out its own 3G network using the Chinese TD-SCDMA format. By disabling the 3G functionality, it would make the iPhone less appealing to users that might want to buy it and unlock it to work on the W-CDMA network that rival China Telecom manages.

Talks had broken up between Apple and China Mobile back in January, but they resumed in July. Apparently talks resumed because Apple is no longer insisting on revenue-sharing within the Chinese Market.

[Via: Cellular News]

According to the AFP, Apple is in the final stages of talks with China Mobile to bring the iPhone to the “world’s fastest growing economy.” Apparently, the two companies are likely to call on a deal in the near future, though China Mobile’s spokesman declined to comment.

There’s no doubt Apple could benefit from the vast Chinese market, even if only 1% of China Mobile’s users end up buying the device. A single percent of their user base is 6 million people and that’s huge. However, we’re more probably talking about the original iPhone than the iPhone 3G here. China Mobile’s 3G network uses China-only TD-SCDMA technology which at the moment can’t sing along Apple’s 3G handset. Will Apple tweak the 3G radio for Chinese market? It’s hard to tell at this stage, but they certainly have an incentive to do so. We’ll keep watching and get back to you as soon as we have more to report on the subject, k?

[Via: Unwired View]

China Mobile has shown off a 44.7% increase in H1 net profit, from a base that now (impressively) totals 415 million subs! It’s net adds for subscribers were 45m, that’s over 10%!

China Mobile is already the world’s largest mobile network operator (counting by subscribers), but the rate of additions is almost hard to comprehend. As I mentioned in a previous post, China is where it’s at in terms of growth right now!

Full China Mobile press release here.

China Mobile is saying that it recorded 1 mn viewers, clicking 7 mn times, watching more than 300,000 (!) hours of licensed Olympics Mobile TV, by Aug 19, according to Xinhuanet.com. Apparently on the first day of the games along, 200,000 users were actively looking at content.

That is some set of stats, and impressive by any means! Sporting events, with a definite time period, and that have key significance, always generate massive viewing figures - and what could be a bigger and better event than this?

I caught one “pundit” (commentator) on UK TV the other day saying that the 2012 London Olympics will obviously have to be “scaled down” compared to what we saw in China - I wonder if that means that less effort will be put in to the multi-channel coverage too? Be it by internet, mobile, PMP, PC, TV, or other, this year’s Olympics has proven (yet again) that if you create compelling content, people will watch it!

[Via: pacificepoch.com]

It’s not a secret Chinese 3G aka TD-SCDMA isn’t delivering the numbers expected. According to China’s CCID Consulting, the number of TD-SCDMA subscribers is expected to reach 2.31 million by the end of this year, falling substantially short of the optimistic projection of 20-50 million subscribers.

Since launching the service in early April, China Mobile has attracted slightly over 50,000 subscribers plus 8,000 trial business users, CCID noted.

At the moment more than 40 TD-SCDMA enabled mobile phones have received a network access license in China. However, only a few models are being sold, hence limiting the sales of TD-SCDMA phones. In addition, the TD-SCDMA handsets currently available in the market have only limited multimedia functions, while the data transmission speeds of most models are also not fast enough.

I’m guessing now that potential introduction of TD-SCDMA compatible Symbian S60 handsets in China may boost the sales. Digia certainly hopes so.

[Via: DigiTimes]

China Mobile is already the world’s largest mobile operator in terms of number of subscribers, but that doesn’t mean they can’t impress the world again. According to China’s Ministry of Information Industry, China Mobile surpassed the 600 million subscriber mark as of end of June!

8.63 million new users registered for China Mobile in June alone, for an official total of 53.5 million new subscribers so far this year. The figures also show that China and India are racing neck and neck in monthly subscriber additions…

[Via: PC World, textually.org]

China Mobile has now started it’s marketing push for a public beta of 3G telephony services, hinting that full deployment may be available soon after that little sporting event called the Olympics!

As we’ve reported on before, the dominant tecnology for 3G in China is not going to be the otherwise globally-accepted WCDMA, but in fact China’s homegrown TD-SCDMA (Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access).

TD-SCDMA was developed as part of a larger Chinese effort to create technology standards that would not require the payment of royalties to foreign patent holders. It is not compatible with any other 3G standard, and China’s carriers have not indicated they will support any other 3G standard. However, given the size of China’s domestic mobile market — about 550 million users — even 10 percent penetration would give TD-SCDMA more users than in many nations.

This latest advancement in trialling comes after 3 years of trials, in which various sample groups and technologies have been tested. There are six handsets involved in the current trial:

• Dopod s700
• Motorola’s l800t
• Haixin T66
• LG KD876
• Lenovo’s TD800
• Samsung i688

Interestingly, the i688 is one of 4 models that Samsung gave to the “Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG)” for use during the Olympics next month - Samsung is also an official sponsor. Overall, 15,000 devices have been supplied - clearly there is a massive P.O. (purchase order) if Samsung is selected as a key provider, so what’s 15K devices between friends!?

[Via: PCworld.com]

In an effort to push TD-SCDMA enabled handset sales forward, China Mobile has decided to (logically) subsidize them. So far sales numbers have fallen short of expectations, and the Chinese mobile operator hopes that the move will see more people switching to 3G prior to and during the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

Initially, China Mobile has procured 60,000 TD-SCDMA handsets. The second round, finished recently, involved procurement of 200,000 handsets and the company may additionally order 40,000 TD-SCDMA plus CMMB (China mobile multimedia broadcasting) phones.

Of the total number of handsets in the second round of procurement, China-based makers and vendors (ZTE, Postcom, Amoi and Hisense) together landed orders for 170,000 handsets, while international vendors like Samsung, LG and Motorola accounted for the remaining 30,000 units.

As for the sales promotion, China Mobile will subsidize purchases of TD-SCDMA handsets by 1,000-1,500 yuan ($146-$219) per handset, which is approximately 60% of the handset price. Additionally, China Mobile will absorb charges on TD-SCDMA subscribers’ use of certain communication services during the Olympic Games.

China Mobile launched TD-SCDMA trial operations in early April 2008 and attracted 52,000 subscribers as of July 1. However, of that number only 8,000 were substantial subscribers whereas the remaining majority were trial users provided by China Mobile with SIM cards, TD-SCDMA handsets and subsidies for communication charges.

[Via: DigiTimes]

Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) has said it won network infrastructure orders worth $865m from China Mobile in the first half of this year. Interestingly, this announcement comes not long after Alcaltel-Lucent (AlcaLu) announced a $1bn win from the same Operator!

Of course, the market for the infrastructure vendors now is quite hard, with falling prices, and reduced demand - and also in this case local entrants such as Huawei and ZTE. So when an OpCo as big as China Mobile tenders out, you can bet a fierce battle has ensued, and will continue to!

[Via: Reuters.com]