UPDATE: China Unicom Unveils Mobile Operating System, 'Wophone' Brand
February 28 2011 - 7:21AM
Dow Jones News
The parent company of China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd. (CHU) on
Monday announced a new mobile phone brand that will use the
company's own operating system, placing it in competition with
Apple Inc.'s (AAPL) iPhone and devices using Google Inc.'s (GOOG)
Android operating system.
The launch of China United Network Communications Group Co.'s
"Wophone" brand comes after rival network operator China Mobile
Ltd. (CHL) in 2009 revealed its own mobile phone platform, called
"OPhone," which failed to attract much interest. China Unicom is
competing with China Mobile and China Telecom Corp. (CHA) to
attract more users of their third-generation mobile services, which
generate more revenue and offer faster data speeds than older
second-generation services.
Companies that will offer Wophone devices include Chinese firms
such as ZTE Corp. (0763.HK), Huawei Technologies Co. and TCL Corp.
(000100.SZ), as well as South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co.
(005930.SE), Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. (MMI) of the U.S. and
HTC Corp. (2498.TW) of Taiwan, Unicom's parent said in a statement.
It said the launch of the devices is imminent, but didn't
elaborate.
The Wophone platform has an operating system with a Linux core,
is meant for "smart terminals" and will help shorten product
development cycles for mobile phone makers, the statement said.
That could help China Unicom more quickly expand its range of
attractive handsets to gain users for its 3G services.
A company spokesman who declined to be named said the operating
system isn't based on Google Inc.'s (GOOG) Android. He also
declined to comment on whether that is because of Google's dispute
with China's government last year, when the U.S. company moved its
mainland China search engine to Hong Kong because of censorship and
hacking concerns.
Chinese government agencies including the National Development
and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Industry and Information
Technology supported development of the Unicom operating system,
the company's statement said, without elaborating.
The iPhone and Android operating systems, which are dominant
among smartphones in the U.S., are gaining market share in China
but remain eclipsed there by Symbian, an operating system used by
Nokia Corp. (NOK), according to Beijing research firm Analysys
International.
Symbian accounted for 60.1% of the 102.3 million smartphones
being used in China in the fourth quarter, according to Analysys.
Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT) Windows Mobile accounted for 13.1%, and
third-place Android 10.7%, Analysys said. Apple's iPhone had a 5.4%
share.
The Android category includes China Mobile's OPhone devices
since they are based on Android, but their overall share is
"small," Analysys analyst Lu Libin said.
-By Owen Fletcher, Dow Jones Newswires; 8610 8400 7702;
owen.fletcher@dowjones.com
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