china

Nokia Announces Lumia 800C In China On China Telecom

March 28, 2012 | By Pradeep

Nokia today launched its first Lumia device in China. The Nokia Lumia 800C will be on sale from April on China’s largest CDMA network China Telecom. The Lumia 800C is little different in software capabilities than our normal Lumia 800.

As a result, Nokia 800C owners will have access to popular Chinese media and social networking services including Sina, SOHU, Tencent and Renren. The phone also comes with Lumia-exclusive apps. Nokia Maps provides 3D maps of China and 190 more countries, plus content from popular Chinese travel, food, and real estate sites. Nokia Drive is a voice-guided, turn-by-turn navigation app. And Nokia Music offers unlimited free music for 12 months in mainland China.

To celebrate the launch, Nokia plans to offer 100,000 free downloads of the hit games Fruit Ninja and Plants vs Zombies via the new Chinese-language Windows Phone Marketplace. Nokia also announced that Lumia 610 CDMA version is heading to China Telecom in Q2 this year.

via: Windows Team blog

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Microsoft aims to pass Apple iPhone market share in China with low cost Windows Phones

March 21, 2012 | By Surur

Speaking at the launch of the Chinese-localized Windows Phone yesterday, Simon Leung, Microsoft’s chairman and chief executive officer for the Greater China region, told reporters in Beijing that passing Apple is an “interim goal” as the company’s longer-term objective is to supplant Google’s Android as the local market leader.

While Microsoft is in part counting on their fresh approach to mobile computing, the real tool is low-cost Windows Phones in the 1,000 yuan range. A 16-gigabyte iPhone 4S costs 4,988 yuan at Apple’s online store in China.

“We will continue to drive the price down,” Leung said. “Our goal is number one. Having a goal to be number two is not really a goal.”

Microsoft’s manufacturing partners will “definitely” offer devices in the price range of 1,000 yuan ($158), Leung said.

China is poised to become the world’s biggest smartphone market in 2012, according to the IDC, with shipments expected to will jump 52 percent to 137 million units this year, overtaking the U.S. for the first time.

IDC predicts Windows Phone will take 7.5 percent of the China market this year, trailing the 12 percent share of Apple’s IOS and Android’s 70 percent, said Teck-Zhung Wong, a Beijing-based analyst at IDC. By next year, Windows share will rise to 15 percent, surpassing Apple’s 13 percent, while still trailing Android’s 66 percent, he said. By 2016, Windows Phone is forecast to have a 20 percent share in China, ahead of Apple’s 16 percent and trailing Google’s 60 percent.

“The Windows Phone ramp-up in China won’t really begin until the second quarter, so the numbers are still low,” Wong said. “From next year the ramp-up will be more rapid.”

“Windows Phone will have a lot of equipment manufacturing partners and more device choice at more different price points,” Wong continued. “That alone, as opposed to what Apple is doing, will give Windows Phone an advantage.”

Sandy Shen, a Shanghai-based analyst with Gartner Inc. said Microsoft will also have to fight against the prevalence of iPhone and Android devices at the high-end of the market.

“It will take a while before people appreciate the offering,” Shen said. “It’s never too late for a really good product, but there are still improvements to be made on the Windows Phone device itself and to establish the ecosystem.”

Microsoft is expected to release Windows Phone 8 later this year which is expected to address features required at the the high end of the smartphone.

Windows Phone Launches Officially In China With HTC Eternity On Sale

March 21, 2012 | By Pradeep

Microsoft today marked the official launch of a Chinese-customised version of Windows Phone with an event in Beijing showing of the user interface on the HTC Eternity (so far called the HTC Triumph, and better known as the HTC Titan).

The Chinese version of Windows Phone retains the Metro Design even with the inherent beauty of Chinese characters and supports both simplified and traditional Chinese languages.

The HTC Eternity (HTC Titan elsewhere) with a 4.7-inch screen, front- and rear-facing cameras along with popular Chinese apps is going on sale from today and should be followed by Nokia, ZTE and other OEMs soon. The Marketplace launches in China with 2000 apps.

At launch however the OS will lack deep integration with Chinese social networks – this will however come in May 2012.

Read more coverage of the event at WPDang here.

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ZTE Mimosa Windows Phone Tango pictured

March 20, 2012 | By Surur

WPDang has managed to get some more information and a picture of the ZTE Mimosa.

They revealed the handset will be a low-end Tango handset with a smaller screen, 800 Mhz Qualcomm processor and 256 MB RAM, bringing the production costs down to around $150.

They also revealed the handset will come with replaceable covers like the Nokia Lumia 710 and will be priced competitively with the Nokia Lumia 610 and will likely not be sold out outside China.

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XBox Live still hiding on Chinese Tango handsets

March 18, 2012 | By Surur

One of the social networks which is disabled on Chinese Windows Phone 7 handsets with the Tango update is Xbox Live, and on those handsets, when one taps the Games tile one is take directly to the games category in Marketplace, as can be seen above.

WPDang reports however simply using a Windows Live ID from outside mainland China (even Hong Kong will work) the Game tile will change to the Xbox Live tile, and the full interface will be available, as can be seen in the screen shots below.

While this does not appear to restore Facebook and twitter features, these networks are of course in reality much less relevant in China in any case.

HTC Triumph hands-on video

March 18, 2012 | By Surur

The Unwiredview have posted this hands-on video of the the HTC Triumph, HTC’s Chinese version of the HTC Titan.

The handset has been the first Tango device in China and is already available, costing a pretty penny at CNY 4,399 (USD 697.5).

The device will however soon be joined by a rash of other handsets by Nokia and ZTE.

Via WPCentral.com

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Nokia 719c and Nokia Lumia 710 for China pictured

March 17, 2012 | By Surur

Pictures have leaked of the Nokia 719c in China, which in fact appears somewhat different from the Nokia Lumia 710, pictured from its official Certification documentation.

While both devices have the same size clear black screen and physical rather than capacitive buttons, the Nokia 719c has rounder corners ~~and the top right corner appears to be specially marked, suggesting something like a NFC chip in that location.~~ Apparently the mark is just the screen protector.

According to the thread, the handset will support both CDMA and GSM, suggesting it is heading to China Telecom, a carrier with 130 million CDMA users.

Thanks aikon171 for the tip.

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ZTE Mimosa also show up on WPBench

March 16, 2012 | By Surur

Mining WPBench’s data a bit more, another new Windows Phone 7 handset has popped up.

We have previously heard about the ZTE Mimosa during Mobile World Congress, where it was reported that this will be a Tango handset for the Chinese market, based on ZTE’s Android ZTE Mimosa X handset.

From the benchmark entry one can deduce the handset uses a slower processor similar to the Nokia Lumia 610, and it is expected be priced competitively with the Nokia 710 and launch in April.

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Nokia Lumia 800 gets a pre-launch price cut in China

March 14, 2012 | By Surur

Chinese publication CNMO reports that the CDMA version of the Nokia Lumia 800c on China Telecom has had a price cut even before it hit the market.

The handset was supposed to launch for 4,899 Yuan ($774 ) but will now be sold for 3,899 Yuan (about $616) without a contract.

The carrier is also increasing its subsidies for the handset on contract, and will now be offered for as low as 19 Yuan ($3) on contract.

With the Nokia brand very strong in China and prices so low the handset should do pretty well, boosting Nokia and Windows Phones sales significantly in Q2 2012.

The smartphone is expected to hit shelves on the 28th March 2012.

Via Unwiredview.com

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Windows Phone “Tango” launches officially in China on March 21st

March 14, 2012 | By Surur

While no-one at Microsoft USA will acknowledge a Windows Phone update called Tango, Microsoft China is sending out invitations for the launch of the OS in mainland China.

The event will be held in Beijing on the 21st March and should be followed closely by Tango-enabled devices such as the HTC Triumph (a Titan variant) and the Nokia Lumia 800 and 710 for CDMA and TD-SCDMA networks China Telecom and China Mobile.

The Chinese version of Windows would lack Xbox Live features, use weiBo (Chinese version of Twitter) and RenRen (Chinese version of Facebook) and Bing search result would be based on a combination of Bing and BaiDu, the Chinese no.1 search engine.

Via LiveSide.net

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Nokia Lumia handsets launching March 28th in China

March 13, 2012 | By Surur

According to CNMO.com Stephen Elop has revealed the launch date of the Nokia Lumia handsets in China.

The handsets will be coming to China on March the 28th, and will be available in 2 versions – 2 CDMA and 2 GSM handsets (Nokia Lumia 800 and 800c, and the Nokia Lumia 710 and 719c). The CDMA handsets are heading for China Telecom, while the GSM handsets will likely show up on China Mobile, the largest carrier in the world.

The article states that the Nokia Lumia handsets did not come to China at the same time as the rest of the world as localization had not been completed, but in the future the handsets will arrive in China at the same time as everywhere else.

Via Unwiredview.com

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A Windows Phone also coming to China Mobile’s 600 million subscribers

March 11, 2012 | By Surur

We have reported earlier that some Nokia CDMA handsets will be coming to China Telecom. China Telecom is however one of the smaller operators in China, with only 62 million subscribers.

Now Marbridge Consulting reports that a general manager of China Mobile has confirmed that the network will soon also release a Windows Phone using TD-SCDMA technology. TD-SCDMA is a China-only version of GSM 3G.

Pan Zhiyong, general manager, would not confirm which OEM will be releasing the handset, but way back in August last year we reported that Nokia was aiming to release a TD-SCDMA handset in China, making them the most likely actor.

China Mobile is the world’s biggest cell phone carrier, with over 600 million subscribers, making the potential customer base 10 times larger. We posted an editorial a few weeks ago saying Windows Phone needed TD-SCDMA support to succeed in China. It seems we need not have been concerned after all.

Via TNW.com

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CDMA Nokia 719c shows up in Chinese Certification

March 10, 2012 | By Surur

Chinese-Certification

The Nokia 719c is a CDMA version of the Nokia Lumia 710, and we had been hoping it was heading to Verizon.

Now however the handset, with the Nokia 800c, has shown up for certification at the Chinese government radio management agency SRRC, confirming it is heading to that region.

WPDang reports the handset will lack the Clear Black screen of the Lumia 710, but will be running Windows Phone Tango and be a dual-mode GSM/CDMA device.

It is of course a real pity that these CDMA handsets have already been developed, and the US CDMA carriers have still not seen fit to make them available to their customers. Of course it is their loss if the same customers leave them for AT&T and T-Mobile to get their hands on the latest Windows Phones.

Via Liveside.net.

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