iPhone girl

The riddle of the ‘iPhone girl’ has been solved. The international mystery began when a UK customer, going by the name of Markm49uk, purchased an iPhone.

The first thing he saw upon opening up the iTunes program on the new 3G phone was a picture of a factory worker smiling back at him.

The woman, since dubbed ‘iPhone girl’, dressed in pink striped overalls and hat and wearing white gloves with yellow fingertips, was making the victory sign as she posed next to an iPhone.

Markm49uk posted a message as well as pictures on the website Macrumours.com asking if any other customers had found similar photos.

Her photo was reproduced all over the world, and eventually news reached Foxcon, the company where the the phone was assembled in China.

Bosses at Foxcon technology in Shenzhen have promised ‘iPhone girl’ that her identity will not be revealed, although one Chinese paper called the mystery worker ‘China’s prettiest factory girl’.
Source: WebUser

China Unicom goes mobile

China Unicom, the country’s second-largest wireless operator, aims to challenge China Mobile’s dominant position and win a third of the future users of the long-awaited third-generation (3G) mobile services.

Unicom announced the target after it said it would invest up to RMB100 billion ($16 billion) in the next two years to upgrade its network, with most of the money spent on the development of 3G.

Unicom is merging with fixed line operator China Netcom as part of Beijing’s state-orchestrated plan to reorganise the telecoms sector into three operators — each with wireless and fixed line services.

As part of the shake-up, China Telecom, currently the country’s biggest fixed-line operator, is taking over Unicom’s CDMA mobile business. Meanwhile, Unicom will continue to operate a bigger and more profitable GSM network.

Analysts said that Unicom’s target to grab a third of the 3G market was achievable because the company is expected to build its services on the widely-used and commercially-proven W-CDMA standard, offered by most European operators.
(Click HERE to read more on this).
Source: Financial Times

TD-SCDMA mobile

The Chinese government has given the green light to China Mobile to build a nationwide commercial trial network based on TD-SCDMA technology, the local 3G standard.

Whether China Mobile greeted the green light with unalloyed pleasure is open for debate.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology told the China Daily that the mobile operator had received approval to expand the network, currently operational in select cities, to national coverage.

However, he did not provide a time frame for when China Mobile would start the expansion. China Mobile started commercial trials of TD-SCDMA in eight cities in April, including Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin and Shenyang.

Analysts believe the ministry clearance underlines the government’s preference for 3G networks built on the TD-SCDMA standard. China Mobile has reportedly also been considering using WCDMA. Reported tests on TD-SCDMA seem to suggest that this technology still needs improvement.
Source: Telecom Paper

Samsung L258

Zi and Samsung , the world’s second largest mobile phone manufacturer, have got together and Zi’s eZiText and Decuma text entry solutions are now on the Samsung L258 and G618 handsets in China.

The Decuma Chinese V4.1 handwriting recognition technology is bundled with predictive text entry software eZiText to give a complete text input program.

Over the past six months, Zi Corporation has won several major contracts in Asia and its text entry product is currently being used by some of the region’s leading OEM’s.
Source: Fox Business

China TechFaith mobile

Cell phone designer China TechFaith Wireless Communication Technology has laid off nearly half its work force and appointed a new deputy Chief Executive Officer.

The moves are part of the Beijing-based company’s plan to focus more narrowly on higher-end mobile phones as it works to stave off competition.

At the end of the second quarter, China TechFaith said it employed 700 people, down from 1,300 at the end of the first quarter.

The company said it will take a charge of about $2 million in the current third quarter related to severance costs, but that it will save about $3 million in operating costs starting in the fourth quarter.

China TechFaith also announced executive-level changes as part of the restructuring.

Xiaonong Cai, a six-year veteran of the company, replaced Bob Huo as deputy CEO. Huo resigned to pursue personal interests, according to the company.

The cell phone company also named a new president, Shugang Li, replacing Gilbert Lee, who will remain on the board.
Source: CNN Mobile

Car navigation device

First understand that 4.5G TFT LCDs are used in 10.4in and smaller panels. These are made into 1.8in to 4in LCD screens which are built in mobile phones, MP3/MP4 players, digital cameras, PDAs and video game consoles; as well as 5in to 10.4in LCDs for car navigation devices, portable DVD players, digital photo frames, ultramobile PCs (UMPCs) and laptops. A large potential market.

There are 57 small- and medium-size panel production lines in the world, four of which are 5G production lines in mainland China.

Companies such as Beijing BOE Technology Group, Catic Shenzhen Co. and Shenzhen Tianma Microelectronics, have recently invested in new 4.5G production lines — the second, third and fourth of its kind in mainland China.

The number of 4.5G TFT LCD production lines in the region is expected to reach 8 or 10 in the next 5 years.

The production line’s low technology barriers and lesser investment capital requirement are said to be the main reason why some TFT LCD makers are paying more attention to 4.5G lines. And, in truth, the growth of the use of devices requiring these smaller screens is big enough to sustain much expansion.
Source: Computer Products

TD Digital TV mobile phone

China Mobile, an official Olympic sponsor, used the Games to tout a new network based on the government-backed TD-SCDMA standard.

The idea is that with TD-SCDMA China has its own standards and does not have to pay royalties to anyone else. Which is perhaps why it was not released properly, as promised, in time for the Olympic Games.

Three local employees of the Financial Times Beijing bureau won the chance to join a large-scale TD-SCDMA consumer service trial using locally produced handsets.

Unfortunately, after three days of intensive use, thierverdicts on the TD-SCDMA service were damning.

‘It’s too terrible’ said one who used a Panda TD988 made by Nanjing Panda, with a recommended retail price of RMB2,780.

‘It sucks,’ said another who had a Lenovo TD800 at RMB1,800).

‘Too awful,’ agreed another trying out a Postcom n268 made by Guang­zhou New Postcom Equipment at Rmb1,800.

It would be wrong to read too much into a single technology test involving only three people. But as a random sampling it will do. On this experience TD-SCDMA technology is not mature, not ready for release to the public.

Wang Yumin, of the government’s China Academy of Telecommunication Research, says that while TD-SCDMA trails years behind its rival standards, it is making progress. He estimates that by this month China Mobile has between 80,000 and 100,000 TD-SCDMA users, up from 52,000 in early July.
Read the full report HERE.
Source: Financial Times

George Chen of E-Ha

According to owner George Chen, E-Ha’s goal is simple. Take advantage of China’s wide use of cell phone text messaging to offer discounts and get diners into restaurants, particularly on slow nights. Start in Shanghai and hope that it can spread from there.

E-Ha lets users search online for Shanghai restaurants by cuisine, neighborhood, price and ratings.  The service concentrates on finding discounted meals.

On the mobile end, users can request restaurant recommendations by text message and then book a table from their cell phone.

Still the project faces considerable challenges.

For example, in preparation for the Olympics, the Chinese government cracked down on text messaging.

The order shut down E-Ha’s text messaging service, forcing the start-up to reapply for an operating license. By the time E-Ha was able to resume its service a few weeks later, it had lost momentum.

It also required users to reprogram their cell phones with a new number. Now it is trying again.
Source: SF Gate San Francisco Chronicle

Lenovo and Spreadtrum  have made a joint presentation to China Mobile of  Lenovo Mobile’s TD900, the new digital mobile-TV equipped TD-SCDMA handset.

The TD900’s design is based on Spreadtrum’s TD-SCDMA platform and mobile-TV solution.

Two batches of mobile-TV equipped TD900 are now in use by Beijing Olympics volunteers and staff members.

What we do not have is reports, as it were, from the action front. Instead we have the usual PR stuff from the two companies.

Yan Lv, President and CEO of Lenovo Mobile said, ‘TD900 is designed to address the needs of the mainstream market and is developed independently and to bring us the latest digital mobile TV experience.’

Dr. Ping Wu, President and CEO of Spreadtrum, said, ‘We are pleased that Spreadtrum and Lenovo Mobile were able to jointly deliver the digital mobile-TV equipped TD-SCDMA handsets. Spreadtrum has pursued independent innovation and has supported China’s self-developed standards for many years.’

What we want to know is how it worked in real life conditions. Taken that as a given then is seems even more likely that the home-grown TD-SCDMA standard is going to make it in a serious way in China. And then possibly some of the other, smaller countries of the world.
Source: Trading Markets

China Mobile has begun the marketing push for a public beta of 3G (third-generation) telephony services.

Television commercials on Beijing stations and display advertising in Beijing’s subway system have begun appearing, encouraging interested users to sign up for trial service. This will use China’s homegrown TD-SCDMA (Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access).

Published rates for eventual commercial service set a RMB50 (US$7.33) per month minimum and RMB0.40 per minute for data charges within the user’s home city. For users who choose to make video calls instead of plain voice calls, made from their home cities, charges of RMB0.60 per minute apply, and for the first time, China Mobile will not charge users to receive calls.

After three years of trials of various sizes and in numerous Chinese cities, TD-SCDMA may finally be ready for roll-out.

Six handsets available as part of the trial are: the Dopod s700; Motorola’s l800t; Chinese handset maker Haixin’s T66; LG’s KD876; Lenovo’s TD800; and Samsung’s i688.

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.
Source: PC World