BlackBerry poised to hit China
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TCL Corp (000100.SZ) began sending  BlackBerry handsets to partner China Mobile (0941.HK) in 2007's  fourth quarter, suggesting the launch of the popular email  device in China is just around the corner.
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The popular BlackBerry service will finally launch in Taiwan this week after being delayed in order to gain regulatory approval, a company representative confirmed Monday.
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Flash memory chip maker Spansion has sharpened its focus on China, revamping management in the Asia Pacific region and striking a deal to farm out some chip production to Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC).Spansion, originally a joint venture between Advanced Micro Devices&#160;and Fujitsu before it&#160;went public, provides NOR flash memory and its own MirrorBit flash chips to the mobile phone market.The changes in management structure and the SMIC deal are designed to boost Spansion&#39;s sales in China&#39;s mobile phone and consumer electronics markets. The management changes include the creation of a new position, president for the Greater China area, which usually includes China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.Several multinationals have increased their focus on China&#39;s mobile phone market in recent years. Research In Motion said Tuesday its popular&#160;BlackBerry handsets will soon be sold in China, an announcement that sent its stock soaring 9.8 percent on the Nasdaq Stock Market to $124.53 per share, despite the fact that most Chinese buy low-cost mobile phones.Last month, Hewlett-Packard, the biggest PC vendor, said it&#160;won a license from the Chinese government to sell more smartphone models&#160;in the country. It&#39;s currently allowed to sell only one smartphone, the hp6515 iPaq.The companies are being lured by China&#39;s rapid growth. It boasted 516 million mobile phone subscribers at the end of August, according to the Ministry of Information Industry of the People&#39;s Republic of China. The world&#39;s largest mobile phone company, China Mobile Communications, counted 350 million subscribers at of the end of September. No other country comes close to those numbers.The U.S. mobile population is at around 246 million, according to the CTIA, while India, which has a population nearly as big as China&#39;s, had 209 million mobile phone users as of the end of September, according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.Spansion&#39;s new Greater China president, Gary Wang, will work with customers, government officials and partners to focus Spansion&#39;s business strategies to the requirements of the China market, the company said.Spansion had 2006 full-year sales of $2.6 billion.The agreement with SMIC will allow Spansion to have its MirrorBit flash memory products produced on 12-inch silicon wafers in China, which help reduce costs. The companies expect the deal to help Spansion sell flash chips to Chinese consumer electronics manufacturers.Spansion began outsourcing production of some of its chips to SMIC&#39;s rival, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) last year, but TSMC does not offer production on 12-inch wafers in China. Taiwanese investment regulations prohibit TSMC from producing chips on 12-inch wafers in China. Spansion will continue to contract some manufacturing to TSMC.SMIC will also be able to manufacture and sell MirrorBit Quad chip products to certain markets in China, according to a memorandum of understanding, Spansion said.REFERENCES:HP wins license to sell more smartphones in China, Sep. 13, 2007First BlackBerry comes to China, with Alcatel-Lucent&#39;s help, Oct. 24, 2007
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(InfoWorld) - The popular BlackBerry service will finally launch in Taiwan this week after being delayed in order to gain regulatory approval, a company representative confirmed Monday. The serviceÂ was originally slatedÂ to be up and running over the summer, and even a formal ceremony in September did not turn out to be the launch date for Research In Motion (RIM) and its local partner Taiwan Mobile Co.Â The island's National Communications Commission finally gave the service a green light last week. BlackBerry messaging and Internet access services will officially launch in Taiwan Wednesday. Taiwan will become the 17th country in the Asia-Pacific region to adopt the BlackBerry, but the service could face stiff competition on an island full of companies loyal to Microsoft. The robust PC industry in Taiwan depends mainly on Microsoft for its Windows OS and other software. The largest handset maker backing the Microsoft Windows Mobile OS is also from Taiwan, High Tech Computer Corp. (HTC). RIM has worked with local handset makers to avoid potential conflicts. Dopod International last week announced that two of its Windows Mobile handsets will be able to use BlackBerry services. The company installed RIM's BlackBerry Connect software on its 838Pro and C720W devices, which are aimed at users in Asia. Dopod obtained the software through an existing licensing relationship between HTC and RIM. Dopod was bought by HTC earlier this year. Users will be able to use the Dopod Windows Mobile-based handsets to access BlackBerry services with support for both BlackBerry Enterprise Server and BlackBerry Internet Service.
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Research In Motion Ltd. expects to start selling a BlackBerry with both cellular and Wi-Fi wireless capabilities, the company&#39;s CEO said Thursday.
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College parties met business e-mail on Wednesday as Facebook said it is adding its social-networking platform to Research In Motion Ltd.&#39;s BlackBerry devices.T-Mobile will be the first carrier to build a Facebook application into the BlackBerries it sells, but BlackBerry users on any network will be able to download the application starting later Wednesday, Facebook Co-Founder and Vice President of Engineering Dustin Moskovitz said in a keynote address at the CTIA Wireless IT&#160;and Entertainment show in San Francisco.In the keynote, Moskovitz demonstrated taking a photo with a BlackBerry Curve device, adding tags to it and posting it to Facebook without even starting up the Facebook application. Other features include the ability to set special ringtones for Facebook events and invite friends to join Facebook through BlackBerry e-mail. But it&#39;s the open nature of Facebook&#39;s platform, which allows third parties to add new applications, that sets the company apart, Moskovitz said.The tie-up brings together the highest profile social-networking player, with almost 50 million active users, and an enterprise mobile pioneer vying for market share against Microsoft, Palm, Symbian, Apple, and other device and OS vendors. Executives of the two companies met at the CTIA Wireless Show in March in Orlando and agreed to work together, Moskovitz said. Openness is the key factor they had in common, he said.Starting from a base of thousands of colleges and high schools, Facebook last year opened its network to anyone, and members over 35 years old are the fastest-growing segment, Moskovitz said. RIM has its roots in corporate e-mail tied to specialized enterprise servers so the partnership could help Facebook grow right where it&#39;s catching up.The announcement came amid reports on Wednesday that&#160;Google and Microsoft are wooing Facebook.Facebook also announced a few other advances in the mobile arena, where it expects to have 4 million active users by the end of this month. There are Facebook services available on most major U.S. and Canadian carriers, and Moskovitz announced its first carrier deal outside North America, with O2 (U.K.) Ltd.One extension announced Wednesday lets users add information from third-party Facebook applications as a box in their mobile profiles. As an example, Moskovitz showed a user&#39;s profile that listed two causes he supports. Another extension lets organizations text-message Facebook members to send a text message in support of a cause. The member&#39;s support is immediately reflected on Facebook on the Web, he said.
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Research In Motion Ltd. RIM.TO   RIMM.O reports second-quarter earnings on Thursday and   investors and analysts will be keenly watching for word of   sales of the new BlackBerry Pearl, the wireless e-mail device   the company is hoping will capture a slice of the broader   consumer market.
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China Mobile Communications has, for now, broken off talks about serving as Apple's iPhone partner in launching the popular smart phone in China later this year.
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RIM's new multimedia BlackBerry set to compete with Apple iPhone and high-end handsets from Samsung and LG.
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Latest statistics from the Ministry of Information Industry show that China exported more than four million Chinese-brand mobile phones from January to September, far exceeding last year&#39;s total of 2.06 million.
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There's a lot of uncertainty surrounding the Chinese cell-phone powerhouse.
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Almost 40 percent of Chinese own mobile phones, and the number of subscribers is likely to hit 500 million before the end of June.
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(InfoWorld) - One of Taiwan's largest mobile phone network operators launched the popular BlackBerry service Thursday, continuing Research In MotionÂ (RIM)'s expansion into Asia. Taiwan became the 17th country in Asia-Pacific to adopt the BlackBerry, but the service could face stiff opposition on an island full of companies loyal to Microsoft. The robust PC industry in Taiwan depends mainly on Microsoft for its Windows OS and other software. The largest handset maker backing the Microsoft Windows Mobile OS is also from Taiwan, High Tech Computer Corp. (HTC) Still, Taiwan Mobile Co. launched BlackBerry with theÂ aim of attracting Taiwanese businessÂ and individual users to RIM's community of more than 5.5 million global BlackBerry users through push mail and other data delivery services, including BlackBerry Internet Service. The company is initially offering the BlackBerry 7290 and BlackBerry 8700g, and will expand to other products as the market develops. Taiwanese users can type in Chinese characters via the QWERTY keypads on both BlackBerry handsets, but the two input methods offered, Pinyin and Cangjie, are not as popular on the island as locally developed Zhuyin. The difference is important for simplicity and ease-of-use. Prior to the development of Chinese input methods, typical Chinese computers required several keyboards each with hundreds of keys, forcing users to switch keyboards several times while they worked. Taiwan Mobile said it already had over 160 companies interested in using the new service. The mobile network operator plans to work with them to enable their employees to access email and other corporate data with BlackBerry Enterprise Server. One company hoping to spoil the show for Taiwan Mobile and BlackBerry is Chunghwa Telecom Co., Taiwan's largest network operator. The companyÂ teamed up with HTCÂ to develop a smartphone that runs push e-mail via Windows Mobile 5.0 and Outlook Mobile, the CHT9000.
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French telecoms equipment maker  Alcatel is nearing a deal with a Chinese peer on cooperating to  build third-generation (3G) mobile phone networks using a  Chinese technology standard, a senior executive said.
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Telecom executives are excited by the potential for 3G cellular networks in China, but the country wonÂt say which technology it will use or who will get licenses.
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Research In Motion (RIM), the manufacturer of the popular Blackberry mobile, has been left with a curate&#39;s egg to mull over for Christmas.
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and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.  have settled a lawsuit in which RIM alleged the South Korean electronics giant had infringed on its well-known BlackBerry trademark with its competing BlackJack smartphone. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni" border="0" /> BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. on Monday will unveil a new version of its top-end e-mail phone for business users, replacing the signature side navigation wheel with a front trackball that first appeared last year on the consumer-oriented BlackBerry Pearl.