China's Android phone

Condensed from China Mobile World 

28 April 2010- In 2007 Google and another 33 telecom companies announced the establishment of Open Handset Alliance (OHA). At the conference Google also unveiled the launch of Android, the first truly integrated mobile operating system, offering at the time 3 billion mobile users' worldwide whole new mobile experience with its excellent user interface and unprecedented mobile platform. This conference and the announcement of the launch of Android were to have reverberating impact in telecommunications in the few years to come.  

Google's Android thus gave an unexpected boost to these manufacturers boost to these manufacturers for the Android operating system means the possibility of building smartphones without having to pay for or fund development of one's OS.  

Statistics show China has been the world’s second largest smartphone market since the second quarter of 2010 for six consecutive quarters, with total overseas shipments of 6.9 million units representing 11% of the international market.  

Android devices combines reached almost 475,000 units in the second quarter of 2010 from zero in 2009. Google's relationship with the Chinese authorities appears to have improved recently, helping reduce concerns of vendors that committed resources to producing Android devices for the Chinese market said TY Lau, senior analyst at Canalys.  

Despite the fact that Symbian is still the common OS in China, the trend of people switching to Android is likely to rise, especially when lower-priced smartphones manufactured by Chinese vendors are beginning to enter the market.  

China's Android Phone Timeline

As of June 2010, the number of users using mobile phone for internet access amounted to 277 million, which is 40% of China's total phone users. Sales of mobile internet enabling devices, with Android smartphone in the category, have also maintained growth momentum, with annual shipment of mobile phones exceeding 700 million unites in 2010, accounting for 60% of the global production. 

The three main factors influencing customers' decision in purchasing mobile phones are quality, brand and prices. With Chinese manufactures already capable of producing high quality handsets, the same manufactures will have their reputation strengthen and capture a large fanbase. That leaves the pricing of a smarphone the final challenge for Chinese-made Android phones to succeed. This is solved by mass producing large quantities of chipsets.  

Prevalent Opportunities 

As Chinese phone makers take advantage of their sophisticated OEM production lines and low-cost chipset supplies to build competitively priced Android devices from China no longer means low quality phones. 

Case in point, Qualcomm's chipset has lowered the BOM (billing of Material) which in turn reduces the price for manufacturing local Android handsets while extending the capabilities of a handset With Qualcomm's support, Chinese smartphone mar can actually do more than just being "the world's factory". 

The result is an entry-level smartphone set to retail for around $150 USD in the near future.  

Android prospects in China 

With a population of 1.3 billion, China represent s a market with enormous growth potential. Like foreign vendors, visionary Chinese carriers are also taking advantage of the domestic smartphone market, and the Android OS to create their own operating system. Two such developers are China Unicom and China Mobile.  

China Unicom, originally a dominant 3G network service provider, has no stepped into manufacturing business by creating its own Wo Phone using company's homegrown operating system. China Mobile also came up with the OPhone using its Android based – Open Mobile System.  

As more operators are entering the smartphone maker, Android is expected to grow further in China, and that can be expected very, very soon.