A Linux-based mobile OS is set to launch in China, presenting a possible threat to competitors as they vie for smartphone and tablet customers in the Asian market.
Chinese ecommerce company Alibaba says it will launch its Aliyn OS at the end of the month, after working on it for three years. Phone manufacturer Tianyu intends to sell the Aliyn-based K-Touch Cloud-Smart Phone W700 for $416 in several days, with plans to market a tablet soon.
Aliyn's main features include the ability to run Android apps in the cloud, as well as those created with JavaScript and HTML5. It offers users cloud-based email, data, text message and photo storage too, besides regular web search and GPS.
"Introducing cloud apps to mobile devices not only brings a whole new user experience, but also greater ease for third-party mobile software developers who will be able to use Internet technology such as HTML5 and JavaScript to reduce the complexity in the app development process," said Wang Jian, president of Alibaba Cloud Computing.
In most regions of the world, Aliyn would face fierce and nearly devastating competition from Google's Android and Apple's iOS. But in China where Tianyu's new phone is set to launch, the OS may have a chance. The country's mobile broadband infrastructure is still underdeveloped and essentially up for grabs to whoever can create the biggest presence there first.
China is still behind in the smartphone market, though 3G subscriber numbers jumped nearly 50 percent to almost 70 million last April. But given the country's enormous population, 70 million is a small number compared to the U.S. market, in which nearly half of phone owners have smartphones.
If Aliyn can create a foothold in time, then, it may stand a chance against planned marketing onslaughts from rivals Apple, Google and Nokia, which are also angling for the Chinese market.
Apple's COO Tim Cook reportedly held talks with China Mobile to introduce the iPhone on its network. Doing so would give it 600 million more customers in the country, especially if Apple also decides to provide a cheaper, prepaid version of its iPhone 3GS.
Android smartphone maker HTC also reports increased success in the Asian market, shipping 11 million smartphones inside China this last quarter.
Other Android phone manufacturers too have their eyes on the populous country, as analysts predict over one billion people there will own smartphones in the next five years.
Nokia too is looking to push into Asia with lower-end handsets, which could take a chunk out of smartphone sales since the latter tend to be more affordable.
The competition is fierce, but this unexplored market is up for grabs, and upstarts like Aliyn may see success if it can grapple with rivals for the upper hand.
-News Source (Mobiledia)
