Posts tagged ‘mobile’

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15/09/2014

Chinese City Launches Special Lane for Cellphone Addicts – China Real Time Report – WSJ

If you’re tired of walking behind someone who’s trudging along as they text, has this Chinese city got the sidewalk for you.

Last week, the city of Chongqing unveiled a lane specially designated for people who want to walk as they use their cellphones. “Cellphones, walk in this lane at your own risk” is printed in the lane in white lettering. The adjoining lane reads “No cellphones.”

On Monday, Weibo users reacted to the news with a mixture of amusement and scorn. “It’s such a lazy design. Shouldn’t the cellphone lane be placed [farther from the road]? It is not practical at all,” wrote one user.

Another dismissed the innovation, writing, “It’s just another imitation of foreign inventions,” the user wrote, referring to a similar experiment launched in Washington, D.C., earlier this year. “Besides, it seems only to be serving as a tourist attraction,” the user wrote of the road, which is located in a Chongqing tourist area called “Foreign Street Park.”

Still another wondered whether the road would make anything safer. “Is the goal here to encourage still more people to use their cellphones while walking?”

via Chinese City Launches Special Lane for Cellphone Addicts – China Real Time Report – WSJ.

Posted in China alert, mobile tech, Social & cultural, social media | 1 Comment »

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09/05/2013

* Nokia Unveils $99 Asha Smartphone

WSJ: “Nokia Corp., NOK1V.HE +0.30% struggling to regain ground in the competitive smartphone market, unveiled a $99 touch-screen smartphone for India and other emerging markets to help drive sales.

image

At a product launch event in New Delhi Thursday, Nokia said its Asha 501 will run on the new Asha platform.

The Finnish handset maker said the smartphone will initially run on a second-generation network, but it plans to expand the device for faster 3G services.

Nokia President and CEO Stephen Elop at a news conference at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February.

Chief Executive Stephen Elop said the smartphone was built on the design inspired by the company’s higher-end Lumia smartphone and is targeted at “young, socially inspired” people.

The smartphone has a 3.2 megapixel camera, weighs 98 grams and has a memory capacity of 4 gigabytes that can be expanded to 32 gigabytes. It comes in different colors including red, green, yellow and white, the company said in a statement.

Nokia, once the world’s largest phone maker, has struggled to compete in the high-end smartphone market dominated by Apple Inc. AAPL +1.12% and Samsung Electronics Co. 005930.SE +1.81% Adding to its woes is stiff competition from Chinese manufacturers as well as other low-cost Indian phone makers such as Micromax Informatics Ltd.

Up until last year, the Finnish mobile company’s last stronghold was India, but it is seeing increasing threat from Samsung in the country.

Nokia held a 26% share of the 170 million handsets shipped to India in 2012, with Samsung following closely behind with 22% of the market, data from Singapore-based mobile research firm Canalys shows.

In the fourth quarter, Nokia ranked second globally with 18% of the market, down from 23.4% a year earlier. Samsung ranked first with 22.7% and Apple Inc.’s market share rose to 9.2%.

Despite losing share to Samsung, Nokia’s handset sales improved due to strong demand for its Asha series and Lumia Windows phones, market research firm Gartner said.”

via Nokia Unveils $99 Asha Smartphone – WSJ.com.

Posted in Digital communications, Economics, India alert, Technology | Leave a Comment »

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27/01/2013

* China’s mobile phone users reach 1.11 billion

China Daily: “The number of Chinese mobile phone users reached 1.11 billion as of the end of 2012, according to official data unveiled Thursday.

China's mobile phone users reach 1.11 billion

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in a statement that mobile phone users represent 80 percent of all phones users in the country.

A farmer in Huojiatai village, Yongdeng county, Northwest China’s Gansu province, receives a text message on his phone from the local agricultural technician about growing vegetables, Jan 22, 2012. [Photo/Xinhua]

The number of mobile phones owned by every 100 people reached 82.6 by the end of 2012, up by nine from a year earlier, according to the statement.

Last year, the country recorded 125.9 million new mobile phone users, among whom 104.38 million were 3G mobile phone users, bringing the total number of 3G users to 232.8 million, the MIIT said.

The ministry said the number of Internet users rose by 51 million to 564 million people, among whom 74.5 percent, or 420 million people, surf the Internet with their mobile phones.

The Internet penetration rate reached 42.1 percent by the end of last year, up 3.8 percentage points from a year earlier.”

via China’s mobile phone users reach 1.11 billion |Economy |chinadaily.com.cn.

See also: https://chindia-alert.org/economic-factors/information-technology/

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25/01/2013

* China’s Huawei Creeps up on Apple, Samsung

WSJ: “As Samsung Electronics Co. and Apple Inc.  try to defend their dominance in the smartphone market, the latest data show China’s Huawei Technologies Co. coming third in terms of market share for the first time, indicating that a rapid increase of smartphone users in China and other emerging markets may be starting to alter the global landscape.

According to research firm IDC, Samsung’s smartphone market share in the fourth quarter through December rose to 29% from 22.5% a year earlier, while Apple’s share dropped slightly to 21.8% from 23%. Meanwhile, Huawei’s share rose to 4.9% from 3.5%, ahead of Japan’s Sony Corp. , whose share also increased to 4.5% from 3.9% a year earlier. Another Chinese company ZTE Corp., came fifth with 4.3%.

“The fact that Huawei and ZTE now find themselves among the Top 5 smartphone vendors marks a significant shift for the global market,” said IDC research manager Ramon Llamas.

via China’s Huawei Creeps up on Apple, Samsung – China Real Time Report – WSJ.

Posted in Affluence, China alert, Digital communications, Economics, innovation, patents | Leave a Comment »

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20/07/2012

* Rural Chinese get online as mobile overtakes desktop

BBC News: “Mobile phones are now the most common way for people to connect to the internet in China, a report has said.

For the first time, desktop computers are no longer the leading method for the country’s 538 million connected citizens to get online.

The report from the China Internet Network Information Center (CINIC) said over 50% of the year’s new internet users were from rural areas.

A fall in smartphone costs has been the key cause of growth, experts said. “Mobile phones are a cheaper and more convenient way to access the internet for [residents in] China’s vast rural areas and for the enormous migrant population,” said the report from the state-linked CINIC.

Mobile internet users now number 388 million, up almost 10% since the start of the year. “Mobile phone prices continued to drop,” the report said.

“The emergence of smartphones under 1,000 yuan [$157, £100] sharply lowered the threshold for using the devices and encouraged average mobile phone users to become mobile web surfers.”

The total number of those online has risen 5% since the end of last year, many of whom are very active in cyberspace.”

via BBC News – Rural Chinese get online as mobile overtakes desktop.

See also: https://chindia-alert.org/economic-factors/information-technology/

Posted in Affluence, China alert, Digital communications, Economics, Technology | Leave a Comment »

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26/04/2012

* For Apple, China Is Middle Kingdom

WSJ: “Not long ago, Asia Pacific was all but a footnote in the financial statements of technology juggernaut Apple Inc. But no more.

Image representing Apple as depicted in CrunchBase

Apple’s sales in the fast-growing region, fueled largely by China, more than doubled and represented 26% of its $39.2 billion in sales for the first three months of the year. IPhone sales in mainland China increased fivefold from the year-ago period and more than doubled in Japan.

Asia Pacific came within striking distance of becoming Apple’s largest revenue source in the fiscal second quarter. The company took in $10.2 billion in sales for the region for the first three months of the year, compared with $13.2 billion for the Americas, long its biggest source of revenue. Apple breaks out Asia Pacific separately from Japan, where sales nearly doubled to $2.6 billion.

Its a dramatic transformation considering Apple didn’t include Asia Pacific in its geographic breakdown until it reported results for the three months ended December 2009. That’s the quarter when Apple released the iPhone in China, more than two years after the U.S. debut. Apple has also yet to ship its new iPad in mainland China, selling 11.8 million of the tablets globally in the latest quarter.”

via For Apple, China Is Middle Kingdom – WSJ.com.

So China is rapidly becoming not only the producer but also consumer of high-tech electronic consumer products!

Posted in Affluence, China alert, Consumer, Economics, Technology | 1 Comment »

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