China Mobile to develop own cellphone

China Mobile Ltd, the nation's biggest telecom operator by subscriber, revealed on Wednesday that it would develop self-branded mobile phones.

During the China Mobile Global Developers Conference 2012 held in Guangzhou, Li Yue, chief executive officer of China Mobile, said it is definite that China Mobile would develop mobile phones and accessories under its own brand.

Citizens walk into a China Mobile services center in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, Sept 1, 2012. [Zhen Huai/Asianewsphoto]

"However, we will not compete with other industry mobile phone vendors," Li said. He took the US-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc as an example. When Wal-Mart sells other producers' merchandise, the company also provide customers with its self-branded products.

"China Mobile will do things that we should do. We will deliver added-value products (based on our own resources)," Li said during the conference.

On July 11, China Mobile announced it had successfully developed the first TD-SCDMA 3G mobile phone supporting Near Field Communication technology.

Previously, some Chinese Internet companies, including Baidu Inc, Alibaba Group and Qihoo 360 Technology, launched their own self-branded smartphones. Analysts pointed out that launching mobile phones on their own could enable them to embed their own Internet services in the devices to create closer ties with customers.

Li also confirmed China Mobile is expecting to cooperate with Apple Inc. "Apple is one of the greatest terminal manufacturers around the world. We started making contact in 2007," Li said.

"China Mobile and Apple still have to solve many issues, such as the business model, articles of cooperation and revenue division, but I believe we will reach an agreement eventually," Li added.

shenjingting@chinadaily.com.cn