Tag: China

Alibaba breezes through China Singles’ Day online traffic with ZTE technology

AlibabaAlibaba Group handled a record-breaking surge in online shopping traffic on China Singles’ Day on November 11 , the busiest day of the year for Internet retailers in China.

China’s largest e-commerce company broke its one-day sales record by more than 80 percent. ZTE’s ZXONE 8700 optical transport network system carried 90 percent of Alibaba’s operating data traffic that day, as online shopping orders pushed Alibaba’s peak data traffic to almost 300 Gbits per second, sustained for a period of seven hours.

For the 24-hour duration of China Singles’ Day, ZTE’s OTN systems deployed by Alibaba delivered excellent network performance and fault-free reliability, with no malfunction warning reported.

Large screen smartphones gaining popularity

CanalysThe numbers are clear. Big is getting more popular. Large screen smart phones (five-inch and above) accounted for 22 percent of the quarter billion smartphones shipped in Q3. This is the highest number ever and translates to a staggering 56 million units.

Samsung is the dominant player in the large screen segment. Breaking this down further, 66 percent of the 56 million smart phones had a five-inch display, 31 percent had screens between five and six inches while just three percent had six-inch or larger screens.

According to Canalys, the smartphone market grew 44 percent year-on-year in Q3. The top two vendors, Samsung and Apple, maintained their positions, with market shares of 34 percent and 15 percent respectively. Huawei, Lenovo and LG completed the top five.

Touch-enabled notebooks top wish list

IDCTouch is in. Beyond touch screen phones, users in Asia-Pacific want touch-enabled notebooks.

According to an IDC Asia-Pacific end user survey, 82 percent of respondents prefer a touch-enabled notebook for their next purchase.

The annual survey that studies end user behaviour and usage on client devices. The usage explosion of smartphones and tablets, where touch screen is a prominent feature, is a key driver of taking these screens to the personal computer. The study also finds that the majority of PC users today, even in emerging markets, own a smartphone, especially for 26-35 year olds at 87 percent. 

Innovation and brand equity key for China smartphone makers in global market

frost and sullivanChina smartphone makers looking to take their domestic success globally need to carefully consider their expansion strategies, according to Frost & Sullivan.

While the China market has been driven by demand for cheap devices that offer a unique range of services such a virtual goods, messaging apps, and photo sharing, the more mature Western markets are very different, with carrier relationships, strong brand equity, and innovative features crucial to success.

Along with Huawei and ZTE, three interesting China companies have ambitions to take their smartphone businesses international: Lenovo, Yulong Coolpad and Xiaomi. The first and most successful China smartphone company is Lenovo, which has the largest smartphone market share of China companies, second only to Korean giant Samsung in China. Lenovo is also one of the most diversified China electronics companies, with a broad portfolio. The company has already achieved success on the global stage with its PC business, now the world’s largest after overtaking HP in 2012.

Huawei lab head first Chinese to receive AAAI fellowship

HuaweiDr Qiang Yang, Head of Huawei’s Noah’s Ark Lab, has been elected a fellow of AAAI (the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence).

AAAI Fellow is the highest honour in the artificial intelligence (AI) community, recognising a small group of AAAI members who have made significant and sustained contributions to the field of artificial intelligence. This year, AAAI elected eight fellows from across the world.

Yang is the 1st AAAI Fellow in Greater China and first among Chinese Scientists worldwide. He was elected “for significant contributions to AI planning, data mining and case-based reasoning” in AI. Yang is already a fellow of the institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, International Association for Pattern Recognition, and The American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Local smartphone makers best Apple in China market

abi researchTo most people around the world, Coolpad, Lenovo and Xiaomi don’t quite ring a bell when it comes to smartphones. But, in China, these three Chinese smartphone OEMs outsold Apple in Q2, according to ABI Research.

Only Samsung managed to hold its own but snaring a 17 percent market share. Lenovo was next with 13 percent, Coolpad with 10 percent and Xiaomi edged out Apple with 6.5 percent.

“Even though these OEMs are only selling into the Chinese market, the size of the market has allowed them to achieve shipment volumes that place these OEMs in the top 12 globally. It is not hard to imagine these OEMs as global competitors within the next two years,” said Michael Morgan, Senior Analyst of ABI Research.

ZTE unveils world’s first flexible reconfigurable terabit router

ZTEZTE has unveiled the world’s first flexible reconfigurable terabit router to enable customers to build the highest-performance broadband networks.

The terabit router supports the deployment of multiple line cards with processing capability of 10 gigabits per second to 1T, and modules that offer scalable throughput of 200G to 18T. To enable convenient installation in a wide variety of environments, the flexible interfaces and loose-coupled component design of the router allow customers to configure networks that are customised for their needs, promoting adaptability, consistency and continuity.

The superior performance of the terabit router is built on two proprietary ZTE technology solutions, cloud routing and intelligent system resource scheduling. Cloud routing builds system control plane based on distributed modular technology to ensure efficient network resource utilisation, offering network scalability and support for simultaneous deployment of multiple transmission protocols. Intelligent system resource scheduling enables physical and logic system resource sharing and flexible scheduling to ensure automatic matching of system load and resource allocation, driving superior power-consumption performance of 0.8W/Gbps.

Hong Kong to stay as key Asia Pacific data centre market

frost and sullivanLimited land availability and high real estate prices are unlikely to make Hong Kong lose its status as a key data centre market in Asia Pacific, according to Frost & Sullivan.

The limitations are countered by the Hong Kong Government’s continuous support for the sector.

“Hong Kong’s strong political connection to Mainland China allows it to act as a gateway for global companies that seek to tap into opportunities in China’s market,” said Danni Xu, Research Analyst, ICT Practice, Asia Pacific at Frost & Sullivan. “Moreover, Hong Kong’s business-friendly and free-trade environment has drawn a number of multinational corporations (MNCs) to set up their regional headquarters in the country. This has brought in numerous investments and job opportunities, and created demand for data center services.”

China’s top five vendors grab 20% of the world’s smartphone market

CanalysSamsung and Apple grew smartphone shipment by 55 percent and 20 percent respectively to maintain first and second place in Q2, according to Canalys.

However, both lost market share to Chinese vendors as the top 5 China vendors (Lenovo, Yulong, Huawei, ZTE, and Xiaomi) now account for 20 percent of the  market, up from less than 15 percent a year ago.

Altogether, some 238.1 million units were shipped in Q2, an impressive 50 percent year-on-year gain.

ZTE introduces MF253 LTE wireless router with customised versions for different markets

ZTE MF253ZTE has launched the MF253 LTE wireless router that enables 4G mobile data access for homes, retail stores and offices.

With a sleek upright design, the MF253 supports data downlink speeds of 100Mbps, and 50Mbps for uplink, delivering high-speed mobile Internet access for up to 32 users simultaneously. It comes with a streamlined white chassis and blue indicator lights.

Customised versions for markets in the Americas, Europe and China ensure comprehensive support for a broad range of LTE spectrum used in different markets globally. Support for an external antenna will allow the MF253 to be deployed in areas of poor mobile signals.

China pulls down APAC PC market in Q2

IDCThe PC market slowdown continued in Q2 with Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) dropping one percent last quarter and 11 percent year-on-year in Q2 to reach 26.7 million units, according to IDC’s preliminary results.

Weak sell-in amid ongoing consumer distractions, such as phones and tablets, as well as a slowing economy affected the PC market performance in China, which pulled the entire region down. While consumer sentiment in the rest of region was also tepid, a higher-than-expected shipment for a large education notebook project in India helped to offset some of this decline.

“The second half of this year still faces a number of challenges such as economic and channel conditions in China as well as uncertainty around an education project in India,” said Handoko Andi, Research Manager at IDC Asia/Pacific. “It’s possible for the market to bottom out and recover by 2014 as technology evolves, but IDC confidence is low at the moment given all of the forces tugging at each other right now.”

ASOS leverages hybris for China e-commerce business

hybrisUK online fashion and beauty store ASOS has selected the hybris Commerce Suite to launch its new e-commerce business in China. Providing an omni-channel experience for those 420 million potential customers, the site will include a fully-integrated, feature-rich mobile version.

With six million active customers, ASOS stocks more than 60,000 branded and own-label products through each of its websites: UK, USA, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Australia, and Russia. It ships to 241 countries and territories from its 1.1 million square foot global distribution centre in the UK.

According to a report from eMarketer released in February 2013, this year’s B2C e-commerce sales are expected to grow 18.3 percent to US$1.298 trillion worldwide as Asia-Pacific (APAC) surpasses North America to become the world’s No. 1 market for B2C e-commerce.

Nokia redefines zoom with Lumia 1020

Nokia Lumia 1020In an effort to make an impact in the smartphone market, Nokia seems to be banging the camera feature. Boasting a second generation 41 megapixel sensor, the new Nokia Lumia 1020 reinvents zoom, delivering more details than the eye can see so people can take photos first and frame later.

With Nokia’s innovative PureView technology and a new application called Nokia Pro Camera, it claims to be able to produce some of the sharpest images possible by any digital camera. Nokia Pro Camera makes it easy to capture, edit and share photos and videos.

The Nokia Lumia 1020’s 41 megapixel sensor features ZEISS optics with six physical lenses, plus optical image stabilisation. It also captures blur free videos with stereo sound even at the loudest concerts thanks to Nokia Rich Recording, which handles sound pressure levels six times louder than conventional smartphone microphones.

Lenovo nudges HP off global PC perch

IDCLenovo became the number one PC vendor in Q2 as HP slid to second with Dell coming in third.

According to IDC‘s Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker, Lenovo continued its streak of gains following channel expansion and solid product development. In Q2, it made impressive gains outside of Asia Pacific except Japan (APeJ). However, the headwinds in China continued to affect its home turf significantly. Lenovo ended the quarter with a double-digit decline in APeJ. Overall growth has slowed from prior quarters, and slipped into negative territory this quarter, but still outpaced the market and top competitors.

HP slipped to second place, but growth improved from recent quarters. It was boosted by shipments to India as part of large education projects. Despite ongoing uncertainty surrounding its restructuring, Dell performed above market with a decline of 4.5 percent. As with HP, this was a significant improvement from the past year that was aided by improving growth in the US. It managed to perform above market in all key regions except APeJ.

ZTE snags most new contracts in China Telecom CDMA procurement programme

ZTEZTE Corporation has been awarded the most new contracts in phase 1 of China Telecom Group’s 2013 CDMA network procurement programme.

With the 2013 network procurement programme, China Telecom is strongly-positioned to grasp the new opportunities in CDMA services and meet the increasingly sophisticated needs of subscribers.

“We are fully committed to offering China Telecom the most advanced products and solutions,” said Fan Xiaobing, vice president of ZTE. “ZTE always strives to deliver the best technology, and the most customised services.”

Huawei introduces MediaPad 7 Vogue

When Samsung launched the 5.3-inch Galaxy Note in October 2011, critics scorned at the size of the phablet and wondered if people would actually buy the product. In under two years, the Galaxy Note has not only proven to be a success but has become the trailblazer to bigger-screen phones.

The latest iteration is the Huawei MediaPad 7 Vogue, which sports a 7-inch display, aluminum unibody and quad-core processor.

We’re delighted to introduce the MediaPad 7 Vogue, our call-enabled tablet with world-class entertainment capabilities and long-lasting battery power,” said Richard Yu, Chief Executive Officer of Huawei Consumer Business Group. 

Every car to come with mobile technology in 2025

GSMAGSMA has shared research that details the disruptive impact embedded mobile technology will have on the automobile industry, revolutionising the motoring experience and helping to create a connected car market worth almost €40 billion globally in 2018, up from €13 billion in 2012.

According to research firm SBD, €32.6 billion of revenues – 83 percent of the total – will be driven by the growth of embedding SIM technology into new vehicles to enable mobile connectivity. This will encourage a range of mobile-based services around safety, security, infotainment, traffic information, navigation and vehicle diagnostics.

SBD predicts that most, if not all, new cars will have some form of connectivity by 2025, due largely to the rapid growth of embedded mobile technology.

Huawei and ZTE lead in global ON market

ovumZTE has overtaken Alcatel-Lucent to slot just behind leader Huawei in the global optical networking (ON) market. This is the first time that Chinese vendors are holding the top two ranks in ON, according to Ovum.

Ovum’s analysis of Q1 results in the US$14.5b global ON market has highlighted that growth in 100G remains a bright spot as annualised revenues exceeded $1b for the first time ever. However, market growth overall remains difficult and challenging equipment vendors with only Fujitsu posting sequential and year-over-year gains.

“While it is not uncommon for the market to decline going into the first calendar quarter, the decline is worrisome as this is the fifth straight time the market has declined versus the prior year’s quarter, and quarterly revenues are the lowest they’ve been in six years,” said Ron Kline, Network Infrastructure Analyst at Ovum.

IDC: China game market grew 35.1% in 2012

IDCChina’s game market is booming, recording sales of US$9.8 billion in 2012, a growth of 35.1 percent over the previous year. The market includes PC online games, PC console game and mobile online game.

According to IDC data, after a quick growth before 2008, the China game market saw a turning point in development in 2009.  The growth has slowed sharply, at almost equal paces in 2011 and 2012. IDC forecasts that the China game market will see a slower growth during 2013-2017, with the CAGR approximating 16%. In contrast, the greater culture industry where the game market dwells is booming.

IDC believes that the China online game industry will be increasingly involved in pan-entertainment, another content-derivative industry, because of the following factors :

IDC: 3rd platform will drive China’s smart manufacturing sector

IDCIDC believes that IT vendors can leverage business opportunities created by China’s smart manufacturing policies, endeavours to consolidate relationships with governments and industry associations, and enhanced R&D innovation utilising 3rd Platform technologies (cloud computing, big data, social business, and mobility).

Smart manufacturing has been identified and supported by the Chinese government as the key field for further development. In line with this, the national ministries have released research that could drive the continuous construction of IT infrastructure in manufacturing enterprises. Next-generation technology architecture or 3rd platform has triggered clear demands from enterprise customers and created a thorough R&D ecosystem.

Since 2011, the Ministry of Industry and IT of PRC, along with the National Development and Reform Commission, have been releasing a series of research papers on smart manufacturing. IT service providers could identify potential business opportunities by analysing the subject directions and final approved lists.

IDC: Indonesia a growing market despite global PC slump

IDCDespite the reported decline of PC shipment globally, IDC believes that Indonesia will grow slightly in the coming years.

According to IDC WW Smart Connected Devices (PC) tracker, the trend of the PC market is moving towards flat to negative growth in China, India, and ASEAN.

“While the slowdown is a global phenomenon we have to accept as fact, it does not necessarily signal the beginning of the end for the PC market in Indonesia,” noted Wilhendra Akmam, Research Manager at IDC Indonesia.

ZTE delivers 500 millionth handset

ZTEZTE celebrated the 15th anniversary of its terminals division with the production of the 500 millionth handset, becoming the first Chinese mobile device brand to achieve the landmark.

It plans to promote the Grand S quad-core smartphone and the Grand Memo phablet internationally in the near future, after the two flagship products scored impressive results since their introduction in China this year. The Grand S and Grand Memo represent the state-of-the-art in performance, specifications and industrial design in the global smart devices industry.

Efforts to strengthen ZTE’s brand and engage consumers will be a key part of ZTE’s strategy. The Times Square in New York, the Fukuoka Yahoo! Japan Dome, the London Olympics stadium, and the works of Chinese film director Zhao Baogang are now some of touch-points where ZTE plans to form increased affinity with consumers around the world.

Singapore and Taiwan among world’s Top 10 in IT use

Singapore maintained its second position while Taiwan inched into the final spot in the Top 10 list of the 12th edition of The Global Information Technology Report by the World Economic Forum.

The report’s Networked Readiness Index (NRI) measures the capacity of 144 economies to leverage infocommunications technology (ICT) for growth and well-being.

Finland topped the list by switching place with Sweden, which slid to third.

Hong Kong electronic inventions take centrestage at coming Electronics Fair & ICT-Expo

HKSTPCThree incubation companies of Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTPC) will be showcasing their electronic inventions in the concurrent events of Electronics Fair (Spring Edition) and the International ICT-Expo held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre from April 13 to 16.

Two of the inventions will have patent registered pending innovations at the “Invention Zone”.

“IP protection is conducive to technological advancement. We thus are keen to offer services and aid funding for our incubation companies in patent application, including free chat with legal experts. We are proud that two companies under our Incu-Tech Programme are selected to exhibit in the ‘Invention Zone’, in which many of the inventions are patent registered or pending.  With the valuable opportunity to promote their patented technology at the exhibition, we trust our incubatees can be well connected to industry practitioners and fasten their phase of commercialisation,” said Ir Allen Yeung, Vice President of Business Development and Technology Support of HKSTPC.

ZTE completes world’s first LTE ground-air broadband test

ZTEAir travellers can look forward to better internet communications while on the air. Last month, Hainan Airlines tested the world’s first  commercial ground-air FDD-LTE-based broadband network on its flight HU7137 from Beijing to Xi’an.

Internet connectivity was available for 70 minutes of the two-hour flight. During the test, engineers were able to complete a variety of online tasks, including real-time video conferencing, instant messaging, microblogging, email, online gaming, and online payments. The downlink and uplink bandwidths were stable and worked at speeds greater than 12Mbps.

The test was conducted in partnership with ZTE. To adapt to the fast-growing online service needs of domestic airlines in China, ZTE initiated in 2011 R&D for the world’s first 4G civil aviation ground-air broadband communication system. The system is designed to provide wireless broadband data transmission channels at a rate of higher than 30-60Mbps on planes flying at various altitudes. The service, which is based on advanced FDD-LTE 4G network technology, allows passengers to access the Internet via a cabin WLAN.

ZTE to increase smartphone revenues by 30% in 2013

ZTEZTE expects to increase smartphone revenues by 30 percent in 2013, and maintain its position as one of the top 4 global handset manufacturers.

ZTE’s handset business has seen steady development and profit growth during 2012. Industry analyst IDC reported that ZTE had shipped 65 million handsets in 2012, accounting for 3.8 percent of the global handset market and confirming ZTE as one of the top 4 handset producers.

“We know that our future success means we have to build the ZTE brand, and another target for us is to be a top 5 vendor in terms of brand awareness and reputation within the next three years,” said He Shiyou, EVP and Head of the Mobile Devices Division at ZTE. “2013 is the final year of our three-year transformation into a high-end smartphone brand, but we have a lot of building still to do.”

ZTE forecasts profitable Q1

ZTEZTE expects to report a profit in the first quarter of 2013 as a result of the company’s operational review and strategic realignment efforts.

It is executing its comprehensive strategic review begun last year to sharpen its focus on key products and markets and strengthen cash flow management. ZTE is generating net cash inflows from operations and recorded higher sales collection, achieved increased profitability on new contracts, applied stringent cost controls and recognised investment gains.

Due to delays in the progress of some domestic and international network projects, the recognition of earlier lower-margin contracts and a drop in revenue for terminal products, ZTE may post a full-year net loss attributable to shareholders of the listed company of between RMB2.5 billion and RMB2.9 billion in 2012, a reversal of 221.35% and 240.77% compared to a year earlier.

ZTE introduces dual-mode Grand Era LTE smartphone in Hong Kong

ZTE has introduced its first dual-mode LTE smartphone, the Grand Era LTE, in Hong Kong as part of the launch of China Mobile Hong Kong (CMHK)’s first commercial converged TD-LTE/LTE FDD network.

The TDD/FDD dual-mode ZTE Grand Era LTE smartphone operates on the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich platform.  It features a 1.5GHz dual core CPU, 1GB of memory and a multi-touch 4.5-inch 1280×720 Gorilla Glass display providing a high quality user experience on high-speed LTE networks.  The device also has a 1780mAh battery and ZTE’s customisable Mifavor User Interface.

In addition, ZTE will showcase its FDD/TDD dual-mode MF93E uFi device and the MF825 data card on the new Hong Kong network. Both devices use Qualcomm’s MDM9215 second-generation LTE chip platform.  The size and average power consumption of the MF93E and the MF 825 have been reduced by nearly a third compared to the first generation LTE devices making them smaller and faster.

ITU accepts ZTE’s GoTa digital trunking standard

ITUThe GoTa (Global open Trunking architecture) digital trunking standard submitted by China was accepted by the ITU (International Telecommunications Union) report on the ITU conference in Geneva, marking another breakthrough in the field of communications standards for Chinese technology developers.

Now the digital trunking standard for the next generation, GoTa was jointly developed by ZTE and Chinese national research departments. A digital trunking system is a mobile communications network – using network-specific handsets communicating over a network just like a mobile phone system – that provides group scheduling command and communications with a high degree of security. It has been widely used by government organisations to provide scheduling and security for events such as Olympic Games, National Games, the European Cup and other major sporting events, as well as in public security, fire, ports, logistics, construction, transportation, forestry, rental, factories, and enterprises as well as for individual requirements.

Gartner’s Top 5 IT predictions for China in 2013 and beyond

GartnerGartner has published its top five IT predictions for China in 2013 and beyond, as China’s IT market undergoes major transformation, especially in cloud and mobility. Analysts said that although China’s IT market has similarities with the global IT market, it also faces challenges and opportunities that are very specific to the Chinese marketplace.

Enterprise spending on IT in China is forecast to grow from US$117.8 billion in 2013 to reach $172.4 billion in 2016, representing a compound annual growth rate of 8 percent, compared to a global growth rate of 3 percent over the same period, according to Gartner.

“In common with many emerging markets, cloud and mobile initiatives are hot and enterprises are also making progress in adopting virtualisation technologies, a key stepping stone in the journey to cloud,” said Matthew Cheung, principal research analyst at Gartner. “Without the legacy systems that hamper many western enterprises, Chinese organisations have an opportunity to leapfrog in the adoption of new technologies. However, the current hype around cloud could also result in its failure to live up to market expectation in a few years time. In mobility, China is a market characterised by strong local flavors, especially in the fast growing smartphone and tablet markets.”