China Mobile kicks off online purchase registration for first OPhone
Beijing. October 19. INTERFAX-CHINA - China Mobile Communications Corp. (China Mobile) initiated online purchase registration for its TD-SCDMA OPhone, the Lenovo Mobile O1, priced at RMB 4,999 ($732.13), on the Lenovo Mobile Web site on Oct. 19.
Online purchase registration for the OPhone will be held from Oct. 19 to Oct. 25, ending on the same day as the online purchase registration for China United Network Communications Co. Ltd.'s (China Unicom) customized Apple Inc. iPhone. The Ophone's retail price is the same as the lowest priced iPhone 3G with 8GB of memory.
China Mobile will provide discounts for mobile services purchased with the OPhone, according to the Lenovo Mobile Web site, but no specific details have been disclosed.
It is apparent that China Mobile intends to market its Lenovo OPhone in competition with China Unicom's iPhone, with such a close launch date and similar pricing, Yu Yanqing, an analyst with Chinese consulting firm, eShip Consulting, told Interfax.
-CG