[photopress:motorola.jpg,full,alignright]The US wireless giant Motorola has opened an innovation center in Hunan Province, as part of its drive to increase research and development (R&D) in China. The Hunan Innovation Center, in the provincial capital Changsha, will focus on developing wireless applications.
Since 1993, when Motorola launched its first R&D center in the country, the firm has established about 20 similar centers. Ruey-Bin Kao, president of Motorola China, said that Motorola has invested more than $600 million into the centers and employs about 3,000 R&D staff. The Motorola China Research and Development Institute, opened in 1999, has grown into the largest single R&D facility ever established by a multinational corporation in China.
So what basically will it be doing? Finding new services to be used on mobile phones.
The Hunan Innovation Center will focus on developing value-added services for mobiles but mainly from the business perspective.
Ruey-Bin Kao said, ‘We see enormous opportunities in data services. All the participants in the mobile telecom industry stand to benefit from the development of wireless technologies and innovative mobile applications.’
According to the Ministry of Information Industry, Chinese mobile phone users last year sent a total of 304.65 billion SMS messages. And by June this year, China had 431.8 million mobile phone subscribers.
An increasing focus on developing wireless applications is expected to help Motorola cash in on the opportunities brought by the roll-out of 3G (third generation) mobile telecom services in China. 3G has had a very rocky start with very silly prices being paid in Europe for the licenses. It is doubtful if that money can ever be easily recovered.
In April 2005 Motorola launched a 3G R&D center in Beijing, followed in March this year by another in Hangzhou, capital of East China’s Zhejiang Province, focusing on network technologies. There is little doubt that 3G technology will work and that Chinese phone manufacturers will make most of the mobiles to run with 3G. What is not known and what is not discussed is whether the public is willing to pay a substantial premium to watch television on a very small screen when on the move. The answer to this will come during the Olympics.
Source: China Daily