Handset sales up 32%
Domestic handset sales increased 31.9% to 303.86 million in 2005, the Ministry of Information Industry announced. Home brand handsets captured 40.6% of total market sales, down 3.9% from 2004. The top three domestic brands collectively took 17.5% of the market, down from 22.5% in 2004 and 31.6% in 2003. Nokia took 25.8% – up 10.8% on 2004 – Motorola took 8.7%, Samsung 6.9% and Sony Ericsson 3.3%. During the same period, China produced 303.67 million handsets, up 30% from 2004. GSM handsets dominated the market, with 274.24 million produced in 2005, up 28.9%. CDMA handset production increased 41.8% to 29.42 million.
TD-SCDMA ready: Siemens
China's new TD-SCDMA mobile standard is mature and China should implement it soon, Siemens Communications Global President Thomas Ganswindt said during a visit to Beijing. The long-awaited government announcement on 3G licenses is expected in the second half of 2006. Ganswindt said Siemens planned to take a big stake in China's TD-SCDMA market and would invest more in the technology after the licenses are issued.
Domestic PCs under US$200
Jiangsu-based Menglan Group plans to release the first group of PCs with Chinese-made central processing units (CPUs) in July, priced between US$150 and US$200. The PCs will use the Dragon Chip 2 CPU, created by the Chinese Academy of Science (CAS), and a Linux open-source operating system. CAS plans to release an updated CPU, Dragon Chip-2E, in May, which is expected to perform as well as Intel's 2GHz Pentium 4 processor.
Further fine for piracy
An unidentified Guangdong IT company was fined US$17,500 after being caught for a second time using pirated Adobe software. The company was fined US$1,800 in January last year for the same offence, but re-installed the software. The Tianhe District Court refused to name the offender, saying its reputation could be affected. IP lawyers said the big fine could scare some companies from using pirated products.