The mobile industry has seen some heavy hitters enter the ring and the competition can be extremely tough in a world that is getting more mobile by the minute. Chinese e-commerce company, Alibaba Group, is looking to get into that ring and challenge everyone else. Alibaba Group will be launching its own mobile operating system by the end of July, says a report published today. Handset maker, Beijing Tianyu Communications Equipment will be launching their first smartphone that is running the operating system, called Aliyum. Alibaba Group has been well known for being direct competition to Ebay and getting into the mobile industry is going to add to the list of competitors the company will be up against.
Reported earlier this month was the number of mobile handset users that China has, reaching into the 800 million mark, but only a small part of them are using smartphones. The market is perfect for the company to get into, but the industry is cut throat. Over the past few months other companies have taken notice of the China market and started developing handsets and content just for it. Apple iOS, Nokia Symbian, Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 and Google Android are all on the line to get handsets and apps to the 800+ million mobile subscribers.
The focus for the Alibaba Group is typically e-commerce, online storefronts and other services involved with the wholesale trade. They also run some domestic e-commerce businesses and other online search companies under the Taobao name. For the Alibaba Group to get into mobile e-commerce and payment solutions, consumers already using the company’s websites on a desktop computer, could also be using them when they are mobile. Keeping customers on their websites even when they are mobile will benefit the company even at a small percentage of the 800+ million users.
Features of the new mobile operating system include cloud-based e-mail, weather, mapping, GPS and internet search. The company is hoping their cloud-based apps would be more intriguing to users instead of having to download apps right to their phones. They are looking to create a better mobile experience with the cloud-based interface. Alibaba Group is less likely going to have to worry about their overseas competition, instead, the country’s largest mobile operator, China Mobile, will be the closest threat. China Mobile has a lot of money invested in mobile payments, so they will be poised to put up a fight.
