Unicom Calls on BlackBerry – Finally! 联通推出黑莓业务 可望後来居上
After more than a year of dilly-dallying with its 3G system, I’m finally getting convinced that China Unicom (HKEx: 762; NYSE: CHU), China’s second biggest phone company, is getting serious about finding subscribers for its state-of-the-art high-speed wireless network. The latest sign of its serious intent came this week when Unicom announced it would offer Research in Motion’s (Toronoto: RIMM) popular BlackBerry mobile email devices. (English article; Chinese article) Unicom joined its two rivals, China Mobile (HKEx: 941; NYSE: CHL) and China Telecom (HKEx: 728; NYSE: CHU), which have already been offering BlackBerry service for quite some time. Ironically, Unicom’s 3G network, based on the WCDMA standard, is the best suited for offering BlackBerry service in China, compared with technologically inferior offerings from the two other companies. Unicom may be late to the BlackBerry party, but its recent behavior indicates it will aggressively promote the service on its 3G network and is likely to quickly surpass both China Mobile and China Telecom in terms of BlackBerry subscribers. Combined with its aggressive promotion of Apple’s (Nasdaq: AAPL) iPhones and other 3G handsets, Unicom could be set to take some significant share from industry heavyweight China Mobile — which controls around 70 percent of the China mobile market — over the next year.
Bottom line: Unicom’s roll-out of BlackBerry service is its latest move to aggressively promote its superior 3G network, which will help it steal market share from China Mobile.
联通<0762.HK>本周宣布将在中国大陆正式推出宽频码多分址(WCDMA)制式的黑莓手机後，我终於确信联通确实在努力争取3G用户。联通推出黑莓业务的时机落後于中国移动<0941.HK>和中国电信<0728.HK>，但实际上联通基於WCDMA标准的3G网络，是中国最适合提供黑莓服务的网络。联通加入黑莓业务竞争可能有点晚，但近期表现显示该公司将积极推广此项服务，其黑莓用户可能会迅速超越中国移动和中国电信，加之其推销苹果<AAPL.O>iPhone和其他3G手机的经验，未来一年中，联通可能抢走中国移动不少市场份额。
一句话：联通推出黑莓业务，是其大力推广其3G网络的最新举措，将争夺中国移动市场份额。
Related postings 相关文章:
◙ Unicom’s Q1 Results Mask Real Cause for Worry 中国联通：一季度财报掩盖真正忧患
◙ 2011: Year of the Unicom 2011：联通的好运年
◙ Wo! China Unicom OS Stumbles Onto the Wire
