July 6 - 11:05am EDT   In spite of a recent Merrill Lynch report, no deal has been finalized for a Chinese iPhone, claims Kaufman Bros. analyst Shaw Wu. While China Unicom is still considered the frontrunner for a distribution agreement with Apple, the only alternative carrier in the region -- China Mobile -- is said by industry sources to be persisting in negotiations. The company has the distinct advantage of a larger subscriber base, at 488 million. [full story]

May 26 - 3:50pm EDT   Taiwan's handset manufacturer HTC is due to release an Android-powered smartphone in China in June, its chief executive Peter Chou told the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday. The phone will be a version of the Magic, the second Android-powered handset from HTC that went on sale in Europe recently, although with custom software from China Mobile, the world's biggest wireless provider, at about 500 million subscribers. With the Magic, HTC hopes to double its China sales to 1.6 million. [full story]

May 26 - 11:20am EDT   Apple's upcoming revision to the iPhone could be the first to split the line into multiple versions based on the network, a supposed leak said on Tuesday. Rather than stick to a one-size-fits-all approach, the company is claimed by iLounge to be offering iPhones with different network speeds depending on the region. Those in the best-equipped countries will get iPhones with 7.2Mbps 3G; other countries would still have 3.6Mbps 3G, while a third phone would be specific to China. [full story]

May 11 - 9:25am EDT   The number of phones shipped using Google's Android platform is set to grow much faster than the iPhone this year, estimates from Strategy Analytics maintain today. Devices like the T-Mobile G1 have just a small fraction of shipments today but are expected to grow 900 percent in 2009 as multiple extra smartphones launch and more carriers come onboard. Apple's device will reportedly grow second-quickest but at a much smaller 79 percent growth rate to 23.8 million iPhones per year, potentially leading to a shift in favor of Android in the near future. [full story]

May 1 - 12:45pm EDT   Apple and its US carrier AT&T are some of the most important technology companies in terms of brand worth, the latest Brandz Top 100 ranking (PDF) from MillwardBrown indicates. Gauging them not just on their actual income but also their social impact, the firm estimates that Apple has the sixth-largest brand value in the world and has seen the rough value of its brand climb 14 percent to about $63.1 billion. AT&T ranked 28th but was also one of the fastest-rising companies, jumping 67 percent to just over $20 billion. [full story]

April 21 - 12:10pm EDT   China Mobile on Tuesday confirmed rumors and said it will launch a cellphone app store of its own before the end of 2009. The simply-titled Mobile Market will let third parties publish apps regardless of operating system through a single store on the carrier. Most details aren't known, though the store is being timed to launch with the government-backed TD-SCDMA standard for 3G, which should produce speeds fast enough to encourage downloading more apps. [full story]

April 20 - 11:10am EDT   China Mobile is due to release the Lenovo-made Ophone this May, beating Apple's iPhone to the market, which itself is rumored to go on sale in China in June through carrier Unicom, says a Monday DigiTimes report. The two touchscreen smartphones share similarities, including a similar look to the touch-enabled user interface on a large touchscreen, though the Ophone is already known to be based on China Mobile's customized version of Android known as the Open Mobile System (OMS). [full story]

April 16 - 9:10am EDT   Dell and China Mobile (CMCC) announced on Wednesday they have introduced Inspiron Mini 10 netbook in the Chinese market which benefits from the provider's 3G data network access via its built-in modem, allowing Internet and e-mail access from nearly anywhere in the country with a signal. [full story]

April 13 - 7:50am EDT   Dell is pinning its hopes for a first smartphone on a deal with the world's largest carrier, Wedge MKI analyst Zhang Jun said today in an interview with NetworkWorld. The American company is reportedly in talks with China Mobile to offer "one or two" candidate models and may strike a deal by August, paving the way for a release before the end of the year. While only implied, it's thought the Dell phone would use China Mobile's Open Mobile System (OMS), a variant of Android that supports the carrier's apps as well as China's new TD-SCDMA network for 3G. [full story]

March 26 - 4:15pm EDT   A trio of Samsung smartphones that should be released to market sometime in 2009 have been leaked on the Internet on Thursday, revealing the near-identical S8000 and M8000 as well as the Windows Mobile-based B7300. The twins do not have a physical keyboard save for three buttons at their base and instead rely on touchscreen displays believed to offer 240x400 resolution. Apart from a 5-megapixel autofocus camera that is equipped with a dual-LED flash, no other specs are known about the S8000. [full story]

March 19 - 12:05pm EDT   Cellphone carrier China Mobile remains in talks with Apple, the company's CEO claims. "We have been discussing with Apple, but until now no agreement has been reached," Wang Jianzhou explained to reporters following an annual results announcement. The executive went on to insist that the company is entirely open to outsiders, so long as there is profit to be made, according to Agence France Presse. [full story]

March 4 - 11:05am EST   The chairman of China Unicom, Chang Xiaobing, has admitted to talks with Apple in regards to selling the iPhone in China, Reuters reports. Although a manager is said to have confirmed the information early last month, Xiaobing himself has not spoken about negotiations until today. "We are in talks with many handset suppliers, including Apple," the executive told gathered reporters at an event. [full story]

February 9 - 10:10am EST   Distribution of apps has led to another breakdown in talks between Apple and China Mobile, according to Interfax China. A source for the news agency claims that China Mobile president Wang Jianzhou recently visited the company's Research Institute, and explained in detail how talks with Apple have stalled not only recently but three times over the course of 18 months. China Mobile wants considerably more control than Apple is willing to give, the source suggests. [full story]

December 12 - 8:00am EST   Lenovo will enter the touchscreen smartphone arena by using Google's Android and with a very iPhone-like appearance, a leak from modmyGphone shows. The unnamed device has a full touchscreen flush with the main body, like its Apple rival, and will have just a minimum of extra buttons for calling, answering and stepping through menus. No keyboard is immediately visible and suggests instead that the phone may use a planned virtual keyboard for Android rather than the hardware keys required on HTC's G1. [full story]

November 13 - 4:10pm EST   Apple may be closer to bringing the iPhone to China, a new job offer posting suggests. The company is looking for an iPhone Quality Assurance Engineer, to be located in Beijing. China represents an enormous market for mobile phones, but negotiations for the iPhone may have lasted longer than expected. Shortly before the iPhone 3G launch, Apple CEO Steve Jobs told CNBC that Chinese and Russian announcements would "happen later this year." The Russian launch occurred early in October, but the company has been quiet about any progress in China. [full story]