China market: Sony Ericsson unveils first TD-SCDMA smartphone

Sony Ericsson has unveiled its first TD-SCDMA smartphone, the A8i, in China. The handset vendor will start marketing the device in October in cooperation with carrier China Mobile. The A8i is based on the Ophone 2.0 platform and supports China Mobile Multimedia Broadcasting (CMMB), 3.5-inch touchscreen and 5-megapixel camera.

The Ophone platform is catching on with International brand vendors, and Motorola, Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics have already introduced such smartphones in the Chinese market. The country's largest smartphone vendor Nokia, however, is still offering TD-SCDMA smartphones running on Symbian, according to sources from handset makers.

There are currently 12 million TD-SCDMA subscribers, and sales of TD-SCDMA handsets have reached 13.64 million units so far in 2010. Samsung has been the most aggressive among the international vendors with more than 10 TD-SCDMA handsets launched in China, the sources said, noting that there are currently around 350 end devices supporting the standard.

Low-end TD-SCDMA smartphones have dropped to 1,500 yuan (US$220) and could approach 1,000 yuan at the end of 2010. TD-SCDMA feature phones have fallen to 700 yuan and will likely retreat to 500 yuan by year's end, the sources added.