Windows Phone Thoughts - Daily News, Views, Rants and Raves

"We all know Obama uses Blackberry phone, and right now the China shanzhai phone maker haff-comm is using this information to promote their new shanzhai phone blockberry 9500 and has Obama's figure appeared in this phone's poster with a slogan 'Obama have Blackberry, I have blockberry'."

The phone itself is more than half decent, assuming we can trust the published specs - is that really a SiRFStar III? - but the advertising is, shall we say, using the time-honoured Asian tradition of free-riding on somebody else's brand (and in this case, someone's very well-known face) to sell your own products, right down to the model number and logo. I don't think anyone is really seriously taken in by that particular sleight of hand, but building your own brand can be an expensive and time-consuming business. The temptation to take shortcuts can be very appealing, ethics be damned, especially when there's little-to-no enforcement of IP law. If you weren't aware of it already, this ad neatly encapsulates some of the intellectual property problems in developing countries - I think protection of IP in China is at least another generation away from really being where it should be, and blatant transgressions like this won't be tolerated any more.

"While Huawei hasn't unveiled too much yet, it's said that the C8000 features Windows Mobile (most likely Professional but no word about the version), incorporates a 3D menu graphic user interface (GUI) and a unique independent display adapter which enables the smooth presentation of video files and DVD-quality pictures on the 2.8" touchscreen. With optimized power management, the new handset is capable of playing video files continuously for six to eight hours."

Huawei is a huge name in the communications and network hardware market as an ODM and as an OEM, though they don't have much brand recognition at the retail level outside of China. While I don't think this is going to change anytime soon, Huawei is slowing gaining ground in supplying handsets rather than just the chips that power their signals - their total cumulative sales of CDMA handsets just breached 50 million. The C8000 is a fairly unassuming (and unoriginal) looking handset, with a 2.8" touchscreen and 3D interface (note: the::unwired has the wrong device photo up). Under the bonnet though, the device reputedly has a graphics chip that can run DVD-quality video for 6-8 hours (Snapdragon? OMAP IV?). Apart from that, details are sparse (read here for the press release) - in keeping with Huawei's modus operandi, this device will probably be offered to the ODM market rather than direct to retail, so don't look for this anytime soon.