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Chinese Telecom Company Launches 'RedBerry'

Ubergrendle writes "The Globe&Mail is reporting that Chinese telecom company China Unicom Ltd. is launching a new wireless device unapologetically named 'Redberry'. This comes in the wake of an almost 2 year regulatory delay blocking the introduction of RIM's Blackberries to mainland China. Certainly this delay was convenient to China Unicom, if not deliberately staged to allow for domestic competition."

17 of 287 comments (clear)

  1. Why is blackberry so unique? by jimmyhat3939 · · Score: 4, Insightful
    What I don't understand is the pervasiveness of the Blackberry product for email. Email is an extremely simple application for a client to do, requiring just a simple TCP/IP stack and the ability to do either POP3 or IMAP. I believe that most cellphones now have some email capability built into them. Also, there exist plenty of WAP web-based email platforms out there.

    That leaves just the mini-keyboard interface as the big deal in the space. Personally, I'm not all that impressed by that as an input mechanism. But, if people like it, why isn't it copied all over the place? Is the concept of a little QWERTY keyboard seriously patented? Also, what about all those other ideas like having two letters assigned to each keyboard button and then having the phone sort it out based on what it thinks you're probably trying to type? Or something like a chording keyboard (though that would require learning)?

    So anyway, what's the big deal with Blackberry in particular. Why is this stuff so hard/interesting/compelling?

    --
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    1. Re:Why is blackberry so unique? by oGMo · · Score: 4, Insightful
      So anyway, what's the big deal with Blackberry in particular. Why is this stuff so hard/interesting/compelling?

      Don't look for a "killer feature", because there's not a specific killer feature. In fact, each of the Blackberry's features alone is pretty mediocre. This may be hard to understand, but it happens sometimes.

      The trick is that, taken as a whole, it has just the right amount of everything to make it a "killer device". Email works well enough. Web works well enough. Calendar is decent. Everything integrates with Exchange. The phone interface is really nice, and the address book is good and can do directory lookups. Companies can run their own internal servers and keep the devices behind the company firewall (big difference between general cell phones). The screen is big enough to read and the full keyboard (or half keyboard with uncannily good predictive text for the more phone-like models) is a must. Connectivity is constant wherever you have cell coverage. For a regular work day, this addresses just about everything.

      Finally, you can charge it, and it'll remain connected and on the data network at all times for days before you have to recharge it. And it charges over USB. It will even work offline (i.e. no cell/data network). I can't remember the last time I actually turned mine off, though I have turned off wireless to save battery or switched off work email.

      There are other neat features, as well, like the holster functionality. (Unlike any cell phone I've seen, when it's in the holster it will be silent/vibrate, and when it's out it will ring. Nice for never worrying if your phone will embarrass you in a meeting.)

      These features taken as a whole, without being loaded down by stuff like cameras and other useless trinkets, make it a very useful device. No, nothing is particularly outstanding. But it's the right combination of ingredients.

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      Don't think of it as a flame---it's more like an argument that does 3d6 fire damage

  2. that doesn't seem very sporting of 'em by vykor · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Hm. Is there a reason why the United States is just letting the Chinese practice their blatantly economic-nationalist trade policy, all the while sitting under the pretenses of free trade? How that particular "regulatory tangle" not constituting a barrier to free trade? Where are the retaliatory sanctions?

    1. Re:that doesn't seem very sporting of 'em by grumpyman · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Talking about "sitting under the pretenses of free trade", Canada and US has actually signed something called free-trade agreement, yet Canada keep iron-fisted by the US government in so many fronts - softwood lumber, wheat, beef... For one moment if you think China is the only country practising 'blatantly economic-nationalist trade policy', think again.

    2. Re:that doesn't seem very sporting of 'em by harmic · · Score: 2, Insightful

      That's strange... a country putting it's (and it's citizens) own interests before the ideals of a free market economy. In most western countries we are trying hard to live up to the "ideal" of a completely unregulated free market, where costs & profits dictate all corporate actions, with the predictable result that any possible opportunity to send work to a country with lower labour costs is taken advantage of. In the long run it is draining wealth from the western economies to the developing economies, with the owners of the corporate world skimming a healthy percentage off the top.

      China is taking the best of both worlds... they are only taking the parts of the market system that help them (ie. taking on outsourced work) but carefully controlling the reverse direction. Another example: their government has delayed introduction of WCDMA 3G mobile technologies so as to give local companies a chance to develop a competing standard, thus delaying the chance for established European and US equipment manufacturers to gain a foothold.

      If it weren't for the lack of personal freedoms afforded by the Chinese government you'd almost feel jealous of a population that has a government looking out for them like that.

    3. Re:that doesn't seem very sporting of 'em by cliveholloway · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Oh please. Like the US believes in free trade. EU steel trade tariffs? Farmers?

      The day a country doesn't use it's regulatory network to preserve its own trade is the day it gets pwned by every other damn country out there.

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      -- Trinity in high heels carrying a whip: The donimatrix - there is no spoonerism
  3. The REDberry... by ZSpade · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "On the eve of its long-delayed China launch, BlackBerry is facing a sudden challenge from a cheaper Chinese rival called, unapologetically, RedBerry.

    Oh, that's not nice... China Unicom left no doubt that it is brazenly attempting to capitalize on BlackBerry's global fame.

    So they admit it!

    You know, maybe they're counting on Blackberry being too worn out with the courts to persue anything, and IANAL, but isn't this a pretty blatant rip-off? I wonder how long till we see Blackberry sues Redberry - Blueberry feels left out in the cold.

    --
    Go ahead and call me unreliable; reliable is just a synonym for predictable.
    1. Re:The REDberry... by Akaihiryuu · · Score: 3, Insightful

      That's true...in order to sell the product in the US, they would have to create a US subsidiary, which would be subject to US laws. However, from what I see here, this is a product intended to be sold in China. I don't think they have any intention of selling it outside China.

  4. Re:Cheap competition by horologium · · Score: 2, Insightful

    China was making products that were competitive with First-World versions long before the recent increases in the relative wealth of the inhabitants of Shanghai. (Almost none of which is attributed to outsourcing, the booming economy of China is a little more involved than that.) If a tiny proportion more of the people in India and China are now able to afford luxury items that increases the demand for such items for all manufacturers, including First-World ones. Manufacturers in China would be crazy to neglect the burgeoning local market for these sorts of toys, and if they can fulfil an international market for them, why wouldn't they?

  5. So this is the thanks we get?!?!? by wigginz · · Score: 2, Insightful

    We export countless manufacturing jobs and import enough to make Chine one of the top five largest and richest economies, and this is how they treat the United States? I'm not even mentioning the devaluing of their currency and impact that has on our economy (actually I guess I just did). I think our administration (US) needs to take a hard look at China's obvious anti-competitive, and one sided global trade policies.

    --
    You may find my appearance and demeanor foolish, but it is you who plays the fool.
  6. Re:Debt and China by Abcd1234 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    there are a lot of countries that pull the free-trade card when it comes to having access to US markets, but are still staunchly protectionist when it comes to their domestic markets and industries.

    Wow, that's really funny. Many countries in free trade relationships with the US (like, say, Canada and Mexico), have the exact same complaint... about the US! Interesting how, when the tables turn, people suddenly get all uppity about free trade.

  7. This Just In: Chinese Gov't Protects Local Biz! by Rimbo · · Score: 2, Insightful

    news at 11

  8. Re:How Typical! by demonbug · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The parent is a bit of a troll, but according to the article part of the regulatory problem was that the Chinese government didn't like the strong encryption RIM uses for communications (suggesting that part of the reason for the delay was in fact that the government wanted to be able to snoop more easily). Of course, this came from an "Ontario government source", so it could just be speculation.

  9. Re:Debt and China by alexhs · · Score: 1, Insightful

    If the US defaulted (not bloody likely, but speaking theoretically), they would be the ones left holding the bag.

    If the US defaulted, I bet the most immediate impact would be that the dollar would immediately be worth nothing, like everything based on it like capitalization (huge crash in Wall Street...).

    --
    I have discovered a truly marvelous proof of killer sig, which this margin is too narrow to contain.
  10. Re:Raspberry would have been better! by cyfer2000 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Because raspberry only grows in northeastern area of China, it is NOT a well known fruit in China. I guess no more than 5 million Chinese known such a thing. So it won't be a good product name.

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    There is a spark in every single flame bait point.
  11. Re:Berry Timely by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I'm going to guess you're a young European who thinks taking the train once in a while, about as far as millions of commuters here in NYC travel every day to/from work, makes you cosmopolitan. Because not only am I considerably older than your feeble guess, I've lived in foreign countries, lived in several American states (around the continent), travelled to dozens of countries (probably including yours) on every continent where people outnumber penguins. Preferably to ones where I don't speak the language, alone, so I can really get into the rhythm of life and experience the people beyond the illusions of language. BTW, guesses about my race say only that you are a racist.

    In real life, the American trademark/patent system certainly has quite a lot to do with Chinese industry, especially when the US government cares about the case. Even when it doesn't, such matters are determined in courts like WIPO, in which the US has quite a lot of power. And under which Chinese industry has quite a lot to lose: its global exports and purchasers of domestic labor, as well as any number of diplomatic, "humanitarian" and other investments.

    And in my post, I didn't say that China was specifically afraid of Canadian courts, or American courts. You said that. You don't even understand my post, you don't understand me, you don't understand international competition. The evidence is in your posts. Which also suggests that you have an ignorance fortified by resentment of America's actual power in the world - as well as Canada's: RIM is Canadian.

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    make install -not war

  12. China's government is communist, right? by davek · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Why is this being treated with any surprise? The government of china is communist, and by definition that means a single group of party leaders control essentially every aspect of a citizen's life. It seems perfectly logical that they would conciously block the deployment of a foreign product until a domestic one is released to the market.

    The question becomes: why did they choose to be deceptive in their practices? I think its part of comnunist philosophy, that leaders have to deceive the public to a certain extent, because full knowledge of what's really going on is not benificial to progress or economic success. And if this is really the case, why can't this be part of the political conversation instead of how best to use military force?

    -dave

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    6th Street Radio @ddombrowsky