Slashdot Mirror
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."
I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry at the name "RedBerry." Does the "awakening dragon" suddenly have a sense of humor??
It sounds like something a college kid would make up as a prank and try to sell.
There's gotta be some marketing exec in Beijing reading the paper and going "ROFL" over this...
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?
Free Conference Call -- No Spam, High Quality
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?
I know that China is the "new world" and all but for every company to fall all over themselves to deal with them is a bit rediculous. A country that prides itself in constraining all markets, destroying their populace and basically giving the middle finger to rest of the planet is put on a pedestal by the countries that should be invading them to free their people? As all the "free" countries fall all over themselves to sell and buy from a country that is as close to slave labour as we have presently. Maybe we should just forget about them for a while and they may go away, just like Soviet Russia. Before you mod me to hell, think about when you purchase your Walmart crap that is produced by children that don't make enough to feed themselves.
Stay tuned for new sig...
For the life of me, I cannot fathom why a Chinese company would name their device after an American folk & blues musician that was popular in the early part of the 20th century. Pencils down.
Bill Clinton: Pimp we can believe in. - The Shirt!!!
"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.
In other news, RIM has secured a contract for the Irish city of Dingle. The headline?
DingleBerry is the new RIM job.
Sony ha
I just thought the same and went hunting around.
According to what I could find, the handset is the Daxian Cu928
At least according to this older (November '05) article about the redberry.
liqbase
No picture in article
One could guess it's like a Blackberry, but Red.
Write boring code, not shiny code!
Now imagine either of two scenarios:
1) China ceases production for the US market. (They could easily turn to produce for their own domestic market, and at not too dissimilar revenue levels.)
2) China calls in our tab.
Sleep tight.
The problem with your idea is that it makes sense.
ElderBerry BlueBerry CommieBerry
A Chinese company named RedTN has sued Redberry for violating one of its red patents.
China probably waited for the BlackBerry/RTP patent lawsuit to settle. So BlackBerry (RIM) would have the least cash, and maybe the case would reduce the risk China's corporation would be blocked by patents. While BlackBerry and the problems of a single supplier make all the headlines. The last couple of weeks since the settlement is just enough time to unleash the hounds, but too short for the timing to be merely coincidental.
--
make install -not war
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?
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.
Just to set the records straight, Blackberry/RIM is based out of Ontario, Canada NOT USA.
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.
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.
You mispelled 'surveillance'.
news at 11
The branding copycatting charge is a bit thin. Most people should be easily able to tell the difference between the two. It's certainly less confusing than Lindows.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
If you write anything on your device that says anything about Taiwan independence or
Falun Gong, your phone tries to kill you.
The truth is an offense, but not a sin.------R. N. Marley
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06095/679599-185.st m
GM's Chinese partner is now competing against them. QED
RedBerry 5 is aliiiive!
Well that's how I pictured it, anyhow.
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.
on popular consumer electronics:
iPod -> iMao
XBox -> XBoxerRebellion
Sony PlayStation Portable -> Lenovo CulturalRevolution Portable
Canon PowerShot -> Canon GreatLeapForward
etc.
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
I dunno, that whole Cultural Revolution/Red Guard thing was pretty original idea. That's not to say things didn't go to hell in a handbasket. But what about hospitals staffed by people who don't know medicine, or school staffed by people who lacked enough skills to teach, who'd have though of that on a vast national scale? Oh, how about parading your parents in front of the whole village wearing dunce hats for "counter-revolutionary" activities while whipping themselves into a frenzy chanting quotes from the Little Red Book? Invented in China I think.
In light of the understandable comments incited by the RedBerry, with the tune of "Commie bastards, ripping off our ideas and mass producing them," let's take a different look at our trade relations with China.
A wise man once told me, "When a business deal is being made, the buyer is in control. The buyer brings $$$$ to the table. Nothing happens in a business deal unless $$$$ changes hands. Therefore, nothing will happen unless the buyer allows it to happen."
To relate that to the China situation, the reason we have a trade deficit is because Americans, on an individual basis, want to buy cheap mass-produced goods. This is in stark contrast with Americans as a whole, who want our economy to be strong and trade deficits to lessen. (Both of these assertions are made on a generalized basis and may not hold true in all specific instances. But let it be sufficient to make my point.)
To loosely paraphrase V in "V for Vendetta" - "to find the origin of your problems, you only need to look in the mirror." Remember this when buying Chinese imports at Walmart, or purchasing Lenovo laptops.
Before modding me all to hell, realize that this is a classic problem of Nash game theory. We have a trade deficit with China because individual Americans have trouble simulaneously 1) buying what they want, and 2) doing what is best for the nation.
This line of reasoning is tangential to the introduction of the "RedBerry", but necessary (I felt) in light of all of the economic nationalist posts that Slashdotters are furiously typing. 8)
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.
There is a spark in every single flame bait point.
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
6th Street Radio @ddombrowsky