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Alibaba Looks To Rural China To Popularize Its Mobile OS

Posted by samzenpus on from the taking-it-to-the-country dept.

itwbennett writes: E-commerce giant Alibaba Group hasn't given up on its YunOS mobile operating system, and is taking the software to China's rural markets through a series of low-cost phones, which will be built by lesser-known Chinese brands and will range from 299 yuan ($49) to 699 yuan. Slashdot readers may remember that in 2012, Google claimed it was a variant of its Android OS, sparking a clash that threatened to derail Alibaba's effort to popularize the mobile OS.

20 comments

  1. JavaAndroidYunOS by antiperimetaparalogo · · Score: 0

    [...] YunOS mobile operating system [...] Google claimed it was a variant of its Android OS [...]

    Java>Android>YunOS

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    Antisthenes: "Wisdom begins by examining the words/names." - excuse my English, i am (slightly...) better with my Greek!
  2. I announce YawnOS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Put simply, it's another mobile OS.

  3. A question for the /. public by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Is luck always the result of stupidity?

    1. Re:A question for the /. public by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You sound lucky.

  4. Re:Alibaba this! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Panda-ing, surely?

  5. Good Luck by pieisgood · · Score: 1

    They're most likely illiterate, speak a local dialect and don't have the means or desire for the device. /cynicism

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    Eat sleep die
    1. Re:Good Luck by qbzzt · · Score: 1

      Or maybe they are an underserved market that could really use better communication. http://www.businessinsider.com...

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    2. Re:Good Luck by kamapuaa · · Score: 2

      Sure, but even stupid peasants are mostly literate (Google says 96% literacy rate), and of course with written Chinese, dialect isn't really that important.

      And of course they want phones, to talk to their cousin/son/whatever that manufactures iphones for $.50/hour in Shenzhen.

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      Slashdot: providing anti-social weirdos a soapbox, since 1997.
    3. Re:Good Luck by pieisgood · · Score: 1

      A basic google search shows this, but this is an inaccurate figure for rural chinese. the actual literacy rates in rural china are much lower. Most likely 40% are illiterate, and growing in some provinces.

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      Eat sleep die
    4. Re: Good Luck by AvitarX · · Score: 1

      Though this runs counter your comment about dialect, if literacy is a real problem, text to speach software would solve the issu. Perhaps making the phone more, not less, important.

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  6. Regarding int'l skepticism with American providers by rmdingler · · Score: 1

    Is it safe to say, even despite the NSA revelations by TheTrueHOOHA, that the Chinese may trust the Chinese government even less?

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    Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

    Ernest Hemingway

  7. Firefox OS, YunOS, Sailfish OS, FireOS... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What, exactly, do any of these companies expect to get out of this? Are they trying to compete with already Android/Windows? Both of which are more or less "free" now and have spent billions and year upon year to build up the App store/Search/etc. that they actually receive money from? Shouldn't they build up that money making business first, and THEN the OS to extend the reach of that, which has become the business model now?

    Yes yes Alibaba has a search engine. Popular in China because of protectionist laws. But they don't make their money of that/ads. They make their money off e-commerce, which as Amazon has discovered doesn't really have "synergy" with an OS. People don't need an OS centered around buying more shit. It's more like all these competitors decided to compete because Google and Microsoft and Apple do it, so obviously it must be the thing to do! But they don't seem to have an understanding over HOW those companies make money off their OS, which is Search/Ads, corporate/organization sales, and vendor lock in, in that order.

    1. Re:Firefox OS, YunOS, Sailfish OS, FireOS... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I have popcorn stocked for when this whole bubble bursts.

  8. Hmmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I believe if HTC did go through with Alibaba's offer when it was still a major player, they would be bathing in gold now. But Googlers did manage to intimidate them into droping out of it.

  9. I, for one... by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 2

    I thought that I'd heard some pretty compelling OS sales pitches in my time; but "Perhaps the #1 choice of impoverished peasants buying their first finite state machine!, if we can get the OEM deals through" simply redefines my expectations of what is possible in the genre. What could possibly be more thrilling than that?

  10. Most growth in Apple was in China by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 1

    The platform restriction of the Alibaba mobile OS is competing with the Apple mystique for their mobile OS. Since we can measure Apple sales of mobile units, we see a sharp spike in sales in China, and thus Alibaba may not do as well with this approach as they might have otherwise.

    Until they get the powers that be to block Apple, of course.

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    1. Re:Most growth in Apple was in China by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 2

      Apple probably sells almost no units to the rural poor in China.

      Steve would bristle at the idea.

  11. I truly have no clue by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why people can't just get an iPhone and shut up.