Alibaba aims to reach new markets with English mobile OS
updated 07:50 pm EDT, Fri September 9, 2011
Chinese company developing new tablet
Alibaba Group is reportedly preparing to release an English version of its mobile operating system. Details surrounding the English offering remain unclear, however the move is viewed as necessary to help the Chinese company expand its reach into new markets. The company is said to be working to establish partnerships with hardware makers to pair the English OS with new devices.
"Eventually all our services will be delivered on mobile," Alibaba Cloud Computing president Wang Jian said, as quoted by Reuters. "People will spend less time in front of their computer screens and more time in front of their smartphones."
Alibaba's mobile OS, known as Aliyun, first arrived this summer on the Tianyu K-Touch Cloud W700 handset. The Linux-based platform provides a range of features based on Alibaba's cloud services, including e-mail, search, web apps, and backups for photo and text data.
The English edition is expected to be available this month for existing handsets. The company has also narrowed the launch time-frame for its upcoming tablet, which is promised to arrive sometime in the next two months.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Sep 2011
Out with the laptop, in with the smartphone....
"People will spend less time in front of their computer screens and more time in front of their smartphones."
That's the key point I think. People expect a lot from their phones these days, things that you could previously only do with a computer or laptop. That's especially true of businessmen and women. I doubt Alibaba have designed an entire operating system just to make wholesale products available on the go but it's business people who use their platform, so I'd imagine it's been designed with that market in mind. Maybe not the only consideration but a big one, I'm guessing.