![\"Photo](\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20120628114316im_\/http:\/\/www.danwei.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Xiaomi-Mi-One-Youth-Edition-e1340621491529.jpg\" "\\"Xiaomi-Mi-One-Youth-Edition\\"")
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Apple\u2019s presentation of new mobile operating system iOS 6 last week sent Chinese Apple fans into a frenzy. On Sina Weibo, 1.8 million and counting messages were posted commenting on iOS 6. Many people were excited by the new features aimed at Chinese users, such as default options to use QQ for email and Baidu for search.<\/span><\/p>\n The new feature that seems to have intrigued most people is that Siri now speaks Chinese \u2013 both Mandarin and Cantonese. On Youku.com, fans have posted videos of people interrogating Siri with questions ranging from the frivolous to the downright obscene such as the following:<\/p>\n User:<\/em>\u00a0Tell me a joke. User:<\/em>\u00a0Fuck your mother (in Cantonese) Not everyone is amused: Many Chinese Internet companies, especially developers who make apps that sell on the iTunes store, are worried that they might be undercut and sidelined, and see Apple\u2019s new move as part of a bigger scheme to exert greater control over the users of its phones.<\/p>\n An article on Sina Tech\u00a0expresses the concern that Apple\u2019s new partnership with companies like Baidu will put other Chinese Internet companies at a disadvantage. App developers worry that some new iOS 6 features will make previously useful apps redundant. Apple switching to its own mapping function as the default rather than Google Maps means that some developers will have to redesign their apps to accommodate the new change.<\/p>\n Even though the iOS 6 update hasn\u2019t gone public yet, pirated \u2018developers\u2019 preview\u2019 versions are already available on Chinese websites. Early adopters who can\u2019t wait to get a taste of the new fruit can get a trial version iOS 6 for\u00a030 yuan<\/a>\u00a0on Taobao, China\u2019s biggest online consumer-to-consumer marketplace (similar to eBay). A preview version of Mountain Lion, Apple\u2019s next generation desktop operating system is also available for download for\u00a010 yuan<\/a>. Reviews of the new operating systems are mostly positive but there are also plenty of reported glitches. Some users noted on Weibo that their devices \u2018turned into bricks\u2019 due to unsuccessful updates, and some of them were unable to open old apps after the update.<\/p>\n ****<\/p>\n The Chinese smartphone market is the largest in the world, accounting for\u00a022%<\/a>\u00a0of worldwide smartphone shipments during the first quarter of 2012. There are around one billion mobile phone users, and many of them are contemplating buying their first smart phone.\u00a0In a Danwei survey of 209 Chinese mobile users conducted in March 2012 we found that 96% owned smart phones, and 94% of them used mobile phones to access the internet. The majority used Android phones. Our sample comprised only Weibo users, so is not representative of the general population. Not yet.<\/p>\n Cheaper smartphone brands are growing in popularity as their quality rises. 40% of Chinese smart phones are expected to cost less than\u00a0$200 [around 1,200 yuan] by 2015<\/a>, yet so far the only budget Chinese smartphone that has successfully built a brand and achieved a certain amount of cool status along the lines of Apple is Xiaomi, a phone that runs on a version of Google\u2019s Android operating system called MIUI. Xiaomi currently offers only one model, priced at 1,999 yuan. The phone looks a little like an iPhone, and comes in a range of colors. Xiaomi founder and CEO Lei Jun (\u96f7\u519b) is sometimes criticized for aping the fashion sense and stage manners of Steve Jobs (black shirt, blue jeans etc.). The Xiaomi offers itself rather blatantly as a cheap alternative to the iPhone.<\/p>\n Xiaomi is doing very well, selling 150,000 smart phones in only 12 minutes earlier this year according to\u00a0this report<\/a>. This is reflected on social media: as of this writing, more than 62 million messages on Weibo are about Xiaomi, compared to just over ten million about Meizu, Xiaomi\u2019s main rival in the Chinese branded smartphone market. This is extraordinary since the phone was only launched in August 2011, and Lei Jun\u2019s previous company Kingsoft is known for making anti-virus software, and had no expertise in hardware manufacturing.<\/p>\n Xiaomi is not the only new Chinese player to join the smartphone race: Early this year, Shanda, a NASDAQ-listed giant in online gaming and online publishing, entered the fray and\u00a0has made its budget dual-core Bambook available for pre-order, with the official release date now imminent (June 28). Qihoo 360, a controversial anti-virus software company announced its intention to sell smartphones and has promised a device to be priced under 1,000 yuan. OPPO, a maker of consumer electronics, is breaking away from DVD and MP3 players it is known for to tease Chinese crowds with\u00a0Finder<\/a>, the world\u2019s slimmest smart phone which is now available for pre-order for a whopping 3,999 yuan. Search engine Baidu is also entering the fray with the\u00a0Changhong H5018<\/a>\u00a0that will make use of the company\u2019s cloud technology to offer 100 Gigabytes of free storage space.<\/p>\n With so many players in the market, a price war is looming.<\/p>\n ****<\/p>\n Yet none of the Chinese smartphone brands mentioned above can draw the same kind of attention given to the iPhone as a marker of status, and this is reflected by the more than 273 million (and counting) messages on Sina Weibo that contain the key word\u00a0iPhone<\/em>. In comparison, there are just over 64 million messages that mention\u00a0Android<\/em>. (The gap is partially explained by the fact that Android is the operating system used by several different brands, and consumers are more likely to mention the phone brand than the operating system. There are over 12 million messages that mention Android in direct comparison with Apple\u2019s iOS.)<\/p>\n Despite the attention, the iPhone\u2019s market share in the Chinese smart phone market is only just over\u00a08%<\/a>, but the phone\u2019s position as a status symbol and object of desire is firmly entrenched in the minds of China\u2019s consumers. Thus the iPhone serves as a status symbol not unlike car ownership. This is reflected in Weibo conversations where people often associate the iPhone with \u2018second-generation rich\u2019 (fu er dai<\/em>\u00a0\u5bcc\u4e8c\u4ee3), young people born into wealth, whose photos of themselves show off their Ferraris and Herm\u00e8s Birkin handbags, much to the chagrin of other netizens.<\/p>\n A retweeted message about iPhone is the following joke:<\/p>\n I really don\u2019t want to work now, but I have to because son, I want you to own an iPhone N when you grow up, so you won\u2019t have to masturbate, and you can become a tall, handsome, rich guy and pick up girls.<\/p>\n I really don\u2019t want to work now, but I have to because daughter, I want you to use iPhone N when you grow up and be able to afford to buy an air ticket to go home, so you won\u2019t be tempted by tall, handsome and rich guys who promise you an iPhone.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The myth that an iPhone can improve one\u2019s chances of hooking up is partly substantiated by the prevalent use of flirting apps that come in handy on an iPhone. One such tool is Weixin. Developed by Tencent, the app enables users to befriend any other users who are near and send messages to random users. There are enough reports of success to warrant the app the title of \u2018app of one-night stands (\u7ea6\u6ce1 or \u4e00\u591c)\u2019.<\/p>\n Apple remains the dominant luxury phone brand, and this is unlikely to change. But the most interesting developments in China\u2019s mobile phone industry will now take place in the low- to mid-price range, where rapid innovation, lawsuits and a price war are already under way. Users of these phones, mere mortals of the smartphone world, will have to settle for Android 4.0 operating systems, which in this writer\u2019s view is not much of a sacrifice at all. Maybe even a step up.<\/p>\n Links and sources<\/strong> Apple\u2019s presentation of new mobile operating system iOS 6 last week sent Chinese Apple fans into a frenzy. On Sina Weibo, 1.8 million and counting messages were posted commenting on iOS 6. Many people were excited by the new features … Continue reading
\nSiri:<\/em>\u00a0Once there were two iPhones and they walked into a bar\u2026 I can\u2019t remember the rest.<\/p>\n
\nSiri:<\/em>\u00a0Whoever said this should blush.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nChina Yahoo:\u00a0\u63a8\u51fa\u4e2d\u6587Siri \u666e\u901a\u8bed\u7ca4\u8bed\u5e26\u66f4\u591a\u4e2d\u56fd\u5316\u529f\u80fd<\/a>
\nSina Tech:\u00a0iOS 6\u672c\u5730\u5316\u4ee4\u4e2d\u56fd\u540c\u884c\u4e0d\u5b89\uff1a\u6216\u6f14\u53d8\u6210\u8fdb\u5316\u6218\u4e89<\/a>
\nTaobao:\u00a0\u63d0\u524d\u4f53\u9a8ciOS6 beta\u7279\u6027 Udid \u6fc0\u6d3bIphone4S \u5f00\u53d1\u8005\u5e10\u53f7 \u4fe1\u8a89\u7b2c\u4e00<\/a>
\nTaobao:\u00a0mountain-lion \u82f9\u679c MAC \u8f6f\u4ef6 \u7cfb\u7edf 10.8 \u5728\u7ebf \u66f4\u65b0 apple\u7f8e\u6d32\u72ee<\/a>
\nInside Apple:\u00a0China passes US in smartphone usage, over a billion mobile subscribers overall<\/a>
\nThe Next Web Asia:\u00a0China\u2019s affordable mobile revolution: 40% of smartphones will be sub-$200 by 2015<\/a>
\nThe China Daily:\u00a0Xiaomi sells 150,000 smartphones in 12 mins<\/a>
\nForbes: China IPO:\u00a0Qihoo\u2019s Zhou Wins Big While His Rivals Simmer<\/a>
\nAndroid Authority:\u00a0Oppo Finder, the world\u2019s thinnest smartphone, goes up for pre-order on June 6<\/a>
\nBaidu Beat:\u00a0Baidu Cloud smartphone unveiled<\/a>
\nHC360:\u00a0\u56fd\u4ea7\u4f4e\u7aef\u673a\u6324\u538b\u82f9\u679c iPhone\u5e02\u573a\u4efd\u989d\u4ec58%<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"