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Alibaba claims Google leaned on Acer to cancel launch of CloudMobile with Aliyun in China
Just yesterday Acer was getting ready to unleash its CloudMobile smartphone on the Chinese public sporting an equally local (and equally not Android) Aliyun operating system. According to Reuters, however, when journalists turned up for the launch event today, an Alibaba (who make Aliyun) spokesperson told them the launch had been cancelled, before later releasing a statement saying Acer had received pressure from Google to pull the launch. The competing OS manufacturer claims that the Acer was told product collaborations and Android authorization would cease if the product was released. So far Google has declined to comment, but if true, represents some significant strong arming, in what is clearly a significant market. We have reached out to Google for comment ourselves. More as we know it.
Acer CloudMobile moves to China, dumps Android for Aliyun
Acer's CloudMobile (A800) has quietly slipped on its September 5th release date in the UK and headed East, where it's swapped its Android front-end for Alibaba's Aliyun OS. The dual-core handset will be released in China this Friday for ¥2,999 (approximately $474), making it the most expensive in the country -- according to the Wall Street Journal. Acer has reportedly chosen the fledgling, cloud-based OS for its Chinese customers because of the easy user experience, especially for smartphone first-timers. The company seems committed to exploring Aliyun in follow-up devices also, with one planned for release next month and more coming in 2013. Meanwhile, the flagship has yet to receive a dollar price or release date at Expansys, which doesn't suggest imminent availability of the Ice Cream Sandwich variant. Unfortunately, we'll probably never see Aliyun make it outside of China and into our eager hands... not without dropping some serious cash on an import, anyway.
Haier introduces Zing, a waterproof smartphone with Alibaba's Aliyun OS
Zing is right, because you probably didn't see this one coming. Haier, the Chinese consumer electronics company best known for air conditioners, refrigerators, and to a lesser extent, its home theater and mobile phone offerings, has just unleashed a durable phone for the home market with Alibaba's Aliyun OS. The handset is said to be waterproof, dust-proof and shock-proof, and from the looks of it, at least one of those claims is completely legit. The Zing features a 1GHz CPU, a 4-inch WVGA display and a 5-megapixel primary camera. A front-facing VGA shooter is also thrown in for good measure, and the phone will sell for ¥999 (approx. $157) when it hits shelves on June 15th. Perhaps HaiPad owners will consider purchasing a little companion for their tablet.
Yahoo to sell back half of its Alibaba stake for $7.1 billion
It's been a bit of a sour year for Yahoo -- it's seen the departure of one of its founding fathers, suffered through a patent dispute with Facebook and lost its new CEO in a sea of scandalous accusations. Yikes. At least former head honcho Scott Thompson's negotiations to sell the firm's stake in Alibaba seem to be going through -- the two firms just announced plans to redistribute about half of Yahoo's 40-percent stake in said Chinese tech giant. Under the current agreement, Alibaba will purchase 20-percent of its fully diluted shares back from the Silicon Valley company, netting Yahoo $7.1 billion in compensation. Yahoo will also be permitted to sell an additional 10-percent of its stake in a future IPO, or else require Alibaba to purchase it back at the IPO price. Despite Yahoo's stake changing hands, the companies will still be working together -- Yahoo has cleared Alibaba to continue to operate Yahoo! China (which was acquired by the latter back in October 2005) under the Yahoo! brand for up to four years -- in exchange for royalty payments, of course. Finally, Alibaba will license various patents to Yahoo moving forward. What's next? Well, Alibaba CEO Jack Ma did let it slip at AsiaD that he's considered buying Yahoo as a whole, and repurchasing the firm's assets in Asia could be a step in that direction. Read on for the official press release in all its financial glory.
Yahoo's Jerry Yang quits the company he co-founded, walks away from Alibaba as well
The long, drawn-out, oftentimes melodramatic saga revolving around Yahoo itself and co-founder Jerry Yang is well-documented. Perhaps too well. Thankfully for us all, that ends today. As of January 17th, he has resigned from Yahoo's Board of Directors and all other positions with the company, and moreover, has resigned from the Boards of Yahoo Japan Corporation and Alibaba Group Holding Limited. We most recently heard from Yang during his interview at AsiaD, where he sounded none too pleased about the going-ons there. We aren't about to draw links of Yang's exit to the hiring of Scott Thompson as CEO (in fact, Yang praises him in his exit blurb), but we are drawing links to his sudden purchase of a yacht, a new sauna and a round-the-round journey courtesy of Abercrombie & Kent. Kidding. In all seriousness, it's no surprise to see Yahoo's stock rallying, as many felt that Yang was the major roadblock holding up an outright sale or other significant shake-up within its ranks. As for Jerry? He's off to "pursue other interests" -- but we didn't need to tell you that, now did we?
Alibaba unveils W800, second-gen Aliyun phone, and unnamed 'cloud-powered' tablet
In July we got our first taste of Aliyun OS, running on the W700. Now, with the Gregorian calendar year coming to a close, Alibaba is prepping its second wave "cloud-powered" hardware. First up is the W800, the successor to the original Aliyun handset. As far as specs go, the two look more or less the same -- with the latest version still rocking a 1GHz Tegra 2. The one obvious difference is the slightly larger 4.3-inch display gracing the front of the W800. Perhaps more interesting though, is the still unnamed tablet which also clearly bares NVIDIA branding. Speed and exact model of the CPU inside is anyone's guess, but we're assuming this isn't a Kal-el device. Price and release date for both are a mystery, but the W800 is expected to land sometime before November is out. Of course, you probably shouldn't expect these to show up in your local Best Buy, but you've got a friend in Hong Kong who can send you one, right?
Alibaba to launch English version of Aliyun OS this month, tablet by November
Alibaba is just beginning its long and arduous journey into the field of mobile domination, but it's already looking to expand its sphere of influence beyond China to tackle the OS giants. Merely a few weeks after announcing its Aliyun OS, the company has spilled the beans on its plans for the immediate future, which include launching an English version of the platform this month and pushing a tablet to the market within the next two. Details on pricing, release time frame and partnerships are scarce -- the K-Touch W700 wasn't specifically mentioned, either -- but Alibaba confirmed it's currently in talks with global hardware vendors. Baidu, care to offer another rebuttal? You've got a slot at seventh place to protect.
Alibaba announces 'cloud-powered' Aliyun OS, K-Touch W700 phone
Ready for another mobile operating system? Alibaba certainly is, having just unveiled its Aliyun OS. The new entrant will apparently be "fully compatible" with apps from Android through a proprietary Waterloo-style emulation layer. We don't know exactly how that'll work, but come September we'll find out when the new OS ships on a rebranded Tian Hua K-Touch, the W700, for ¥2,680 (or around $416). We're also interested in the firm's tightly-knit cloud services, with users receiving 100GB to store their "contact information, call logs, text messages, notes and photos" -- accessible from both PCs and Aliyun-toting handsets. With future plans for tablets and "other devices" in the works, coupled with incessant hinting from Baidu, those of you hellbent on fierce OS competition might want to consider relocating to China.
Purported 'iPhone 5' case reveals minor changes in next iPhone
On Friday, a rumor broke that the next iPhone will be called the iPhone 4S and it will primarily retain the same form factor with a few minor cosmetic changes and some new interior parts. Now today, GadgetsDNA posted a photo of a case purportedly for the iPhone 5, which shows a re-located camera flash. Besides the camera flash, the case also shows a much thinner bezel. However as MacRumors points out, the manufacturers matching current case for the iPhone 4 also has a thin bezel, so that can't necessarily be taken as sign that the "iPhone 5" will have a thinner bezel. If this case is correct, its "iPhone 5" attribution is likely nothing more than a guess or easy identifier by the manufacturer. Jeffries & Co. analyst Peter Misek claimed Friday that the fifth-generation iPhone that will debut this fall will be called the iPhone 4S. The image of the "iPhone 5" case showed up on Asian parts supplier site Alibaba. Other cases from manufacturers have shown up on the site purporting to be for future models of iOS devices and they have ended up being correct. Usually when a manufacturer is able to build proper cases for unannounced Apple products, they have gotten the dimensions and specs of the upcoming products from people at Asian manufacturers such as Foxconn. As always, there is no way of telling if this case represents the next iPhone Apple will launch, but it wouldn't be the first time case manufacturers stole a bit of Apple's thunder.
Yet another iPod nano 4G render? Sure, why not
Hey, what's one more leaked OEM/ODM image of the iPod nano 4G between friends. While usually we'd be highly suspect of an image like this from Alibaba.com (peddlers of the Mac G6), the stars have certainly aligned around the next-generation iPod nano form factor show beneath the "Screen Guard for iPod Nano 4th Gen." Besides, it's the first clean render we've seen from below. Five more days and we'll know for sure.[Thanks, Chris W.]
World's Cheapest Laptop may just be the world's cheapest laptop
We've gotta admire the functional naming here. "World's Cheapest Laptop." Hard to get that one confused with the world's almost-cheapest laptop, or similar pretenders. From what we can glean from this laptop's Alibaba page, it's built by Impulse, sports an NPX-9000 model number, and gives new meaning to the term craptop when it comes to specs. The 7-inch screen is accompanied by a 400MHz, MIPS processor, 128MB of RAM, 1GB of flash storage, and a few USB ports and an SD card slot. You'll be filling up one of those ports with a WiFi dongle, and we're guessing that SD card slot will be your lifeline for storing just about everything that isn't the Linux operating system. The wholesale price is $130 US, with a 50 unit minimum purchase. $6,500 for a laptop for you and 49 of your closest frenemies? We're sold.[Thanks, Seema R.]
Unlocked iPhone 3G available for direct shipment from Hong Kong, no catch at all
Man, waiting in line for the iPhone 3G can be a royal pain, right? Wouldn't it be nice if you could just circumvent the whole boring, sheep-like process and have one delivered to your doorstep? Well thanks to Alibaba.com and the weird and wacky copyright laws of Hong Kong, now you can! According to the wholesale goods supply site, you can just order up the "original" Apple device direct from a company called Union Camera and have them sent to whatever poorly lit dock, abandoned warehouse, or suburban safe-house you desire. The best part? They're network unlocked. You know, something seems wrong about this, but we just can't put our finger on it...Update: As some commenters point out, it seems to be $1000 minimum order as opposed to 1000 pieces. Guess we'll just have to start the process and find out.[Via PMP Today]
