China Mobile's ex-chairman calls for Chinese mobile operating systems

Chinese enterprises should commit themselves to research and development of mobile operating systems, China Mobile Ltd's former chairman wrote recently.

Wang Jianzhou wrote in an article on China Entrepreneur that called on Chinese companies to launch self-developed mobile operating systems. Currently, Google Inc's Android operating system and Apple Inc's iOS platform held dominant positions in the Chinese market.

"We (Chinese companies) cannot always be an outsider," Wang wrote. If Chinese enterprises enter the field of mobile operating systems, they can have a bigger say in the world's mobile phone industry, Wang added.

In the transition process from "made in China" to "innovation in China", Chinese mobile phone manufacturers cannot avoid the mobile operating system issue, he said.

"Many Chinese firms have already built up core mobile software development capabilities. This lays a solid foundation for their future R&D work of mobile operating systems," Wang said.

Wang argued Chinese enterprises should not copy existing mobile systems, but be innovative.

"Not every company can have its own mobile operating system. … I believe an open platform, with support from various companies, will be much better than a closed, self-owned operating system," Wang wrote.

shenjingting@chinadaily.com.cn