Report: Lenovo Mobile teams up with China’s largest online retailer for new phone
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Local Tech Wire
MORRISVILLE, N.C. - Lenovo may be reacquiring its Lenovo Mobile business unit just in time to capitalize on a new shopping-focused venture in China.
Lenovo Mobile will soon announce the launch of a phone loaded with applications from Taobao, China’s largest online retailer, according to Reuters.
The story broke just before Lenovo, the world’s No. 4 PC maker, formally announced that it was reacquiring Lenovo Mobile for $200 million in cash and stock. Lenovo spun off Lenovo Mobile last year.
Citing a source that it didn’t name, Reuters said Taobao and Lenovo Mobile will offer a phone that “enables users to shop wirelessly and will be launched within a month.”
Taobao is owned by Alibaba Group, which also runs China’s largest e-commerce site. Alibaba is owned in part by Yahoo!, Reuters noted.
Citing data from iResearch, Reuters noted that China’s e-commerce market grew 90 percent from a year ago to more than $9.6 billion in the third quarter with Taobao holding a whopping 82.8 percent market share.
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