China Mobile Has Created A Monster With Google Android (GOOG, CHL) The Business Insider
China never subsidized mobile phones: China’s smaller computer to mobile phone ratio meant China did not create a culture that relied heavily on email, so there was no hook for employers or consumers to demand flat data plans. China Mobile’s 32 operating entities charge wildly different rates for data plans, and are terrified at widespread tethering for users who have no home internet connection.Chinese carriers, like all carriers, fear becoming a dumb pipe: No carrier in the world has figured out a way around this problem, mainly because most carriers have little control of the handset OS, and Android changes that. The last time mobile content revenues got big in China with Premium SMS, China Mobile felt shut out, so they shut the whole market down in 2006 wiping out the business of companies like Linktone . Since then, China Mobile just didn't have a platform they felt comfortable using to build out their great wall-ed garden. But when they saw Android, China Mobile figured they could control mobile content delivery with pretty much a direct proportion to how much time they spent customizing the free Android platform.