China-based UC Mobile is coming to the U.S. in what may very
China-based UC Mobile is coming to the U.S. in what may very well be the first China telecom related business to invest in the U.S.
The company’s CEO, Yu Yongfu, told reporters in Beijing on Wednesday that the company was entering the North American market at some point in the first half of the year. Their main office would be in the U.S.
UC Mobile is the world’s biggest provider of mobile phone browsers by user numbers.
“The U.S. market is definitely different from the emerging markets. Though we are confident about our technology, we still face tough challenges in areas such as product design – different countries have different tastes,” Yu said at a news briefing in Beijing.
A few Chinese telecom and internet companies have made attempts to expand overseas. Search engine giant Baidu (BIDU) and mobile security supplier NetQin Mobile (NQ) have already invested heavily outside China. Chinese mobile internet companies are still in the initial stages of entering overseas markets and have yet to become global companies in the same league as Google or Baidu.
Moreover, the U.S. government is not entirely keen on having Chinese investment in the telecom space.
Will be interesting to see how much the United States will give up to this Chinese company considering how hard it is for US companies to break into the Chinese market. Definitely some negotiation should be going on! How about an American search engine or social network in China in exchange?