HTC unveils 'QQ phone' for Chinese social networking

If smartphone makers can produce a Facebook-centric phone, why not a phone catering to the largest social networking site in China? Taiwan-based HTC released this week its first "QQ phone" for QQ.com, China's largest social network, Taiwan's Central News Agency reported. The CNA report quoted HTC as saying the "Chacha" comes with an 800MHz processor, 512MB of RAM and a 2.6-inch touch display. It will be powered by Google's Android opereating system and HTC Sense software making the smartphone more user-friendly and personalized. Ren Weiguang, president of HTC's China division, said the HTC "Chacha" is produced in collaboration with Tencent Inc., China's largest and most used Internet service portal. Liu Chengmin, Tencent's senior executive vice president, said Tencent's value-added QQ services offer a very interactive community platform. Liu added the Chacha would help Tencent to further integrate and improve its social networking solutions and bring even better services and experiences to its customers. For its part, HTC noted the growing fusion of mobile and social networking services, which it said inspired the development of SOLOMO (social, local and mobile) cross-industry cooperation. It added it is collaborating with Tencent to offer Chinese netizens more exciting, localized and personalized mobile-centric social networking services. The CNA report noted smartphone Internet use has gone mainstream in China. It cited statistics that as of June 2011, there are 485 million Internet users in China. Of these, 65.5 percent, or 318 million, were connected to the Internet via smartphones. — TJD, GMA News