Sources told Reuters that the applications of Alibaba Group could soon be found on the mobile phones of China Telecom. Both companies inked a strategic agreement on Monday but did not provide further information about the specifics of their collaboration.
According to the source, "Areas of potential collaboration going forward include pre-installing China Telecom contract mobile phones with Alibaba Group applications." The apps would be pre-installed on the 3G subscription smartphones of China's smallest mobile carrier. Some of the apps include the Alibaba's social messaging app Laiwang and the Taobao Marketplace application.
Based on data provided by China Telecom, Reuters found that it held a 26.48% share of the 3G market in China. There are currently 341.32 million 3G subscribers in the world's second largest economy.
Reuters reported that the three largest internet firms in China had been increasing efforts to capitalize on the country's fast growing mobile internet niche. Search engine provider Baidu Inc already had its applications pre-installed on many Chinese smartphones.
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