Microsoft is reportedly in talks to partner with Chinese retailer Suning in an effort to distribute Windows Phones throughout the country. Suning has more than 700 stores in China and Microsoft is rumored to have agreed to give the retailer first dibs on Windows Phone and upcoming Windows 8 devices, Chinese news source QQ Finance reported recently. The deal may be imminent although it remains unclear which Windows Phone models will be sold in the country. It is also unclear how vendors are involved with the t...

Authorities with China’s Administration for Industry and Commerce have uncovered 22 additional fake Apple Store outlets in Kunming, the largest city in the Yunnan Province, Reuters reported on Thursday. Kunming is where a blog named BirdAbroad first revealed the existence of unofficial Apple Stores that posed as the real deal. In late July Chinese officials closed down two of the stores for lacking business licenses, but allowed others to remain open because they have licenses to trade and sell genuine ...

Chinese trade officials have raided and shut down two of five fake Apple Stores in Kunming, BBC News reported on Monday. The two stores weren’t closed for impersonating an Apple Store, instead both were shuttered for lacking business licenses. Travel blog BirdAbroad brought attention to the fake stores last week when it detailed one convincing shop in Kunming that sold real Apple products. That shop has not been closed because it “has a license to trade and is selling genuine Apple products,”...

A personal travel blog titled BirdAbroad recently published a story and photos detailing fake Apple Stores that have started to pop up in China. A few such stores exist in Kunming, the largest city in the Yunnan Province, and employees have faked the real Apple Store atmosphere so well that a number of Chinese residents believe the stores are legitimate outlets. Several of the customers are now furious after hearing the truth. “When I heard the news I rushed here immediately to get the receipt, I am so ...

Microsoft has struck a deal to provide English search results in Baidu, China’s most popular search engine. According to The Wall Street Journal, Microsoft anticipates that the Bing-labeled English search results will help expand its Bing brand in China. Baidu also hopes that the partnership will help its efforts to expand its search engine to the global market. Chinese users typically use Google for English search results, however, the Chinese government has blocked that search engine — and other Goo...

On Wednesday hackers based in China broke into hundreds of Gmail accounts, including those of journalists, Chinese political activists, U.S. government officials, and government employees from South Korea. Given the aforementioned targets and recent revelations that China has a branch of its military focused on cyber activities, it may seem like China’s government had a role in the attack. On Thursday, however, China denied any involvement in the the breach, according to The Wall Street Journal. Hong Le...

The Apple iPad 2 was greeted by crowds during its debut in China on Friday morning, according to AppleInsider. Customers began lining up at about 5pm local time on Thursday, and there were hundreds of people in line by the time the store opened. Those who waited in line were allowed to leave to take one hour breaks, but anyone who spent longer was sent to the back of the queue. Scalpers also reportedly took to the streets offering the device at a relatively small markup. Chinese customers appeared to prefer t...

Chinese website ifanr has been kind enough to snap several non-blurry candids of the 7-inch Samsung tablet known as the Galaxy Tab. The device is pictured running Android 2.2, although no build number was listed, and other specs reported by the website include: 1024 x 600 AMOLED display (they didn’t say “Super AMOLED,” but we’re assuming it will be), PowerVR SGX 540 graphics processor, 3.2 megapixel rear-facing camera, front-facing VGA camera, 3G (no bands listed), GPS, and Wi-Fi b/g/n...

After weeks of negotiations and public statements, the tension between Google and China has reached a crescendo and sources familiar with the situation are relaying the rumor that Google may be closing the Chinese branch of its search engine in the next few weeks. The possibility of Google operating without censorship in China was stifled last Friday when Li Yizhong, Minister of Industry and IT, confirmed China’s position that Google’s plan to operate without filtering was “unfriendly”...

It doesn’t get any better than being able to do stuff with your phone just by talking into it, and now Google is bringing that experience to Nokia S60 devices. For those of you with iPhones and BlackBerrys, you’re probably already pretty familiar with this feature available on the Google Mobile App. While it might not have as dominant a share in the U.S. as it does globally, Symbian devices are still number one worldwide. So, it only makes sense that this extremely convenient feature is added to t...

At this point in the game, it appears as though the question isn’t will the iPods touch and nono get a camera? – it’s when? Chinese accessories manufacturers have cooked up more cases for the iPod duo than we can count on our fingers and toes. Surely they aren’t making these for impending knockoffs, one would presume. The accessories also jive with the news we reported earlier this month about Apple’s tremendous order of cameras. We don’t typically say pictures don’t ...

If you’re the type who doesn’t mind picking up slightly-less-than-new products from eBay or Craigslist, Apple has the online store for you! Except it’s only in China. In a country where many Apple products are sold on the black market, Apple has decided to take on pirates and scammers by launching a used product section on its site where discounts of up to 22 percent can be found. That’s not a bad deal in a place where it can cost an arm and a leg to pick up an iPhone. We’re not ...

The ZTE U990 (not to be confused with the LG U990), the world’s first high-end HSDPA-TD-SCDMA phone, has been unveiled by ZTE Corp. in China. Using HSDPA, the device is capable of transferring data at the rate of 2.8Mbps — not too shabby, and apparently the fastest capable on a TD-SCDMA network (a network which is quickly being built out in China). The upload speeds aren’t too bad, either, at 384kbps, so using data and browsing the ‘net on this device could be a pleasure if the process...

It looks like Apple has decided to sell the iPhone 3G to folks in Hong Kong without having it locked down to any particular carrier. This could be a straight backlash to the rumors that China Mobile won’t carry the iPhone unless 3G and Wi-Fi are disabled (we know, right?). Anyway, the iPhone 3G will now be available for the Chinese to use however they please so long as the chosen carrier’s SIM is installed before syncing the phone to iTunes 8. The 8GB model will be available for $5,400 HK ($692) a...