Alibaba Cloud Computing and Haier GroupLaunch Aliyun OS-Powered Smartphone

BEIJING--Alibaba Cloud Computing ("AliCloud"), developer of advanced distributed cloud computing services, and Haier Group, a leading home appliance brand, today unveiled the Haier Zing, the newest mobile device to be powered by Aliyun OS; the Zing will be introduced to market mid-June.

"We are excited to be collaborating with Haier Group to bring the Aliyun OS to a broader smartphone user population," said Wang Jian, president of Alibaba Cloud Computing. "We believe that users are entitled to a more open and convenient mobile operating system, and are confident that the Aliyun OS can create the improved mobile Internet experience that users demand." 

The Haier Zing will feature a 1 GHz MTK6575 processor coupled with 512 MB of RAM and a 4 inch LCD touch screen at 800x480 screen pixel resolution. It comes equipped with a 5.0 megapixel camera and 2000 mAh battery and will retail for RMB999 (approximately US$156.7
1). The companies plan to explore further cooperation in the future to integrate cloud computing into a range of other appliances such as television sets.

"The innovation, usability and stability of the Aliyun OS makes it the obvious choice to power our new smartphone," said Yu Zida, vice president of Haier Group. "We look forward to long-term cooperation with AliCloud and believe the launch of the Zing will pave the way for the execution of Haier Group's mobile Internet strategy."

The Haier Zing is the fifth in a series of smartphones powered by Aliyun OS. The first phone, the K-Touch Cloud-Smart Phone W700 manufactured by Tianyu, hit the shelves in July 2011 and sold 200,000 units in the first 3 months. Sales of Aliyun OS-powered smartphones topped 1 million handsets at the end of May 2012. According to iResearch, sales of smartphones in China reached 72.1 million in 2011 and is expected to reach 113 million in 2012, up 56% year-on-year.

About Alibaba Cloud Computing

Alibaba Cloud Computing was established in September 2009 with the mission of building an advanced distributed cloud computing service platform. The company is committed to supporting the growth of Alibaba Group and the whole e-commerce ecosystem by providing a comprehensive suite of Internet-based computing services, which include e-commerce data mining, high-speed massive e-commerce data processing, and data customization. Alibaba Cloud Computing is wholly owned by Alibaba Group.