M9 - Android System + 1GHz CPU + 3G Networking

The basic model of M9 had come out last weekend. This China Mobile Phone M9 will adopt Android system and with the price about 2000 Yuan. Last Friday, the price of MEIZU M8 was adjusted from 1999 Yuan to 1880 Yuan. This was the third time M8 dropped the price and some MEIZU fans got annoyed about it.

The CPU of M9 will upgrade to 1GHZ from the current M8 667MHz.It embraces 3G network support, a Samsung S5PC110 CPU and 512MB RAM. Additionally, the handset comes equipped with a built-in 5-megapixel camera, much more advanced than M8 3.2 megapixel camera. And M9 is with a 1350 mAH battery.

On the hardware, M9 embraces 3.6 inch screen with 720 x 480 resolutions. The CEO of MEIZU, Jack Wong also indicates M9 will come in CDMA, TD-SCDMA and CDMA2000 flavors synchronously. It means that M9 supports all 3G forms of CDMA, TD-SCDMA and CDMA2000. And WCDMA will cost more 200 Yuan than the other two.

As for the M9 soft system, Jack Wong indicates yesterday that it will adopt Android and M8 CE. The CE costs 7 dollars royalty fee while Android is free. So M9 will mainly support Android even though it is with double system. But M9 will lack trackball that is equipped to most Android phones.

The price drop of M8 last week also called much attention. M8 was 2380 Yuan when it was first launched at the end of the year before last. And the price dropped to 1999 Yuan on about May 1 last year. Since then, Jack Wong had promised not to cut M8’s price anymore. However, maybe due to selling pressure, M8 got 120 Yuan off last Friday and fell to 1880 Yuan, it's really a cheap 3G mobile phone.

This price drop annoyed many MEIZU fans who got M8 with high price. One fans purchased M8 just one day earlier than the price drop. So he issued a lot angry posts at MEIZU official website and his notes were deleted three times.

Comment: In today’s fierce market competition, price cuts are inevitable for each electronic product. MEIZU fans should take it easy. Even the confident iPhone couldn’t promise not to cut the price in a long term. As for the news of launching M9, it is obvious that 3G spreads much faster than Jack Wong expected.

MEIZU phone may have achieved some success in 2G era. But the possibility of reshuffling in 3G phone market brings more opportunities and dangers to MEIZU in the future. To grow or to sink, it is an important problem MEIZU faces.