War of Standards in China's Mobile Business Platforms : A Multi-Interfaced Perspective

This paper develops a multi-interfaced perspective of mobile business platforms, and applies it to the analysis of competition for market power in China' mobile business markets. In particular, it analyzes the roles played by multinational firms (Nokia, Motorola, Apple, Samsung etc.) in the shaping of China's mobile business market landscape. China has always been labeled as the world manufacturing center; this claim can also be interpreted as a manifestation for its weakness in its innovation capability, and the telecom industry is a showcase for this argument. The success stories of such telecom powerhouses as Huawei and ZTE have been overshadowed by such interesting cases as the three operators' wooing for partnership with Apple for the introduction of i-Phone into the Chinese markets. Lack of killer innovative products has been the weakest link in the Chinese mobile business value system. However, the recent success story of Wechat, a powerful instant communication tool developed by an internet company, has shown that innovation with Chinese characteristics may come from the outsiders' invasion of the traditionally entrenched territory occupied by telecom operators. The dynamics of the mobile business value system evolution will be interesting to observe in the years to come