China Mobile (CHL), the world’s largest wireless carrier by subscriber, has revealed its plan to commence the trial run of its 4G network during World Expo 2010 to be held in Shanghai from May 1 to Oct 31, 2010. The company’s 4G service is based on the TD-LTE (Time Division Duplex Long Term Evolution) mobile broadband technology. Roughly 200 participants and 70 million visitors are expected to assemble at the Expo.   China Mobile has recently selected Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) for the responsibilities of design, construction, installation and integration of communication infrastructure to facilitate the 4G network trial. The TD-LTE network will provide advanced wireless services (including high-definition TV and ultra-fast broadband Internet access) to the visitors at the exposition.   The three major Chinese telecom operators China Mobile, China Unicom (CHU) and China Telecom (CHA) are investing heavily in Shanghai to improve the city’s network

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – November 17, 2009 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Dell Inc. (DELL), Apple Inc. (AAPL), Nokia (NOK), Research In Motion (RIMM) and American Dairy Inc. (ADY).

Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5513

Here are highlights from Monday’s Analyst Blog:

Dell’s Smartphone Strategy

Dell Inc. (DELL), one of the world’s leading computer manufacturer, has decided to start manufacturing its smartphone device. The company has zeroed in on Brazil as the first manufacturing destination and chosen Claro as its carrier partner in the region. Dell will also

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Dell Inc. (DELL), one of the world’s leading computer manufacturer, has decided to start manufacturing its smartphone device. The company has zeroed in on Brazil as the first manufacturing destination and chosen Claro as its carrier partner in the region. Dell will also be manufacturing the device in China and partner with China Mobile in that region. The phone will be using the Google Android operating system.   Dell’s entry into the smartphone segment looks like a logical progression, as the company is already manufacturing and rolling out reasonably priced netbooks in the market. However, Dell is a late entrant into the market, unlike its peer Apple Inc. (AAPL), which has already grabbed a large share through smartphones such as iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS.

As per the technology research firm Canalys, third quarter 2009 worldwide smartphone shipments grew 4% year on year, to 41.4 million units.  As

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• Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) agreed to pay Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE:AMD) $1.25 billion to settle a private antitrust lawsuit

• Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) announced plans to enter the smartphone business, in partnership with China Mobile and Claro. Its first product, the Mini 3, will be designed around Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android operating system

• Disney (NYSE:DIS) reported fiscal fourth quarter results after yesterday's close, with earnings ex-items coming in 5 cents a share better-than-expected at 46 cents. Revenues of $9.87 billion came in well ahead of Zacks estimates of $9.18 billion

• McDonald's (NYSE:MCD) addressed its plans to open 1,000 additional restaurants next year, and provide an image makeover to the rest.  The firm set targets for average annual sales growth of 3-5% and average annual operating earnings growth of 6-7%

• Abercrombie and Fitch (NYSE:ANF) reported third quarter non-GAAP earnings of 30 cents a share, well above Zacks estimates of 20 cents, as revenues of $765.4

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Taobao.com, the Internet shopping subsidiary of the Chinese B2B e-commerce group Alibaba, has announced that it will cooperate with China Mobile to launch a new mobile phone short message-based price comparison service. With this new service, mobile phone users will be able to inquire about the prices of goods sold on Taobao.com when they are shopping [...]

Chinese wireless giant China Mobile (CHL) is reportedly planning to spend more on 3G terminal subsidies in 2010. The company has tripled the amount of subsidies from the current year level and is expected to spend up to RMB30 billion (US$4.4 billion) next year. This move will enable the company to better compete with its Chinese peers in the domestic 3G space. China Mobile remains the leading player in the Chinese wireless market with 70% market share and more than 500 million subscribers. However, the company’s share of the new subscribers has dropped recently due to stiff competition from China Unicom (CHU) and the relatively new wireless player China Telecom (CHA) as they both operate internationally acclaimed 3G standard based networks. Leveraging its home-grown TD-SCDMA 3G standard, China Mobile launched its 3G network in early 2009, already covering 38 Chinese cities. The company currently ...

China Telecom (CHA), the largest Chinese fixed-line operator, has successfully tested Alcatel-Lucent’s (ALU) multi-carrier EV-DO (a 3G technology) wireless network based on the Revision B (Rev B) standard. The Chinese operator’s subsidiary Shanghai Telecom has reportedly installed the multi-carrier EV-DO solution, which significantly enhances network throughput and reduces data latency (using multiple carriers) to meet increasing customer demand for high-bandwidth applications.   The multi-carrier EV-DO Rev B network, which represents an upgrade from EV-DO Rev A, has demonstrated highly encouraging throughput levels in the lab test with peak download speeds reaching up to 9.3 megabits per second (Mbps). This will effectively enhance customer experience who subscribe to high-bandwidth wireless services including Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP), high definition video streaming and other multimedia applications.    Leveraging Alcatel-Lucent’s network infrastructure support, Shanghai Telecom became the first Chinese carrier to commercially launch a CDMA EV-DO network in China in March ...

Second-largest Chinese wireless carrier China Unicom (CHU) will officially launch commercial 3G wireless services on Oct 1, 2009 across 285 Chinese cities. This coincides with the company's launch date of Apple Inc.'s (AAPL) iPhone in mainland China. China Unicom initially announced that it will commence commercial 3G service roll out on Sep 28, 2009.

China Unicom launched commercial trials of its WCDMA technology-based 3G services in 56 cities (including Beijing and Shanghai ) in May 2009 and subsequently extended that to 44 more cities. The company also initiated commercial 3G trials in 168 more Chinese cities in August 2009.

To facilitate the deployment of its 3G WCDMA network, China Unicom has collaborated with Ericsson (ERIC) under a $700 million deal. The company has also announced that it will adopt a uniform 3G tariff package in an effort to reduce prices for its 3G customers. Moreover, China Unicom will

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China Unicom (CHU) has announced the launch date of iPhone in mainland China yesterday. The second-largest Chinese wireless carrier will unveil the popular smartphone on Oct. 1, 2009. Additionally, the company will launch 80 different types of handsets in October 2009 that will run on its 3G wireless network. China Unicom has set a retail price tag of approximately RMB5,000 ($732.50) per handset and will offer eight service packages, ranging from RMB126 ($18.5) to RMB 886 ($130) per month. Subscribers signing to long-term service plans will get subsidies of around RMB893 ($131) to RMB4,253 ($623). iPhone will be available in 8GB (gigabyte), 16GB, and 32GB versions. Along with its interim 2009 earnings release in late August, China Unicom announced a three-year agreement with Apple Inc (AAPL) to launch the iPhone in China. However, the distribution deal is not exclusive, thus opening the path for ...

Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology is ahead in the race as the most sought-after next-generation (4G) wireless network standard in the market. The 4G wireless networks are aiming to cope with substantial demand for high-speed wireless data services and mobile video. LTE is an IP-based modulation standard and a set of enhancement for the existing Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS). This technology has been pioneered by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), a telecom industry body comprising wireless carriers and equipment vendors who have been buying and selling the same proprietary products for years. Verizon Communication (VZ), the largest carrier in the U.S., and NTT DoCoMo (DCM), the largest carrier in Japan, are the first two companies to decide on implementing LTE–based networks by 2010. Vodafone (VOD), the largest mobile carrier globally on revenue count and AT&T (T) will implement LTE by ...