CmdrCord

Thanks for the insight, SimonePMP.
Looks like those "patent trolls" also seek media attention to intimidate other manufacturers, saying "better pay your fee right from the start, or we'll beat the c**p out of you later"...

citizenklaw

There's a lot of noise because they do not fear the M8 itself, they fear what Meizu is capable of doing. I've always thought that most of these Chinese companies will eventually move from imitation to innovation. As Mx (3,6) owners we know our devices are more open and superior to whatever Cupertino thinks out. Yes, the M8 is like the iPhone but so is LG's product. However it has better specs than the iPhone.

That's the thing: what happens when these guys (Meizu and their peers) outdo the big US marketing, er, technology firms with better kit? It's only a matter of time.

And for the record, I'd still buy the M8 when it comes out. If it works with any GSM carrier in the US. The timing couldn't be better as I should be out of my crappy Sprint contract by this time next year.

hotboxx

Simply because of all this, I am willing to wait a much longer time for the M8. Jack Wong is our Steve Jobs.

chengdude

He would be an idiot if he didn't pay attention to Meizu's press coverage abroad. Why do you think they're at CeBIT? European countries with their stupid-high taxes are going to be important markets, especially if J Wong envisions the future of his company built on sales of the M8. A "market of over a billion people"? How many people in China have the disposable income to spend $300-$400 on a phone? Hint: not "over a billion". True, there are more mobile phone users in China than people in the U.S., but a big chunk of that market is for low-end Chinese brands ($100 or less). The market for phones that do what the M8 promises is miniscule in comparison.

For the moment, the iPhone is a Statement in China. You buy it because you can afford it and because you're hip/trendy/fashionable. China is a very class conscious society and the new breed of Chinese consumer is just as brand, quality, and status conscious as anywhere else...OK, maybe not Japan or India. The only reason the iPhone will be "buried" is when it becomes passé.

No matter how awesome it turns out to be, to think the M8 will be some kind of game-changer in China is, to use you own word, delusional. Also, don't forget there are certain companies that have worked much longer and much harder than Meizu to cultivate brand awareness, status, and loyalty among Chinese consumers...hard to believe Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, and Motorola are going to give up and pack their bags when the M8 is introduced.

iversonjack

that's just sad seriously

SimonePMP

I have a few friends here at CeBit that are chinese manufacturers (and also quite successful).

There is now a change in the Government policy that is more or less forcing a change in the techology business and the change is: "stop the export - as we are overdoing that - and target the internal market". The Government is lowering a lot the tax advantages for exporters and these advantage are going to vanish in a couple of years time. The international pressure is high and the policy of being less "China does everything at cheap prices" is very reasonable.

Obviously they are also making life harder for foreign brands to enter China, but this is part of the international trade game. They know very well how to protect the local market (just remember what happened for WiFi, with their own standard, patented and regulated by the Government itself about licencing).

About iPhone, I got this "400.000 units currently used in China" from one of these very well informed guys (and he really knows what he says about this industry).

So almost everything I read so far is sound: big potential for M8, strong chance that it will be mainly targeted at domestic market and also harder life for foreign brands to enter the local market.

Going to the M8 itself, I followed a very similar story in the past: the company striving to enter the PDA phone market was E-Ten (Taiwan). The very first three models were a good try, but very buggy. E-Ten spent a LOT of time in R&D to make them work without being too much successful. It took 2 years of trial and error to get their designs stable, reliable and usable. Now they are so successful - at least in terms of product quality and know how - that they are going to be bought by a BIG brand and just become a division of that brand. They sold the first designs as finished products to the market making many customers very upset (resets, line drops, freezings, hard resets and so on), but with M500 things changed and with the following devices the worse was gone.

I believe that Meizu will follow a similar path: only when you have an "unwilling beta tester community" got from the market itself - thanks to early adopters - you have enough feedback to spot your design weakness. They will fix it and make an improved version and the third design will be "the one" that never lets you down. These PDA phones are a damn complex thing with issues almost everywhere: from power management to proper task switching times and priorities, to internal noise, standards compliance, testing and certification.
Just look at other manufacturers that entered the same market: were the very first PDA Phones from Asus a hit and a robust product? And what about the HP first PDA Phones? Even HTC had to go through hard times before they mastered this kind of technology (and by the way they are now behind the "first model" of many big names).

I will give my trust to M8 and I will also accept that it will be buggy and far from perfect (maybe even hardly usable) because this is what I did with the other products. Without this kind of support, there won't be the next design and the "perfect one".

Moogle Stiltzkin

This kinda reminds me of the Apple TV versus the Popcorn A100 :X

Their both media centers but Apple Tv only does basic formats like wmv. It looks good and costs alot....

Popcorn-A100 on the otherhand does ALL THE FORMATS !!!! It's cheap and good bang for your bucks with a lot of support.


It is the same for IPOD VS Meizu imho :X Meizu is so much better then a gimpy looking Ipod that does few formats :P

Blah

If it does get out in time, i think the M8 will do better in china than the iphone.

Russarch

Theres even a Vid of the eviction on YouTube:

YouTube - Eviction Meizu stand at CeBIT 2008

sere83

haha, amazing, is that J.Wong standing there playing with his phone? it looks like him

Blah

J Wong was there?

Btw i didnt see the police in the video... were they the people going thru the boxes?

thestrangestick

The idiot that posted the video said they got takemn down for MiniOne patent violations. I hastily corrected him

Unregistered

Hi!
Some ours ago, I was searching for Meizu on Cebit and what I've seen: NOTHING! What happened? I thought they reopened?!

parena

Wong said they did what they came to do: show the M8. The world knows about it, seen what they have. He said it's important to get back home and work on the M8 instead of just showing it.

my zoo

J.Wong said:

' 2008-3-7 0:40:00

虽然今天展会已经正常展出,但我还是决定明天开始我们德国的参展人员将撤回珠海,不再继续展出 .
Meizu booth goes on its show today, but we decide to call back our team to ZhuHai, and the expo will not go on next day.'

, so it seems they've broken off the cebit-disaster.

hotboxx

I would be disgusted if I was in the same position. Travel to the other side of the world to show a new product and then being threated as a criminal.

It was not a disaster, the German police made a disaster out of it and the guys from Engadget enjoyed it a lot and could not wait to spread the news. They even started their anti Meizu campaign the day before Cebit opened.

Hendrik

The German police did what had to be done. Apparently there was some major evidence since Meizu was not allowed to show their mp3 players further on.
Furthermore Engadget is not against Meizu, the people over there just belive in what they see and they know if they can rely on news published by a company. If Apple announces a new product you can expect that they will release it in time. You can't do that with Meizu, unfortunatelly. I'm pretty sure that they want the M8 to come out and be excellent but to be honest: That will not happen. Somewhen there will be a M8. And it will be good. But not excellent.

SteveMB93

HAHA, dude are you serious? Engadget hates ANY company that is trying to compete with their beloved Apple. Do we need to talk about the SDK?

Hendrik

So ... you reading another engadget site than me. They are ALWAYS complaining that the iPhone/MacbookAir doesn't offer removable batteries. They call the Macbook Air the slowest Apple machine on the block with a picture of it that is stating that the Air is slow and stupid. They are complaining about the lack of USB ports and an optical drive.
They are showing a comparison chart of several SDKs for mobile devices that shows clearly that the Apple SDK is the loser and the Windows Mobile SDK the winner.
On the other hand they made fun about the release of the M8 in 2007, guessing that it will not be in stores by the end of 2007 -- so they were right. They are complaining about the poor quality of the M8 "prototypes" - and they are right.
Conclusion: They are NOT against Meizu and they don't love Apple. As there are more products made by Apple they have a positive opinion about Apple. And as there aren't a lot of products made by Meizu they will have to wait and see what the future will bring. Until then they publish all the news, sometimes with a funny/sarcastic undertone.

hotboxx

And they told that the M8 would not be at Cebit, simply because there was nothing to see the day before Cebit opened.

Is it getting clear?