Learn Chinese online - IT: Lenovo to lease mobile phones in Beijing from July

BIZCHINA / Biz Media Digest

IT: Lenovo to lease mobile phones in Beijing from July

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-06-27 15:22

Lenovo Mobile, a mobile phone subsidiary of Lenovo Group, will start
piloting mobile phone leasing in Beijing in mid-July, company sources
told Xinhua in Beijing Tuesday.

"The average lifespan of a mobile phone has dropped from 21 months to 18
months, which means vast numbers of mobile phones are being discarded,"
said Li Jianquan, Executive Director of Quality, Service and
Administration of Lenovo Mobile.

Mobile phones contain heavy metals, such as lead and beryllium, as well
as bromide used as a flame retardant in the circuit boards, all of which
are potentially dangerous for humans.

The cadmium contained in a single mobile phone battery can contaminate
about 60,000 liters of water.

"Mobile phones, which are small and light, are often tossed into the
trash and burned or buried in waste processing, leading to potential
leakage of dangerous substances," Li told Xinhua in an exclusive
interview. "Mobile phone leasing overcomes that problem, making it
possible to deal with discarded phones in a safe and professional manner."

Related readings:
Top 100 electronics firms' sales exceed 1 trillion yuan
Lenovo to increase its rural presence Lenovo back in the black in Q4
Mobile users to top 600m by 2010

Market research indicates that students and recent graduates who cannot
afford cutting-edge mobile phones, and fashion-driven high-end mobile
phone fans who change phones frequently, represent a significant
potential market, Li said.

"The cost of the service will be determined by a number of factors like
handset cost, model and lease term," he said.

"China's mobile phones don't have fixed numbers. It is easy to transfer
data from a leased phone to another handset and customers will keep their
SIM cards," Li explained.

"For more details, you'll have to wait until mid-July when we start
piloting the service in Beijing," he said. "If everything goes well,
we'll roll out the service nationwide."

All the mobile phones concerned by the leasing service will be Lenovo
models. The company will choose three other cities to pilot the service
apart from Beijing, he said.

There are now 487 million mobile phone users in China with six million
new users being added every month, according to the Ministry of
Information Industry.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Learn Chinese, Learn Mandarin online