Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce giant, is reportedly developing its own mobile operating system, with plans to launch it later this year.
Reports about the project have appeared in the Chinese press and international outlets such as the Wall Street Journal and Reuters. Alibaba, which established a dedicated Cloud Computing division in 2009, has not issued an official statement confirming the project.
Citing an anonymous source described as “close to the situation,” the Wall Street Journal reported that the new operating system will emphasize cloud-based applications and is expected to debut in the third quarter of this year, initially available only in China.
Although Alibaba’s core business centers on operating large e-commerce platforms rather than developing consumer software, the company has created software in the past. Observers suggest Alibaba could use its own mobile OS to promote and integrate apps for its extensive online commerce ecosystem.
Alibaba’s size and reach in Asia make the prospect of a proprietary operating system noteworthy for major global players such as Apple, Google and Microsoft, who may need to reassess competitive strategies for the region.
The company has a substantial presence in Asian B2B and B2C markets. Its Taobao Marketplace reports hundreds of millions of registered users, vast product listings, and tens of millions of daily unique visitors. Taobao Mall holds a dominant share of China’s online retail market, while Alipay serves as the country’s predominant third-party payment platform.
In the first quarter of 2011, Nokia’s Symbian OS remained the most widely used smartphone platform in China, holding a 59.8% share of the nation’s 113.8 million devices, according to Beijing research firm Analysys International. Windows Mobile accounted for 11.8%, Android for 11.1%, and Apple’s iPhone for 6.1%.
There is a broader, widely held view that China aims to reduce reliance on foreign technology platforms. The reports about Alibaba’s operating system follow earlier rumors that Baidu, China’s leading search engine, is also developing its own mobile OS under the codename “Qiushi.”