China’s ZTE Corp, plans to sell 300,000 units of a new Android smartphone to Europe this year. This month, sales will launch in France according to a ZTE spokeswoman.
The smartphone has a 3.5-inch touch screen is ZTE’s second cellular phone marketed in France and it also employs Google’s Android operating system.
France Telecom’s Orange has already marketed the phone in the U.K. under the name “The San Francisco” since September. Starting on Nov. 18, Orange will also sell the smartphone in France under the brand “Tactile Internet 2?. The phone will sell for 249 Euros ($343) without any service plan and will start at 9 Euros with a post-paid plan, according to an Orange spokesman.
The phone’s low price compared to many Android phones could be the competitive key. ZTE has a reputation for winning telecom equipment contracts worldwide by undercutting Western rival’s prices.
“They make a pretty decent phone, but not so much so that I would put them ahead of any number of European vendors, if the price were equal,” according to the managing director of Marbridge Consulting in Beijing, Mark Natkin.
ZTE also intends to market the new Android phone in Portugal, Germany and Spain.
