Chinese interactive entertainment media company Shanda Interactive Entertainment Limited has announced that it plans to launch its own smartphone product in March or April 2012.

The new smartphone product will reportedly adopt similar sales methods and channels as the company's e-book reader Bambook, and the price of this new product is temporarily set at CNY999. The hardware configuration for Shanda's new smartphone has not been released yet; however, it is rumored that its operating system is developed based on Android.

Shanda's chairman Chen Tianqiao previously made adjustments to the company' businesses in the second half of 2011, emphasizing its new strategic focus on the development of mobile Internet services. Meanwhile, the company's Internet gaming and literature sectors will provide support to the new strategy.