Chinese telecommunications operator China Unicom has announced that it will join the Open Handset Alliance established by Google, which means the company will develop Android-based handsets and mobile services.

With the joining of China Unicom, the number of members of the Open Handset Alliance will reach 48. Android is a Linux-based open source handset operating system developed by Google. It covers all software needed by a mobile phone, including the operating system, the user interface, and application programs. In addition, it clears the exclusive rights obstacle in the mobile communication industry, which attracts telecom operators and mobile phone manufacturers across the world.

China Unicom said it will cooperate with other members of the alliance to jointly promote and develop new mobile products, providing various choices, lower costs and better experiences to users.

Li Gang, vice president of China Unicom, said that China Unicom is glad to join the Open Handset Alliance and the company hopes to provide products and services based on the Android platform to its users. Li said the cooperative method of the alliance will help achieve the potential of wireless technologies and will benefit the establishment of a new collaborative environment in the mobile communication sector. At the same time, as one of the largest open platforms for mobile equipment, Android enables telecom operators, mobile phone manufacturers and the various links of the industry to launch their products better and faster while cutting their costs effectively.

Taking the cooperation with the Open Handset Alliance as a part of its 3G development strategy, China Unicom will launch mobile phones that can support the Android platform and Android-based mobile services, including mobile phone input method and voice search. In addition, China Unicom and Google will implement mobile search cooperation in Android handsets jointly launched by the two sides.