Days after news of rival China Unicom's non-exclusive iPhone deal with Apple, Chinese telecom operator China Mobile formally launched its Ophone platform and Ophone handsets today.

According to Wang Jianzhou, president of China Mobile, the Ophone platform is the first mobile Internet-oriented smart mobile terminal software platform that has been developed by a telecom operator. It is expected to significantly improve the competitiveness of China Mobile's TD-SCDMA terminals.

During the launch meeting for the Ophone, China Mobile announced three Ophone-related tools and platforms, including the Ophone platform for users; the Ophone SDK software development tool targeting software developers; and the Ophone SDN software developers' community.

Wang said the Ophone platform will bring new experiences to China Mobile's hundreds of millions of users and achieve "the joint development of all main bodies of the industry chain". At the same time, the launch of the Ophone platform will lower the threshold for manufacturers' development of TD-SCDMA smartphones, accelerate the industrialization of TD-SCDMA terminals in China, and improve the competitiveness of TD-SCDMA terminals.

China Mobile revealed that the Ophone platform has gained wide support from the industry and over 20 foreign and Chinese manufacturers, including Lenovo, Dell, Dopod, LG, Hisense, and Philips, have developed and will launch Ophone handsets.