Alibaba Invests Heavily in Chinese Smartphone Maker Meizu

Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce giant, has been trying for a while to put its foot in the profitable smartphone business. The company created a record last year with the biggest IPO ever worth $25 Billion. Alibaba is now betting big on Chinese smartphone maker Meizu and has invested a sum of $590 Million in the company.

Through this merger, Alibaba would try to take its operating system Yun OS further in the market. The os is based on the Android platform and provides cloud-based features like e-mail, Web search, weather updates, and GPS navigation tools. It is also called Aliyun OS. Google had previously dissuaded Acer to ship devices based on Aliyun as it was incompatible with other Android devices, and Acer is a signatory of the Open Handset Alliance (OHA).

Meizu like Xiaomi, gets its design “inspirations” from Apple

Meizu has tried to emulate Xiaomi, which in turn “borrows” from Apple. This deal might also help Meizu to take on Xiaomi, which has replaced Samsung in China as the biggest smartphone brand. Meizu isn’t even in the top-5 of that points tally, and a push by Alibaba might work in its favor.

[quote text_size=”small” author=”Alibaba “]

Alibaba Group will provide Meizu with resources and support in the fields of e-commerce, mobile Internet, mobile operating system and data analysis with the aim of developing Meizu’s smartphone ecosystem.

[/quote]

Alibaba has, in the past, invested $280 million in a messaging app called Tango and $120 million in US game maker Kabam. But these investments are yet to bear fruit for the company. It makes sense for it to invest in an established brand rather than starting a brand from scratch.