Even before the announcement of the low cost 699 Yuan Meizu M1 we got reports that the phone could come in three different OS variants. We have already seen the Flyme powered Meizu M1 Blue Charm device, which leaves us with two more editions, the YunOS version and the Ubuntu version.

Looks like the second model namely the Meizu M1 YunOS edition will soon hit the market. The device was recently spotted on the Chinese TENAA certification agency which revealed that the phone will come with Alibaba’s Aliyun OS. The other specs of the phone are the same, so this won’t be the rumored 2GB RAM version that will take on the Xiaomi’s new Redmi 2 model. The phone has the same MT6732 64-bit quad-core processor, 13MP + 5MP cameras, 5-inch display as the regular version.

This YunOS edition for Meizu M1 is not really surprising given that the company had previously partnered up with Aliyun for the YunOS powered Meizu MX4 model. At that time, we thought it could be a MX4 exclusive deal, but now we know that there are more such versions planned.

Meizu and Alibaba group recently struck a deal wherein the Chinese e-commerce giant invested about half a billion dollars for an undisclosed minority stake in the Chinese smartphone maker. So, Meizu would advantage from the vast financial as well as physical resources of the e-commerce giant, while Alibaba can finally revive its dying OS which was unveiled almost 4 years back.

After the deal, the Alibaba group made an announcement that the company aimed to provide support to Meizu in a number of fields like e-commerce and mobile operating system.

“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,”

So, this partnership could give a boost to Meizu, which is still behind Xiaomi and other companies in China. In fact, the company is yet to make it to the top 5 smartphone manufacturer list in its home country. But the manufacturer has shown promise especially by selling around 1.5 million smartphones in just January alone.

Both the Meizu M1 and the Meizu M1 Note have received positive response from customers and hence, they could be quite popular in the international markets too. So, with this newly announced partnership with Alibaba, Meizu is all set to take things to the next level.

But only till will tell whether Meizu can compete with well established manufacturers in the international markets.

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Today, Meizu and Alibaba announced that they will hold a launch event on October 21 in Beijing for new products that they have developed together. Meizu, a mobile internet enterprise, has made a lot of effort in developing its own smart devices, while Alibaba, a company that focuses on traditional internet services, has created great services and resources. With the two of them teaming up, it seems to us that mobile operating systems have become more important than ever.

Meizu races to the top as Alibaba introduces its apps to the masses

On July 25, 2012, Alibaba formally launched its smartphone cloud operating system, the YunOS. In just two years, they released the YunOS 3.0. For the last several days, news broke out that Meizu will release a Meizu MX4 phone that uses the YunOS 3.0. It should be no surprise what was on everyone’s mind once Meizu and Alibaba made their announcement.

According to their Weibo accounts, Alibaba and Meizu’s CEOs are still talking to each other regarding their collaboration. Meizu is trying to figure out how to make the YunOS 3.0 compatible with its own Flyme OS, while Alibaba is trying to figure out how to install the YunOS 3.0 into the Meizu MX4.

The writer feels that this partnership will be good for both companies. The biggest problem Meizu faces lies on whether or not they will be pushed from the top as the market continues to be flooded with rival devices. Although they have done a good job with the designs, their marketing has not been good enough. Their partnership with Alibaba may improve their marketing and product channels, as well as their customer services. In other words, it will make them more open.

Furthermore, Meizu has always wanted to break Google’s hold over them, so they decided to choose a non-Android platform like Ubuntu. Developing a new Flyme OS with the YunOS may decrease operational risks. Despite their partnership, however, we are certain that future Flyme upgrades will continue to use the same interface as now.

As for Alibaba, the YunOS’ problem is that it does not rely on enough famous Chinese brands to push their products. Even though we don’t know why they chose Meizu, considering how well known Meizu is, pushing the YunOS 3.0 on Meizu’s devices will introduce more people to Alibaba’s own apps.

Talks not going smoothly 

Looking back at the dialog between both companies, their cooperation has not been going smoothly. A while ago, a war of words blew up on Weibo between Meizu Vice-CEO, Li Nan, and Aliyun YunOS’s chief architect, Pan Aimin. Regarding this, Meizu CEO Huang Zhang said in his Weibo account that Meizu cellphones should use the Flyme. Both sides ended up debating which OS was better with everyone witnessing it.

The importance of Flyme for Meizu is pretty clear. They can get more users through their own OS. So, even though we don’t really know any specific details about their partnership, in the end, it will all go back to the Flyme OS with the YunOS as the secondary OS. This is what everyone will be concerned about before the launch.

Improvements in mobile smart operating systems 

We have already seen many ways in which smartphones have survived to this day, but looking back in their development, what is most essential is the combination of hardware (cellphone) and software (operating system). For example, Xiaomi and Smartisan start developing their operating systems before their actual cellphone hardware.

So, it is no exaggeration to say that the mobile OS is an integral part of the smartphone. Smartphones come and go very fast, especially Android phones which are replaced every two years. The same cannot be said for operating systems. When a cellphone company adopts an OS, they may be able to better introduce their services to more customers, which makes the OS have a lot of potential for attracting users. Perhaps, we may even see more collaborations like this between Meizu and Alibaba in the future.

In addition, the regular consumer does not care about their partnership or why they are collaborating. The only thing that they want is to get their hands on better products and a better OS. So, we want all these cellphone companies to show us what services and functions are worth trying out.

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