Life of Guangzhou - Motorola Opens Flagship Store in Shanghai

Telecommunications giant Motorola opened its first ever flagship store in Shanghai on Thursday.

Michael Tatelman, Beijing-based vice president for Motorola Inc.
delivers a speech at the opening ceremony of their flagship retail
outlet in downtown Shanghai, China Thursday July 13, 2006. (AP)

The store marked the determination of Motorola to create a new culture of mobile retail in China, said Vice-President Michael Tatelman.

"We chose Shanghai for the location of our first flagship store in the world to demonstrate the importance of the Chinese market,"said Tatelman.

The number of mobile users is expected to rise to 3 billion worldwide by 2008 with 80 percent in the new markets in China, India, Southeast Asia, and Africa. China would have 432 million users this year, a year-on-year increase of 15 percent, according to a Motorola report. Motorola plans to open three more stores across China, said Tatelman.

Since coming to China in 1987, Motorola has established a holding company, three wholly owned subsidiaries, five joint ventures, 16 research and development centers and 25 branches witha total investment of 3.6 billion U.S. dollars and more than 10,000 Chinese employees.

China sales topped 8.983 billion U.S. dollars in 2005, accounting for more than 24 percent of its global sales.