At the Mobia Asia Congress, in Macau, Nokia reaffirmed its commitment to TD-SCDMA (also known as Chinese 3G) and said it was working on an TD-SCDMA enabled S60 handset for release in 2009. This follows on from the news that Digia has integrated TD-SCDMA into S60. China is one of the key emerging markets for mobile and China Mobile is one of the world's biggest operators (by customer numbers).

Nokia will be competing with ZTE who recently unveiled the TD-SCDMA enabled U990, which runs on Windows Mobile 6.0. Other manufacturers have been slower to develop high end handsets for TD-SCDMA. TD-SCDMA is still a relatively young technology - the first commercial trials, in eight cities, launched in April 2008, but it is likely to be the 3G technology of choice in the Chinese market.  

Press release extract:

Mr. Colin Giles, President of Nokia China, said at the event: "Nokia firmly supports the development of TD-SCDMA. Our goal is to not only develop TD-SCDMA products that can deliver outstanding user experiences to consumers, but also to work with operators, chipset providers, developers and all parties along the value chain to support the creation of a vibrant TD-SCDMA ecosystem in China."

Nokia has started the development of a TD-SCDMA device based on S60 on Symbian OS, and plans to launch the product before the end of 2009.

Nokia's S60 TD-SCDMA device will enrich the TD-SCDMA device portfolio for Chinese consumers, and promote the development of TD-SCDMA in China.

"We are very excited to hear Nokia's announcement today. Symbian OS is a mature and leading global mobile device platform, and we believe that the Nokia TD-SCDMA device will enhance our application offerings and user experiences," said Mr. Wang Jianzhou, Chairman and CEO of China Mobile. "We look forward to working together with Nokia to further drive TD-SCDMA development in China."