Alibaba to launch English mobile OS this month

HANGZHOU, CHINA: Alibaba Cloud Computing, a unit of Alibaba Group, will release an English version of its mobile operating system this month and launch its tablet in the next two months, a top company executive said on Friday.

Wang Jian, Alibaba Group's chief architect and president of Alibaba Cloud Computing, told reporters that the firm was in talks with global hardware vendors on partnerships regarding its mobile OS, but declined to divulge more details.

Chinese Internet companies are expanding into the mobile hardware space, as they try to bolster market share in a nascent but rapidly growing market.

"Eventually, all our services will be delivered on mobile. People will spend less time in front of their computer screens and more time in front of their smartphones," Wang said.

Wang said that the English mobile OS would be available via upgrade.

Alibaba launched in late July its first self-developed mobile operating system and smartphone in a bid to capture a slice of China's rapidly-growing mobile Internet market.

Earlier this week, Dell Inc confirmed that it was working with Baidu Inc to develop smartphones and tablets for the Chinese market.