Smartphone penetration rockets in China, as does some users phone bills!
Be careful what you connect to! Image: Bifishadow |
Finding an extra Yen or two on your bill because your phone somehow magically logged onto the internet in your pocket is a common grievance. However, one Guangdong resident managed to rack up CNY 400,000 ($63,500) in charges as a result of malware on his mobile.
Mr Huang bought the phone for a mere CNY 490 ($78) in October 2010, but in just one month he had been asked to pay just less than half a million RMB in service charges. Fortunately, a court in Zhongshan, Guangdong province, ruled in favour of Mr Huang and asked the phone shop to pay CNY 10,000 ($1,587) in compensation.
A woman in Hebei was also asked to foot a bill inexplicably worth twice the amount of her normal tariff, while a Beijing man left his phone unattended for three days and spent CNY 100 ($15.90) for the privilege. Watchdogs are advising consumers to beware of unknown apps and to only download through formal channels.
China has currently a higher smart device (iOS, Android, smartphones and tablets) adoption rate than anywhere else in the world, with a growth rate of more than 1100% between Q1 2011 and Q1 2012. By the end of 2011, the total number of active iOS devices had shot up to 21 million, mainly found across Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong. In Beijing and Shanghai, there is one iOS device for every nine and eleven people respectively.