LeTV to spread its wings in India with smartphones, TVs and cloud computing

Jia Yueting, founder and CEO of LeTV Holdings Co Ltd, delivers a keynote speech on October 27, 2015 during the company's porduct launch event held in Beijing. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Global smartphone shipments rose 9.1 percent quarter-on-quarter to 332 million units in the third quarter of the year, according to global research firm TrendForce.

Emerging markets such as Southeast Asia and India are now the major battlegrounds for vendors as developed markets become fairly saturated.

According to a recent report from market research organization International Data Corporation (IDC), smartphone shipments to India in the second quarter of 2015 soared 44 percent to 26.5 million units, from 18.4 million for the same period a year ago.

Xiaomi Corp, a well-known Chinese smartphone seller, said in August that its handsets will be assembled in India by Taiwan contract manufacturer Foxconn. The two companies signed an agreement to spend $5 billion on factories and research and development in the western Indian state of Maharashtra.

Two months later, Chinese phone maker OnePlus also announced that it had entered into an agreement with Foxconn to manufacture phones in India.

In the same month, Vivo said in a statement that it would be the title sponsor for the Indian Premier League, the most-watched sports event in India, for the next two seasons.