China Unicom's 3G network to be called "Wo"

We all had that "whoa" moment the first time we browsed, streamed, or torrented off a 3G network -- well, okay, many of us didn't have a "whoa" moment, but stay with us here: China Unicom has officially branded its nascent 3G offering as "Wo," which we think is a pretty cool and appropriate name all things considered. For comparison's sake, this lines up with China Telecom's "e-surfing" brand and China Mobile's "G3" -- so yeah, you might be able to argue that Unicom didn't have any serious competition in the marketing department. Wo's trials kick off on May 17 in 55 markets while construction simultaneously begins on the second round of launches, so it looks like China's finally getting really real with this 3G jazz. Cheers to that, we say.

[(Unverified) Posted May 5th 2009 12:06AM]

It's also the pinyin for "I". And in context, can mean "me". So I think it makes sense. And in case you didn't know, pinyin is the typing system used for mandarin chinese.

[(Unverified) Posted May 5th 2009 12:47AM]

Kevin, I think you've got the wrong wo. It's not Wo3 (我), but wo4 (沃), which means fertile, rich, or abundant.

[(Unverified) Posted May 5th 2009 12:53AM]

I speak Mandarin and my guess is that 我 (wo) in this context means I or me. Though it's nice to see that a World compatible WCDMA network opening in China. Rather than the commie frequency TD-SCDMA.

[(Unverified) Posted May 5th 2009 1:25AM]

no, really, guys. http://www.labbrand.com/images/custom/3GChinaUnicomLogo.JPG

沃

[(Unverified) Posted May 5th 2009 6:26AM]

And that also happens to be the first character in Wal-mart in China... it's called 沃爾瑪 (pronounced wo-er-ma)

[17th Posted May 5th 2009 1:00AM]

but it's sad that WCDMA is operated by Unicom.
nonetheless, the logo reminds me of Unilever

[(Unverified) Posted May 5th 2009 1:11AM]

Anyone else read that as "China Unicorn" ?

I can't look at it without thinking that

[xboxsonic Posted May 5th 2009 1:47AM]

the logo looks like SonyEricsson's W series cellfones.......

[(Unverified) Posted May 5th 2009 10:19AM]

Well, I was basing it on the logo picture that was seen here and in a few other news articles, which has no characters in it. But Andrew S. is in fact correct. My mistake.

[(Unverified) Posted May 5th 2009 10:27AM]

Streamin YouTube be like Wo...

[(Unverified) Posted May 5th 2009 12:19PM]

3G is working in one neighborhood in Beijing now.

http://ericseale.vox.com/library/post/i-had-hspa-on-china-unicom.html

[(Unverified) Posted May 6th 2009 9:21AM]

Shanghai too.