Moto is singing to a Chinese tune. Besides kicking some serious butt with their Razr, Moto is also kicking things off with Ming in China.

Motorola (MOT) has its groove back in the global wireless and broadband communications arena. And nowhere is that truer than in China, a vast and critical mobile phone market. Not only is the world’s No. 2 mobile-phone maker’s lineup of RAZR, C11x, and C139 handsets doing well there, but now a svelte 122-gram smart phone and personal digital assistant combo—launched in early February, branded in China as the Ming—has taken the mainland by storm.

The Ming has helped Motorola pull off a remarkable market share grab in the Chinese mobile phone market, one of the most competitive on the planet, where 150 local and foreign brands vie for business. Motorola’s share of the overall cell phone market has jumped from 12% in May, 2005, to around 21% through the first five months of 2006, compared to market leader Nokia’s 30%, according to figures compiled by Sino Market Research.

And in the high-margin, fast-growing smart phone market (hybrid digital devices that blur the lines between high-end mobile phones and a PDA), Motorola controls about 50% in China, well ahead of its arch-nemesis Nokia…. Source: Business Week