Corporate China | Weibo: Execs joust in smartphone war, remember Robin Williams

I generally try to avoid writing too much about smartphones in this space, since the blogosphere often seems like little more than a soap box for high-tech execs to hype their latest products. But a series of exchanges between some of the industry's top executives provided a fascinating snapshot of the current price wars now gripping China, as companies try to undercut each other to see who can offer the cheapest models. Meantime, some of those same executives were poking fun at the recent news that a famous Chinese comedian was planning to enter the space, again reflecting how overheated the market has become.

Elsewhere on a more solemn note, executives from some of China's leading tech firms were also paying tribute in the blogosphere to Robin Williams, praising the US comedian for his ability to make other people laugh despite his own depression that ended with his suicide last week.

While those executives were busy sparring on prices, another group were poking fun at comedian Wang Zijian, after media reported the actor famous for performing in the traditional xiangsheng cross-talk genre was preparing to launch his own smartphone line. Wang's move would come after another celebrity, English language instruction guru Luo Yonghao, also launched his own line of smartphones called Smartisan in May.