China’s telecommunication giant, ZTE Corporation, is reportedly joining the smartphone wave by introducing its mobile phone “Blue Balance” in 2009.

Although critics said the ZTE Blue Balance phone is more of an iPhone clone than a unique smartphone, ZTE Corporation has remained mum on the release of its mobile phone unit but observers noted a preview of the mobile phone during the AfricaCom conference in Africa.   

Another handset from ZTE, the E760, was already tagged as another iPhone clone when it was released to the market this year. The E760 Smarthphone is based on windows mobile 6.0 OS. It has a 312MHz application processor, a support location function with Sirf GPS chipset, and a Film to film touch panel.

2009 will be a competitive year for Apple’s iPhone with the coming in of ZTE Blue Balance and more handsets from other mobile phone makers that are out to topple the lead of the iPhone in the industry.

Source:iphone-codes