A lot is written about China, but it's always good to get some numbers to back up the speculation.

For example, while we all know that China quickly became a majority Android market, it's interesting to see that because of legacy reasons and its continued push with its Asha range, Nokia continues to have a solid market share.

Of course, the 10.2 percent listed for Symbian as an OS doesn't compare to the 12.9 percent market share that iPhone has, particularly in terms of the wealth of those user groups.

But with Windows Phone at 3.6 percent, it is worth pondering the brand value that Nokia continues to have in the China market.

Indeed when we look at market share by manufacturer, Nokia and Apple are well-matched in second and third place, albeit a way behind Samsung's quarter share.

Also note, the highest ranked Chinese OEM is only in fourth place.

Running the channels

Still, the absence of Google Play means the most important element in the China mobile games ecosystem isn't hardware (and their respective official app stores), but thirdparty distribution channels.

One way of looking at this is a list of the top 10 smartphone apps, especially for Android.

Tencent has the #1 and #3 apps in the form of its mobile messaging apps QQ and WeChat - the latter is in the process of being rolled out as a gaming social platform that may follow the trajectory of Kakao in Korea and LINE in Japan.

Number 2 is the UC Mobile Browser, which has now surpassed Opera as the most popular mobile browser, and is particularly strong in China and India. It too is now rolling out game publishing and distribution services.

Finally, we can see that Qihoo 360 has the #4 app (also the #9). Prior to the launch of WeChat's games platform, it was reckoned to be #1 Android app distribution platform.

The battle between the two companies will be the key one in the Chinese market over the next six months.