ZTE: the official smartphone of the Houston Rockets this season

ZTE is now the official smartphone of the Houston Rockets after the two organizations signed a promotion deal for the 2013-14 season, reports our sister newspaper China Times. The deal could pave the way for mutual entry into both the US smartphone market and China's avid NBA fan base.

ZTE, already the world's fourth-largest smartphone vendor, will be advertised in a variety of the team's events, including television and digital exposure. There will be a Houston Rockets logo on the rear of the brand's Nubia and Grand S, the two unlocked Android smartphones newly released by ZTE for the US market.

The basketball team's forward Chandler Parson and two other Chinese NBA stars — Yao Ming and Jeremy Lin — have been additionally snatched up with individual endorsements.

With the city of Houston being one of the five biggest markets for ZTE in the US, as well as the team's 325 million worldwide fans, the company has landed a solid deal, said ZTE USA's CEO Lixin Cheng.

Source: Want China Times