Apple's iPhone may be coming to China Mobile

Posted Sep 3rd 2008 3:55PM by Brian White
Filed under: Deals, Products and Services, Apple Inc (AAPL)

Apple, Inc.'s (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone 3G continues to sell like gangbusters even with multiple issues and some furious customers. But, if Apple really is bent on selling over 10 million of the now-iconic, do-everything handset, it may need to beef up its sales as best it can. Enter China Mobile.

That's right -- the wireless company that has more subscribers than there are U.S. citizens may be selling the iPhone 3G soon, according to reports. And we're not talking gray market handsets, but an actual partnership between Apple and China Mobile. Talks between the two companies, according to the 21st Century Business Herald, are in "final stages."

China Mobile CEO Wang Jianzhou stated this week at the ITU Telecom Asia 2008 exhibition in Bangkok that "Steve Jobs and I hope the iPhone will enter China as soon as possible ... we are discussing this issue, but we do not have an agreement." If Apple can get its do-everything handset into China Mobile, we've not seen anything yet in terms of iPhone 3G sales.

IPod sales may be on the decline in the near future -- but can the iPhone 3G make up for that? We'll see.

Tags: AAPL, Apple iPhone, AppleIphone, China Mobile, ChinaMobile, iPhone 3G, Iphone3g

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

9-03-2008 @ 8:36PM

Beltway Greg said...

Let's do this thing ya'll.

Beltway Greg

9-05-2008 @ 7:27AM

Min said...

That's great news - it is bound to be very popular in China. Though I deem that Apple will be struggling at the beginning.

1) Technical Issue
- China is a large country - wireless coverage needs to be taken into account.
- Can iphone fully function there? i. e. 3G, GPS, Wi-Fi etc.

2) Content Issue
- Apple's App Stores are offering both free and paid applications, with more than 550 third-party application in English.
- How many free applications Apple can offer in Chinese?
- Also, where is Chinese iTunes ?

Reference: App Store and Apple's 3rd Party - Application Strategy
http://www.reportbuyer.com/telecoms/3g_wimax/app_store_apples_3rd_party.html

3)Price
Apple is a nice brand (we all know), but going back to reality - prices need to meet local standard. Apple products is certainly fall into a category of high-volume luxury. This facet affects its percentage of market share. Mass-produced products are deemed in better value.

4)Counterfeits
It appears that Apple needs to prepare large amount of cash to protect its' Intellectual property right in China.
The subject just can not be ignored.