AfterDawn: News

China Mobile still wants iPhone

According to the former CEO of China Mobile the company still has a strong interest in the Apple iPhone despite talks being cut off in January.

There has been no official explanations for why the two companies called off talks, but the general consensus is that negotiations were cut off due to China Mobile not accepting Apple's revenue sharing propositions. All other iPhone carriers use some sort of revenue sharing deal with Apple but Chinese businesses are actually hostile to the concept.



China Mobile CEO Wang Jianzhou however has been quoted as suggesting there is still a chance for the iPhone in China. "As long as our customers want this kind of product, we will keep all options open," he says. "We have not yet officially begun talks with Apple over the iPhone problem," he adds however.

The revenue sharing deals can be the least of Apple's troubles in China however. The 16GB iPhone model costs $499 USD, about double the average monthly salary for a Chinese citizen, and that is not even factoring in the price of a data plan.


Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 3 Mar 2008 16:17

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• 7 comments

• bdoggie08

  ...Huh? Wow

  3.3.2008 16:23 #1

• 21Q

  The average consumer just won't have it then. Either Apple won't launch the iPhone there or only the rich (government people) will be able to afford it, as the country is a communist country.

  3.3.2008 18:04 #2

• tripplite

  will chinese lower middle class be able to afford it? will it encourage
  further westernized ideas flowing into the country? will the people benefit from it? will it separate classes?.....just a few of the many questions the communists are asking themselves ??
  
  -tripplite

  3.3.2008 21:11 #3

• Zygfryd

  They're already making copies of iphone, just like with Nokla lol yes its called Nokla N95 hehehe. You bet they'll have they own version of iphone, if not already been made...

  7.3.2008 08:37 #4

• samintx

  In Prague recently the driver I had was sporting an iPhone. He said his company bought them all iPhones to use.. also HACKED.

  7.3.2008 10:23 #5

• borhan9

  This is a no brainer China is the worlds biggest market.

  21.4.2008 23:41 #6

• varnull

  For Chiphones.. which BTW are really good.
  

  
  
  Free open source software = made by end users who want an application to work....

  21.4.2008 23:44 #7