AfterDawn: News

Apple and China Mobile still in talks over iPhone

At the Mobile Asia Congress event this week, China Mobile CEO Wang Jianzhou said his company is still in talks with Apple over bringing the iPhone smartphone to the nation, despite Apple's recent deal with China Unicom.

“China Mobile has continued negotiations with Apple to introduce the iPhone on China Mobile's network," he added. The China Unicom deal is non-exclusive.



The talks, which began in 2007 with the original iPhone model, are still held up by a few snags, likely feature-set and pricing. However, "we really are still in talks with Apple. In our negotiations in the past, we insisted on sticking to our conditions. We are still very sincere about completing this negotiation."

The Wi-Fi-crippled and overpriced version available from Unicom has seen underwhelming sales, with some reports placing sales at just 5000 in the first week. In comparison, the iPhone 3GS sold 1 million units in its first weekend in the US.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 18 Nov 2009 14:40

• Previous article

• Microsoft denies Natal launch date rumors

• Next article

• Microsoft forced to stop selling four versions of Windows in China

• 3 comments

• 5fdpfan

  2 years of negotiations? That's ridiculous! Just what are these "sticking point" that have apparently put a snag on what shouldn't be(at least in my naive view) such a difficult thing to work out? IF it weren't for their huge population I'd just say screw China and forget about it if I were Apple. What a headache those talks must be for them.

  18.11.2009 15:58 #1

• yeller

  Three words, Government Run Entity. Need I really say more?
  
  Like any gov run company, they will run it into the ground with idiotic rules, requirements, and regulations.
  
  Banning WiFi to support a failed home grown solution? Pleezeeeee...

  19.11.2009 08:47 #2

• Ryoohki

  I seriously doubt the iphone will ever have strong sales in China. I'm sure the prices at China Mobile will be similar to what China Unicom has (4999-6999yuan(700-1k US~)). Why would they pay that much for a crippled phone when they can just buy the knockoff that is just as good for under 100 US and have all of the features (other than being able to access itunes).

  19.11.2009 08:54 #3