Apple’s iPhone has sold by the millions in many parts of the world, but China is perhaps the most notable exception. Now reports from China’s government-controlled media indicate the popular mobile device could soon make its way to the Asian nation.
According to the AFP, the 21st Century Business Herald, a Chinese state-controlled financial newspaper, reported that talks between Apple and China Mobile, the world’s largest cell-phone carrier, are in the “final stages.”
“Steve Jobs and I hope the iPhone will enter China as soon as possible,” China Mobile CEO Wang Jianzhou told reporters at the ITU Telecom Asia 2008 exhibition in Bangkok on Tuesday. “We are discussing this issue, but we do not have an agreement.”
Overcoming Hurdles
China Mobile reportedly has a nondisclosure agreement with Apple that prevents Wang from commenting further. Noteworthy is the fact that China Mobile is a member of Google’s Open Handset Alliance, a group of companies that plan to develop products based on Google’s Android mobile-phone platform that would compete directly with the iPhone.
If Apple inks a deal with China Mobile, the iPhone 3G would be sold in 43 countries. China has more than 600 million cell-phone subscribers, with China Mobile accounting for 415 million of them, according to the company’s figures.
“China represents a huge and potentially lucrative market for Apple to get into. We know that iPods, for example, are very popular in the Chinese market,” said Michael Gartenberg, vice president of mobile strategy for Jupitermedia.
“One would imagine that a deal that would open up the Chinese market to Apple for the iPhone is potentially huge in terms of the number of sheer devices Apple can put into that marketplace and the number of devices the marketplace can absorb,” he added.
The major obstacle — a revenue-sharing agreement Apple initially insisted on — has been removed….