China Mobile Chairman Xi Guohua
China Mobile, the world’s largest Telecom with close to 700M subscribers, reported mixed earnings today on slow growth of its smartphone business relative to its competitors which both carry the iPhone. Chairman Xi Guohua noted this and said that talks with Apple on carrying the iPhone were progressing.
“Both sides sounded keen (during recent talks),” Xi told a news conference after announcing the company’s first-half results.
“Good progress was made in preparing for the commercialization of TD-LTE,” Xi said, referring to 4G “long-term evolution” network technology that may support newer iPhone models.
Dow Jones’ Paul Mozur noted the remaining issues to be worked out:
#ChinaMobile Chairman says company still having commercial and technical issues with Apple that need to be resolved to sell iPhone
— Paul Mozur 孟建國 (@paulmozur) August 15, 2013
Working out the hurdles and signing up the world’s largest telecom would obviously be a big win for Apple and CEO Tim Cook, who would probably love to announce the carrier relationship at the upcoming September 10th iPhone event in San Francisco.
Related articles
- Apple CEO Tim Cook talking iPhone with the world’s largest telecom, China Mobile, Chairman confirms (9to5mac.com)
- Tim Cook visits China again hoping to entice local carriers with upcoming iPhones (9to5mac.com)
- Apple reportedly to unveil next iPhone on Sept. 10 (9to5mac.com)
- Some good iPhone 5C packaging/presentation mockups hit the web (9to5mac.com)
- Low-cost iPhone confirmed as plastic-bodied and not yet in mass production – Pegatron report (9to5mac.com)
- Roundtable: What we think Apple has planned for its September 10th event (9to5mac.com)
- ‘iPhone 5S’ (plus gold model), ‘iPhone 5C’ will actually be names of next iPhones? (9to5mac.com)
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Comments