Chinese operators drool over iPhone — MobileMonday Global: Industry News

^{Clones galore, but} Chinese operators drool over iPhone

18 Nov 2007 at 15:22 GMT Timo Poropudas

China is already bombarded with all sorts of iPhone clones, but China Mobile and China Unicom are interested in introducing iPhone to China.

Following China Mobile's pending negotiation with Apple on iPhone sales, China Unicom China's second largest mobile operator showed its interest in introducing iPhone into China, reports Xinhua news agency.

Li Zhengmao, executive director and vice chairman of China Unicom, said at the GSMA Mobile Asia Congress in Macao that China Unicom is interested in talking with Apple on iPhone sales if there is an opportunity, but it has not yet negotiated with Apply yet.

China Mobile, China's biggest mobile operator, Tuesday stated that it is negotiating with Apple on sole sales of iPhone in China, but they have not reached agreement on income distribution.

Apple picks up some 10 percent dividend from its US partner AT&T' s monthly mobile fee. It is unknown if China Mobile accepts the figure.

China Mobile wants to flex its 350 million strong subscriber base muscle. Apple may have to budge just a little in its demands.

"We still think we can maintain the operator-centric model because we have the customers, the end users," said China Mobile CEO Wang Jianzhou. Besides, China Mobile is a member of Google's Open Handset Alliance, the group backing the Android mobile phone platform.