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China Mobile Offers Instructions and SIM-Cutting Service for iPhone 4 Owners

Friday November 12, 2010 7:29 am PST by Eric Slivka

The Wall Street Journal reports that China Mobile, the country's largest mobile phone carrier, is taking steps to assist customers who wish to use the iPhone on its network, despite official distribution being limited to China Unicom for the time being. The steps include instructions for setting up the iPhone to operate on China Mobile's network and in-store service to trim down China Mobile SIM cards to fit the iPhone 4's microSIM slot.

In addition to providing instructions for how to activate an iPhone 4 with China Mobile service (changing settings to enable location-based services, for example), the website says ten China Mobile outlets around Beijing will provide a special service to help users cut their SIM cards to fit the iPhone 4's smaller microSIM card slot.

The website offers a helpline for users with technical questions and says China Mobile Group Beijing Co. "is now working hard to make the microSIM card, and it will soon be available in our outlets."

China Mobile customers are showing significant interest in using the iPhone 4 on China Mobile's network rather than switching to China Unicom, despite the fact that the iPhone 4 is incompatible with China Mobile's 3G network, which runs on the Chinese TD-SCDMA standard rather than the WCDMA standard used elsewhere.

China Mobile has been working for some time to gain access to iPhone distribution, but Apple has reportedly been unwilling to create a TD-SCDMA-specific handset to run on the carrier's 3G network.
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iansilv
Posted: 20 months ago
And why doesn't T-Mobile do this??

I think they should set this up on their website and compare their plans directly with ATT!
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mrbrightside623
Posted: 20 months ago

And why doesn't T-Mobile do this??

I think they should set this up on their website and compare their plans directly with ATT!


Cause the iPhone 4 will only be using the T-Mobile Edge network if done like that. With this situation I think their frequencies are the same thus allowing this to work. While here in the US, T-Mobile and AT&T are on different frequencies for their 3g signal.
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Nermal
Posted: 20 months ago
Plus US phones are locked.
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larrylaffer
Posted: 20 months ago
"Hacked by Chinese" :)
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jayducharme
Posted: 20 months ago
So if Apple is unwilling to make a special version of the iPhone for the huge Chinese market, why are there such persistent rumors that Apple will make a special iPhone for Verizon's comparatively smaller market?
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Michaelgtrusa
Posted: 20 months ago
Never thrust them.
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Kenrik
Posted: 20 months ago

So if Apple is unwilling to make a special version of the iPhone for the huge Chinese market, why are there such persistent rumors that Apple will make a special iPhone for Verizon's comparatively smaller market?


Not everyone in china can afford a cell phone.. Plus Verizon services 100 million customers.. 1/3 of the United States runs on Verizon.

That's a pretty big market IMO.
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waynema
Posted: 20 months ago
2 little facts fyi:
China Mobile's subscribers as of Sept 2010: 569.76 mill
iPhones will only work on their EDGE network.

http://www.chinamobileltd.com/ir.php?menu=12

IMO, Its too big of a market for apple to ignore
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revelated
Posted: 20 months ago
For some reason Apple does not play with the larger providers. I've known people on China Mobile and it's definitely huge. AT&T might have a fairly large sub base but only because of the iPhone, comparatively.

Makes me wonder if they don't have the engineering know-how, or the management threshold, to do multiple band devices for different carriers, and instead default to the lowest common denominator.
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johnwatson149
Posted: 20 months ago

For some reason Apple does not play with the larger providers. I've known people on China Mobile and it's definitely huge. AT&T might have a fairly large sub base but only because of the iPhone, comparatively.

Makes me wonder if they don't have the engineering know-how, or the management threshold, to do multiple band devices for different carriers, and instead default to the lowest common denominator.



The website offers a helpline for users with technical questions and says China Mobile Group Beijing Co. "is now working hard to make the microSIM card, and it will soon be available in our outlets."China Mobile customers are showing significant interest in using the iPhone 4 on China Mobile's network rather than switching to China Unicom, despite the fact that the iPhone 4 is incompatible with China Mobile's 3G network, which runs on the Chinese TD-SCDMA standard rather than the WCDMA standard used elsewhere.



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