China Mobile Announces Big LTE Push, No Progress on iPhone Negotiations

The Wall Street Journal reports that China Mobile -- the largest cellular carrier in the world -- is planning to spend $7 billion on its LTE network this year, paving the way for the company to support the iPhone 5. Until now, China Mobile hasn't sold the iPhone, though more than 15 million iPhones are used on its networks, but at extremely slow data speeds.

However, China Mobile says there has been "no progress" to report in negotiations with Apple.

Apple  iPhone 5

While China Mobile has been in talks with Apple for years over a potential deal to offer the iPhone, Chief Executive Li Yue said that there had been "no progress" to report. In January, Mr. Xi met Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook in Beijing and discussed cooperation, raising expectations that China Mobile would soon begin offering the iPhone.

China Mobile would be a key partner for Apple, which faces fierce competition from Samsung Electronics and other rivals offering smartphones powered by Google Inc.'s Android operating system.

China has accounted for much of Apple's recent record growth, and Tim Cook has traveled to China several times to meet with China Mobile representatives to make a deal.

Popular Stories

Beyond iPhone 13 Better Blue Face ID Single Camera Hole

10 Reasons to Wait for Next Year's iPhone 17

Friday September 13, 2024 2:40 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models simultaneously, which is why we sometimes get rumored feature leaks so far ahead of launch. The iPhone 17 series is no different – already we have some idea of what to expect from Apple's 2025 smartphone lineup. If you plan to skip...
Generic iOS 18 Feature Real Mock

iOS 18 Available Tomorrow With These 8 New Features For Your iPhone

Sunday September 15, 2024 10:09 am PDT by
Following over three months of beta testing, iOS 18 will finally be widely released to the public this Monday, September 16. The update should be available to install tomorrow starting at around 10 a.m. Pacific Time (1 p.m. Eastern Time) in the Settings app under General → Software Update on the iPhone XS and newer. Below, we have highlighted eight key new features included in iOS 18, and...
Generic iOS 18 Feature Real Mock

Apple Shares Full List of Over 250 New Features and Changes Coming With iOS 18

Wednesday September 11, 2024 7:16 am PDT by
Following its iPhone 16 event on Monday, Apple shared a PDF on its website with a list of all new features and changes coming with iOS 18. The list includes many features that were already announced, including Apple Intelligence, new customization options for the Home Screen and Control Center, a redesigned Photos app, several enhancements to the Messages app, a Passwords app, and more....
iphone 16 pro apple intelligence

iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max Shipping Estimates Extending Into October

Friday September 13, 2024 5:48 am PDT by
Apple began accepting pre-orders for all four new iPhone 16 models today, and shipping estimates for the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max on Apple's online store in the U.S. are already beginning to slip into October for many configurations. As of 6:45 a.m. Pacific Time, the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max were facing a 2-4 week shipping delay for some configurations on Apple's online store, with...
apple silicon mac lineup wwdc 2022 feature purple

M4 Macs, New iPad Mini, and iPad 11 Expected at Upcoming Apple Event

Sunday September 15, 2024 5:29 am PDT by
Apple will likely hold another event in October this year to announce new Macs and iPads. If so, it would be the fourth time in the last five years that Apple has held an event in October. Last year, Apple held a virtual event on Monday, October 30 to announce new MacBook Pro and iMac models with the M3 series of chips. In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reiterated...
iphone 16 pro apple intelligence

Apple Intelligence Features Expected to Roll Out in This Order Between iOS 18.1 and iOS 18.4

Friday September 13, 2024 1:01 pm PDT by
iOS 18 will be released to the public on Monday, but the first Apple Intelligence features will not be available until iOS 18.1 is released in October. Apple Intelligence features will continue to roll out in iOS 18.2 and beyond, with the expected roadmap outlined below per Apple's website and rumors. Apple Intelligence requires an iPhone 15 Pro model or any iPhone 16 model, and it will...
m3 macbook pro blue

Best Buy Introduces New Record Low Prices on M3 MacBook Pro For Members, Plus MacBook Air Deals

Friday September 13, 2024 7:18 am PDT by
Best Buy kicked off a new weekend sale today, and we've already covered all of the big savings you can find on M2 iPad Pro. In addition to these tablet deals, Best Buy has steep discounts on Apple's M3 MacBook Pro and M2 MacBook Air, including a new all-time low price on the entry-level M3 512GB 14-inch MacBook Pro at $1,199.00 for My Best Buy Plus/Total members, down from $1,599.00. M3...

Top Rated Comments

orangebluedevil Avatar
150 months ago
I would expect China Mobile, which is not technically a capitalist firm, to focus heavily on TD-LTE to differentiate it from the rest of the world and be the first large carrier to focus on VoIP and SMS to replace voice and text over data signals. The fall-back access over 3G and voice is a transition for 2-3 years after which all handsets will be data only and prepaid only.

Rocketman

Why would the largest network in the world, which is owned by the government, has a captive audience, and has 1B subscribers...need to differentiate.

Come on.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
melgross Avatar
150 months ago
Why would the largest network in the world, which is owned by the government, has a captive audience, and has 1B subscribers...need to differentiate.

Come on.
It's not a captive audience. Customers move between the carriers just as they do here. It doesn't have a billion subs either. More like 675 million. And it's a semi private company.

----------

Looks like Apple needs China Mobile a whole lot more than China Mobile needs the iPhone.
Don't be too sure about that. They are losing customers to the other big carriers because of 3G issues.

----------

Apple is not a drop in the bucket compared to China's economic scale. This is just another example of Tim Cook's inability to close the deals and squandering the lead Apple once had.
I don't know about that, Jobs failed to close the deal for years.

----------

Steve has quite a list of accomplishments. Cook OTOH, IMO, is squandering Apple's innovation trajectory. The missteps under his leadership have been enumerated in many threads and a chorus of opinions to replace him is growing.
Not true!

What you don't seem to know is that the big sticking point with China Mobile is they they have been demanding a percentage of the money from the App Store. I'm not sure if they are demanding from iTunes as well.

This is a problem that Apple can't let slide. If China Mobile succeeded with this, every carrier around the world will demand the same thing. It's more important for Apple to not give in on this than it is to get a deal with China Mobile.

If in your genius, you can think of how to "close the deal" without giving that up, by all means, tell us.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
samcraig Avatar
150 months ago
Looks like Apple needs China Mobile a whole lot more than China Mobile needs the iPhone.

Apple should just buy China!
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
iGrip Avatar
150 months ago
Looks like Apple needs China Mobile a whole lot more than China Mobile needs the iPhone.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
HiRez Avatar
150 months ago
Apple is not a drop in the bucket compared to China's economic scale. This is just another example of Tim Cook's inability to close the deals and squandering the lead Apple once had.

Well, Steve Jobs also failed to "close the deal" (http://news.yahoo.com/steve-jobs-china-mobile-negotiate-iphone-deal-184547629.html), yet you say it like another thing Cook can't do that Jobs would have. But Jobs couldn't either.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
samcraig Avatar
150 months ago
Apple is not a drop in the bucket compared to China's economic scale. This is just another example of Tim Cook's inability to close the deals and squandering the lead Apple once had.

I really really hope you got my satire
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)