Slash LaneInterfax China is citing a source at China Mobile Research Institute who says the president of China Mobile recently visited the institute and discussed his company's talks with Apple.
Wang Jianzhou said China Mobile has had three rounds of negotiations with Apple chief Steve Jobs, chief operating officer Tim Cook and other company officials over 18 months.
The most recent round broke down over China Mobile wanting direct control of the App Store, including collecting payments.
According to the source, Wang said the same credit card payment system that works elsewhere in the world won't fly in the Chinese market where users pay with deposits made in their mobile phone accounts.
That alone would necessitate China Mobile playing a part in administering the App Store in China, he claimed, but Apple disagreed.
"Wang said China Mobile should operate the application store itself in order to maintain its advantage," the source said, adding that China Mobile is in the midst of making its own strategy for selling smartphone applications.
The first round of negotiations is said to have broken down when the mobile operator rejected Apple's request for between 20 and 30 percent of revenues from iPhone users.
Then, Apple offered to sell the company each iPhone at $600 under the stipulation that China Mobile subsidize iPhone service bundles offered to customers, but the carrier balked, the source said.
Analysts have separately predicted a Chinese iPhone launch in recent months, and Apple had even posted a job listing for an iPhone Quality Assurance Engineer in Beijing.
The Interfax China story termed the App Store disagreement as the "third and final round of negotiations", but it is unknown whether the two companies are still in talks to bring the iPhone to the country.
China Mobiles is the largest mobile phone operator in the world, claiming over 415 million subscribers as of last June.
Stephen Silver
Charles Martin
Christine McKee
Malcolm Owen
19 Comments
Aaargh, just forget China Apple, its not like those 415 million subscribers will get the iPhone or at least 1 quater of it, most of China people couldn't care less about brand loyalty and besides there is not much Chinese songs in the Music Store, why would Chinese people use iPhone? The iPhone has strong sales cause of its english music library, and apps. Now if Apple were to offer it to China, the iPhone only selling point is the apps and honestly, I bet there isn't many iPhone app provided in Chinese.
If the China Mobile wants control of the app store...forget it. Just let them continue to clone the iPhone. NO WAY Apple should give away control of the App store as that effectively gives away control over the platform. I understand we are talking China here so massive content control will be inevitable, but this goes to far. It is like renting a car and demanding that they give you the title to the vehicle as well.
They should just stop all these stupid negotiations and sell the iPhone at cost directly to the Chinese consumer unlocked. Two years later, China Mobile will come back to Apple on their knees.
"Wang said China Mobile should operate the application store itself in order to maintain its advantage,"
They must think Apple were born yesterday. Maybe after a few more rounds they will realize not, and proper negotiations can start.
If China wants to be part of the 'first world' they have to get used to the idea that electronic commerce pretty much depends on having a credit card. No credit card, no App and no downloading of songs/movies/books, end of discussion. Censorship issues aside, that still doesn't prevent a Chinese citizen from having and using all the other features of the iPhone.