China Unicom denies deal with Apple, purchase of iPhones

An official with China Unicom confirmed the company is in talks with Apple to be the exclusive carrier of the iPhone in the nation of over one billion, but denied a report that the company purchased 5 million iPhones.

"Talks between us and Apple have been going on for some time, but no agreement has been reached yet," China Unicom spokesman Yi Difei told The Associated Press. "There are all kinds of possibilities. There is no particular timetable for the talks."

Responding specifically to the news that the company had supposedly purchased 10 billion yuan ($1.46 billion), Yi said: "The report is not true."

The news of an alleged deal, which broke Thursday in the China Business News, allegedly came from a sales manager for a Unicom subsidiary. That story claimed that the iPhone would be on sale in China as soon as September.

There are reportedly 650 million mobile phone accounts in China, with China Unicom carrying 133 million of those accounts. Competitor China Mobile, which has the most subscribers in the world, has more than 450 million customers.

Despite the fact that Apple and China Unicom remain negotiations, a new WCDMA model of the iPhone, without Wi-Fi, has already been granted regulatory approval by the Chinese government. The new iPhone is reportedly a GSM/WCDMA model that operates on the 900MHz, 1700MHz and 1900MHz bands. It also includes Bluetooth, but no Wi-Fi, and has been approved for use in China for the next five years.

In the past few weeks, there have been numerous reports that the two companies have entered into a three-year deal, but all of them have been quickly denied.

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9 Comments

saarek

said about 14 years ago

This keeps go back and forth like a yoyo!

nite41

said about 14 years ago

I may have missed some article. But what is the problem (of the Chinese Government) with Wifi in iPhone? Is it just the iPhone or does the Wifi rule apply to every phone in China?

perrin21

said about 14 years ago

hmm, i wonder how that rumor affected the share prices? i read this site every day and just keep coming back, despite the fact that 90% of the info on it turns out to be completely bogus. How long we been waiting for an apple Tablet lol, sept or jan 2010, who knows? who really knows? or is it just a dream?. I wouldnt be at all surprised if Apple released a phone into china with wifi, how hard can it be? they are made there anyway. And you can get them already on the Black market just like everywhere else. who needs an exclusive carrier for a country with such a large population and a reputation for knock offs and the biggest import export infrastructure in the world. Getting a carrier there is just a technicality, they are already there unofficially.

mpantone

said about 14 years ago

It's worth pointing out that the quoted average purchase price of 2,000 yuan per phone (approximately 293 US dollars) is woefully below what Apple normally gets. The phone's estimated BOM (according to iSuppli) is $180 which doesn't include development, licensing fees, marketing, distribution, etc. The carrier subsidy is supposedly around 300-400 dollars making the retail price close to $600 (which is what unsubsidized phones cost in markets where carrier contracts are optional).

The "5 million phones sold to China Unicom" story was a total crock once you look at the basic numbers.

macologist

said about 14 years ago

My impression is that China throws around their population size as a big leverage, and world drools about potential profits. But, how much of a Emperor Has No Clothes is that?

Most of their population is poor, and only few can afford things! How many millions those few wealthy are is the true number on which to build expectations! Korea or elsewhere have smaller populations, but if more people in those countries can afford things, compared to the actual number of "haves" in China, then what?

How hard it would be to take out the calculators and carve the pie? Why does it take so long? A mind game? ANNOYING! China appears to be bluffing, and the world is too seduced by their profits dreams, and the competitors are too busy brown-nosing the "recovering" communists, who want to preserve their power, and make more money, some of which is probably kept in Switzerland, just in case...!?

On a smaller scale, Russia and the former USSR, have played that bluffing game, add oil, and scaring people with newer nukes, and those nukes that are or not missing! Then, in both Russia and China, it's politics, where they try to balance the economic growth vs. their need to control the freedoms, so that their countries don't turn into Iraq or Caucus...

And, as usual, "recovering" communists, a.k.a democrats-reformist, all Jihads, and others, they all likely go through the Swiss Banks... Hope the world shuts down that BS "file format", so that it's harder for bad folks to run around and do bad stuff... But then, the good guys probably use that "conduit" to save the world?

Obviously, I am simplifying things, plus TGIF!, but that's my impression of China...

As to this particular story, there could be some AAPL stock manipulation going on too, but good luck proving that conspiracy theory!

When iPhone is finally sold in China, only time will reveal the truth about the haves and have nots... A far greater SLEEPER is India, where more people speak English!

Till then it's gonna be nuts with all the stories, or just an annoying, lame soap opera! Hopefully AAPL stock won't be reacting to it much!

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=Aapl

Just my quick 2c!