Chairman Wang Jianzhou said in an interview on Thursday that China Mobile has been in talks with Apple about producing a high-speed 4G iPhone, according to Bloomberg. The carrier has been working to launch its time-division long-term evolution, or TD-LTE, fourth-generation data network, and wants to see that Apple's iPhone is compatible.
"We discussed this issue with Apple," Wang reportedly said. "We hope Apple will produce a new iPhone with TD-LTE. We have already got a positive answer from Apple."
Currently, the iPhone is exclusive to China Unicom in the nation of over a billion people. But China Mobile is the largest prize, with more than 611 million subscribers.
The iPhone currently operates on 3G data speeds, but newer and faster 4G networks are spreading across the globe. Apple has publicly downplayed the prospect of embracing LTE technology in the iPhone in the near future, as first-generation LTE devices available on the market have been plagued with poor battery life, among other issues associated with the still-early technology.
In April, Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook indicated his company is in no rush to adopt 4G technology in its products. He admitted that Apple has explored LTE, but the company wasn't ready to make the jump with the launch of a CDMA Verizon iPhone in February.
Before Apple creates a TD-LTE iPhone for China Mobile, it will likely first introduce a 3G-capable model compatible with its unique homegrown network. Wang revealed on Thursday that there are more than 8.5 million iPhone users on China Mobile, but those using unlocked phones are restricted to the carrier's much slower second-generation network. Apple is rumored to release the its fifth-generation iPhone for China Mobile this year.
In March, Wang went on record as saying that Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs had "expressed interest in an LTE iPhone" and was willing to start development "at an early date." Wang also said in January that Apple has "made it clear" that future updates to the iPhone will support long-term evolution 4G technology.
9 Comments
CHL is playing games with apple. They are acting like VZ did early on. VZ was hoping that the pseudo-javas would give the iPhone a run for it's money. CHL is trying the same tack. Prolonging, not making any deal, hoping another phone will click. I hope the next release of the iPhone creates a surge of interests at china telecom and china unicom that leaves china mobile gaping.
Note that TD-LTE HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH AMERICA'S 4G LTE.
I believe Apple will do this, and I believe what he said Apple's response was. China Mobile is simply too big a carrier for Apple to ignore their system. They are more than twice the size of all the carriers put together in the US, and that includes all the smaller carriers as well. While the Chinese aren't making as much as people over here, the fact that there are so many on their network already, so many that a year ago they began offering Sims just for iPhone users, shows that a phone specifically made for them, using their tech, would sell really well.
CHL is playing games with apple. They are acting like VZ did early on. VZ was hoping that the pseudo-javas would give the iPhone a run for it's money. CHL is trying the same tack. Prolonging, not making any deal, hoping another phone will click. I hope the next release of the iPhone creates a surge of interests at china telecom and china unicom that leaves china mobile gaping.
Apple is a perfectly good negotiator, so I trust that they will ensure that their interests are protected. Apple has, after all, been here (many times) before - dealing with smaller carriers and exerting pressure on the larger ones.
If Apple does design a one-off phone you can be sure that they will receive payment up front for the costs brought about by that phone, or agreements for a purchase of a certain amount regardless of sales (not that that would be a problem, but you put it in a contract anyway).
Funny when Apple introduced the first GSM/EDGE iPhone in 2007, some people were trolling about lack of 3G. Now they have 3G, those people are waiting for 4G. Why the f didn't you people want 4G back in 2007? I mean, I'm way ahead of you losers: I want my goddamn iPhone 7G right now!