Shane Cole
China Mobile denies inking a deal with Apple, throwing cold water on reports claiming the two companies finally reached a partnership agreement that would see the iPhone offered to carrier's 740 million subscribers.
Word of the deal first emerged in the Wall Street Journal late Wednesday, but a followup report from CNNMoney just hours later refuted the "insider information" with a statement from a China Mobile saying nothing had been signed, but instead that negotiations were "in progress."
Reuters later corroborated the development, with a statement from China Mobile spokeswoman Rainie Lei saying that the carrier is "still negotiating with Apple, but for now we [China Mobile] have nothing new to announce."
Despite the uncertainty surrounding its consummation, it is widely believed that a deal between the two companies is imminent. Previous reports have indicated that the iPhone's appearance on China Mobile's network was being held back until the introduction of the carrier's 4G TD-LTE network, an event that should take place in mid-December now that China's telecommunications regulator has signed off on the launch.
Despite the false start, a China Mobile deal is believed to be imminent.
Additional evidence pointing to a December introduction has accumulated in recent weeks. China's state-run Xinhua News Agency reported in late November that both China Mobile's 4G network activation and the iPhone launch would take place on Dec. 18.
Further, on Monday, a China Mobile subsidiary in the mainland city of Suzhou, near Shanghai, rolled out a web-based reservations system for Apple's handset, though the page was withdrawn.
Analysts believe that an agreement with China Mobile could be a major new revenue driver for Apple. Amit Daryanani of RBC Capital Markets and Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray both predict that the arrangement could result in an additional $10 billion in revenue on sales of 17 million iPhones in calendar 2014.
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56 Comments
Wow. One thing that's become clear through this whole story. Doing deals with China Mobile must be a complete nightmare. Good on Apple for focusing on the long game.
So, WSJ got it wrong, and the analysts got it right. Pity though, I really was looking forward to this, and the mind boggling numbers resulting from it. Oh well, maybe next year.
So, WSJ got it wrong, and the analysts got it right.
Pity though, I really was looking forward to this, and the mind boggling numbers resulting from it. Oh well, maybe next year.
It simply means that the Chinese are pulling their traditional dick moves right up til the last minute. It will happen soon enough.
This is a little misleading.
A deal could be signed, and for legal, marketing, and other reasons, both firms are not admitting the deal.
Did everyone ALREADY forget about PrimeSense less than a month ago? One day it was denied by PrimeSense then, just days later, it was confirmed...
Here's a slightly more grounded theory: Both firms are publicly traded, and (in the US) Securities regulations, such as Reg FD, require that "material information be disclosed to all investors at the same time". Hence, the secret nature of these negotiations.
Note that China Mobile didn't say "No", they said "ongoing" and "Nothing to announce right now".
If I was China Mobile and scheduled a huge event around my 4G announcement, I wouldn't want to spoil it by giving up a secret before the date. If I was Apple, I wouldn't want to screw my partner and announce something before their big day.
Expect Tim Cook on the dias with CM Chairman on Dec 18 - which, will be one hell of a Christmas gift to all investors.
[quote name="ForThought" url="/t/161089/china-mobile-denies-iphone-deal-insists-talks-ongoing#post_2444198"]This is a little misleading. A deal could be signed, and for legal, marketing, and other reasons, both firms are not admitting the deal. Did everyone ALREADY forget about PrimeSense less than a month ago? One day it was denied by PrimeSense then, just days later, it was confirmed... Here's a slightly more grounded theory: Both firms are publicly traded, and (in the US) Securities regulations, such as Reg FD, require that "material information be disclosed to all investors at the same time". Hence, the secret nature of these negotiations. Note that China Mobile didn't say "No", they said "ongoing" and "Nothing to announce right now". If I was China Mobile and scheduled a huge event around my 4G announcement, I wouldn't want to spoil it by giving up a secret before the date. If I was Apple, I wouldn't want to screw my partner and announce something before their big day. Expect Tim Cook on the dias with CM Chairman on Dec 18 - which, will be one hell of a Christmas gift to all investors. [/quote] If the deal not announce on 18th, how much can aapl drop ? Nightmare for Apple investors ? If the deal really inked , china mobile can always say " we decline to comment . " or if they want to announce TOGETHER , China mobile can always say " we will have announcement later "