Apple has long been rumored to be negotiating with China Mobile, third largest network provider in the mainland of China to push its latest mobile toy, the iPhone 4S. But some interesting facts have been revealed by China Mobile which doesn’t even sell iPhone on its network officially. China Mobile reveals that till date it has 15 million iPhone users on its network and all using them on 2G network as iPhones are not yet compatible with its 3G standards.
Apple has been in continuous work with China Mobile to get its handsets compatible with the 3G standard (TD-SCDMA) used in China. Reports claim and suggest that Apple is still working with major carriers to make the SIM cards negotiate with iPhone 4S so that users will be able to make full usage of the 3G networks provided by them. As of now all the iPhones being used in the country’s China Mobile are running on 2G network only.
This shows the potential Apple products have in Asian markets, especially China. Analysts predict a whooping 60 million iPhones to be sold in China by the end of 2013 which will once again reign their lead in smartphone market. Apple currently sells its handsets with a exclusive tie up with the nation’s largest network provider, China Telecom. But the craze iPhone has is pushing users on other networks to use iPhone as well.
China Telecom confirms that iPhone 4S will be sold on their carrier starting this friday. As apple is rumored to ended its exclusivity on China Telecom and push iPhone 4S on China Mobile as well expect a heavy surge of iPhone into the chinese markets with over a billion mobile users.
Note: We just happen to know that Apple worked out for a fix and is finally able to support China Mobile’s 3G network on their iPhone 4S despite not having any partnership with the carrier. Is this a sign of things to come? We are expecting an official announcement from either Apple or China Mobile to announce their partnership in the coming weeks.
The iPhone Help
The iPhone Help