Apple Looking To Partner With China Unicom for iPhone In China?
Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) may look to China Unicom to launch the iPhone in China, which would have its pluses and minuses for the company. The third round of discussions between Apple and dominant player China Mobile broke down over who would control the iPhone App Store — previous rounds had broken down over China Mobile paying Apple a slice of service revenues and the price of the handset. The Fortune Apple 2.0 blog quotes some Chinese publications as saying that Apple is now in talks with China Unicom, the second largest carrier in China, and the iPhone may be available as early as May 17. Although, the article does note that the talks “have stumbled over some of the same issues as the China Mobile talks
Wow I would have thought this would have been one of the first places they launched due to cell phone usage statistics.
This will be a win win situation for both. Apple will get the benefit to get a foothold in the biggest market of Asia while China Unicom will get a Brand boost and will thus help in their market share as well.