Contrary to rumors that China Mobile may start selling a modified version of Apple Inc's iPhone in China as early as November, the Chinese company now hints the deal may fall through.
Wang Jianzhou, chairman and chief executive officer of China Mobile, the county's largest wireless carrier, said the company is still in talks with Apple to offer the iPhone in the world's largest handset market, though no agreement or timetable has been reached.
"As a fashionable product, iPhone isn't the only choice for China Mobile," Wang said, in a Monday report by China Business News. However, he did not elaborate further.
Some analysts have attributed the abrupt change to the impossibility of the two telecom giants reaching an accord on sharing profits.
Other analysts said China Mobile has lost interest in iPhone because its TD-SCDMA (Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access) network that backs the popular iPhone 3G's major functions is still under construction, and is far from covering the whole country. Before the massive commercial use of the network, the 3G iPhone would be just like other smart phones, making it less attractive to Chinese customers.
The TD-SCDMA network is China's homegrown 3G network, managed by China Mobile. The TD-SCDMA technology is incompatible with the WCDMA standard, on which iPhone's 3G function is based.
If the iPhone with the 3G function is unlocked by Chinese users, it will be used on the country's largest fixed-line network, China Telecom's WCDMA.
By the beginning of 2008, there were over 400,000 unlocked iPhones in the Chinese market, according to media reports.
Analysts said China Mobile, which has over 400 million subscribers, is more interested in Google's T-Mobile G1, which has more functions and faster Internet access than the iPhone.
Moreover, the G1's launch in China will be slower than the iPhone, which allows time for the construction of the TD-SCDMA network. China Mobile aims to finish building the TD-SCDMA network in 100 selected cities as soon as possible.
