China Mobile Still In Talks With Apple

When China mobile first announced that it had begun talks with Apple over the iPhone, it was pretty big news, considering the potential of the market. When reports appeared that the talks have ended with no agreement, it was not a particularly huge surprise, considering how different the dynamics of the Chinese mobile phone market were. Now, it turns out that the talks are still ongoing.

At the end of last week, reports of the talks between Apple and China Mobile breaking down over revenue sharing began to appear. Supposedly, the negotiations for a China release of the iPhone came to a standstill because an exact revenue sharing figure could not be agreed upon by the two companies, something that has been the cause of several other failed iPhone negotiations in the past.

It did not take long for China Mobile to deny the newspaper report and announce that the talks have not ended at all.

While talks between the two companies may be ongoing, it will be interesting to see the outcome. Much like in the European market where Apple had to change their approach and offer unlocked version of the device based on each country's laws, the final arrangement would undoubtedly look very different from what took place in the US.
Another important factor is that the iPhones are already available in the country, even though illegally unlocked, and whatever deal Apple manages to strike, it would have to be competitive with the black market offerings.

The size of the market is more than enough reason for Apple to pursue this and to try to work out an arrangement with China Mobile. Even if the company manages to grab only a very small percentage of the market, it would still be enough to account for almost half of Apple's projected sales by the end of 2008.