14 DAY TRIAL // According to China Mobile Chairman, Wang Jianzhou, high-level conversations with Apple continue to bring the iPhone to the country. Steve Jobs traveling to China for such meetings may well indicate the man is coming back to work full time at Apple.
“I met Steve Jobs several times already, but we haven’t come to an agreement yet,” Wang said, according to high-profile news agencies in the country.
Jobs has been on medical leave for over six months now, with no word from him or his company as to when he may be taking back the handles.
In his absence, COO Tim Cook has been handling most operations. Jobs, however, did not miss from Apple’s special events, and has been present at most of the company’s meetings, according to well placed sources.
Jobs visiting China to discuss selling the iPhone officially in the country is a good sign of his ability to carry on with his CEO duties, which include much traveling.
Earlier this year, Apple filed its Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended June 25, 2011 with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The documents revealed that Steve Jobs had received zero reimbursements for his corporate jet for the second quarter in a row.
In January, this year, Jobs tok his third medical leave since being diagnosed with a rare form of pancreatic cancer years ago which he subsequently fought off.
Apple CEO, Steve Jobs, giving one of his iconic keynote presentations
Credits: The Globe and Mail Speculation still looms that Jobs’ condition is taking a turn for the worse, yet news of him flying to Asia do well to generate some reassurance that he may still return to his role full time.
China Mobile’s Wang could not offer a timetable for a potential deal, but did say that both Apple and China Mobile were considering shaking hands:
“All I can say is, it’s a common wish of China Mobile and Apple to come to an agreement as soon as possible,” he said.
The reason is obvious - the iPhone.
Ticonderoga Securities analyst Brian White said in a research note that China Mobile has well over 600 million subscribers - more than any carrier in the world.
With the operator itself reporting that 7.44 million of those subscribers were using their airwaves with iPhones, one doesn’t need any help connecting the dots on this one - China is a gold mine for Apple.
In turn, Apple’s iPhone is the holy graal to China Mobile. But it’s not just the iPhone that the Chinese are flocking for when it comes to Apple products.
Pretty much everything Apple makes - from Macs to iPods to accessories - sells like hot cake in the country.
In fact, Apple products are so popular in China that entire businesses have been created around copying the look and feel of Apple’s official retail stores.
Just last week, Softpedia reported that two dozen such stores had been closed by Chinese authorities as they lacked a license to sell Apple products.
Besides selling the products in their iconic stores, the Cupertino technology giant only allows others to distribute the goods so long as they are given the official Apple Reseller seal.