China Mobile iPhone Talks Break Down - Again

The on-off talks between China Mobile and Apple over rights to sell the iPhones in the country are reported to have broken down again - this time over Apple's insistence on selling software direct to consumers.

A source at the China Mobile Research Institute told the Interfax news agency that Wang Jianzhou, president of China Mobile, revealed details of China Mobile's talks with Apple on a recent visit to the institute.

It would seem that the talks, which had been haggling over the handset price had moved onto issues over a Chinese version of the Apple Aps Store. China Mobile saw the entry of an independent mobile applications retailer as a potential threat to its dominance of the market.

"Wang said China Mobile should operate the application store itself in order to maintain its advantage," the source said.

It was noted that in China, most customers are used to paying for mobile phone services by adding the cost to their phone bill, where as Apple is used to charging direct via a credit card, which may prove to be less popular in the local market.

If China Mobile was to secure rights to sell the 3G iPhone, it would also have to be specially converted to work on China Mobile's TD-SCDMA network.

On the web: Interfax

Posted to the site on 9th February 2009