China Mobile ends talks
January 14th 2008
Bloomberg reports that China Mobile, which already has an agreement with RIM (Crackberry) has said it ended talks to sell the iPhone in China, without directly commenting on why.
"We have stopped talking to Apple," said company spokesperson Rainie Lei. Apple's Hong Kong spokesperson, Jill Tan, declined to comment.
"It's bad news for Apple," said Johnny Yeah, an analyst at Hong Kong Quam Ltd. "China Mobile would have helped immediately sell lots of iPhones because they have such a large user base; Apple entering China without China Mobile won't be as substantial."
Sina.com, quoting unnamed sources, the negotiations ended because Apple wanted a larger share of revenue from game, music and video downloads--a recurring theme--than China Mobile would offer.
Previously, Insanely-Great reported that a deal had been signed between D.Phone, a Chinese handset retailer, and Apple with sales expected by the Lunar New Year (Feb 7).
Editor's note: Well, AAPL fall on this news making it a good time--after the fall of course--to get in...
What's you take?
at the Apple Store. While Supplies Last!
