Wang Jianzhou
Update August, 22 2009: Hypothetical internal China Mobile PR discussion:
PR Guy 1: “Whoops … Wang Jianzhou wasn’t supposed to say that …”
PR Guy 2: “Um, he’s the Chairman/CEO and he can say what ever he wants …”
PR Guy 1: “I know, but China Unicom fired off a screaming protest letter to the MIIT saying that we are tampering with their Apple iPhone deal and now Wang wants us to backtrack …”
PR Guy 2: “Okay, prepare the spin machine …”
Interfax TMT reports the following on August 21 – “Talks between China Mobile and Apple Inc. over an iPhone partnership have been over for two months, despite comments made by China Mobile’s chief executive officer and board chairman, Wang Jianzhou, indicating that the two parties are still in such talks, according to a China Mobile source.”
As an interesting sidebar … China Mobile’s affiliate website labs.chinamobile.com has an August 23 story about the iPhone in China deal stating that a formal agreement between Apple and China Unicom was reached (presumably signed contracts) on August 17, 2009. Hmmm? (see article summary below – )
August 20, 2009: Is Apple still having “iPhone in China” discussions with China Mobile? If you believe China Mobile, then yes indeed, talks continue. This latest revelation comes directly from the lips of CEO Wang Jianzhou during a China Mobile post quarterly earnings press briefing.
Before delving any deeper into this story, I should state that it is my belief that Apple will soon receive a network access license (NAL) for a new model iPhone (A1324) specially built for and China, and that Apple will announce a deal (3G exclusive) with China Unicom within the next 60 days. It also appears that Apple has a second model iPhone (WiFi-enabled – Model A1325) in the testing/approval pipeline.
That said … It is no surprise that the door has not been slammed on the possibility of an iPhone deal (2G EDGE) with China Mobile, the world’s largest wireless carrier with some 478 million subscribers. China Mobile’s less than stellar launch of TD-SCDMA 3G makes them vulnerable to losses of subscribers to both China Unicom (WCDMA 3G) and China Telecom (CDMA2000 3G). During the most recent quarter (Q2), China Mobile posted its first decline in profit since 1999 (down 4.1 billion yuan) after subscriber growth slowed. China Mobile’s new android-based OPhones (mostly still on the drawing board) and Mobile Market app store, may not be enough regain momentum.
It would not be at all surprising to iPhonAsia to see two carrier deals inked in China (China Unicom and China Mobile). Lending a bit more credence to this notion … After meeting with Apple management in Cupertino last week, Thomas Weisel analyst Doug Reid suggested that Apple would move away from exclusive (one carrier only) agreements for the iPhone in major markets.
Here is a relevant comment I made to Philip Elmer-DeWitt’s post (Brainstorm Tech – Apple 2.0) on July, 6 2009:
Control of wireless value added services (WVAS) is the biggest obstacle to an iPhone deal with China Mobile (Both Apple and China Mobile want to control WVAS). However, 478 million subscribers is a tempting carrot to waive in front of Apple. If Apple were to build a low cost (low priced) 2G only model for China Mobile, this would not directly threaten the value proposition of the iPhone 3GS (for higher end users), which appears to be on track as a “3G exclusive” for China Unicom.
If there is still hope for a near-term (2009/10) iPhone deal with China Mobile, then it would most likely be for an EDGE 2G only version of iPhone (NOT TD-SCDMA). There is also a chance that Apple and China Mobile are having conversations over a 4G iPhone under the TD LTE (4G) standard. China Mobile has been quietly fast-tracking plans to build-out a proprietary “TD” LTE 4G network and may even begin trials as early as 2010. A TD LTE iPhone would not likely be in the works until 2011 … hence I view a low-price 2G (EDGE network) iPhone as a more likely option for Apple and China Mobile.
No matter the future of TD-SCDMA, China Mobile will maintain their EDGE 2G network, which has broad coverage and a clear signal throughout major urban zones in China. In my view, EDGE 2G could be the bridge between Apple and China Mobile. There are hundreds of millions of low-salaried wireless consumers in China who aspire to iPhone. Many have in fact already purchased cheap Shanzhai (iClone) knock-offs. But Shanzhai iPhones are not reliable and quickly become landfill. A low-priced “real” Apple iPhone running EDGE 2G only, might sell by the tens of millions.
More background > https://iphonasia.com/?p=5762
August 20 ’09 video with CIMB Deputy Head of Research, Bertram Lai
There’s a rumor: Korea Communications Commission blocks iPhone in Korea to protect home industry; probably Samsung and LG with some legal problems of LBS of iPhone such as FindMyItems. Is it against WTO?
I meant FindMyiPhone.
[...] Things Digital reporter John Paczkowski, posted a quote from iPhonAsia that fits nicely here [...]