Apple is currently doing the happy dance as it has nailed down a deal with China Mobile to bring the iPhone to the Chinese market. That’s a whopping 760 million potential users that Apple can try and persuade to their platform. We all know that it’s very near impossible that Apple would get close to grabbing 760 million users, it’s even unreasonable to say they could get 50% of that. A more reasonable goal for Apple to shoot for is in the 8-10% range which equates to a high end 76 million users.
Gigaom reports that if Apple were to get 10% of the users on China Mobile’s network that would still be more than what Apple sold on all carriers here in the States (that number stands at 33.8 million). So you see, Apple doesn’t need to capture the entire pie in China, it just wants a slice because that slice is going to be a huge payday for them.
Gigaom
The iPhone officially launches on China Mobile on January 17, 2014, but starting on December 25, customers can pre-register for the either the iPhone 5c or iPhone 5s.As we suspected, this deal requires a completely different model for either phone because no currently available iPhone supports China Mobile’s TD-SCDMA 3G network. Apple says the new handset will work on that network as well as China Mobile’s new 4G TD-LTE service.
Apple
China Mobile now has over 1.2 million 2G/GSM, 3G/TD-SCDMA, 4G/TD-LTE base stations and over 4.2 million Wi-Fi access points, providing broad coverage to quality networks for iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c customers. China Mobile is rolling out the world’s largest 4G network. By the end of 2013, China Mobile’s 4G services will be available in 16 cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. By the end of 2014, China Mobile plans to complete the rollout of more than 500,000 4G base stations, which will cover more than 340 cities with 4G service.
This is certainly a huge deal for the company, especially since it has been losing ground against its biggest rival, Android.
Related articles
- China Mobile-Apple deal complete, iPhone 5s and 5c arrive Jan. 17 (electronista.com)
- Big deal: Apple’s iPhone comes to China Mobile, the world’s largest network (gigaom.com)
- China Mobile to Officially Begin iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c Sales on January 17 (macrumors.com)
- China Mobile iPhone Pre-Orders to Open This Thursday (technobuffalo.com)
- Apple Strikes Long-Awaited Deal With China Mobile, with iPhone 5s and 5c to Hit Stores on Jan. 17 (allthingsd.com)
Last Updated on January 23, 2017.
