Jobs: China Mobile talks aren't off, because they were never on

In a Macworld post-keynote interview with CNBC yesterday, Steve Jobs was pimping the iPhone's numbers since launch (over four million sold -- a number Wall Street didn't like, but what can you do?) between rants about the MacBook Air's qualities and, at some point, got on the topic of bringing the iPhone to China. The popular rumor over the last couple months has been that Apple had been working with China Mobile on making a launch happen but that talks eventually broke down. Here, Steve says that's simply not the case; a single rep from China Mobile visited the Apple campus all of once, and that's it. He'd love to bring the iPhone to the Far East (or so he says), but the fact remains that there aren't any heated discussions going on with the major players. At least, that's what Steve claims -- and as we all know, CEO reality can be very, very different from real reality.

[Via textually.org]

[Steven Shamoun @ Jan 16th 2008 5:20PM]

What about the iphone in Canada...

[Tim Abbott @ Jan 17th 2008 4:51AM]

and australia!

[Michael LaFramboise @ Jan 16th 2008 5:35PM]

Didn't you see the article which was here few days ago? Canada was eaten by a giant iPhone, so I don't think you'll be seeing one any time soon...

[Andrew @ Jan 16th 2008 8:07PM]

Patience - I'm sure the iPhone is coming to Canada soon.

Do you all realize that the iPhone has only been out for 6.5 months??

US, France, UK and Germany is pretty damn good roll out given its Apples first ever cell phone. Call or send letters to your local cell providers if you really want to put pressure on them.

[Jeff@DBL @ Jan 16th 2008 5:25PM]

I hate to break it to Steve Jobs....but EVERYBODY in China ALREADY has an iPhone, and for the 11 people who don't yet, the retailers have stacks and stacks and stacks of them in their showcases in all the electronics markets there...(granted they may all be copies, but they seem to function exactly as an iPhone should...and certainly looked and felt authentic.

[Jamar @ Jan 16th 2008 7:43PM]

They ARE authentic. Go try one- they all come unlocked and jailbroken.

[Carlos @ Jan 16th 2008 8:06PM]

If they are authentic then it can only help Apples bottom line - if they are fake well I don't think people are stupid - they want the real thing.

China has a knock off company called RedBerry that everyone though would prevent RIM from entering into China - but guess what RIM is finally in that market with their BlackBerry and doing well.

I dont think anyone expects Apple to enter into all these markets so quickly

[gage @ Jan 16th 2008 5:33PM]

yea take that!!

Iphone Rulzes yo!

[xbit @ Jan 16th 2008 5:56PM]

I wonder if Steve Jobs believes his own lies?

[Fernando @ Jan 16th 2008 6:02PM]

"it's not a lie if you believe it." George Costanza

[a ham sandwich @ Jan 16th 2008 6:12PM]

"CE Oh No he ditn't?"

[Jeff @ Jan 16th 2008 7:27PM]

I'm sure the lack of an announcement about Asia is one of the reasons why Apple's stock is getting hammered (two days in a row now, btw). An Asian launch was basically already built in to the stock price. But no Japan, no China, despite expectations that there could potentially be announcements for both. It's pretty apparent now that Jobs is having problems selling the iPhone to carriers over there.

You can speculate on the reasons why, but it seems obvious to me that none of the Asian carriers are going to be willing to agree to Jobs' pretty draconian terms on a phone that's middling at best in terms of specs and features for an Asian phone. There's just nothing much in it for the carriers. Jobs is going to have to severely curtail his own expectations for what he can demand of carriers over there if he wants to get anybody on board. And he's going to again have to curtail his expectations of sales, unless there's a major revision to the phone's hardware in the meantime.

[Carlos @ Jan 16th 2008 7:55PM]

How quickly people forget that the iPhone is Apples first ever phone and has only been out for 9months - sheesh - Didn't BlackBerry just barely crack the China market last year?? I don't think anyone realistically expected for Apple to announce a partnership in Asia anytime soon - they have plenty of room to grow domestically while ironing out the kinks.

By the way all tech stocks are getting 'hammered'- actually our entire US economy is getting 'hammered' right now.

While AAPL was down 5% today Intel is down 12.5% for no other reason than a slow economy.

[Ted @ Jan 16th 2008 8:24PM]

>You can speculate on the reasons why, but it seems obvious to me that none of the Asian carriers are going to be willing to agree to Jobs' pretty draconian terms

They aren't draconian. The IPhone isn't subsidized. Cell phone plans take a phone subsidy into account. Apple just wants to get the subsidy. The alternatives are:

-The cell carrier would pockets it. *I* don't like this because I hate my cell carrier and I want them to get as little of my money as possible, and given the choice between the cell carrier getting the money and Apple getting the money, I'd rather see Apple get it.
-The cell carrier lowers the the plan price accordingly, but this will never happen because it would reveal the size of the phone subsidy to consumers, and cell carriers thrive on opaque pricing.

- that's middling at best in terms of specs and features for an Asian phone.

I wish people would stop saying this. Have you used one lately? It just isn't true. Screen resolutions are a bit higher and some (a small number) have DVB tuners, but that's about it. In terms of messaging capabilities and internet access, I'd dare say that they're behind the US and Europe, and with the IPhone they're definitely behind us when it comes to UI.

Besides, there's plenty of demand for the IPhone in Japan...

http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/01/11/fanboy-converts-sony-ericsson-w52s-into-iphone-say-hello-to-fai/

[CapnVan @ Jan 17th 2008 2:10AM]

It should be noted that Apple's stock price almost always drops after a Stevenote - it's almost like clockwork.

[corbs132 @ Jan 16th 2008 8:57PM]

no, it's not on...its OFF.
he got served here, here, and here.

[Dan B @ Jan 16th 2008 9:10PM]

My guess … Talks have occurred but real “negotiations” (serious back and forth over a contract) not even close ... yet.

AT&T made an iPhone deal without the benefit of dissecting the product. They put their faith in Apple and were rewarded. China Mobile may not take this approach. China Mobile may want “hands on” with the new 3G model before they hold serious contract talks? Apple almost certainly has the new 3G model in the hands of their Cupertino engineering team. But they may not be ready to hand it over to China Mobile … just yet.

Still much to be discussed beyond the phone ... mobile music and whether/how iTunes will make it to China. China Mobile has their own music services and they covet the revenue.

Despite the many challenges, iPhone holds huge promise for increasing subscriber data usage and enticing more customer to go on contract vs.pay-as-you-go. China wants iPhone (evidence the thriving black-market for iPhone) and Apple wants China. It will happen.

http://idannyb.wordpress.com/

[Ted @ Jan 16th 2008 9:33PM]

To give you an idea of China Unicom's integrity in matters such as these, here's a background article on them.

http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17117.php

[Ted @ Jan 16th 2008 9:35PM]

China Mobile, rather.

[wrabbit @ Jan 17th 2008 9:31AM]

Why would Japan need an iPhone when they have devices light years ahead of it for third of the price. And if you want the design well there are 20 different knock-offs that again, are light years ahead. And for those in Japan that do feel the need for an authentic iPhone, well they just need to take a 5 minute walk to the nearest Mom&Pop Cellphone shop down on the corner.

[Jim Smothers @ Jan 22nd 2008 1:43PM]

This is quite ironic, much like many other facets of the MEE-phone...
The device is made in China, and Apple won't make them available in China because of greedy negotiation cr@p.

So Jobs backs down on a deal because China Mobile didn't agree with the already lucrative offer Steve had in his hip pocket. And China's counter-offer was definitely big bucks...

So Steve walked away! Excellent negotiation, Steve! That's the first rule in negotiation... "Be prepared to walk away from any deal".

The problem with Steve's tough tactics? China Mobile has 350 Million subscribers! Even decreasing the percentage on Apple's take (and the possible repercussions from AT&T), Apple still had the opportunity to sell *at least* 10 million devices (conservative estimate). In reality, probably more like 50-75 million.

Ultimatums never work. In this situation: Tough=Stupid.

Thought Microsoft was evil? As of the iPhone release, all has changed.

Apple is the *NEW* evil software corporation.