Signs point to Apple deal with China Mobile
After years of speculation and spyshots of Tim Cook in China, it appears that the stage is set for Apple to finally bring the iPhone to China Mobile.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Apple recently received a regulatory license to run the iPhone on China Mobile's proprietary network standard. While the iPhone lands on new carriers all the time, China Mobile is the world's largest carrier with over 700 million subscribers and presents an incredible business and growth opportunity for Apple.
According to the website of China's Telecom Equipment Certification Center Wednesday, Apple received what's called a "network access license" for a handset resembling the iPhone that runs on the mobile standards used by China Mobile for third- and fourth-generation cellular services. Other licenses were given to Apple for handsets running the technology used by both China Unicom and China Telecom Corp.
While Apple and China Mobile haven't issued an official statement regarding a deal between the two companies, the Journal relays that Apple is poised to begin shipping the iPhone 5c to China Mobile. As with anything related to Apple however, nothing is 100 percent official until we get a clear-cut confirmation. That said, the evidence in this case is more substantive than it's ever been before.
