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Tim Cook visits China again
The importance of China as a growing market for Apple's product is being underscored again today. Apple CEO Tim Cook met with China's head of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology Miao Wei to talk about various topics, including Apple's business in China. According to a post on the Bloomberg News site this morning, Cook last visited China in March of 2012 and said that the company would increase its investments in the nation. At that time, there were only six Apple Stores in the country; now there are 11 in major cities. It's unknown exactly what Cook and Miao will be talking about today, or how long Cook's visit to China will last. On previous trips, Cook has visited Foxconn plants where Apple devices are manufactured, and it would not be out of the question for him to visit the sites to see how conditions are changing for plant employees.
China speeds up its LTE schedule, could issue permits 'within a year'
China's Minister of Information and IT doesn't always explain his decisions in much detail, leaving us to ponder a sudden acceleration in his plans to roll out LTE. Miao Wei had previously indicated that 4G permits wouldn't be issued to operators until at least 2014, but now the word according Xinhua News is that this bureaucratic phase will be completed "within about a year." Perhaps those TD-LTE base stations are being built faster than he expected, or maybe the idea of being beaten to the punch by a little island nation is just too much. [Photo credit: China.com.cn]
Chinese official: We're not issuing 4G licenses for another two to three years
China isn't in a huge hurry get its own 4G network up and running, instead wanting to ensure the infrastructure is primed and enough compatible handsets are available before it launches. According to the head of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Miao Wei, the country needs plenty more base stations -- beyond the existing 220,000 TD-SCDMA bases and closer to 400,000 -- before the government starts offering 4G licenses. China Mobile, the country's largest mobile network, already plans to have over 20,000 TD-LTE base stations in operation by the end of this year, stepping up to 200,000 by the end of next year. This particular type of LTE hasn't quite set the world on fire just yet -- only two operators have launched TD-LTE services and a genuine handset for the network remains absent. Upgrading existing 3G stations is likely to take around three years, according to the official. At least it gives ZTE more time to get the MT73 readied for ICS -- or perhaps Android 5.0. [Photo credit: China.com.cn]
