Telecommunication News
- Unicom has no plans now to sell iPhone
Date: 15-Nov-2007 Sources: (Shenzhen Daily)
CHINA Unicom Ltd., the smaller of the country's two mobile operators, said yesterday it had no immediate plans to sell Apple Inc.'s iPhones in China but could be open to the idea.
'Right now, we don't have any plans to introduce Apple's iPhones in China,'Unicom executive director Li Zhengmao told reporters on the sidelines of a conference in Macao. 'But of course, we're always willing to discuss a good business opportunity if it presents itself,'he said.
'As for whether we'll talk about iPhones with Apple, you'll have to ask Apple.'
His comments came a day after China Mobile chief executive Wang Jiangzhou said it was holding talks with Apple about offering iPhones in China, although he brushed off suggestions an agreement might come soon.
Apple's iPhone, a mobile phone that accesses the Internet and plays music, sells for about US$500 in the United States.
Unicom's Li said he could not judge whether Apple's iPhone would gain a wide following in China, but said it would need to support text messaging in the Chinese language to be accepted in the world's largest telecom arena.
'As long as there is a good product and a good business, we are always willing to talk, and find common ground,'Li said.
But an industry executive said yesterday iPhone was unlikely to hit Chinese shelves soon because of technical and fee issues.
The iPhones, one of the hottest gadgets to hit U.S. and European stores this year, might be incompatible with the Chinese telecom market because of their 'locked?SIM cards, meaning the device would not be able to piggyback on another operator's network.
'You have to realize Chinese SIM cards are not locked up, as the iPhones' are,'the executive said on condition of anonymity.
'Secondly, our business model does not entail sharing revenue with terminal producers - we don't share revenue. That's a Chinese rule,'said the executive.
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