Ben Thompson: iPhone In China Mobile Is A Very Big Deal

The Wall Street Journal has recently confirmed that China Mobile would be unveiling the iPhone at an event on December 18. This deal will give Apple access to  user base of over 700 million subscribers.

“At the Dec. 18 event, China Mobile plans to unveil a brand for its fourth-generation, or 4G, network. China Mobile executives have said they would only begin to sell the iPhone after introducing 4G services,” Lorraine Luk and Daisuke Wakabayashi report for WSJ. “China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said Wednesday it gave licenses to China Mobile and its smaller rivals to operate the higher-speed mobile networks, clearing one of the last hurdles.”

Ben Thompson of Stratechery, gives his views on the importance of this deal:

  • This is a very big deal. Feel free to ignore anyone making snarky comments about China’s average monthly wage being the same as the price of an iPhone 5C. The two pertinent facts about China are that: 1) There is tremendous income disparity and 2)There are a TON of people.
  • The China Mobile iPhone will be a BIG upgrade – and it will only be available in China. …Moreover, calling it the “China Mobile iPhone” is not an accident. This is a third version of the iPhone that will only be available for sale in China. There will be no gray market undercutting iPhone sales as is the case for China Unicom and China Telecom. At the very least, this fact alone will provide a nice boost to Apple’s quarterly China numbers.
  • The low-hanging fruit is gone. For several years now any questions about APPL’s growth prospects have had a simple answer: just wait until they add NTT Docomo and especially China Mobile.

Read more

Posted by | Posted at December 5, 2013 09:43 | Tags: , , ,
Storm is a technology enthusiast, who resides in the UK. He enjoys reading and writing about technology.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Related Posts

The Next iPhone Release: Rumors, Features, and What to Expect

February 26, 2024
As we edge closer to the unveiling of Apple's next...

Will Apple Develop a ChatGPT A.I. Competitor?

April 23, 2023
Apple has always been known for its innovative products, from...

© 2023 THETECHSTORM. All Rights Reserved.