Last month, China Mobile announced that it had reached a definitive agreement with Apple that mandates the iPhone maker to – at some undefined point in the relatively near future – support the Chinese carrier’s fourth-generation TD-LTE data network.
Despite having “reached consensus,” no other details were provided with regard to Apple’s plans for implementing the fourth-generation technology.
This week, however, we may have uncovered further reason that a major announcement is forthcoming in terms of the iPhone being made available to China Mobile’s 600 million subscribers.
For now, the iPhone remains “officially available” in China only to China Unicom subscribers. China Mobile, on the other hand, boasts of more wireless subscribers than any other carrier in the world.
On Wednesday, First Financial Daily in China reported that Apple COO Tim Cook had a high-level meeting with executives at China Mobile.
A Chinese reporter from First Financial Daily (one of the most prosperous financial papers in China) managed to take a picture of Tim Cook walking in the lobby of China Mobile’s HQ, and there are 7-8 people walking along with Cook. And Cook seemed to be happy.
For both Apple and its potential carrier partner, a deal to bring the iPhone 4 and future generation models to Chinese consumers represents billions in revenue over the coming years.
