Apple Reaches Long-awaited Deal To Sell IPhones Through China Mobile

(RTTNews) - Apple Inc. (AAPL) has entered into a long-awaited multi-year deal to bring iPhone to China Mobile Ltd. (CHL), the world's largest mobile network, on January 17, 2014, the two companies said Sunday.

The deal will help Apple, the world's largest technology company, to improve its market share in China, the world's largest wireless market, although iPhone is currently offered by China Unicom and China Telecom, China's second- and third-largest carriers.

China Mobile is the world's largest wireless carrier by network scale and subscriber base, serving over 760 million customers. Apple has struggled in China, despite it being the company's third largest market after the U.S. and Europe, hurt by a flurry of cheap Android smartphones from Chinese manufacturers as well as on stiff competition from arch rival Samsung's Galaxy series of smartphones.

However, with the deal with China Mobile, Apple would now gain access to a huge customer base and also be able to improve its revenue growth which has started to stagnant in the U.S.

As part of the deal, the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c will be available from China Mobile's network of retail stores as well as Apple retail stores across mainland China beginning on Friday, January 17, 2014.

The two phones will be available for pre-registration from China Mobile's official website and customer service hotline "10086" beginning on Wednesday, December 25, 2013. Apple had rolled out its latest smartphones, iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c, on September 20, 2013.

Last week, China Mobile rolled out its 4G network services, which has opened the way for the carrier to launch iPhone on its 4G network. Earlier in December, China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued 4G licenses to China Mobile and its smaller peers.

Xi Guohua, China Mobile Chairman said, "We know there are many China Mobile customers and potential new customers who are anxiously awaiting the incredible combination of iPhone on China Mobile's leading network. We are delighted that iPhone on China Mobile will support our 4G/TD-LTE and 3G/TD-SCDMA networks, providing customers with high-speed mobile service."

Tim Cook, CEO of Apple said, "China is an extremely important market for Apple and our partnership with China Mobile presents us the opportunity to bring iPhone to the customers of the world's largest network. iPhone customers in China are an enthusiastic and rapidly growing group, and we can't think of a better way to welcome in the Chinese New Year than getting an iPhone into the hands of every China Mobile customer who wants one."

China Mobile has over 1.2 million 2G/GSM, 3G/TD-SCDMA, 4G/TD-LTE base stations and over 4.2 million Wi-Fi access points, providing broad coverage to quality networks for iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c customers. China Mobile is currently rolling out the world's largest 4G network.

By the end of 2013, China Mobile's 4G services will be available in sixteen cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. By the end of 2014, China Mobile plans to complete the rollout of more than 500,000 4G base stations, which will cover more than 340 cities with 4G service.

The collaboration between Apple and China Mobile is expected to give a big boost to the development of China's homegrown 4G/TD-LTE technology.

AAPL closed Friday's regular trading session at $549.02, up $4.56 or 0.84 percent on a volume of 15.59 million shares.

CHL closed Friday's regular trading session at $51.63, down $0.22 or 0.42 percent on a volume of 1.32 million shares.