news analysis Apple is still dancing around an iPhone deal with perhaps the biggest prize remaining in the iPhone universe: China.
China Mobile CEO Wang Jianzhou told IDG News Service on Tuesday that "(Apple CEO) Steve Jobs and I hope the iPhone will enter China as soon as possible". Still, there is no agreement to officially get the iPhone 3G onto the largest mobile network in the world.
There are plenty of iPhones in China, but they did not come in through the front door. Somewhere around 800,000 jail-broken and unlocked iPhones are thought to be in use in China, which has led to China Mobile's reluctance to swallow Apple's old revenue-sharing iPhone model: why should I share any revenue from iPhones on my network if you cannot prevent it from being used on my competitor's network?
But the revenue-sharing model is all but dead, courtesy of carrier subsidies that have lowered the acquisition cost of the iPhone 3G. Perhaps Apple and China Mobile are haggling over the size of the subsidy, but do not be surprised if the two organizations find a way to get a deal done before the end of the year.
This article was first published as a blog on CNET News.com.
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