Now that Europe has the iPhone, Asian carriers starting to line up
- TAGS:Asia, China Mobile, iPhone, mobile
- IT TOPICS:Emerging Technology, Macintosh, Mobile
Yesterday, China Mobile announced they were in talks to make the iPhone available to their 350 million subscribers. To put that in perspective, that is more subscribers than American and Canadian PEOPLE put together. That's a huge market that Apple would be crazy (they are the crazy ones) not to go after. Today we learn that China Unicom, China's second largest carrier, is also after the iPhone.
Also this morning, Singapore's third largest telecom, MobileOne or M1 announced that they are also in talks to acquire the iPhone. While this isn't likely to have the same weight as China Mobile, it does signal that Asian telecoms are ready to play ball to get the iPhone.
Apple's strongest Asian market, Japan - where boxed Leopard upgrades have been outpacing Vista upgrades this month - has yet to have a carrier come forward with an announcement. However, Japan will most likely be among the first Asian countries to formally carry the iPhone - even though a special version will need to be produced to work on Japan's slightly different CDMA wireless infrastrucure.
Oh, and don't forget about Australia's Telstra.
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