Apple may sell iPhone through multiple Chinese carriers
Apple future stock rose significantly when the recent iPhone deal with China was signed. It has now come out that the deal was not exclusive and Apple can sell more phones through other service providers.
Last week, the chairman of China Unicom, to whom Apple recently sold $1.5 billion worth of iPhones, still says that he believes that the iPhone will remain an exclusive for his company. This week, however, it was revealed by his company that they do not have an exclusive deal to sell the iPhone in China, and that another Chinese carrier may also be allowed to sell the phone in China, according to an AppleInsider story.
Generally, Apple launches the iPhone exclusively through one wireless provider in each country into which it introduces the iPhone. However, it is apparently possible that this may not be the arrangement in the Chinese marketplace. This has been confirmed by an Apple spokesman. However, the spokesman also indicated that the company was not currently negotiating with any Chinese companies and that no second deal is imminent.
The deal with China Unicom is already very large, based on just the initial order. However, Unicom currently has 141 million users and is expanding into over 300 additional markets nationwide this year. To put that in perspective, AT&T has a total of just under 80 million subscribers in the US at last count. And Chinese Unicom is not the largest carrier in China. They are number two behind China Mobile, who currently has close to 500 million total subscribers for whom Apple may be able to negotiate iPhone access.
The overall Chinese market, obviously, dwarfs that of the United States. Were both China Unicom and China Mobile to have access to the iPhone, they could be expected to sell 8 times the number of iPhones sold in the US by AT&T. Sales numbers like those could easily push the iPhone past RIM in worldwide sales, completely turning the smartphone marketplace on its head. It will be interesting to watch the competition for China Mobile’s business: iPhone, RIM, Palm, or Android?
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