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Apple Forges Agreement With China Mobile
Forbes is one of several news sources reporting that Apple and China Mobile have agreed on a plan that will bring the option of iPhones to tens of millions of customers of the Chinese carrier. A separate article contains something that may be at least as interesting as the deal itself, and that's some speculation on what sort of network China Mobile will be using for all those iDevices.
Apple desperately needs to stay relevant with its continues to drop behind in market share worldwide, and is soon to retain relevant only in the relatively small market of the US (UK and Japan maybe) where the high subscription masks the overpriced midrange iPhone. China Mobile does not have high subscription rates
The reality is though is that that this deal is unlikely make much impact (it will result in new sales). The iPhone is already available in China it is about 1% of the market (The claims of 20% apply to measures in a few stores in cites and rightly have been laughed away)
Apple needs to drop its(compete on) price to remain relevant in a worldwide market. Putting last years phone in cheap plasic only helps their bottom line.
Apple currently has 15% market share in the world's largest, and fastest growing, cell phone market. Talk amongst yourselves, discuss.
Except those figures are laughable. Other measures claim 1%...the ones that include the whole of china not just one or two inner city stores. Worldwide Apple marketshare has been flat at 5%-7%