Apple and China Mobile Announce iPhone Coming on Jan. 17, 2014

Longstanding rumours of China Mobile carrying the iPhone have finally come to fruition. Apple has just issued a press release to state China Mobile will carry the iPhone on its 3G and 4G networks on January, 2014, with both the iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s being available at each company’s respective retail stores. Pre-orders will commence on Christmas Day on China Mobile’s website and customer service hotline.

Tim Cook, Apple CEO, said the following:

“Apple has enormous respect for China Mobile and we are excited to begin working together. 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 is the world’s largest wireless carrier with over 760 million customers. Other stats:

• China Mobile now has over 1.2 million 2G/GSM, 3G/TD-SCDMA, 4G/TD-LTE base stations
• Over 4.2 million Wi-Fi access points to extend coverage for iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c customers.
• China Mobile is rolling out the world’s largest 4G network. By the end of 2013, China Mobile’s 4G services will be available in 16 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 will give a big boost to the development of China’s homegrown 4G/TD-LTE technology.