The iPhone and China: Possibly Not a Match Made in Heaven

The Mezzanine, China World Tower 2
Sitting at a coffee-free Starbucks
1022 hrs.

Longtime Hutong readers will remember that right after Steve Jobs announced the iPhone in January, a very noisy hedge fund guy emailed around an article saying that the iPhone was the "ultimate China-friendly gizmo."

Despite being an Apple partisan for over two decades, I took detailed exception to his point. I thought the iPhone and China were a gross mismatch.

Negotiations between China Mobile and Apple hit a snag earlier this month over the business model, and there is a rumor in the Chinese press that the parties have walked away from the table.

Realistically, I think Apple and China Mobile will reach an agreement at some point, and I also think that eventually Apple will introduce an iPhone that can be successful in China.

The only question is: will Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, and LG have eaten into the iPhone's differentiation by the time they do?

Comments

[boyce]

"will Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, and LG have eaten into the iPhone's differentiation"...

DW, I love when you talk that dirty tech talk. Boyce