AAPL stock more than 3 percent up on China Mobile news

After the fall in Apple’s stock value when the China Mobile failed to materialise as expected on 18th December, yesterday’s news that the deal had finally been concluded sent the stock shooting back up again, having climbed more than 3 percent at the time of writing (it was up 4% in pre-market trading but has settled).

With the WSJ having reported that 18th December was the day, the market was clearly jittery when nothing materialized. Everything had appeared to be in place: regulatory approval, Apple putting the handsets on sale in China on the opening weekend, China Mobile posters, a pre-order website, in-store displays – and 4G service up-and-running on schedule … 

One theory suggested that China Mobile wanted to renegotiate its volume breaks with Apple after seeing far greater demand for the iPhone 5s than for the cheaper 5c, while Fortune suggested this morning that perhaps Apple wanted to delay the deal until supplies had caught up with demand elsewhere, and that China Mobile had been applying none-too-subtle pressure on Apple by announcing the date as if it were a done deal.

Either way, there will be a lot of relieved faces that the deal has finally been signed, and Apple can look forward to a bumper quarter once the handsets go on sale in January.

Written by: Ben Lovejoy @benlovejoy December 23, 2013/7:32 am - 9to5mac.com

AAPL stock down as market ponders the mystery of the missing China Mobile deal

AAPL stock took a 1.8 percent hit in pre-market trading as China Mobile not only failed to announce its iPhone launch today as had been expected, but its chairman Xi Guohua specifically told reporters that the world’s largest carrier had no announcement to make.

While neither Apple nor China Mobile ever officially confirmed today as the launch date, the Chinese government confirmed the date as the one on which 4G service would begin, China Mobile had said it would launch “a new brand” today and the WSJ seemed confident last month that today was the day.

The deal has been a very long time in the coming, but all the pieces of the puzzle looked to have fallen into place … 

The Chinese regulator signed-off the final licence in early September, Apple announced that the handsets would go on sale in China as of the opening weekend, we’ve had leaked China Mobile posters, a pre-order website, in-store displays (photo, above) - and 4G service in China did indeed begin today as promised. That the iPhone launch hasn’t happened is very odd.

While there are already millions of iPhones in use in China (one source claiming as many as 42M unofficially using China Mobile’s network already), and the iPhone has already officially launched on smaller Chinese carriers, the China Mobile deal is expected to generate tens of millions of extra sales for Apple. Estimates have ranged from 38M for China and Japan combined to 70M for China Mobile alone.

Via Fortune

Written by: Ben Lovejoy @benlovejoy 13 hours, 55 minutesago - 9to5mac.com

WSJ: Apple and China Mobile strike a deal, iPhone finally headed to world’s largest mobile carrier around Dec. 18

The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple has finally reached an agreement with China Mobile to carry the iPhone. China Mobile is currently the world’s largest mobile carrier with well over 700 million subscribers. Yesterday a subsidiary of the carrier started taking pre-orders for the smartphone, though the page was quickly pulled from its website.

Hong Kong stocks fall, but China Mobile climbs

—
  (@MarketWatch) December 05, 2013

In September the advertisment above leaked to the media. The image is a promotion for the iPhone 5s and 5c running on China Mobile’s network. The Chinese government, which controls China Mobile, confirmed that the phone would be available on December 18th last month, although neither Apple nor China Mobile would actually confirm the rumor.

Written by: Mike Beasley @MikeBeas December 4, 2013/5:52 pm - 9to5mac.com

iPhone market share in China more than doubled following 5s and 5c launch

Data from smartphone market intelligence specialist Counterpoint shows that iPhone market share in China more than doubled between September and October even before launching on the country’s biggest carrier, China Mobile.

Apple’s market share rose from just under 5 percent to 12 percent, taking it from 6th place to 3rd place, behind Samsung and Lenovo … 

Apple had previously seen its share fall from 9 percent in early 2012 as the market was flooded with relatively high-spec Android phones at low prices.

With wildly-varying estimates of the likely effect of the China Mobile deal, there will be huge interest in the numbers following the iPhone’s official launch on the carrier on the 18th.

Pre-orders start today, and Fortune noted that the reservation page was notching up website visitors at the rate of one every two seconds.

Written by: Ben Lovejoy @benlovejoy December 12, 2013/5:11 am - 9to5mac.com