China Mobile says has 10 million iPhone users
China Mobile , the world's largest mobile carrier by subscribers, has 10 million iPhone users even though it does not yet have an agreement with iPhone maker Apple , its chairman told Reuters on Monday. — Wang Jianzhou also said Apple …
Context & Ripple Effects
This is the latest turn in a negotiation that has dragged on since China Mobile first entered talks with Apple in late 2007 — four years of discussions with no distribution agreement to show for them. What chairman Wang Jianzhou disclosed to Reuters changes the shape of that standoff: the world's largest mobile carrier by subscribers already hosts 10 million iPhone users who bought the device without any official China Mobile channel.
First-order effects
- Wang Jianzhou's disclosure hands China Mobile concrete negotiating leverage: it can demonstrate to Apple a base of 10 million paying iPhone users already on its network, acquired with zero subsidy outlay or formal partnership.
- Apple is leaving the largest carrier subscriber pool in the world without an official sales and support channel, while those customers obtain iPhones through unofficial routes regardless.
Second-order effects
- The confirmed user count raises the cost of continued stalemate for Apple — every quarter without a deal, China Mobile accumulates evidence that iPhone demand reaches its network with or without Apple's cooperation, strengthening its hand in the talks that have run since 2007.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, handset distribution in China gets negotiated around demonstrated installed demand rather than exclusive launch contracts — shifting bargaining power toward carriers with massive subscriber bases and away from device makers controlling official channels.
The trend: Carrier leverage over premium handset makers is being set by subscriber scale rather than exclusivity agreements, with China Mobile's unofficial iPhone base as the clearest data point.