Comments on: Apple vs. China Mobile: Battle for the iPhone

By: chriswaugh_bj

chriswaugh_bj — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 12:05:15 +0000

I’d completely forgotten I left that comment. Sorry for the rather rude reaction. Sure, I see a selection of cards in people’s wallets, but generally, as Nedzer says, they’re debit cards, not credit cards, and, so far as I know, only useable on machines hooked up to the 银联 network.

By: Nedzer

Nedzer — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 09:40:27 +0000

Chris puts it more eloquently than I could.
I also doubt middle incomes in China hold an internationally useable credit card – most do have those uni-pay debit cards, though and
even with those (they have limitations)you can’t book (or pay for)a hotel in Hong Kong for example.
Statistics anybody?

By: Steven

Steven — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 09:36:59 +0000

@Dan B, good to hear some insider news that there is progress, but as you say it is far from finalised.

@AJ, oh yes, the Blackberry. True it has wi-fi, but it’s available only to corporate users, not ‘regular’ peeps.

@Ryan, yeah VOIP might be one regulatory worry… or mass communication that’s hard to track via wi-fi…

@chriswaugh_bj, so you’ve never noticed the choice of cards when someone opens their wallet in front of you in a shop? And a Chinese-issued credit card can be used on the Chinese App Store, so it works already.

By: chriswaugh_bj

chriswaugh_bj — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 09:00:07 +0000

“lmost all of China’s middle-income punters have at least one credit card”

Bollocks. Even if they have a credit card, is it internationally useable?

By: Ryan

Ryan — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 08:30:57 +0000

The iPhone holdup is nearly as baffling and likely as silly as the holdup on the release of 3G licenses in China. It’ll get here eventually, but only after the hype is gone and a new generation is on the horizon.

I have also heard that the wireless thing is an issue, and also don’t understand what the reasoning behind it is. Perhaps a fear of VOIP?

@AJ: That’s interesting – it’s actually distributed by China Mobile? Will have to check that out – as I was pretty sure wi-fi mobile devices were out.

By: AJ

AJ — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 05:01:21 +0000

China Mobile puts out a Blackberry model 8820 that has wi-fi…

By: Dan B

Dan B — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 15:25:30 +0000

Nice article. You mentioned that Apple “has only offered unlocked phones in markets where local competition laws have demanded it” … How about in Hong Kong? There was no legal mandate for Apple to offer an unlocked iPhones in Hong Kong … yet there it is.

I read a post on Sina.com this past Saturday noting that China Unicom executives are making March travel plans to visit Apple headquarters in Cupertino, CA. The theoretical objective of this halfway round the planet sojourn is to finalize iPhone negotiations, map out a distribution plan and set an official iPhone in China launch date. The Sina.com post noted that China Unicom Vice President Gao Guan will play a lead role in the negotiations. There are many details and issues to finalize. Nothing is over till it’s over.