Apple reached a deal to sell iPhone in China - The País.com (Spain)

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Several customers reviewed devices in an Apple store in Beijing. / R. DE LA PEÑA (AP)

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U.S. company Apple has reached an agreement with mobile operator China Mobile, the largest Asian country – with 763 million subscribers – to market the iPhone 5 and 5C phones from 17 January 2014. The deal would give Apple the opportunity to enter more strongly in the Chinese market.

“China is an extremely important market for Apple, and our partnership with China Mobile gives us the opportunity to bring the iPhone to customers in the network world’s largest mobile phone,” said the CEO of Apple, Tim Cook, in a statement. The notice does not specify the financial terms of the agreement.

While Apple is the leading smartphone supplier in most of the world, only China had a market share of 6% amid increased competition from domestic producers and other companies. Iphone is the fifth phone in sales after Samsung, Huawei, Lenovo and Yulong.

“We know there are many users and potential customers of China Mobile who are eagerly awaiting the arrival of iPhone through our company,” stated the president of the Chinese operator, Xi Guohua.

Chinese mobile market is mainly dominated by devices running the Android operating system in the first place because they are cheaper than those offered by Apple phones and also for the variety of applications that Android has and which iPhone lacks.

Negotiations between Apple and Chine Mobile took years and were hampered by the request of the U.S. company to be assured sales volume. In the past year Apple has sold 23 million iPhones and some analysts have estimated that this deal sales could rise by 30 million mobile more next year.

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