Apple's CDMA iPhone headed to China, Japan, South Korea - report
The new CDMA iPhone headed to the Verizon network in the U.S. will also become available with compatible carriers in China, Japan and South Korea, according to a new report from the Far East.
Taiwanese industry publication DigiTimes reported on Thursday that Foxconn will be the sole manufacturer of the Verizon CDMA iPhone, while another overseas supplier, Pegatron, will build the CDMA model of Apple's smartphone for "China and other countries." The report went on to note that Apple is "set to start supplying its CDMA iPhone to Japan and South Korea."
The anticipated launch of the CDMA iPhone in at least four countries is expected to help Apple achieve a record year of handset sales. The report noted that the availability of the iPhone to 93 million Verizon customers on Feb. 10 is expected to double its sales in the U.S.
Sources indicated that Apple currently plans to have about 7 million CDMA iPhones built in the first quarter of 2011. The report also noted that the CDMA baseband module in the new iPhone 4 is slightly more expensive, which would make the handset's bill of materials as high as $200 -- higher than the estimated $188 cost of components in the GSM iPhone 4.
Earlier this week, one Wall Street analyst said that higher cost could result in the Verizon iPhone 4 carrying a subsidized price $20 to $30 higher than the standard. However, the CDMA iPhone 4 will have the same $199 starting price as on AT&T for the 16GB model.
Carrier China Telecom has been viewed as a potential candidate for the new CDMA iPhone, and one analyst also believes India's Reliance would be an ideal alignment. While Thursday's report mentioned China, along with Japan and South Korea, it made no mention of a potential launch in India.
Taiwanese industry publication DigiTimes reported on Thursday that Foxconn will be the sole manufacturer of the Verizon CDMA iPhone, while another overseas supplier, Pegatron, will build the CDMA model of Apple's smartphone for "China and other countries." The report went on to note that Apple is "set to start supplying its CDMA iPhone to Japan and South Korea."
The anticipated launch of the CDMA iPhone in at least four countries is expected to help Apple achieve a record year of handset sales. The report noted that the availability of the iPhone to 93 million Verizon customers on Feb. 10 is expected to double its sales in the U.S.
Sources indicated that Apple currently plans to have about 7 million CDMA iPhones built in the first quarter of 2011. The report also noted that the CDMA baseband module in the new iPhone 4 is slightly more expensive, which would make the handset's bill of materials as high as $200 -- higher than the estimated $188 cost of components in the GSM iPhone 4.
Earlier this week, one Wall Street analyst said that higher cost could result in the Verizon iPhone 4 carrying a subsidized price $20 to $30 higher than the standard. However, the CDMA iPhone 4 will have the same $199 starting price as on AT&T for the 16GB model.
Carrier China Telecom has been viewed as a potential candidate for the new CDMA iPhone, and one analyst also believes India's Reliance would be an ideal alignment. While Thursday's report mentioned China, along with Japan and South Korea, it made no mention of a potential launch in India.
Comments
I wonder where/how this ends......
Good for Apple....Apple has the best of both worlds! Healthy margins and increasing market share!
The main question then is.......Sprint?
And why S. Korea? LG, their only carrier that doesn?t support UMTS ?3G? is only 8 million subscribers? The other two are much larger. I guess being on two out of three networks is pretty good.
What about India and their extensive CDMA/EV-DO networks?
If this rumour is correct, then in Japan KDDI AU will get the iphone. finally some competition
They really need to include NTT docomo in Japan. They are the largest carrier in Japan with twice the subscribers as KDDI?s au and the bands are already in the GSM/UMTS iPhone 4.
No wonder the stock is up yet again, on an otherwise blah day in the markets!
How can this possibly be a surprise to anyone...?
I wonder where/how this ends......
Simple. With complete global domination.
In a nice way, though.
If this rumour is correct, then in Japan KDDI AU will get the iphone. finally some competition
I had no choice to go with SoftBank for the iPhone 4 and AU/KDDi sucks too (was with them for 3 years)....Docomo would be a welcome choice.