Apple job listing hints at iPhone nearing China launch
A single listing on the Apple's career pages suggests the company has pledged itself to releasing the iPhone in China, one of its most elusive markets.
The posting made Thursday for an iPhone Quality Assurance Engineer in Beijing doesn't try to mask its likely role.
Apple is looking to "to focus on international releases of our iPhone and iPod touch products for Beijing," it reads.
If not the victim of poor wording, the engineering position represents one of Apple's authoritative steps towards an iPhone launch in China, which has frequently been one of the hardest cellular markets to crack for the California-based electronics maker.
While Apple has negotiated deals to bring its handset to China's semi-autonomous Hong Kong area as well as nearby Asian countries such as Singapore and (as of Thursday) Thailand, China itself has remained relatively cool to Apple's expansion plans and has engaged in on-and-off talks for months.
China Mobile is thought to have had multiple objections to the particulars of the iPhone since its debut in 2007. Publicly, the company resisted Apple's original revenue sharing model as a form of unwelcome foreign involvement. This objection went away when Apple switched to the more common carrier subsidy model with the iPhone 3G launch.
Other, less official objections are still widely believed to stand in the way or to have been a concern in the recent past, all of which stem from local culture and government.
As the Chinese government owns a controlling stake in China Mobile, the carrier is at the behest of leadership to support the national TD-SCDMA standard for 3G data. This has prompted suspicions that the company isn't eager to support a phone using the competing standard and even one rumor that Apple may release a non-standard iPhone to appease China Mobile, whose officials may also be worried about customers jumping ship to rival carriers that support the stock iPhone 3G's network formats.
Unlike the US, China also has a liberal attitude towards unlocked phones and regularly offers devices with unrestricted SIM cards. An iPhone release under these conditions would press Apple to either offer the phone at its high, unsubsidized price or else to accept a greater risk of customers switching devices or carriers in mid-subscription.
Even so, relations between Apple and China have warmed up in recent months. Apple chief Steve Jobs has said he hoped to launch iPhone in China and Russia by the end of 2008, and has already achieved this last goal with a three-carrier deal. No progress updates have been given since then; with the new job listing, though, Apple may have provided the first signs of clearing an impasse.
The posting made Thursday for an iPhone Quality Assurance Engineer in Beijing doesn't try to mask its likely role.
Apple is looking to "to focus on international releases of our iPhone and iPod touch products for Beijing," it reads.
If not the victim of poor wording, the engineering position represents one of Apple's authoritative steps towards an iPhone launch in China, which has frequently been one of the hardest cellular markets to crack for the California-based electronics maker.
While Apple has negotiated deals to bring its handset to China's semi-autonomous Hong Kong area as well as nearby Asian countries such as Singapore and (as of Thursday) Thailand, China itself has remained relatively cool to Apple's expansion plans and has engaged in on-and-off talks for months.
China Mobile is thought to have had multiple objections to the particulars of the iPhone since its debut in 2007. Publicly, the company resisted Apple's original revenue sharing model as a form of unwelcome foreign involvement. This objection went away when Apple switched to the more common carrier subsidy model with the iPhone 3G launch.
Other, less official objections are still widely believed to stand in the way or to have been a concern in the recent past, all of which stem from local culture and government.
As the Chinese government owns a controlling stake in China Mobile, the carrier is at the behest of leadership to support the national TD-SCDMA standard for 3G data. This has prompted suspicions that the company isn't eager to support a phone using the competing standard and even one rumor that Apple may release a non-standard iPhone to appease China Mobile, whose officials may also be worried about customers jumping ship to rival carriers that support the stock iPhone 3G's network formats.
Unlike the US, China also has a liberal attitude towards unlocked phones and regularly offers devices with unrestricted SIM cards. An iPhone release under these conditions would press Apple to either offer the phone at its high, unsubsidized price or else to accept a greater risk of customers switching devices or carriers in mid-subscription.
Even so, relations between Apple and China have warmed up in recent months. Apple chief Steve Jobs has said he hoped to launch iPhone in China and Russia by the end of 2008, and has already achieved this last goal with a three-carrier deal. No progress updates have been given since then; with the new job listing, though, Apple may have provided the first signs of clearing an impasse.
Comments
Unlike the US, China also has a liberal attitude towards unlocked phones and regularly offers devices with unrestricted SIM cards. An iPhone release under these conditions would press Apple to either offer the phone at its high, unsubsidized price or else to accept a greater risk of customers switching devices or carriers in mid-subscription.
Surely Apple could offer the iPhone at full price (US$600 for 8GB) unlocked with no contract.
OR cheap at US$200 on a 2 year contract... whether it's locked or unlocked.
edit: I mean... what's the risk? The phone provider pays Apple full price and chooses how they want to sell it. And a contract means if someone switches they still have to pay their previous monthly bill.
China Mobile ... may also be worried about customers jumping ship to rival carriers that support the stock iPhone 3G's network formats.
Correct me if I'm wrong.. this rumour is about the iPhone in China, but the job listing has nothing to do with China Mobile itself. I assume it could be entirely focussed on other 3G networks in China.
How big are the other Chinese 3G networks?
How big are the other Chinese 3G networks?
Ask and ye shall receive... with a margin of error that is Wikipedia.PS: It looks like their is no 3G in China to speak of.
Correct me if I'm wrong.. this rumour is about the iPhone in China, but the job listing has nothing to do with China Mobile itself. I assume it could be entirely focussed on other 3G networks in China.
How big are the other Chinese 3G networks?
The WCDMA 3G network being built will be much larger in area than the TD-SCDMA network being built.
The iPhone works on WCDMA networks.
http://idannyb.wordpress.com/2008/11...n-we-think-so/
EXCERPT:
iPhonAsia believes that it is possible that Apple already has contracted deals for two (2) new iPhones with two different China carriers
With 430M subscribers it makes sense to offer a phone that is idealized for their network.
I've never met a chinese person that had a contract for their phone.
$600 for a phone is not a big deal in China.
I've never seen a deal where you get a cheaper phone for signing up for a 2 year contract - they don't have the structure for this.
Just sell it "as is" in China and Apple will be fine
There is certainly a market for iPhone, and Apple won't have any problem selling official unlocked Chinese iPhone for $700 to $800.