Apple Seeks Chinese iPhone Expert, But Snags Remain

Ed Sutherland ()

Apple is now advertising for an iPhone Quality Assurance Engineer in China, a market CEO Apple Seeks Chinese iPhone Expert, But Snags RemainSteve Jobs has said he wants to enter by the end of 2008. However, there may be several snags delaying the iPhone getting into the hands of the world’s largest cell phone market.

The new Apple employee would “focus on international releases of our iPhone and iPod touch products for Beijing,” the post reads.

Earlier this year, Jobs told CNBC he thought iPhone launches in China and Russia would “happen later this year.” Although Russia announced in October, an agreement with China has been held up by technologic and political roadblocks.

China’s government is pressuring China Mobile, the nation’s largest mobile carrier, to require use of the home-grown TD-SCDMA rather than more common transmission technologies, according to the South China Morning Post. Such a requirement might result in Apple producing an iPhone for the China market without Wi-Fi or 3G.

A similar holdup is happening in South Korea, where that government reportedly is requiring the iPhone to support that country’s unique WIPI technology.

Another snag could be the prevalent use of unlocked cell phones in China, an atmosphere that might force Apple to decide to either offer the iPhone at the higher non-subsidized price or accommodate the behavior.

Apple’s decision hinges on whether the Cupertino, Calif.-based company takes the unusual stance of modifying a product for the sole reason of obtaining access to China’s vast base of mobile consumers.

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In two related news items, Thailand’s third-largest cell phone carrier, True Move, announced Thursday it has inked an iPhone distribution deal with Apple. The company said only it would introduce the handset “in the coming months,” according to Reuters. Despite the lack of details, the disputed territory could be Apple’s only good news for the iPhone in Asia, outside of Japan.

Although it’s uncertain whether to affect iPhone distribution plans, two Chinese men Tuesday sued Apple, charging the iPod infringed a patent the men were granted in 2002.

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About the author

Ed Sutherland

Ed Sutherland is a veteran technology journalist who first heard of Apple when they grew on trees, Yahoo was run out of a Stanford dorm and Google was an unknown upstart. Since then, Sutherland has covered the whole technology landscape, concentrating on tracking the trends and figuring out the finances of large (and small) technology companies.

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  • charlituna

    1. sounds nasty I know but I hope that Apple doesn’t give in to China or Korea on the tech issue. It means having to rebuild the phone to a great deal and I would rather they spend their time making the existing phone better so that folks can get honest to goodness 3g etc
    2. the ipod came out in 2001, before this patent was granted. and why, even if that point doesn’t invalidate the issue, did they wait 5-6 years to do anything. did they miss the thousands of ipods out there.

  • http://idannyb.wordpress.com Dan B

    iPhone coming to China soon and Taiwan before the end of 2008 http://idannyb.wordpress.com/2008/11/15/iphone-in-taiwan-in-2008/

    http://idannyb.wordpress.com/2008/11/13/official-iphone-3g-in-china-coming-soon-we-think-so/

    File under “guesswork” …

    EXCERPT:

    iPhonAsia believes that it is possible that Apple already has contracted deals for two (2) new iPhones with two different China carriers (see below).

    iPhone 3G number one will be a customized model for China Mobile and will likely be launched first. iPhone number two will be offered through China Unicom and will come later in 2009.

    1) iPhone for China Mobile: A customized TD iPhone 3G for China Mobile with a chipset to support the “China built” TD-SCDMA 3G and GSM (EDGE 2.5 G) … There is an outside chance that the TD iPhone 3G chipset will also support CMMB protocol – China’s self-developed mobile TV standard. This special model for China will be a major compromise for Apple as standard features may be limited (e.g. no WiFi no iTunes no App Store) with added support for China Mobile’s value added services (Monternet) platform. This type of crippling customization is an almost unthinkable divergence in strategy for Apple and I can already hear the “no ways!” … However, China (nation) may have pushed hard for just such a compromise as a way to promote their nascent TD-SCDMA network. TD-SCDMA is important to China. Think of this compromise as Apple’s “official” entrance fee into China’s highly controlled handset market. The good news is that a large share of Apple’s risks/costs in developing this customized TD iPhone 3G will be born by China Mobile’s parent CMCC (i.e. China). How? Apple won’t manufacture a customized model unless there is a large pre-sale to China Mobile for inventory. If the model is a hit, Apple can quickly ramp up production beyond the pre-sale quantity. If TD-SCDMA is a dud, no problem, the current run is already paid for.

    2) iPhone for China Unicom: A full featured (non-customized, non-crippled) iPhone 3G for China Unicom. China Unicom will be granted a W-CDMA 3G license. The current iPhone 3G already supports the world standard W-CDMA 3G protocol. Hence, there may be no need for a special production run to deliver this model. China’s Ministry of Information Industry Technology (MIIT) will very probably delay China Unicom’s W-CDMA 3G license issuance for a few months after issuance of China Mobile’s TD-SCDMA 3G license (yep, blatant favoritism for the “China built” TD-SCDMA). The launch of the iPhone for China Unicom will likely come mid/late 2009.

    More >

    http://idannyb.wordpress.com/category/td-scdma/

  • Bentzen

    It is strange to hear about the Iphone problem in China.
    I just visited a Mac shop and asked if they have the new 3G Iphone

    They said yes, and showed me 1.

    Price: 4600 rmb.

    I find the phone expensive ?

    Can anyone tell me, how I can get an Iphone ?