Apple’s Tim Cook Is In China Working On Bringing An LTE iPhone To 600M People

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Apple COO Tim Cook happened to pop on by China Mobile’s headquarters earlier today. You know, just happened to be in the neighborhood, thought he’d see what was going on. No biggie.

Except China Mobile isn’t currently partnered with Apple. Oh, and they just happen to be the world’s largest mobile phone carrier, providing for over six hundred million customers. Biggie indeed.

According to M.I.C. Gadget:

This morning, around 10, Apple COO Tim Cook is spotted in the lobby of China Mobile’s HQ, accompanied by 7-8 people. Probably Cook is talking with executives from China Mobile to discuss bilateral cooperation for the iPhone. Both China and America flags are seen in the lobby, and Cook seems to be happy.

China Mobile uses a homegrown TD-SCDMA standard that would require Apple to build custom hardware, which is why the iPhone hasn’t hit the network before now.

However, it’s been reported that Apple and China Mobile might have worked out a deal to make sure that whenever an LTE equipped iPhone hits, it’ll work on China Mobile’s TD-LTE 4G network.

If so, an appearance by Tim Cook in China Mobile’s headquarters might confirm two things. One: the iPhone will soon be coming to six hundred million new subscribers in China. And two? That iPhone will be 4G.

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