Thursday Apple Rumors: China Mobile Readying for iPhone Announcement

by Christopher Freeburn | September 26, 2013 12:53 pm

daily apple rumors AAPL[1]Here are your Apple rumors[2] and AAPL news items for today:

Soon: A long awaited deal between Apple (AAPL[3]) and the world’s largest wireless carrier could be revealed shortly[4], CNBC notes. Posters leaked to a technology website purportedly show China Mobile (CHL[5]) advertising materials promoting the launch of the iPhone on its network. Rival Chinese wireless carriers China Telecom (CHA[6]) and China Unicom (CHU[7]) already carry the iPhone. China Mobile, however, has long balked at Apple’s contractual terms. Rumors emerged over the summer that Apple was nearing an agreement with the carrier, which could be key to boosting the iPhone’s struggling market position in China. Last month, Apple CEO Tim Cook reportedly traveled to China to meet with China Mobile executives. Some analysts had expected a deal with China Mobile to be announced during the unveiling of Apple’s latest iPhones, but no mention of China Mobile was made during the event. Other analysts have predicted an announcement next month or in November. China Mobile has more than 700 million subscribers.

Big Share: The popularity of Apple’s iPhones has boosted the handsets’ revenue above the total revenue produced by a large number of major companies[8], BusinessWeek notes. Apple generated about $88.4 billion in annualized revenue over the past twelve months from the iPhone alone. That tops the total revenue produced in the same period by Procter & Gamble (PG[9]), Boeing (BA[10]), Home Depot (HD[11]), Microsoft (MSFT[12]), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ[13]) and Caterpillar (CAT[14]). If Apple’s iPhone unit was a standalone company, it would have revenues greater than 474 of the companies listed on the S&P 500-stock index, falling below Wells Fargo (WFC[15]) and above Marathon Petroleum (MPC[16]). It would be the ninth largest company, by revenue, in the Dow Jones Industrial Index of 30 companies. Apple unveiled its latest model iPhones — the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c — at a special media event earlier this month. The company said it sold a record 9 million new iPhones during their launch weekend.

Congestion: The debut of Apple’s updated operating system strained Internet service providers[17] last week, the Los Angeles Times notes. Apple released iOS 7 as a free download it its device users on Sept. 20. As users scrambled to download the large file, ISPs saw traffic to Apple’s website jump sharply, with Apple website traffic volume running second only to video’s streamed from Google‘s (GOOG[18]) YouTube. The rush to download and install the new OS, whose interface received a massive facelift from Apple’s lead designer Jony Ive, meant that many Apple users experienced long waits as servers became bogged down with requests. Apple announced on Monday that iOS 7 had been downloaded and installed on about 200 million Apple devices. The new OS is estimated to have been installed on more than half of existing Apple devices, outpacing previous iOS updates.

For more about the company, check out our previous Apple Rumors[19] stories.

Endnotes:

  1. [Image]: https://investorplace.com/hot-topics/apple/
  2. Apple rumors: https://investorplace.com/search/?q=Apple+Rumors&searchsubmit=Search
  3. AAPL: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=AAPL
  4. could be revealed shortly: http://www.cnbc.com/id/101065232
  5. CHL: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=CHL
  6. CHA: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=CHA
  7. CHU: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=CHU
  8. above the total revenue produced by a large number of major companies: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-09-25/listen-up-apple-haters-iphone-sales-eclipse-microsoft-and-amazon
  9. PG: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=PG
  10. BA: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=BA
  11. HD: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=HD
  12. MSFT: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=MSFT
  13. JNJ: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=JNJ
  14. CAT: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=CAT
  15. WFC: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=WFC
  16. MPC: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=MPC
  17. strained Internet service providers: http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-launch-apple-ios-7-internet-20130925,0,1061098.story
  18. GOOG: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=GOOG
  19. Apple Rumors: https://investorplace.com/2012/04/hot-topics/apple-rumors-stock-news/

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