It wouldn't be the first time a company has used the press to bolster their negotiating position. Nevertheless, after saying the "iPhone model was not suitable for China" back in November, a spokesperson for China Mobile now says they've "terminated" discussions with Apple to bring the iPhone to China. China's largest carrier gave no reasons for the decision though the fee sharing agreement is likely a contributing factor. Well Steve, there's always China Unicom.

Barely a fortnight after Apple began talking with China Mobile about getting the iPhone into the ginormous Chinese market, it seems that negotiations are off -- or still on, or something. Yesterday, Nanfang Daily reported that China Mobile's CEO felt that the "iPhone model was not suitable for China," but unnamed reporters suggested that the real reason behind the call-off was the inability for both entities to agree on -- surprise, surprise -- a revenue sharing model. Today, however, a report over at Bloomberg notes that Apple has in fact not ended discussions with China Mobile, and moreover, it was said to have "denied newspaper reports" claiming otherwise. 'Course, we've got two sides of the story here, and while Apple may feel that there's still room to negotiate, China Mobile may see things quite differently. Time will tell, we guess.

[Via Macworld]
Read - Nanfang Daily report
Read - Bloomberg report

While most of the world plods along with WCDMA and EV-DO based networks to serve up 3G, China likes to do things its own way -- largely to avoid licensing fees -- by cookin' up TD-SCDMA. TD-SCDMA isn't commercial yet, which explains why the overwhelming majority of handsets targeted at the billion-strong Chinese market continue to this day to top out with 2G data. Unfortunately, launch dates have been pushed back time and time again; a full-scale launch isn't expected in 2007 at this point, though China Mobile reports that it's on target to complete networks in eight cities by year's end. That is good news, since it means that there's still hope for China to be able to showcase its shiny, new, royalty-unburdened technology by the time the Summer Olympics roll into Beijing next summer. ZTE and other domestic manufacturers (and some foreign ones, too) seem at the ready to deliver equipment into consumers' hands, so it's up to the carriers to get those towers up and running on the double. In other words: if you work for China Mobile, we think you have better things to be doing right now, don't you?

[Via mocoNews]

If Steve Jobs dreams of anything other than cubes or the The Beatles on iTunes, it's this: China's largest carriers in a tussle for rights to sell the iPhone. We're talking about a population of some 1 billion-strong who favor BlackBerrys for their sound quality and good looks. In an apparent response to the reported talks between China Mobile and Apple, Li Zhengmao, executive director and vice president of rival China Unicom is quoted by Dow Jones as saying, "It seems that iPhone is hot in some markets. We are willing to discuss with Apple." Direct talks with Apple, however, have not begun. Mind you, those same remarks were captured somewhat differently by Reuters. They quote Li Zhengmao as saying, "Right now, we don't have any plans to introduce Apple's iPhones in China. But of course, we're always willing to discuss a good business opportunity if it presents itself. As for whether we'll talk about iPhones with Apple, you'll have to ask Apple." Still, given that the talks have just begun, it's doubtful that Apple will reach a deal similar to those struck in Europe and the US any time soon. Wouldn't it be interesting though, if Apple released the iPhone in China before Meizu's M8 MiniOne clone ever hit the streets?

Read -- Dow Jones quote
Read -- Reuters

Talk about a delay -- China, which was expected to issue 3G licenses to its "top four" telecom operators, has now announced that the move will have to wait until they "come out of restructuring." As it currently stands, it will likely be after the 2008 Olympics before the licensing will ensue. Interestingly enough, information industry minister Wang Xudong has reportedly stated that "3G mobile phone services will be offered in the mainland in 2008 in time for the Beijing Olympics," but wouldn't that require issuance to take place before... beforehand? We'll keep you posted.

[Via monoNews, image courtesy of 3G]

Although Immersion's VibeTonz technology has been integrated into various Samsung handsets in the past, the shakin' technology was previously limited to ring tone and gaming enhancements. Today, however, Samsung is launching the keypad-less SCH-W559, which is the self-proclaimed "world's first" handset to utilize the VibeTonz system as a means of tactile feedback. The unit's QVGA touchscreen is meant to be a hands-on experience, and whether you use a stylus or the tips of your finger, the phone will provide a vibrating cue, which can be adjusted and customized within the phone's software, whenever you touch a virtual button. Immersion claims that its technology allows the on-screen buttons to feel more like "mechanical keys" rather than just a sheet of plastic. The device will be launching solely on China Unicom initially, will support both CDMA / GSM networks, and will feature a 1.3-megapixel camera, Bluetooth, handwriting recognition capability, and audio / video playback functions to boot. Of course, users will be able to pimp out their ringtones with integrated buzzing, and while we're not sure how much Samsung plans on charging for the rumbler, we can't wait for it to start shaking things up here on American soil.

[Thanks, Peter S.]

Remember that dual-mode GSM / CDMA Pocket PC out of China a few months back, the CoolPad 728? It looks like it must've done alright for itself because the manufacturer (which we think may be CEC Telecom, the folks behind our latest installment of Keepin' It Real Fake) has wasted no time in rolling out its successor, the 728B. From what little information we have, it looks like there's nothing to get terribly excited about here -- besides being a body double for the 728, the specs are largely similar though the 728B seems to add GPS navigation to the mix. If the 728B strikes your fancy (or you're an overly jealous 728 owner) get ready to dig deep: it scoots out the door for about 7,500 yuan, which works out to about $950 by our calculations.

[Via Engadget Chinese]

We're guessing that taking up residence in China has its fair share of disadvantages, but let it be known that a dearth of nifty, unusual smartphones is not one of them. Samsung has rolled another for China Unicom, the SCH-W579, and with support for CDMA 800 / 1900 and GSM 900 / 1800 / 1900, the touchscreen-enabled beast isn't likely to leave its owner without coverage. Other features include internal QVGA and external 96 x 80 displays, a 2 megapixel cam, Bluetooth, business card recognition, and a media player. We can't make heads or tails of what OS this thing will be rocking, but Linux is a strong possibility.

[Via Slashphone]

The dual-mode concept is a big deal in Asia where carriers like China Unicom have both GSM and CDMA networks floating around, and it looks like UTStarcom wants to cash in with its T66 clamshell. The press release claims the T66 sports not one, but two 2.6-inch displays (we're having a hard time picturing that), music player, 1.3 megapixel camera, and "MP3 broadcasting" and is destined for China Unicom's World Wind dual-mode service. The T66's major selling point is apparently its ability to stand by on both networks simultaneously, a feature missing from first-generation World Wind devices. No word on availability outside China, which doesn't necessarily break our hearts -- but we have to admit, we're a little curious about the "MP3 broadcasting" feature. An FM transmitter, perhaps?

[Via Mobilewhack]

In a surprising turn of events, China has decided to create a cheap domestic rip off of a popular product. With RIM finally readying the BlackBerry for its Chinese release, after a couple of years of delays, China Unicom has launched a "RedBerry" service that will offer push email to current subscribers on their existing CDMA handsets. Never the type to shy away from copyright infringement, China Unicom issued a press release stating: "The RedBerry name extends the vivid name of BlackBerry that people are already familiar with, and it also combines the new red symbol of China Unicom." Good to know they're feeling chipper about it. So far there's no word from RIM, but if a lawsuit doesn't end this there could be some stiff competition in the low-end between the services since the RedBerry offering sounds to be considerably cheaper than RIM's.

[Thanks, Paul]

Interfax China is reporting that Virgin Mobile is close to signing a partnership with wireless carrier China Unicom that would make the UK-based company the first foreign MVNO in post-WTO China. Although Virgin would still require approval from the Chinese government, which carefully scrutinizes all proposed foreign business presences, the company will benefit from past deals in which Spain's Telefonica and Germany's Vodafone have made invesments in domestic telecom firms. Virgin already has offices in Shanghai, and CEO Richard Branson recently told reporters to expect a Chinese launch this fall, so it would seem pretty likely that this venture, which is well over a year in the making, has the necessary government support to proceed.

You'd better have a pretty spectacular product if you're going to put "cool" in its name ("i," on the other hand, can be prefixed to any piece of junk), and Chinese manufacturer CEC Telecom seems to have produced just such a device with their CoolPAD 728. Available through mobile carrier China Unicom, the CoolPAD is a Windows CE-powered smartphone which sports two SIM slots for the ability to run on 800MHz/1900MHz CDMA and 900MHz/1800MHz/1900MHz GSM networks- simultaneously (we're not sure how many people are skillful enough to hold two conversations at once, but the bragging rights alone warrant this feature, we feel). Other niceties include a dual-core 266MHz Samsung ARM processor, 2.8-inch QVGA screen, 1.3 megapixel camera, and a handy, talking English-to-Chinese dictionary. We've got a few more pics of this double-duty mobile, but for the real motherlode you've gotta head over to Engadget Chinese, who went so snap-happy that they needed two posts to cram all the pics in.

Read- English description
Read- Engadget Chinese photo gallery, Pt. 1
Read- Engadget Chinese photo gallery, Pt. 2

As if text messaging didn't lead to enough repetitive stress injuries, the world's cellphone carriers now want you to start using your cellphone to IM. The GSM Association, which represents carriers from around the globe, has announced an agreement among eight major service providers, including T-Mobile, Vodafone and Orange, to develop a common standard for instant messaging. No word on when the new standard, to be known as Personal IM, will be rolled out. There's also no news about whether it will interoperate with any of the IM services already used by millions of people -- and compatible with many cellphone services -- from companies such as Yahoo, AOL and Microsoft. Chances are it won't be, but we'll count on the open source community to fix that as quickly as possible.