It seems that the unlocked iPhone trade in Asia has come back to bite Apple in the, well, bottom line. The two companies have reportedly called off iPhone negotiations that started up just this month. It seems that the issue at hand was the revenue-sharing model that Apple has demanded from all iPhone carriers – but with Apple presumably unable to assure China Mobile that they will be the exclusive iPhone carrier (what with all those unlocked iPhones floating around), it seems that China Mobile isn’t willing to pay the premium to Apple.
Chinese newspaper Southern Daily is reporting that Apple has moved on to other potential iPhone distributors. Interestingly, China Mobile tells Bloomberg that the negotiations are still in effect and that rumors of failed talks between the two companies are false.
We’ll wait and see what happens in China. Hopefully the Chinese population will be getting their own iPhones by next summer. Of course, they’ll probably have access to cheaper iPhones, seeing as how the price of a US iPhone could easily cost half the average Chinese workers’ monthly salary.