China Mobile Has 10 Million iPhone Users, Without Any Apple Agreement

A report from Reuters is citing China Mobile chairman Wang Jianzhou as claiming that the network has over 10 million iPhone users. This despite having no official agreement with Apple to carry its popular handset in China.

It’s a substantial increase since August, when we last heard Wang boasting about the company’s iPhone user count. At that time, he noted that China Mobile’s GPRS/2G network had 7.44 million users. While 10 million is a mere drop in the carrier’s subscriber bucket, which is 630 million strong, it does show that there’s significant customer demand for the iPhone among that customer base.

China Mobile reportedly has just completed the first portion of its 4G TD-LTE trails, though commercial adoption might not take place until the end of next year.

The company is said to have previously met with Apple about a 4G LTE handset, and Wang has said they’ve received a ‘positive answer.’ If an LTE iPhone were to launch next year, it would be tough for China Mobile to prep its network in time.

Meanwhile Apple’s official partner in the country, China Unicom, has some tricks up its sleeves to keep its customers happy. It recently made available a SIM card sticker that allows its subscribers to use both networks at once.