A total of 11 companies, including a subsidiary of online retail giant Alibaba obtained approval from Chinese authorities to be able to purchase mobile services from major providers and repackage them to offer to end users, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said on Thursday.
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Apple and China Mobile have finally signed a distribution deal which could be worth billions of dollars in extra iPhone revenues, the Financial Times reported.
Chinese media said that Apple invited local journalists in its September 11 event in Beijing, a day later from the tech giant's newest iPhone model launch in its Cupertino, California headquarters.
China Mobile gave initial 4G contracts worth CNY 20 billion or USD 3.2 billion to both Chinese and foreign companies.
Analysts of UBS boosted their sales projections for Apple and increased their price target to USD560 per share.
Analysts said the release of new iPhone and the 4G license grant for China Mobile might mean Apple and China Mobile's deal is looming.
Canalys told Bloomberg that Apple's market share in China plunged to just 5% during the second quarter, down from last year's 9%.
Reuters said that Apple CEO Tim Cook and China Mobile chairman Xi Guohua recently met to talk about "matters of cooperation."
Analysts said that China Mobile would play a huge part in China's explosive mobile growth which would allow investors to continuously gain profit.
According to reports from Reuters and Bloomberg, Tim Cook made the rounds in China as Apple looked for ventures in the local market.
The recently-held talks between Apple and China Mobile could benefit both companies.
The heads of Apple and China Mobile came together to discuss a possible cooperation.