And very interesting talks I'm sure they were too. Not that I expect them to really get very far though. Apple has always been very aggressive on the handset subsidies that it expects airtime providers to offer: the gossip is that China Mobile seems to think Apple needs it more than it needs Apple and thus is not willing to be browbeaten over those handset subsidies.
The point is really made here:
Talks between Apple and China Mobile have been going on for years and are stuck on revenue sharing terms, analysts said, so it is tough to say if this meeting would break new ground.
China Mobile uses a different 3G network from the rest of the world and some experts say Apple might wait for the new network to be commercially viable before launching the iPhone with the carrier.
There are two different issues here. The first is that China Mobile does indeed use a different 3G standard (TD-SCDMA, something which no one else uses) which means that Apple would have to produce a new model specifically for that network. It's not a particularly difficult task to source the correct chipset but it would be a fragmentation of the production line, something that Apple has traditionally been very down on doing.
This also means that China Mobile cannot just allow users to buy their iPhone elsewhere and then simply pay for a SIM to get onto the network.
Then there's that "revenue sharing". Apple might be arguing for a cut of what people spend on airtime. They've done that in the past in other markets, certainly. But I'd doubt that they are trying that now. The monetary sticking point would be, well, what handset subsidy (to be recouped through monthly charges on say two year contracts) is China Mobile willing to offer those who buy iPhones. And recent statements have been "None" which isn't something likely to boost Apple's desire to make a special version of the iPhone.
You can play through the game theory here easily enough. Each player has a higher sense of their own value than their opponent does of them. Meaning that a deal to satisfy both parties won't be ewasy to come by. I've been proven wrong often enough in these things but I would doubt that there's a deal there to be made quite honestly.
