China Mobile has announced that the carrier added about 1 million new iPhone users in February alone, following the device's mid-January launch.
CEO Li Yue and the company announced their first decline in annual earnings in 11 years earlier in the week, following an expensive upgrade to their network and increased subsidies for smartphones to help stave off competition from China Unicom and others.
Following years of rumors that the carrier would strike a deal with Apple, it finally occurred this year after 4G LTE licenses were awarded to China Mobile and the new iPhones were built with support for those networks. "We added 1.34 million new 4G users in February and most of them are iPhone users. We are happy with the progress as we are still building our 4G network and the coverage is only available in some major cities," said the company.
Apple sold 51 million iPhones in the last quarter, and the move into China is expected to grow iPhone shipments by as much as 15 million for the new fiscal year.
Following years of rumors that the carrier would strike a deal with Apple, it finally occurred this year after 4G LTE licenses were awarded to China Mobile and the new iPhones were built with support for those networks. "We added 1.34 million new 4G users in February and most of them are iPhone users. We are happy with the progress as we are still building our 4G network and the coverage is only available in some major cities," said the company.
Apple sold 51 million iPhones in the last quarter, and the move into China is expected to grow iPhone shipments by as much as 15 million for the new fiscal year.
