China Mobile Finally Inks Deal with Apple to Bring the iPhone to Subscribers

China Mobile Ltd, the world’s largest mobile carrier in terms of users, has inked a deal with Apple to offer iPhones on its network later this month, according to The Wall Street Journal. China Mobile, which services more than 700 million subscribers, is one of the last major mobile carriers that currently does not offer the popular smartphone.

The agreement is long-awaited, according to the Journal, as Apple has been looking to gain market share in China for several years, but was reluctant because of China Mobile’s unreliable 3G network. But all of that is changing as China Mobile is set to unveil its new 4G network at its conference later this month. China Mobile is expected to sell about 1.5 million iPhones each month following the debut, according to research firm Treis, which could result in almost 20 million iPhone activations next year.

Apple’s six percent market share in China, which currently includes China Unicom Hong Kong Ltd and China Telcom Corp. subscribers, will certainly help its goal to match and eventually surpass Samsung’s 21 percent market share in the country. Samsung is currently the largest smartphone vendor in China, according to research firm Canalys.

In other iPhone-related news, Apple updated its iOS App Store developer Web site this week to show that 74 percent of its devices are currently operating on the latest iOS system, according to TechCrunch.  iOS 7 was released in September in conjunction with the release of the iPhone 5s and 5c and its usage, according to Apple, has increased by 10 percent since October. TechCrunch also reported that 22 percent of current App Store users are still using iOS 6, meaning that the majority of Apple device owners are using the two most current operating systems.