With close to 700 million subscribers, China Mobile is the largest wireless carrier in the world and has twice as many subscribers as China Unicom.
The rise in these numbers will push China Unicom to consistently increase its market share at the expense of China Mobile.
Lenovo unveiled a prototype tablet PC at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last January, and has launched the LePhone smartphone in China with China Unicom.
However, Apple currently sells the iPhone through only the smaller two of the three carriers in the country, China Unicom and China Telecom.
She also likes China Construction Bank, traded in Hong Kong, and China Unicom (CHU) because it is the only wireless provider serving Apple products.
The iPhone has been available in China since 2009 through China Unicom and it is likely that China Telecom launches the iPhone 4S on its CDMA network early next year.
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To get CDMA started in China, Qualcomm backed China Unicom, the smaller of China's two carriers.
Apple is expected to rollout the iPhone 5 in at China Unicom and China Telecom in December.
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However, we believe that since China Unicom is the only carrier that sells the iPhone in China currently, Apple sees a greater potential for growth in this market as it adds more carriers to the fold.
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Currently, China Unicom is the exclusive mobile service provider of the iPhone in China.
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Apple has experienced rapid growth from the China market in the past from its agreement with China Unicom to sell iPhones.
Companies involved in the accusations include China Three Gorges Corp and China Unicom (CHU).
These subscribers will potentially switch from China Mobile to China Unicom for the iPhone 5 or existing customer upgrade will both result in higher revenue per user for the company.
Its iPhone is supported by China Unicom, and when the latest version of the iPhone was launched in China in December, Apple sold more than two million handsets in three days.
Apple already sells the iPhone in China through its 2009 agreement with China Unicom and its pact earlier this year with China Telecom.
In the month of July, China Mobile managed to add only about 1.9 million 3G subscribers, in stark contrast to the 3.1 million that China Unicom added during the same month.
The duopolists, China Mobile and China Unicom, are both listed in Hong Kong, are transparent at least by Chinese standards, and have been competing fiercely for customers.
The iPhone is available in China through two smaller carriers, China Unicom (CHU) and China Telecom.
The best proved to be Hong Kong wireless company China Unicom, up 142% in total return.
Eventually, China Unicom, the No. 2 carrier, got the rights to become the official iPhone distributor in China.
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Unicom's edge is that it is the only listed integrated telecommunication company in China, with wireless, paging, domestic long distance and Internet divisions.
China Unicom will gain in scale as well by merging with China Netcom, long a bit player in the expanding Chinese mobile industry.
Huberty notes that with China Unicom, the company can only reach 10% of the 150 million high-end smartphone subscribers in the country.
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It is likely that Apple sold many iPhone 4s through the carrier China Unicom (CHU) and they are just getting started selling through resellers in China like Cybermart (owned by Apple manufacturer Foxconn).
While Apple already has deals with two Chinese mobile operators - China Unicom and China Telecom - it is yet to strike a partnership with China Mobile, the biggest operator in the world in terms of subscriber volume.
In comparison to this, its competitors, China Unicom has a 20% market share while China Telecom has the remaining 11%.
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China Unicom generated negative free cash flow of about RMB 30 billion, triple the negative RMB 10 billion it had in 2011.
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Low 3G penetration of around 18% in China is giving smaller wireless carriers such as China Unicom ample opportunity to compete on an even ground with the otherwise dominant China Mobile.
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