China Mobile Demands Cut Of App Store Revenue To Sell iPhone 4S

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I admit that when I saw this one, I was a bit taken aback. I’d heard of subsidies for phones before, but this one took the cake. The folks out at China Mobile were apparently interested in picking up the iPhone 4S to offer to their subscribers–who wasn’t, really?–but to make that offer they had a bit of a condition for Apple, a rather substantial bit of a condition. They reportedly wanted a slice of the app store revenue Apple took in in order to offer their customers the iPhone 4S.

The report goes something like this: Apple wants access to China Mobile’s customer base, which is actually double the total population of the United States alone, representing fully 628 million subscribers. But China Mobile wants a cut of the revenue Apple takes in from the App Store in order to offer up that access, which is something that Apple has never offered any company before, let alone actually handed over.

But what makes this doubly interesting are the reports that say that Apple’s already on China Mobile to the tune of fully 10 million subscribers as it sits, so Apple really doesn’t need an agreement with China Mobile in the first place–especially not one with such outlandish terms–since China Mobile’s already busily signing up iPhone users.

Turns out that China Mobile’s customers, according to reports, already want iPhones to the point where they’re buying them, unlocked and unsubsidized, on the black market–or on gray markets, there’s a difference but it’s rather subtle–or even directly from Apple, and signing them up with China Mobile’s network. China Mobile, meanwhile, is reportedly soliciting said users by offering up gift cards for wi-fi service.

A strange set of circumstances there, no mistake, but it doesn’t look like it’s going to do much of a job of hindering Apple’s launch into the Chinese markets. But what do you guys think about this? Overreaching on China Mobile’s part? Or a smart business move that just didn’t turn out to be as smart as they’d hoped it’d be? No matter what you think, we want to hear from you, so head on down to the comments section and tell us what you think!