iPhone 5 Launches On China Mobile

3,000 new locations for iPhone 5 and thanks to China Mobile.

When the world’s largest mobile carrier partners with the world’s poster-boy of consumer electronics, expect lots of ink and photo-ops. That’s exactly what happened when Apple launched their iPhone 5 with China Mobile.

So big was this event that Apple’s CEO Tim Cook himself showed up at the iPhone 5 launch at the China Mobile headquarters in Beijing. He hasn’t done that for any other country. Not only that, he even played to the gallery — much to everyone’s delight he indulged in autographing product boxes and getting photographed with proud customers.

This particular launch has long been speculated as an important one since negotiations with China Mobile were ongoing for quite some time and Apple was staining at the leash to enter one of the world’s most lucrative markets — that of probably the most populous and pro-tech country on earth. Reportedly, 57% of mobile browsing happens on iOS hardware in China, though Android holds 66% by market share giving Apple a fair bit of competition.

The iPhone will now be reaching 3,000 new locations thanks to China Mobile. China Mobile’s competing carriers (China Unicom and China Telecom) had already launched the iPhone with some great offers last year itself. However China Mobile has a 4G LTE network base and thus enjoys a premium position in the telecom industry in China as the iPhone 5 is the first phone from Apple that supports the 4G LTE technology.

This deal could be the icing on the cake for Apple, as according to the Apple Insider, a significant portion of the increase in iPhone sales in 2014 can be attributed to China Mobile having already sold around 12 million units!

Originally published at Chip-Monks.