Deals
China Mobile Skirts Apple to Add 5 Million IPhone Users: Tech
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China Mobile Ltd. failed to get Apple Inc.’s cooperation to make iPhones for its proprietary 3G network. That didn’t stop the carrier from signing up almost 5 million users of the smartphone in four months. Its trick: Offer Wi-Fi instead.
The world’s biggest carrier by subscribers touts the iPhone 4 in advertisements on the Beijing subway and in its shops, and offers gift cards worth as much as 2,800 yuan ($441) to customers prepaying for Wi-Fi service to surf the Web. The company plans to roll out 1 million new Wi-Fi hotspots across China in the next three years.