The Wall Street Journal’s Yvonne Lee and Yun-Hee Kim this morning report that the long-awaited Apple (AAPL) expansion in China is getting underway, with the company set to add China Telecom (CHA) to its list of carriers in addition to China Unicom (CHU) starting March 9th.
China Telecom made a statement saying it will take reservations for the device starting on the 2nd, and Apple has confirmed the introduction of the iPhone at China Telecom. China Telecom warned that carrying the phone will affect profit as the company ramps up marketing spending.
In related news, a post on�Macotakara late yesterday said that the next model of the iPhone will be introduced around the same time frame as the 4S came out, in September or October of this year. The blo speculates this new release window, a change from the summertime debuts in previous years, will be “kept for years.”
Apple shares this morning are up $4.68, or 1%, at $506.88.
Update: Keith Bachman with BMO Capital, who has an Outperform rating on Apple shares, writes that his 28 million-unit iPhone sales estimate for this quarter may be too low, given that Depressed sales in China in the December quarter may rebound this quarter with the addition of China Telecom:
China Telecom is the smallest of the three mobile operators in China with 129 million total subscribers, but 3G subscribers of 39 million are close to China Unicom with 43 million. China Unicom has 203 million total subscribers and China Mobile (CHL, $52.69, Not Rated) has 655 million total subscribers, including 54 million 3G.We believe iPhone sales in China could see a material boost in the March quarter, since Apple started shipping the iPhone 4S to China Unicom in early January and will begin shipments to China Telecom in March. We note that Apple’s share of the Chinese smartphone market in the December quarter declined to around 7.5% from low double digits, given the lack of iPhone 4S availability. We currently forecast 28 million iPhone units in the March quarter, which could be conservative given strong China sales.
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