Apple to aim at 760m China customers

Apple yesterday struck a deal with China Mobile that opens up a potential market of 760 million customers.

A man uses his mobile phone as he walks past a China Mobile sign on a street in Shanghai. Picture: Getty

Under the agreement – which could add billions in revenues to Apple – China Mobile will sell iPhones through what is the world’s biggest network of mobile phone users.

The tie-up provides a much-needed boost for Apple in a country where it is trailing rivals, even though China is its second-largest market after the US. It will also give Apple extra firepower in its intensifying global competition with Samsung.

Apple didn’t disclose financial terms but chief executive Tim Cook stressed in a statement that China was an “extremely important market”.