Apple and China Unicom reach the end of a three-year agreement later this month, and China Unicom’s president has expressed confidence that the two companies will reach an agreement and sign a new contract.
In just three years, Apple has risen to become China Unicom’s largest handset partner in terms of devices shipped. The wireless operator’s president Lu Yimin recently revealed that his company is in currently in talks with Apple to extend their partnership, according to a note from Marbridge Consulting.
The executive is quoted as saying the both sides were “extremely satisfied” with their relationship. Earlier this year, CU’s executive director Li Gang was reported as saying that his company’s partnership with Apple has produced “better-than-expected results.”
China Unicom began selling the iPhone in 2009. The device brought in only 5,000 new subscribers at launch, but became a hit upon the release of the iPhone 4.
Recent months have seen CU lose its exclusive hold on the iPhone, as China Telecom, the third-largest carrier in the country, received 200,000 pre-orders in March when it began offering the iPhone 4S.
China Mobile, the largest wireless operator in both China and the world, is rumored to be nearing an agreement with Apple and could begin offering the iPhone as early as later this year. China Mobile’s 600 million subscribers offer a massive sales opportunity for Apple. Over 15 million customers use the phone unofficially on the China Mobile network.
