Apple CEO appears in Beijing to celebrate China Mobile sale of iPhones
CEO Tim Cook was "incredibly optimistic" about Apple's future in the mainland
Apple CEO Tim Cook was at China Mobile’s Beijing store on Friday, kicking off the beginning of an event that saw the state-owned mobile provider finally selling iPhones capable of running on its 4G networks.
Joining China Mobile chairman Xi Guohua, Cook met dozens of eager buyers, posed for photographs and passed out autographed iPhones to customers.
“China is a very, very important geography for Apple, not only for its size, but for many other reasons as well," Cook told reporters prior to the China Mobile launch, adding that he was “incredibly optimistic” about Apple’s future sales in the mainland.
Cook’s appearance at the event is the culmination of years of prolonged negotiations between Apple and China Mobile, the world’s largest mobile operator.
While Apple has been able to sell its iPhones in China with service provided from China Mobile’s smaller competitors, China Telecom and China Unicom, the iPhone remained incompatible with China Mobile’s 3G network, which was based on a technological standard only used in the mainland.