Shares in China Mobile, the world's largest cellular operator, sunk to an intraday low minutes after the news, sliding nearly 3 percent to HK$130.00 in late afternoon trade.
The iPhone, a cellphone that accesses the Internet and plays music, sells for about $500 in the United States -- about double the average monthly salary in China. News that the two telecoms giants were in talks over the device's potential launch in the world's largest telecoms arena helped Apple's stock climb more than 10 percent on November 13.
"Our parent has terminated talks with Apple over the iPhone," a spokeswoman for listed China Mobile said, confirming several unsourced Internet reports. She would not elaborate.
Experts said last year that the iPhone would have to navigate a spate of technical, content and fee issues unique to China, including a standard revenue-sharing agreement that China Mobile would be sure to dislike, before any launch could proceed.
The iPhones -- one of the hottest gadgets to hit U.S. and European stores in 2007 -- might also be incompatible with China because of their "locked" SIM cards. That meant the device would not be able to piggyback another operator's network.
It's unclear what Apple, which has declined to comment on the issue, planned now for China.
China Unicom (0762.HK) (CHU.N), the smaller of the country's only two wireless carriers, said in 2007 it had no plans to bring the device into the country but was open to the idea.
(Reporting by Vinicy Chan; writing by Edwin Chan; editing by Anne Marie Roantree)
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(Photo: Business Wire)
The original iPod is displayed after its introduction by Apple Computer Inc. chief executive officer Steve Jobs during a news conference in Cupertino, Calif. in this Oct. 23, 2001 file photo. Since the iPod debuted in 2001, more than 119 million have been sold, helping to propel Apple's market capitalization from $6 billion to $155 billion.
(AP Photo/Julie Jacobson, file)
A journalist holds the Apple iPhone in this June 29, 2007 file image. Microsoft will not launch a product that competes directly with Apple Inc's iPhone, Chairman Bill Gates said in an interview with Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
REUTERS/Mike Sega
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