Sure, Apple is excited about getting the iPhone in China but Steve Schwankert isn’t sure Apple is negotiating with the right cell service provider. Not only does China Mobile use a funky TD-SCDMA for 3G the standard is incompatible with the more popular 3G standards. But for access to all those customers I bet apple can come up with something that works.

More importantly Mr. Schwankert cites the corporate culture of China Mobile. From the article:

“That technical issue is aside from the corporate culture of the two companies being totally different. Apple is an innovator, a marketing machine and a category killer in portable music players. China Mobile is not a category killer, but a category owner. Although it is not a monopoly player, it might as well be. A shake-up of China’s telecom sector is creating an additional new competitor to China Mobile, but China Unicom, the only other current mobile service provider, competes on price, not service. China Mobile does a satisfactory job for its 400 million-plus customers but it doesn’t need to try harder.”

Interesting for two reasons: Apple has had problems with Rogers and while AT&T takes the not so coveted fifth spot for worst customer service there are Apple stores scattered around the country that offer great customer service. If you’re living in China you’ve got exactly one option.
via Network World