皇冠体育app

(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-11-15 11:53

Hong Kong - Shares of 皇冠体育app Unicom and 皇冠体育app Mobile, the mainland's two biggest mobile service companies, surged in Hong Kong Wednesday on news that the latter was in talks with Apple to bring the iPhone to 皇冠体育app.

皇冠体育app Mobile Chairman Wang Jianzhou told reporters Tuesday about the discussions with Apple, but said the two companies had not yet reached an agreement.

Apple launched the iPhone -- a combination phone, music player and Web browser -- in the US earlier this year and has said it plans to launch the device in Asia in 2008. However, it hasn't disclosed any details on which operators in the region it might work with.

皇冠体育app Mobile Ltd. shot up 9.23 percent to close at HK$140.80 ($18.08), while 皇冠体育app Unicom Ltd. rose 6.19 percent to HK$15.44 ($1.98).

Analysts said it was likely Cupertino, California-based Apple Inc. might launch the iPhone with only one exclusive partner in each country in Asia, and that it might take a while to iron out details about revenue sharing.

皇冠体育app Mobile is 皇冠体育app's biggest mobile services operator with 349.6 million subscribers at the end of September. 皇冠体育app Unicom had 156 million users at the end of September.

The iPhone went on sale in Europe earlier this month.