It's a model Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty believes the company should adopt in China, with the device never likely to reach its potential until Apple lets China Unicom rivals China Telecom and, in particular, China Mobile carry the device.
Threesome
Apple's current partnership with China Unicom restricts iPhone to just 10 percent of what Huberty believes is a 150 million strong high-end subscriber base in the country.
To expand beyond that limit, she claims Apple will need to court the world's largest wireless carrier China Mobile to unlock a share of an additional 120 million customers who pay more than $16 a month.
The final 10 percent of the market is currently in the hands of third-placed carrier China Telecom.
Apple itself is yet to comment, but Huberty suggests - via an investor note - China Unicom's rivals could be brought on board during 2013, when a sixth generation iPhone "likely to be compatible" with China Mobile's 4G TD-LTE network is made available.
Hard to get
As such, Huberty predicts 26 million iPhones could be sold in China in 2013 with the addition of the two carrier's support, though her 'bull case' bullish prediction, if you will suggests that figure could be as high as 40 million.
There are already 10 million iPhones running on China Mobile despite the fact it lacks an official license.
Reports back in November suggested the two parties were already in discussion about linking up in the region, though China Mobile had thrown a spanner in the works by requesting a share of all revenue made on iTunes and the App Store sales made on its network.
Meanwhile, Apple had to cancel the official retail launch of iPhone 4S in the country after bulging queues led to crowd disturbances.
[source: AppleInsider]
