A lot of news coming out of this weekend’s release of the second beta of iOS 5 with the latest being that the latest OS update includes support for China’s QQ, 163.com, and 126.com email services via the same accounts pane users currently call up to set up their email accounts via Gmail, Yahoo etc.
With its mammoth population, China is undeniably a market Apple continues to eye more closely with each passing quarter. And it’s not like it’s a secret either with Apple executives like Tim Cook saying as much during earnings conference calls.
Most recently, Tim Cook and an entourage of 8 other folks were recently spotted in China at the headquarters of China Mobile. China Mobile, with over 600 million subscribers, is the world’s largest cell phone carrier and an undeniably huge market for Apple. One potential hurdle to a China Mobile/Apple deal, however, is that China Mobile continues to use its own TD-SCDMA network and Apple thus far has been reluctant to change up its hardware to support that standard. In any event, the latest from the rumor mill suggests that the iPhone will officially be coming to China Mobile sometime this Fall.
Interestingly, and perhaps highlighting the scale of some of these services, 163.com and qq.com are both two of the top 50 most visited websites on the entire planet.
via 9to5Mac
Mon, Jun 27, 2011
News