China Mobile reportedly rebuffs Apple's iPhone

China Mobile Communications, which has been talking with Apple for more than two months about serving as the US company's iPhone partner, has broken off negotiations, news reports said Monday.

According to stories out of Hong Kong by Forbes, The Associated Press, The Wall Street Journal and others, the Chinese mobile service provider has halted talks for the time being.

"We can only say that negotiations have ended for now. We have no other news to report," a spokeswoman for China Mobile told The Wall Street Journal.

Earlier, the company's CEO, Wang Jianzhou, had expressed reservations about the revenue-sharing model that Apple requires from its other partners, including AT&T in the US and T-Mobile in Germany.

Also Monday, the Chinese-language Web site Sina.com reported that an unnamed official at China Mobile blamed the talks breakdown on Apple's insistence of a twenty to thirty per cent share of the carrier's revenue earned from iPhone customers.

Apple has pledged to introduce the iPhone to Asia this year, but as is its practice, it has not specified countries or launch dates.

Representatives from Apple did not return a call seeking comment.

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