Apple is keen to create an LTE-TD Iphone for China

APPLE'S CEO Steve Jobs has shown interest in developing an Iphone for China Mobile's fourth generation network.

Jobs, the leader of fanbois everywhere has told China Mobile, the world's largest mobile phone company that he is "very interested in developing an iPhone that will run on TD [LTE-TD]". China Mobile uses proprietary 3G standards and is going its own way with 4G, meaning that existing GSM and CDMA Iphones will not work on its network.

China Unicom flogs Iphones in China but it has failed to pull the same sales figures seen elsewhere in the world because of its relatively small subscriber base. And unlike other countries, China doesn't allow its citizens to port telephone numbers between mobile networks and it seems that the lure of a shiny Iphone isn't enough for consumers to change their telephone number.

Steve Jobs' interest in building an LTE-TD Iphone was revealed by China Mobile's chairman Wang Jianzhou. Jianzhou is busy trying to generate interest in China Mobile as it prepares to sell its shares and there's no doubt that the most talked about handset in the world coming to the largest mobile operator in the world should seem like a win-win situation for both Jianzhou and Jobs.

While Jobs might be interested in developing a LTE-TD Iphone, it took Apple several years to get a CDMA version to appear on the US mobile operator Verizon. Apple will have to speed things up as it's unlikely that China Mobile will hang around for too long.

All this is assuming that China Mobile's customers will want to own Apple's locked down, closed off device in the first place. µ