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The agreement, or at least the pending agreement between Apple and China Mobile to bring the iPhone 3G to China seems like its going to be an ongoing event. I will also add, that I cannot remember many other ‘news’ stories that seem to get as much coverage for so little happening, of course I can admit that my coverage does not help either.

However the latest in the saga is claiming that both companies are now in the “final stages” of negotiations. Personally I can only hope that is accurate. According to China Mobile’s CEO Wang Jianzhou “[Apple CEO] Steve Jobs and I hope the iPhone will enter China as soon as possible.” He further added that they “do not have an agreement” yet, however was also quick to point out that he could not say more because he was under a non-disclosure clause.

The cause for the delayed negotiations are still unknown, however some are speculating that its coming down to price, and the fact that many will not be able to afford it which would make it more difficult for Apple to be profitable. Of course as stated on MacNN, “China Mobile alone has 415 million cellular subscribers. At least a small portion of that number should be able to afford a subsidized iPhone.”

Personally I feel the delay is more about how much the subsidy is and about China Mobile looking after themselves in terms of the bottom line, as opposed to Apple holding back because at this point we have seen the iPhone 3G launch with a high price tag in many other areas and still do pretty well in terms of sales.

[MacNN]