Apple may be developing a lower-cost iPhone to sell in emerging markets such as China, India and Brazil, but it’s increasingly having difficulty finding wireless carriers willing to meet its terms for selling its mobile devices. Bloomberg reports that Apple “is missing out on a chance to court as many as 2.8 billion new smartphone customers, many of them in Asia, as wireless-service providers balk at conditions imposed by the iPhone maker and drag their heels in signing on as partners.”
Bloomberg estimates that Apple has agreements with around 240 carriers around the world while rival Samsung has agreements with more than 800 around the world, which figures to be a major long-term advantage for the Korean electronics manufacturer. The site says that carriers such as China Mobile and Japan’s NTT DoCoMo have objected to the “high costs of subsidies needed to make the device affordable or other terms they find unacceptable,” meaning Apple will likely have to sweeten the deal for them if it wants access to potentially billions more subscribers.
