The rumours of a CDMA iPhone just won’t go away. Today reports have surfaced that two Indian telecom companies have been in negotiations with Apple about launching a CDMA version in India, one of the worlds fastest-growing mobile markets. Citing sources familiar with the matter, the two companies, Reliance Communications Ltd. and Tata Teleservices Ltd. have been in talks for 4 to 5 months. Both offer services based on CDMA.
There is no information on when such a launch might take place, and an Apple spokesman for India declined to comment. Apple had only 1% of India’s smartphone market share for the first half of 2010, as compared with Nokia which accounted for 71% of the market in the same time frame. Daryl Chiam, analyst at research firm Canalys, speculated that while launching a CDMA version would help Apple, “it is unlikely to generate significant volumes in India.”
In contrast, launching a CDMA version in the US might represent a significant number of phones being sold, considering the difficulties many have experienced with AT&T, the sole carrier in the US. If a Verizon iPhone does materialize, it may mean a significant increase in market share for Apple as customers choose the CDMA version of the phone in order to get better network coverage.
Article via Wall Street Journal.
