Shortly after China Mobile started accepting pre-orders for the iPhone 6, the company has already received more than 33,000 requests for Apple's latest gadget, Mac Rumors reported.
China Mobile started accepting pre-orders for the iPhone 6 on Sept. 2 for the device's 4.7 and 5.5-inch screen models. The number of consumers pre-ordering the new smartphone from one of the country's biggest telecom operators suddenly ballooned into thousands in just a couple of days.
Currently, the company is only accepting pre-orders from customers residing in Beijing. There are no official announcements yet from the company if it will expand its service to other parts of China.
In addition, the delivery dates for the pre-ordered smarthphones has not yet been revealed but the device will be launched in China in mid-September.
The partnership between Apple and China Mobile for the distribution of the iPhone 6 was established in January of this year. The business deal is advantageous for the Cupertino-based tech company as it provides instant access to more than 760 million subscribers of China Mobile, according to Bidness Etc.
For Apple CEO Tim Cook, penetrating China's market with a strong partner is important for the company due to the country's large consumer base.
"When you really back up and look at what's happening in China, the usage numbers are staggering," the executive said during an interview with Wall Street Journal. "Fifty-seven percent of the mobile browsing in China is done on iOS devices."
In addition, through the partnership with China Mobile, Apple will be able to utilize the Time-Division Long-Term Evolution (TD-LTE) and Frequency-Division Duplexing Long-Term Evolution (FDD-LTE) networks.
"What this partnership does, is it allows us to take the iPhone to a different level in China, to marry it with the fastest network, with TD-LTE for the very first time," Cook said. "As [China Mobile Chairman] Xi Guoha said, this is a new product, this is a world phone."
"Now you can take your iPhone in China, use it on TD-LTE and if you travel to the United States, you can now use it on FDD-LTE," he added. "This is a big deal, it's huge, and so I couldn't be happier with how we're doing."
