China Mobile Says Main Hurdle in Apple iPhone Talks Cleared

Soon, hip Chinese may not have to pay premium prices for smuggled iPhones. From AFP:

China Mobile said Friday the main obstacle keeping iPhone out of the world’s largest mobile phone market had been cleared now that Apple has dropped its revenue-sharing demands.

Apple chief executive Steve Jobs said this week he would like to see the device introduced in China later this year, and a senior China mobile executive confirmed the two companies were back in talks.

“We’ve broken through the biggest obstacle and we are negotiating at the working level,” Gao Songge, deputy director of China Mobile’s general department, told AFP.