China Mobile wants iPhone 3G without 3G. Are you kidding?

China Mobile might be asking Apple to take out the 3G (and also Wi-Fi) capabilities from iPhone 3G. What??? The reason is, just to ensure its customers stay within its network.


CNET wrote:

China Mobile wants Apple to ship an iPhone in China with the Wi-Fi and 3G chips disabled. Why take out the fast networking chips that make the iPhone shine, you may ask?

Competition. China Mobile plans to build out a 3G network based on a homegrown Chinese standard for third-generation networks that is not compatible with the widely used W-CDMA standard that is also expected to be used by China Mobile competitor China Telecom.

So why doesn’t Apple team-up with China Telecom instead, rather than risks their own iPhone 3G?