Apple and the world's largest carrier, China Mobile, have reached a deal over iPhone 5C

There have been rumors surrounding Apple's expansion in China, and it seems like everything is falling into place for the Cupertino gang. Apple has been negotiating a deal for China's (and the world's) largest carrier, China Mobile, to start carrying the iPhone. Recently, we heard that Apple was planning a separate announcement in China just after the iPhone event in San Francisco, and now the word is that Apple and China Mobile have likely come to an agreement. 

There is still no official confirmation, and there likely won't be any until Apple makes its announcement, but sources for The Wall Street Journalare saying that Apple is preparing to ship batches of the iPhone 5C to China Mobile, which would certainly indicate that a deal has been struck. Apple has had deals in place with China Unicom and China Telecom, but combined those two carriers have about half (~350 million) as many subscribers as China Mobile (~700 million).

China is Apple's third largest market after Europe and the U.S., but sales there have been slipping. A deal with what is by far the largest mobile carrier in the region will definitely help Apple to raise its standing there. 

source: WSJ