Apple gets its deal in China; iPhone goes non-exclusive in the UK

China Unicom (CHU) announced on September 28 that it will begin selling Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone in China on October 1. China Unicom is China’s second largest mobile phone operator. (For more on how the Chinese players line up and the coming battle between Apple and Google (GOOG) in China see my August 6 post http://jubakpicks.com/2009/08/06/apple-and-google-go-head-to-head-in-chinas-mobile-phone-market/ )

Unicom said it will start selling 3G iPhones for 5,000 renminbi or $732, although the company didn’t say what model it would sell. 

China Mobile (CHL), the country’s biggest mobile operator, is set to begin selling the 3G OPhone, based on Google’s (GOOG) Android operating system, although the timing of that launch is still vague.

China Telecom (CHA), the smallest of China’s mobile operators, is in talks with Resarch in Motion (RIMM) to sell the Blackberry.

The question is, of course, how many consumers in China will buy an iPhone considering what seems to be a very high price?

Apple and Google go head to head in China’s mobile phone market

Ladies and gentlemen. In this corner, wearing the Macintosh red trunks, Apple (AAPL) and its partner China Unicom(CHU)

In the other corner, wearing the Chrome trunks, Google (GOOG) and its partner China Mobile (CHL).

That’s the lineup that’s about to cross gloves in China’s smartphone market later this year, according to The Financial Times.

Apple is days, weeks, months away from signing an exclusive, three-year deal with China Unicom, the country’s No. 2 wireless operator, for its iPhone.

Google is about to launch a line of smartphones based on its Android operating system with China Mobile, the country’s biggest wireless operator.

At stake is not just China’s wireless market but momentum in the global battle over smartphones.

Nobody else could shake up the smart phone and net book markets this way but Apple. Oh, and give Google headaches too.

Not a bad’s day work for any company.

You could have once described Apple (AAPL) as a niche company that produced cool products for a tiny sliver of the market. No more. On Monday, August 3, Apple demonstrated that although it may not have the market share of a Microsoft (MSFT), Google (GOOG), Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), or a Nokia (NOK), increasingly the company picks the tune that the elephants dance to.

For example, Apple announced that Eric Schmidt, Google’s (GOOG) CEO, had resigned from Apple’s board of directors. Schmidt had ben a member of Apple’s board since 2006. But no more. With Apple set to go head to head with Google in the browser market–where Google has just introduced Chrome to go against Apple’s Safari browser–and in the cell phone market–where Google’s Android operating systemn will go up against Apple’s iPhone–no way that Schmidt could keep his seat on the board.

Sure, he could recuse himself every time a senstive competitive issue came up but on current trend Schmidt would have spent most of Apple board meetings out in the hall.

Schmidt’s presence on Apple’s board got trickier last week when Google announced that Apple had rejected a Google app (application) for the iPhone that would have let users make free calls and text messages.

And that was just the beginning of Apple’s Monday.

Barron’s Online and the Financial Times reported that same day that Apple does indeed have the long-anticipated tablet computer in the works. The machine, with a 10-inch screen, would be Apple’s entry into the very  hot netbook or smaller-than-laptop market segment. Rumor says look for a September announcement with a November release–just in time for the Christmas shopping season.

The rumor has, according to Barron’s and the Financial Times, frozen a good part of the computer industry in place.  Nobody wants to design a competing product until they see what Apple has come up with. You can bet that CEOs at Lenova and other PC makers, and at the Asian original device makers (ODMs) that now design and manufacture so much of the world’s supply of computers are spending their nights tossing and turning as they wonder what Apple will come up with. Rumor pegs the price of the Apple device at a premium (of course) $699 to $799.

And no day would  be complete without news of a counterattack on the iPhone from Motorola (MOT), Palm (PALM), and Research In Motion (RIMM). According to Collins Stewart, Motorola’s Android-based phones would join Palm’s Pre (and lower end Pixie) in trying to take back mindshare that now belongs to Apple. Research In Motion is said to  be launching a new lower cost Curve.

Should make for interesting Christmas shopping, anyway.

Head to head: Apple versus Nokia. Which is the better stock to buy?

Apple (AAPL) crushed Wall Street estimates when it reported earnings on July 21. Earnings per share for the company’s fiscal third quarter grew 13% from the third quarter of 2008. Revenue grew by 12% in a quarter when almost no company is reporting any sales growth.

Nokia (NOK), on the other hand, stunk up the joint with its second quarter results announced on July 16. Earnings per share did meet expectations but that was the last piece of good news that the cell phone maker delivered. Revenue missed projections by 3.8% and plunged 24.6% from the second quarter of 2008. Unit volume fell 15% from the second quarter of 2008. And the company took back its forecast that it would pick up market share in 2009. Now Nokia is saying its share will stay flat this year.

So which of these two stocks is a better buy? It’s not as easy a decision as it looks.

Is the earnings rally starting to lose steam? Big surprises are moving stocks less

As earnings rallies drive along–and we’re sure in one now–investors gradually start to expect good news. More and more earnings surprises are anticipated by stock prices that start to climb before the results are reported. Part way through the earnings season a big surprise doesnt move a stock much any more since the news has been baked into stock prices in advance. And finally, the rally reaches the stage where prices actually fall on great news since even the great has been anticipated by rising prices and investors now sell the news.

I don’t think we’ve reached that last stage yet. But I can see the middle stage starting to unfold.