人们原本普遍期待中国移动（China Mobile）将宣布与苹果公司（Apple）达成协定，开始销售最新款的iPhone手机。这种期待非常高，以至于多位分析师都在报告中称，本周二晚就会宣布这个消息。

    中国移动是全球最大的移动运营商，拥有7.4亿用户，而苹果推出的iPhone是中国市场上最火的高端手机。移动与苹果联姻的消息已经传了好几年，但一直没有变成现实。

    苹果定于北京时间本周三上午10点举行新闻发布会，按照计划，会上将转播苹果iPhone 5S/5C的发布会盛况。之前有消息称，会上将宣布中国移动与苹果合作的消息。苹果煞费苦心地否定了这个说法。

    会上也确实没有宣布两家公司合作的消息。

    不过，当天中国工业和信息化部（China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology）批准了中国移动以及中国另外两大运营商——中国电信（China Telecom）和中国联通（China Unicom）使用TD-LTE频段。而新款iPhone正好就支持这个频段。

    这是首次中国三大运营商都获准与苹果智能手机实现兼容。

    它也是移动与苹果正式宣布双方合作之前必要的一步，但这并不是投资者所期盼的合作协议本身。

    苹果已经表示，将于9月20日在中国首发新款iPhone，这是中国市场首次与美国市场同步首发新款iPhone（考虑到时差因素，中国市场上的首发时间实际比美国还要早12小时）。

    至于说中国移动是否会在当天发售新款iPhone，决定权似乎在中国移动手里，苹果说了不算。（财富中文网）

    译者：项航  

    So high were the expectations that China Mobile (CHL) was about to announce a deal with Apple (AAPL) to sell the latest crop of iPhones that news that it would be made overnight Tuesday made it into several analysts' reports.

    The marriage of the world's largest mobile carrier (740 million subscribers) and the maker of China's favorite luxury-brand smartphones had been rumored for years, but never consummated.

    One popular theory was that it would happen at the Wednesday 10 a.m. (China time) press conference where Apple's iPhone 5S/5C event was scheduled to be rebroadcast in Beijing -- a theory Apple took pains to shoot down.

    It didn't happen at the rebroadcast.

    What did happen Wednesday was that China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) approved use of the TD-LTE band -- a band the new iPhones support -- by China Mobile and the other two major Chinese carriers, China Telecom (CHA) and China Unicom (CHU).

    It was first time all three of China's big carriers had been given the technical green light to carry Apple's smartphones.

    It was a necessary step before the deal that investors have been waiting for could be officially announced. But it was not the deal itself.

    Apple has already said that it will be selling its new iPhones in China starting Sept. 20 -- the first time China will get new models the same day (or rather 12 hours before) they go on sale in the U.S.

    Whether or not China Mobile will be selling them that day is a decision that seems to be in China Mobile's hands, not Apple's.