Is Apple cooking up a deal with the world's largest mobile carrier?

A reporter for China's First Financial Daily reported seeing Apple COO Tim Cook with a contingent of 7-8 other Americans in the lobby of the headquarters for China Mobile. The flags of China and the U.S. were both on display in the lobby. According to MIC Gadget, Mr. Cook was probably meeting with executives of the world's largest mobile carrier to bring the Apple iPhone to China Mobile.

China Mobile has over 600 million customers which would be quite a coup for the Cupertino based firm. Currently, the iconic handset is available through the smaller China Unicom with 179.34 million subscribers as of last month. And despite the fact that the phone cannot be officially used on China Mobile's pipelines, it is estimated that 4 million iPhones are connected into the larger carrier's network. But for those original Apple iPhone users who remember getting data at the slow EDGE speeds, today's version of the handset is not compatible with China Mobile's 3G service which means users are running the device at slower 2G speeds. Last month, Apple and China Mobile agreed on a deal that would allow future versions of the Apple iPhone to run on China Mobile's 4th generation TD-LTE network.

source: MICGadget via AppleInsider

This picture claims to show Apple's Tim Cook at China Mobile's HQ