Apple has been able to talk at least 70 countries into being part of the global iPhone rollout later this year, but surprisingly China will have no part in this. Apple will lose a significant chunk of revenue if they can’t get the largest mobile phone market to play nice with them. Good thing for Apple, the road to China may have finally swung open.

Because the iPhone 3G will not be sold under the same terms as the first-gen model, that is, without revenure sharing between Apple and the telcos, China’s top mobile operator may finally jump in on the iPhone cake. A spokesperson from China Mobile Ltd says the “biggest hurdle” is finally cleared, and the remaining issue now has something to do with practicality.

China Mobile spokeswoman Rainie Lei’s statement goes:

“Apple is no longer insisting on a revenue-sharing policy, so the biggest hurdle for China Mobile to bring in the iPhone has been cleared, but there are practical issues still to be resolved.”

And as such, China Mobile is now looking into bringing the iPhone to China, and apparently is more open to just subsidizing it instead of sharing their revenues with Apple.

An iPhone deal for China has not been sealed yet, though, so there’s still no way to know when the iPhone will finally be released there. But it’s almost certain to happen later this year, with Russia possibly jumping in on the iPhone bandwagon as well.

Via Reuters