China Mobile plans to set up its own apps store where mobile users can buy software.
CEO Wang Jianzhou said he believed the iPhone apps store was one of the reasons for the success of the product.
'The door on China Mobile's mobile internet is open to all operators, all vendors and all content providers and service providers,' he said.
'We will set up our own shop. We welcome all content providers to sell their software applications and games and songs and any other product in our application shop.'
Wang said talks with Apple were still underway but were subject to non-disclosure agreement. He said the company was 'still interested' in bringing the iPhone to the China market.
China Mobile already has one of the world's biggest content businesses, with $12 billion in music sales annually, Wang said.