Apple in talks to bring CDMA iPhone 5 to India?

The rumours of a CDMA iPhone just won’t go away. Today reports have surfaced that two Indian telecom companies have been in negotiations with Apple about launching a CDMA version in India, one of the worlds fastest-growing mobile markets. Citing sources familiar with the matter, the two companies, Reliance Communications Ltd. and Tata Teleservices Ltd. have been in talks for 4 to 5 months. Both offer services based on CDMA.

There is no information on when such a launch might take place, and an Apple spokesman for India declined to comment. Apple had only 1% of India’s smartphone market share for the first half of 2010, as compared with Nokia which accounted for 71% of the market in the same time frame. Daryl Chiam, analyst at research firm Canalys, speculated that while launching a CDMA version would help Apple, “it is unlikely to generate significant volumes in India.”

In contrast, launching a CDMA version in the US might represent a significant number of phones being sold, considering the difficulties many have experienced with AT&T, the sole carrier in the US. If a Verizon iPhone does materialize, it may mean a significant increase in market share for Apple as customers choose the CDMA version of the phone in order to get better network coverage.

Article via Wall Street Journal.

Eugene Huo is a Juno Award winning recording engineer, video editor, photographer, and all around Mac geek. His first Mac experience was with the Macintosh Plus. You never forget your first. You can follow him on twitter @gamerparent, and check out his video game blog at gamerparent.net.