Apple may buy Chinese online game developer

It has been reported that Apple intends to buy the Chinese online game developer ‘Handseeing Information Technology’ which potentially would help Apply make its mark in the biggest internet market. 

An executive at Handseeing said on Friday that Apple has been in negotiations with the firm for a “certain period of time” and that some form of “incremental” announcement could be expected in September. He said that the firm expects to be bought for at least $150 million. 

The news was confirmed by the mainland state-run news agency Xinhua who quoted Handseeing’s deputy general manager Tian Bo. If the deal is successful then it will be Apple’s first acquisition in China, however, there are other firms interested in Handseeing and Tian said that Apple could see tough competition. 

According to market analysts this news is no surprise as Apple has been looking into expanding in the Chinese market for some time. They sell their iPhone through China’s second most popular mobile operator, Unicom, and have opened a huge flagship store in Shanghai. 

So far the company has been struggling to compete with other smartphones as the device has been sold with Wi-Fi disabled, however, Unicom have just announced that they will be selling Wi-Fi enabled iPhones very soon. 

A large reason for the success of the iPhone is the Apple App store where over 100,000 applications are available for download. In the new iOS4 operating system Apple has called its Game Center technology a “new social gaming network”, Handseeing specializes in online gaming applications so would fit in Apple’s business model very well. 

The purchase will not hurt Apple financial as they are said to have almost $46 billion in cash reserves. Last month saw their revenue in the quarter grow 61% to $15.7 billion, their highest yet. 

However, so far Apple has not commented on the rumours.