Reuters reports that China Mobile, the world’s largest mobile operator by subscribers, said today it hopes to soon have lower-cost handsets for its 3G service, as it tries to popularise the service based on homegrown standard TD-SCDMA. The company aims to have handsets for its TD-SCDMA service selling for about 1,000 yuan (US$146) each, versus the current 2,000 yuan to 4,000 yuan. Separately, reports state that China Mobile remains keen to grab a deal with Apple to offer the iPhone (despite rival China Unicom’s recent success). Meanwhile the operator has also begun the process for a domestic listing in China.