Apple and China Unicom Finally Maybe Potentially Have an iPhone Deal. Possibly.
CNN Money's Fortune blog is rounding up news about a potential Apple deal with China Unicom to finally bring the iPhone to China.
The story is this: Shanghai Security News reported a 3-year deal for China Unicom's 600+ million subscriber base. China Unicom's spokesperson told Reuters:
"Discussions are still ongoing, we have not reached any formal agreement,"
The great unknowns, however, remain whether China will allow Wi-Fi, the full App Store, and other features rumored to be on China's "no go" list.
Apple, of course, still sells officially unlocked iPhones in Hong Kong and similar markets for those who can afford a premium for standard iPhone.
[Thanks to Andrew for the tip]
Editor-in-Chief of iMore, Executive Producer at Mobile Nations, co-host of Iterate and ZEN and TECH, cook, grappler, photon wrangler.
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Yes, i have seen news today.
It is said that China Unicome made a concession and that only they can sell iphone officially in china for 3 years but they also guarantee they could sell 5 billion RMB per year(1~2 million iphones)
When can Blackberry step into china? I got my bold from a c2c website and i love it but i still dunno whether it is brand new or else, It was said to be brand new and cost me 3500 RMB(about 510USD)
600+ M subscriber base?!? We think Apple selling 1M in a weekend was big, imagine if all these people could buy one as well!
I have no idea where they're getting 600M subs from. Not even China Mobile has that much and as far as I know they're the largest. I think Unicom has between 150-200M subs though.
We have alot of Chinese students here, and one of the first things they do when they get here - is buy an iPhone!
I'd be surprised if they only sold 1-2 million per year!
I would think that Apple would have a hard time working out a deal with them. Recently Dell wrangled with the Chinese government over mandatory software loaded on their computers which allowed the Chinese government to monitor Internet traffic. Dell might be able to negotiate a bit on something like that but I cannot see Apple settling with any kind of monitoring or bloatware on their most beloved device. I have friends who live in China for part of the year and they always tell me about all of the websites that are blocked or restricted. All of the people complaining about the withholding of Google Voice should thank their lucky stars that they at least live in a free country where the bulk of their digital rights infringements consist of the loss of a few apps.
I live in Shanghai, China and just from the number of iPhones that I can see in my daily life and in the local stores, they already sold like crazy here over the last 2 years. Of course Jailbroken and ready to use with Chinese carriers and with Wi-Fi. Prices vary from 2G to 3GS versions, but no contract attached. I cannot see Unicom sell a single unit without Wi-Fi or with contract unless it is ridiculously cheap, while you walk into the next mall and get it without those limitations.
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