While Apple probably wishes they’d really locked down the trademark rights to the iPad name long ago, the folks at Proview Technology in Shenzhen have a prior claim to the name and they’re taking Apple to court over it. They’re asking Apple stop selling the iPad in China (which only went on sale in the area recently), and demand an apology. Proview Shenzhen had registered the trademark in 2001, but their sister company, Proview Taiwan, had sold the rights to the iPad name to a UK firm, even though the Taiwanese company didn’t have rights to the trademark. Despite that, a UK company then sold the rights to Apple, which now counts iPad on their official trademark list. Apple had known about this whole mess, and had sued Proview Shenzhen last year to assert their claim to “iPad”, but had lost the suit. Now it looks like Proview is taking the fight to Apple.

Apple still doesn’t own ipad.com, and with this trademark issue lingering, there’s a clear gap in their IP rights. It’s not like they don’t have enough money to throw at the problem, and that said, odds are slim that this trademark suit will pose any serious roadblock to the advance of iPad in China.

Proview makes outdoor LED lighting, so it’s not like there’s any real competitive overlap here; they probably just want a big fat payoff, and it’s hard to blame them. 

We’ll be keeping an eye on the lawsuit’s progress following the initial hearing this month.

Source: China Daily

Beijing Telecom, a subsidiary of China Telecom, has announced that they’re aiming to release the iPhone 4S by the beginning of March, and that the final regulatory certifications just made it through on Monday. As you might guess,  iPhone launches in the area can get a little crazy, but with wider carrier availability, maybe the congestion and panic will let up a bit. Currently, the iPhone 4S is only available on China Unicom, though there have been hints that China Mobile will enjoy the next-gen iPhone.

It’s interesting to hear more about the retail side of the iPhone in China, since the vast majority of news from that corner of the world revolves around Apple’s manufacturing partner, Foxconn.  I’m sure by this point, Apple’s retail presence isn’t sullied by knock-off stores anymore, even though there’s still plenty of copycat devices floating around.

There’s no pricing information available for the CDMA-based iPhone 4S on China Telecom, but something tells me a steep pricetag won’t deter the locals from snatching ‘em up.

Source: China Daily

Apple has put an online lottery reservation system in place for iPhone 4S pre-orders in order to prevent Hong Kong scalpers from reserving iPhones. This comes after initial sales were cancelled due to riots and crowds.

The new reservation system no longer allows someone to reserve an iPhone without inputting full credentials that match a government issued ID. This is meant to keep out scalpers who use bots to snag up phones in the reservation system.

Due to high demand, we are accepting a limited number of iPhone reservations per day. To request an iPhone reservation, please choose your store and the iPhone you want. If we have an iPhone reservation for you, you’ll receive a confirmation email by 9:00 p.m. tonight that includes the time when you can pick up your iPhone tomorrow. A government-issued photo ID matching the name and ID number on your reservation is required for iPhone purchases. If you don’t receive an email, we were unable to reserve an iPhone for you, and you can try again another time. Only those who receive an email confirming their reservation will be able to purchase an iPhone; we will not be selling iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S to walk-in customers.

Apple has also stated it will not sell the iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S on a walk-in basis.

I know launches around the Chicago area get crazy at times but I can’t ever imagine Apple needing to implement a system like this state-side. You can read the full message from Apple below.

Source: 9to5Mac

Apple CEO Tim Cook has followed up on the New York Times story about the human cost of manufacturing iPhones, iPads, and Macs in China with an email to Apple internal employee. In short, he takes issue with the Times.

As a company and as individuals, we are defined by our values. Unfortunately some people are questioning Apple’s values today, and I’d like to address this with you directly. We care about every worker in our worldwide supply chain. Any accident is deeply troubling, and any issue with working conditions is cause for concern. Any suggestion that we don’t care is patently false and offensive to us. As you know better than anyone, accusations like these are contrary to our values. It’s not who we are. For the many hundreds of you who are based at our suppliers’ manufacturing sites around the world, or spend long stretches working there away from your families, I know you are as outraged by this as I am. For the people who aren’t as close to the supply chain, you have a right to know the facts.

Cook went on to note that Apple wants to educate workers about their rights. Apple wants to empower them to speak up when they are unfairly or mistreated. Cook claims more than a million people have already been trained under Apple’s program. Cook was also sure to mention that it’s his belief that no other company has taken more or better steps than Apple has with their workplace efforts.

The employee emails were semi-frequent under the late Steve Jobs and they’ve been regular under Tim Cook as well. Jobs was also fond of the open letter. Perhaps we’ll start to see those from Cook as well, and this incredibly important issue will get the attention and publicity it deserves.

You can read Tim Cook’s full email sent out to Apple employee’s via the link below.

Source: 9to5Mac

Team,

The New York Times is reporting on the human cost of manufacturing iPhones, iPads, and other electronics in China. While Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Motorola, Nokia, Sony, Toshiba and others are also mentioned, Apple gets most of the focus, no doubt because they have the highest profile. The article details how suppliers approach Apple and what Apple requires of them to produce the devices we all use on a daily basis — the cost of parts, salaries, and more importantly, the impact on human lives.

“The only way you make money working for Apple is figuring out how to do things more efficiently or cheaper,”

“And then they’ll come back the next year, and force a 10 percent price cut.”

Many of these cuts come at not only the expense of their workers but to their safety as well. A former Apple executive familiar with the supply process agrees that safety and cutting margins has long been an ongoing issue in China -

“You can set all the rules you want, but they’re meaningless if you don’t give suppliers enough profit to treat workers well,”

“If you squeeze margins, you’re forcing them to cut safety.”

A recent explosion in an iPad 2 facility resulted in 2 fatalities with many more injured. The advocacy group Sacom in Hong Kong also published a report warning of unsafe conditions, issues with aluminum dust, and poor ventilation. Debby Chan Sze Wan of Sacom says a copy of the report was sent to Apple. After receiving no response, she flew to Cupertino.

“A few months later I went to Cupertino, and went into the Apple lobby, but no one would meet with me. I’ve never heard from anyone from Apple at all.”

Apple has been making moves to address some of the concerns, including publishing a Supplier Responsibility Progress Report that lists several companies that have continually been found in violation of safety regulations every year since 2007. The problem doesn’t just lie with Apple but with many technology companies that continuously pressure suppliers to cut their margins. It’s worth pointing out that Apple is the only company that’s releasing a supplier list and providing transparency. We’re still waiting on other companies to do the same.

And the countries themselves can’t be let off the hook either. They want the jobs and money Apple and other manufacturers are creating and providing, and have not yet put in place regulations to safeguard their citizens and workplaces. Perhaps they fear if they do, Apple and other companies will just go elsewhere. But that’s a reason, not an excuse.

Source: The New York Times

Apple has postponed selling the latest iPhone 4S in some stores in mainland China after crowd disturbances spoilt its launch day. The main trouble appeared outside of the Apple Store in Sanlitun Beijing.

Would-be customers, many of whom had waited over night in the freezing cold to be among the first to purchase the latest iPhone, became so unruly when the store failed to open its doors on-time that Apple was forced to cancel first-day sales there. And rather than risk a repeat of the incident — which ended in profanity, egg-throwing and a few scuffles, the company has decided not to sell the 4S at any of its retail stores in Beijing and Shanghai. Instead, it will sell the device through its Web site and carrier partners.

Source: All Things D, Image: MIC Gadgets

Apple has now confirmed that January 13 is the official date the iPhone 4S will go on sale on in China, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bolivia, Botswana, British Virgin Islands, Cameroon, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Grenada, Guam, Guinea Conakry, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritius, Niger, Senegal, St. Vincent and The Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos and Uganda.

“Customer response to our products in China has been off the charts,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “With the launch in China next week, iPhone 4S will be available in over 90 countries making this our fastest iPhone rollout ever.”

This comes just a week after Apple finished the necessary steps to obtain approval for the iPhone 4S to go on sale in China, and officially marks the fastest iPhone product rollout in Apple’s history.

Source: Apple

Fortune is reporting that Apple has completed the required steps necessary to bring the iPhone 4S to mainland China by January 23rd.

the People’s Daily, the official news organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, reports that a device with the same model number as the iPhone 4S (A1431) passed the final hurdle, obtaining its China Compulsory Certification on Dec. 21. That gives Apple plenty of time to get the iPhone in the hands of retailers before the Chinese New Year, the biggest shopping event on China’s calendar. It falls this year on Jan. 23.

This is big news for Apple given the size of the Chinese mobile market. According to statistical analysis by mobiThinking, China currently leads worldwide mobile growth with over 5.3 billion subscribers, and Apple would do well in further extending their reach by getting a hand in that cookie jar.

Source: Fortune, mobiThinking

Foxconn is planning to double the size of their iPhone factory in China at a cost of $1.1 billion dollars, according to Chinese news site China Daily.

The base will be centered on the Foxconn Science Park in Zhengzhou, provincial capital of Henan, increasing its current production lines to 95, said the Henan provincial development and reform commission during a conference. The expansion plan, costing 7 billion yuan ($1.1 billion), is expected to bring $20 billion in sales revenue in 2012, the commission said.

Foxconn is Apple’s largest contractor and this new plant will be employing around 130,000 workers who will subsequently be able to pump out around 200,000 iPhones per day. That’s around 18 million iPhones per quarter.

Add in other contractors, and consider that Apple has the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S currently available in the retail market, and it gives us a hint at Apple’s own estimates on the amount of iPhone sales we’ll be seeing throughout 2012.

Approaching 100 million.

Source: China Daily

Market research firm Distimo has issued a new report detailing the huge gains the App Store has made in China.

When comparing the two countries, the Chinese App Store for iPhone devices was just 18 percent of download volume vs the U.S. at the beginning of 2011. By November, that share had climbed to 30 percent, meaning China jumped from less than a quarter to nearly a third over a 10-month period. The numbers are even more interesting when examining the iPad: China’s take is just south of 50 percent of combined downloads between the two countries.

This doesn’t come as a huge surprise given the size of the Chinese market. More interesting, however, is that iPad app downloads have now jumped up to a staggering 50 percent of App Store sales for Apple, making it a straight split between the two markets.

China is now the second largest market for Apple next to the U.S. as of June, and it doesn’t look like they’ll be loosing momentum anytime soon.

Source: GigaOM

Police in Shanghai, China have discovered a group of five people assembling and selling fake versions of the iPhone. Those arrested are thought to be part of an organised gang that were buying in parts from Guangdong in southern China and assembling them in rented apartments in Shanghai. Some of the parts being used are even thought to be genuine components used in the assembly of the actual iPhone 4. About 200 fake iPhones were found during the raid on the apartments.

The cost to make one fake iPhone, which used some genuine parts, was around 2,000 yuan ($313). It was sold on unauthorised markets and on the Internet for around 4,000 yuan, only a few hundred yuan cheaper than the real iPhone, the newspaper said. The fake iPhones had the same functions as the genuine ones but had a shorter battery life, it quoted the police as saying.

Source: Reuters, China Daily

After the discovery of a fake Apple Store in the Chinese city of Kunming last month, Chinese authorities have now discovered that there are a total of 22 unauthorized Apple retailers operating in the same area.

China’s Administration for Industry and Commerce in the Yunnan provincial capital said the stores have been ordered to stop using Apple’s logo after Apple China accused them of unfair competition and violating its registered trademark, state media said on Thursday.

[Reuters]

Dayliss and YCWB report that McGyver-like Chinese smugglers have taken to using ingenious cable and pulley systems, launched from home-spun crossbows and catapults, to smuggle iPhones and iPads back into China. M.I.C. Gadget sums up:

The iPad and iPhones were transported over a small river that separates the booming city of Shenzhen from the rural northern part of Hong Kong using an elaborate pulley system. The cable was shot across the border using a crossbow and the Apple products were flying across at night, which store in black nylon bags. The cable was suspended to a high-rise building in the Chinese border town of Shenzhen, and goods were moved several hundred meters from a small village house located in Hong Kong

No word on whether or no Jackie Chan or Chris Tucker were instrumental in helping Chinese and Hong Kong customs crack the smuggling ring, but we have our suspicions!

[Dayliss and YCWB via M.I.C. Gadget]

Video after the break.

The iPhone 5 hasn’t been launched yet, we don’t have any real idea what it will look like either. That hasn’t stopped the Chinese market for fake handsets to get one out the door already! Are we surprised? Not at all.

If we imagine for a moment, that the knockoff shown above, or in the video after the break, is based on some inside information on the iPhone 5 design, what do you think? It looks like a softened iPhone 4 design with a few more curves and an iPhone 3GS type curved rear.

Gizmodo‘s Jesus Diaz is so sure this design is accurate, he’s staked all his body hair and future meat consumption on it…

[Cult of Mac, Gizmodo, @jesusdiaz]

What do you do if you’re a maker of fake iPhones in China and the police are battering your door in? Throw them out of your window that’s what! Not really the best idea if you happen to be on the eighteenth floor though…

This is what happened recently at a Shenzhen shop, when four fake iPhone dealers took the decision to dump their inventory to avoid prosecution. They tried to throw nearly one thousand cloned smartphones out of the eighteenth story window. Some of the phones were even said to be labelled as the yet to be announced iPhone 5! The police finally caught them burning transaction records but managed to recover a customer database.

Luckily no one in the street below was hurt but several cars and fences were damaged when it started raining fake phones!

[Cult of Mac]

A new rumor says Apple may be seeing supply constraints for the iPad 2 and iPhone 4 due to material and labor shortages at a Foxconn facility in Chengdu, China.

Taiwan-based electronics manufacturing service (EMS) provider Foxconn Electronics (Hon Hai Precision Industry) is reportedly facing a shortage of both labor and materials at its plants in Chengdu, China, which is likely to affect shipments of iPad 2 and iPhone 4 orders in the second quarter, according to sources from upstream component makers.

They claim Apple estimates quarterly sales for the iPhone 4 at around 20-22 million units and iPad 2 in the 10 million unit range. Foxconn prepared these facilities to accommodate roughly 40 million iPad 2 units annually, and although the China plant in question doesn’t push out as much iPad 2 volume as their Shenzen plant, the impact could still be measurable if consumers find it difficult to pick up the tablet as demand grows.

This also goes against comments made by Apple COO Tim Cook during their quarterly earnings call where he indicated Apple felt confident with their iPad 2 supply plans, and that they should subsequently have an easier time meeting demand going forward.

We’re hoping this rumor is off-base but your guess is as good as ours. Let us know what you think in the comments!

[Digitimes]

It looks like our good friends over at 9 To 5 Mac and iFixYouri have managed to get their hands on what might just be an iPad 2 display fresh from the assembly lines in China. According to them, the display is lighter as well as just over a 1 mm thinner than the current generation iPad display. The frame around the screen is also noticeably smaller as well.This seems to make sense as all of Apple’s products have been getting smaller and thinner recently, and reducing the iPad’s weight would be a huge plus.

The part number (LP097X02-SLN1) appears to be an LG Phillips 9.7in XGA 1024×768 H-IPS display, which is the same resolution as the current iPad. This matches up with theories that it’s still too expensive to go to a 2x 2048×1536 Retina Display this year, and it’s a non-starter for developers to go 1.5x or anything in between.

Check out some candid shots of both displays after the break and let us know — would you be happy with this display in iPad 2?

[ 9 To 5 Mac ]

Looks like the CDMA variant of Apple’s iPhone might eventually make its way to carriers in China, Korea, and Japan. According to the not always reliable Digitimes, Apple suppliers currently expect around 7 million CDMA iPhones to be sold in the first quarter of 2011. That’s a lot of iPhones, no matter how you look at it.

Apple’s two main suppliers, Foxconn and Pegatron are also slated to turn a large profit this year due to the release of a CDMA variant. Foxconn started shipping the CDMA variant of the iPhone 4 back in December 2010, while Pegatron has started shipping this month. Digitimes maintains that Foxconn will ship solely to the United States while Pegatron will ship to other countries such as China, Japan, and Korea. The Verizon iPhone is set to double the number of iPhone users in the market alone. With these other countries added to the CDMA list, the iPhone will be available to a whole new array of customers as well.

I’d say with the GSM and CDMA variants set to be available on even more carriers and in more countries, Apple is in for a year of record numbers. It’s also great that customers in the US now have a choice. And if you’re in the US and not sure which to pick, take a look at our Verizon vs AT&T iPhone comparison.

[Digitimes]

The two-year AppleCare protection plan now comes standard on iPads purchased in China. In all other countries, the iPad comes with a one-year warranty for repairs and 90 days of telephone support. AppleCare extends this warranty and support to two years and can be purchased for an additional $99. Why is China so special?

The Chinese government has classified the iPad as a laptop computer, and in China, it is required by law that a two-year warranty be included with the purchase of any computer. This is extremely interesting because there have been many debates on whether the iPad is “good enough” to replace a computer or laptop. China says “yes!”

Anyone think that 2 year plan should be standard internationally?

[Bloomberg]

Apple has launched their online store for China, a streamlined store that includes the iPhone, iPod, iPad and Mac product lines. The store also includes free shipping, an option for custom engravings on your iPod or iPad, and it is also the only place online where you can currently grab the iPod Nano in the (PRODUCT RED) variant. From Apple COO Tim Cook:

We are thrilled to open our newest online store in China. With personalized engraving, configure-to-order options and free shipping on everything, the Apple Store is a great destination for our customers in China.

To top it off, Apple has made their App Store available in Simplified Chinese, making it easier for citizens of China to access the 300,000+ apps available for the iPhone and iPod touch (or at least as many of them as are offered in China).

Slowly but surely, Apple is extending their offerings throughout Asia, one of the biggest consumer electronic markets on the planet, and should have 25 more retail stores in China by the end of 2011.

But in the land of cheap-as-in-unlicensed Windows PC and Android variants we’ve never heard of, will it be enough? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

[Apple]

by Andrew Wray

Apple announced last night that iPhone 4 would be headed to China on September 25, availability will be via:

Apple Retail Stores including the new Apple Store® Hong Kong Plaza in Shanghai and the new Apple Store Xidan Joy City in Beijing opening on the same day. iPhone 4 will also be available on Saturday at China Unicom retail stores for qualified buyers with a new two year contract.

And pricing:

iPhone 4 will be sold in China through Apple’s retail stores for a suggested retail price of CNY4,999 for the 16GB model and CNY5,999 for 32GB model without a contract. At China Unicom stores, iPhone 4 will be available for qualified buyers with a new two year contract, sold separately. For pricing and tariff information please visit www.10010.com.

Needless to say that’s a huge market that, thanks to unlocked (officially and otherwise) iPhones from other countries, already has a huge gray market. It will be interesting to see how an official Chinese version does this time around, especially with the continued lack of a China Mobile model. Any bets?

[Apple PR, thanks Geo Coldz)

iPad is now available in China, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, as previously announced, and it looks like celebrating new Apple gears is a cross-cultural, seemingly universal phenomena.

[Han Ziwen became the first iPad owner in mainland China today, and was carried out of the Beijing Apple store on employees' shoulders. He even made a t-shirt for the occasion: "I BUY IPAD NO 1". Image via Getty]

Cue the folk music. Then go enjoy your new iPads.

[Gizmodo]

Looks like iPhone 4 will hit China Unicom next month, and with Wi-Fi to boot. Apparently the iPad is coming as well, but not at the same time — or any time specified at all yet.

Previous versions of the iPhone in China have controversially not included Wi-Fi and suffered in sales compared to real iPhones sold unlocked in Hong Kong or smuggled in via the gray market.

Still no word on China’s largest carrier, China Mobile, or whether or not any of the CMDA technology Apple is apparently cooking up is Chinese CDMA.

[Market Watch via AppleInsider]

While it’s easy to think the iPhone 3GS is everywhere now, TiPb still gets email asking when it will be in India, and on the largest carrier in the largest market in the world, China Mobile.

Well Macworld tells us Airtel has finally announced they’ll be bringing the iPhone 3GS to India:

New Delhi, March 19, 2010 : Bharti Airtel and Apple have reached an agreement to bring iPhone 3GS, the fastest most powerful iPhone yet, to India in the coming months. For information please visit www.airtel.in/iphone3gs. For more information on iPhone, please visit www.apple.com/iphone .

Meanwhile, Financial Times [registration required] reports that China Mobile CEO Wang Jianzhou is still interested as well, providing Apple addresses their special radio needs:

“including TD-SCDMA is not that hard to do – RIM is doing it”. But he added that Apple had not yet responded to his proposal.

MacRumors points out that while China Mobile is a monster, their 3G customer base remains small, but should grow from 3.4 to 10 million this year.

Either way, these represent two holes in Apple’s iPhone coverage and it’s nice to see at least one of them getting filled.

One would think that if the iPhone went on sale in the Chinese market it would sell like mad. So far, this is simply not the case as one of the largest Chinese online retailers, Taobao.com, has sold a total of five iPhones within the first two weeks of the device being available. China Unicom is also a seller of the phone but as of today, no official numbers have even been released.

With these poor sales aside, the iPhone is indeed very popular in China because of the unlocked devices that have been sold on the black market since the first generation iPhone was released back in 2007. If you take that into consideration and throw in the facts that the official version now being sold has been stripped of WiFi along with the ability to use pre-paid SIMs, both of which are very popular in China, you can see why people flock to the black market.

As it stands now, the iPhone is a flop in China. At least through official channels…

[Via Cult of Mac]

No big sales in China, it seems, and no big surprise given the low initial numbers we saw, and the prevalence — and huge pre-existing install base — of black and gray-market iPhones (with wifi!) smuggled into the country. And if that sounds apologist’ic, yeah, sorry. But iLounge is reporting:

Taobao.com, the largest Chinese e-commerce web site reports that it has sold only two 8GB iPhones and three 16GB iPhones since it began selling them on Nov 22nd.

So, sky fallen for the iPhone in China? Still falling? No one cares because they all have unlocked iPhones anyway?

Today’s the day — the iPhone officially launches in China on China Unicom. We say officially because it’s been available unofficially, in gray market form, since the original iPhone 2G was launched, and with winks and nudges via Apple’s unlocked sales in Taiwan and Hong Kong.

So will international sales tumble as the world’s biggest market can buy it at home? Will Chinese sales lag in favor of sticking with the unofficial versions from overseas or future Chinese versions that, you know, include Wi-Fi? Or will iPhone numbers just continue to grow, grow, grow?

Either way, welcome China, to the iPhone world!

According to Business Insider, the mythical iTablet is imminent due to the unnamed, unverified, unspecified travel of someone at Apple who does… something:

a source tells us a system integration engineer friend of his at Apple has been ramping up his travels back and forth between China lately, broadcasting word of his travels over the Internet.

A friend of a friend — no names! — asked TiPb what will end up being more ridiculous, iPhone rumors or iTablet rumors. We answered — yes!

Anyone have an iTablet case (with or without camera hole!) they want to leak our way?

Looks like China Unicom is set to launch the iPhone 3G 8GB (sans WiFi) for $300, which might sound expensive compared to the US $99 price, but here’s the no-shadow kick — the monthly plan is $20.

Granted, there’s likely no one in the world who feels their iPhone plan is cheap — and many who likely feel it ranges from expensive to exorbitant, but $20 a month compared to $70 or $100? Taken for one year that maths up to $240 vs. $840 or $1200. Two years, that’s $480 vs. $1680 or $2400. Three years… you get the idea (likely painfully and right in the wallet). Makes that $200 up front savings pretty insignificant doesn’t it.

Of course, the aforementioned lack of WiFi may make non-Chinese iPhone owners feel a little better about themselves, and there’s still no way to know how the Internet in general, never mind the App Store will survive the Great Firewall of China.

Hao bu hao?

[Xinhua via Fortune]

As anticipated — and anticipated again and again — China Unicom has finally announced that the iPhone is coming to China:

On 28 August, the Company and Apple reached a three-year agreement for the Company to sell iPhone in China. The initial launch is expected to be in the fourth calendar quarter of 2009. This will provide users with brand new communication and information experience.

Now all that’s left is to find out if it will have, you know, WiFi, an App Store, etc…

(via Engadget)

Apple’s on-again, off-again (on again, off-again, ad infinitum) negotiations to get the iPhone into China seem to be on again — we think. Honestly, it’s impossible to tell anymore so until an Apple exec actually announces it on stage (in September?) or we see millions of Chinese ditching their gray-market, WiFi-enabled international iPhones for state sanctioned China Unicom, we’ll just keep waiting (and waiting) and seeing…

Still, with a handset as popular as the iPhone and a market as HUGE as China, it really is only a matter of time.

[Via the Wall Street Journal]

That rumored deal whereby China Unicom was purchasing 5 million Wi-Fi-less iPhones for a huge introduction to the world’s biggest cellular market? Turns out not so much with the 5 million according to a China Unicom spokesperson.

“Talks between us and Apple have been going on for some time, but no agreement has been reached yet,” said Unicom spokesman Yi Difei. “There are all kinds of possibilities. There is no particular timetable for the talks.”

We get it, big deal, big complications. Still, the iPhone has to hit China sometime, right? (Other than, you know, massive amounts of gray market imports…)

[Cellular News via Engadget Mobile]

China Unicom, the second largest mobile carrier in the world’s largest mobile market, has reportedly bought 5 million iPhones from Apple as it makes ready to launch the device in September.

These won’t be the same iPhones sold in the rest of the world, however, as they’ll be using China-specific WCDMA radios, and will also lack Wi-Fi. Aiya. That, of course, leaves the door open for gray market iPhones — a staple in the nation since the original iPhone 2G launch in 2007 — to linger around and compete with the official, crippled version. (Insert Verizon joke here if you must).

Also changing according to the report is Apple’s share of the money. While they typically get 20-30% of profits, they’ll be making do with 1000-1100 Yuan per unit under terms of this deal (which allegedly may run as long as 3 years).

Either way, and long-in-the-making though it may be, it’s a huge deal for Apple and the iPhone in a huge market. Guess we’ll see what this does for Gartner’s numbers next year…

(International Business Times via Apple Insider)

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]

UPDATE: Looks like and the original post is MIA, so we’re keeping the ship steady, banking left, and redirecting unboxing lovers to iTalkiPhone for the rest of the gallery. (Thanks Taylor!)

ORIGINAL: Looks like someone’s scored the first pictures of an iPhone 3G S, unboxed and in the wild. Pretty much what everyone expected — looks just like the iPhone 3G but has some nifty new software like the Compass App (complete with re-calibration instructions), voice control, etc. but still drool-worthy none the less.

A few more pics after the break, but check out their full gallery for all gadget pr0n goodness!

iLounge reports that they’ve been told the next generation iPhone will come in two storage capacities (we’d guess 16GB and 32GB) and three radio flavors, 3G, 3.5/3.75G, and China CDMA. Consumers won’t be able to choose which radio model they buy, each carrier in each local region will simply offer the one that best suits their network. Some choice in color — black or white? — should remain.

The design is said to be roughly the same with the exception of a new, more scratch-resistant matte finish for the back plate, which has been rumored for a while now.

And no, unfortunately, Chinese CDMA won’t run on Sprint or Verizon in the US. Different frequencies.

In a move designed to make even notorious Wi-Fi stripper Verizon seem liberal by comparison, China Mobile’s outstanding demand that Apple strip the iPhone of both Wi-Fi and 3G if they want to sell to the worlds largest carrier just got an uncomfortable shot of “maybe” via Apple Insider:

while there’s no concrete information to suggest Apple would agree to make such concessions, references to “ChinaBrick” discovered in betas of iPhone Software 3.0 leave room for debate.

Also at issue, China Mobile wants control of the regional App Store. Without 3G or Wi-Fi, would there even be a point?

And we’d joked about AT&T…

Commercial Times is raising the bar on crazy rumors by claiming Apple will release not just one, not even two, but a whopping three new iPhones this summer.

• First would be the next-generation iPhone previous rumors have pointed to, with beefed up processors and features like the camera.

• Second would be a throwback of sorts to the original iPhone, dropping HSPA 3G in favor of EDGE 2.75G to lower costs and smash what little umbrella was left competitors.

• Third would be a special version to support a CDMA carrier in China, allowing Apple to penetrate that last, largest of markets. (And with the mere mention of CDMA, cue baseless Verizon rumors in 3… 2… ) [Note: Chinese CDMA bands won't work on Verizon -- hence baseless]

While TiPb has been on the next-gen bandwagon as a long as anyone, I have to admit the other two I’m not as sure about. Even though I mentioned the possibility of an EDGE-again iPhone on Twitter this weekend, Sacha Segan from PCMag was quick to point out a problem: AT&T is cutting EDGE capacity in favor of 3G. And like Giz says in the link below, Apple’s never been a retro-embracing company…

Would anyone be interested in an uber-cheap (free on contract, low EDGE data plan) version of the iPhone? Or is it Next Gen or nothing? And could we see a world where people are smuggling CDMA iPhones out of China?!

[via Gizmodo via Slashphone]

Ok, well Apple is really not selling $200 iTunes gift cards for only $2.60 so keep dreaming. But according to Music Ally Chinese “pirates” have hacked the algorithm that generates the iTunes gift cards and so now fake cards are flooding the market for as low as $2.60 in China. When we say flooding we literally mean flooding the Chinese market:

Apparently six months ago, a $200 card went for around 320 RMB (roughly $47), but the price has since plummeted to around 18 RMB ($2.60) as more sellers pile in.

With the iPhone 3G getting ready to make an appearance in China it should be interesting to see just how Apple responds to this. Apple will more than likely make a quick change to nullify the pirates ability to create these cards but it’s not like you can do away with the ones already in circulation as there is no easy way to decipher a bogus card from one that is legit (unless they have some super secret Apple wonder-ETL and ad-hoc query/number-crunching monster we don’t know about).

[Via Music Ally]

Aiya! There’s still no iPhone officially available in the world’s most populous country, the People’s Republic of China. Sure, Apple actually sells unlocked iPhones in Hong Kong and Taiwan in an attempt to lure the most affluent Chinese customers to their platform — and lets not forget the monstrous iPhone 2G black market — but absent homegrown carrier subsidies and support, it will never attain most-favored device status.

Previously the problem was China Mobile wanting to strip out the 3G and WiFi. The latest holdup? The App Store, according to Interfaxchina (via Ars). China Mobile doesn’t seem to like the idea of Apple running its own software service right on the phone, and would prefer to handle all that on their own end. Heh. So would AT&T, Rogers, Vodafone, and all the other oppressive, myopic, oligopolistic carriers around the world. The lure of the iPhone and its data-gulping customers let Apple one-inch-punch their way right through that tired old carcass, but China…?

China’s still wearing the iron vest of feature control furor.

So the raised platform is set, the combatants have taken their corners, and the rules remain: knockout or knockoff. Who’s going to win this battle?

We’re still considering these iPhone nano rumors to be way over on the far side of fetched, by they just keep on keeping on, so here’s the latest (via MacRumors):

DigiTimes highlights a report from Taiwan’s Economic Daily News stating that two chip manufacturers, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and United Microelectronics Corporation, are expected to receive chip orders for Apple’s rumored iPhone nano. The report states that orders would likely come in March, leading to a June release of the iPhone nano at the earliest. [...] Meanwhile, American Technology Research analyst Brian Marshall believes that the iPhone nano will not initially be launched in the United States.

Marshall (via International Business Times) bases this claim on no word of AT&T testing an iPhone nano, and then leaps to the speculation that China would be a likely place to the launch the new device.

Aiya.

If this is not bizarre, I don’t know what is. Customers looking to purchase a iPhone 3G in China will soon be able to do so. Just a little catch though, minus the 3G and toss in the omission of WiFi.

China Mobile does not have a 3G network so I understand them asking Apple to disable 3G but going a step further asking to disabling WiFi as well?! That leaves all of the owners of the iPhone 3G (don’t forget to take away that 3G) with a slow 2G data connection. China Mobile might as well sell the iPhone 3G as a very nice paperweight to all of their customers. Exactly why China Mobile would disable WiFi is way beyond me.

Apple ships the iPhone all over the world, so it is highly doubtful that a hardware change would be made simply for China Mobile. So how would these features be disabled? Software… Which means potential customers could still turn to hackers to gain back access to at least WiFi. It would only be a matter of time…

(Via Gizmodo)

If it’s a day that ends in a “y”, then its likely the status of the Apple / China Mobile talks has changed! On again/off again seems to be on again, with reports now saying the obstacles have been hurdled, the chasm bridged, the bamboo curtain rolled up to let in some sun.

But can China Mobile beat competitor China Unicom, or even the massive gray market, to the punch?

Only time, and probably a bazillion more flip flops, will tell.

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China might just be getting itself some iPhones! Oh, sure, there are already tons of iPhones in China — almost a cottage industry of them — but this time we’re talking official from Apple, no unlock needed, spiffy new iPhone 3Gs. In China.

Not from China Mobile, who’s off again, off again relationship with Apple is well documented, but from competitor China Unicom. Maybe even by August!

Hen Hao!

A huge territory with a massive subscriber base, China was one of the few countries not announced by Apple as part of the 70+ at WWDC. If true, only Russia and a few others (looking at you, Antarctica!) would stand between Apple and total global domination… (or at least market presence!)

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During our last regularly scheduled podcast, we received an dispatch from Hong Kong written by one Janric. We already knew that there were somewhere in the neighborhood of 400,000 unlocked iPhones in China alone, and Janric confirmed that you can’t walk down a Hong Kong alley without tripping over somebody that has one:

I just want to comment out on the news about the 400K iPhones that are loose in china. I’m based in Hong Kong and it’s no secret that you can buy the iphone here almost anywhere. The iPhone is such a hit here that I can almost see 1 iPhone per day (excluding mine ofcourse). In my office alone, there are about 5 unlocked iPhones in use.

Don’t believe it? Check out these photos that Janric snapped in an area of Causeway Bay – just a random two block stroll:

We’ve heard firsthand reports that it’s pretty much the same situation on the opposite side of the planet (Sweden) as well. So basically it’s as easy to get an unlocked iPhone in areas Apple hasn’t made official yet as it is to get a locked-up one in the official zones. If Apple wants to get their preferred revenue sharing going in these places, they need to step up the pace of worldwide releases.

Thanks, Janric!