Filed under: Apple Corporate, iPhone
Apple, China Unicom strike 3-year deal
It looks like Daily Finance guessed correctly. Early on Friday, Apple and China Unicom Ltd (CHU) announced a 3-year partnership to officially bring the iPhone to China. CHU will buy the handsets from Apple on a wholesale basis and will not participate in revenue sharing. CHU is the 2nd largest carrier in China, while China Mobile is first with 498 million users. In fact, China Mobile is the largest carrier in the world and China is the largest market. CHU hopes to get a competitive boost with the iPhone.As we noted in July, the iPhone will be sold with Wi-Fi disabled in China, in accordance with Chinese regulations (the so-called "Great Firewall of China).
If you're in China or plan to travel there, let us know if and when you begin seeing iPhones for sale.
[Via AppleInsider]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Chris L said 1:07PM on 8-28-2009
If you jailbreak & turn on wi-fi, will you end up in prison?
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Ian said 1:13PM on 8-28-2009
Did anyone else read that as "Apple and Chinese Unico r n " strike a deal?
Cause that I'd like to see.
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Corgy said 3:57PM on 8-28-2009
Yes!
Matthew said 1:13PM on 8-28-2009
Wasn't there some sort of OS upgrade today? Don't you have writers in any other time zone besides Pacific?
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Greg said 1:44PM on 8-28-2009
I only read this article, because when I saw the headline, I thought it said "Apple, Charlie the unicorn strike 3-year deal" Imagine my disappointment :(
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Jason Hung said 2:13PM on 8-28-2009
I feel like a broken tape recorder saying this, but if you're a Chinese citizen, take the subway to Hong Kong, get your legal iPhone 3GS with no carrier lock, no shafting by carriers, no contracts, and Wi-Fi enabled phone. If you're Chinese, chances
http://store.apple.com/hk
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gib said 1:39AM on 8-29-2009
... yeah, because all 1.3 billion people in China are within a subway ride to Hong Kong. There's 7 million in the HK area, so that store serves .5% of the country's population.
Munford said 4:03PM on 8-28-2009
The regulation of no wifi on phone has nothing to do with the great firewall. It only serves wireless operators interest to generate more revenue on their data service.
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Tom said 4:25PM on 8-28-2009
That's very true Munford
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Jon said 8:40AM on 8-29-2009
The question is if you have a 3GS bought in HK, will you be able to sign up for the service without having to buy a new phone?
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alxndr said 1:07PM on 8-29-2009
The photo you chose to run is of Mao's portrait on Tiananmen? Really?
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John said 11:35PM on 8-30-2009
I think the Unicom stores in china may already be getting shipments of Iphones in. We were at the E-mart in Tianjin on Sunday. The empty space across the path from the Unicom store had several trucks unloading pallets. The area around the store was taped off and was surrounded by at least 20-25 police. When asked, the police just said they were preparing for some event. But there is no event coming up in that area.
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