RSSConfirmed: China Unicom in three-year deal for iPhone 3G
By Scott M. Fulton, III | Published August 28, 2009, 10:06 AM
In its quarterly report to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange yesterday, the Chinese telephone carrier China Unicom announced it had reached a three-year deal with Apple to sell an iPhone model in China. This in a section of the report dedicated to 3G technology progress, so although the precise iPhone model was not stated, we can assume Unicom will be getting a 3G-capable unit.
The timeframe for the launch will be calendar Q4 this year, in keeping with a new 3G marketing campaign that Unicom is simply calling "WO" (as in "whoa!"). "'WO' carries the Company's brand-new service philosophy and reflects the Company's corporate image of 'being innovative,'" reads the report, quotation marks included. "With the continued improvement of the Company's network quality, the further upgrade of the service standard and the official launch of 3G services, 'WO' will offer a brand new experience for users."
Unicom received an official license from the state to deliver WCDMA service to China last January 7. That's an accomplishment, because there actually is something of a competitive market in China for mobile services, although the state often holds the upper hand in determining the market leader for any given segment. China Mobile is actually the largest mobile carrier in China; since March of last year, China Mobile leaked news it was negotiating with Apple for the iPhone 3G. Those negotiations dragged on through September with no deal.
Although China Mobile had repeatedly denied reports that talks had broken off, even when there was no sign of Apple representatives, state-run business media last February finally squelched Mobile's hopes for good, announcing talks with #2 carrier Unicom were on.
Unicom's 3G rollout has been extremely fast, beginning only three months ago with trial service to 56 cities. Today, it's providing some service on a trial basis to 268 cities throughout the country, with its goal being to service 335 cities by the time sale of the iPhone 3G begins.
I live in China, I'm an American, and a mobile software developer. Here is some actual information to help other readers understand:
iPhone clones in China are 100% cheaply made Windows Mobile phones running an iPhone looking main menu. They don't constitute iPhones to any Chinese people, who seem to readily know the difference.
China has 3 cellular networks: Mobile (GSM-Edge/TD-SCDMA), Unicom (GSM/WCDMA), and Telecom (CDMA/CMDA2000).
Real iPhones are readily available and used in China, despite not being officially sold by any carriers. "Shui huo" or "overseas models," while not officially allowed, are very common.
The above is possible because, unlike the US and European markets, users do not usually purchase their phones from carriers. Most of the market buys their phones from a 3rd party retailer and simply installs a SIM card from their carrier. Users can readily hop between the two GSM-based carriers.
No locked phones are sold in China, as it's considered an anti-competitive and anti-consumer practice.
Chinese carriers do not normally use contracts with their customers. It's all prepay. Some usage plans bundle minutes and data, some do not. WCMDA from Unicom currently costs ~$25 USD/mon with 500 minutes and 60mb. 500mb is an additional $6-7 USD.
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|This is weird, people in China probably have enough clone iPhones running around already....
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|Why does this surprise anyone? Apple has had a long history of being in China specifically in the manufacturing end. This is a logical extension of that. Is it good or bad? That is an individual decision.
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|Interesting. AFAIK there is only one global iPhone model line with GSM support yet. Those guys don't have a GSM network, right?
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|Kind of thought they might already be in China. Apple seems to have the same ideas as China's government. Censorship (China:Internet, Apple:App Store). China tells the people who the "best" people to lead the Government will be and Apple tells the iPhone users what apps are "best" for them. My 2 cents.
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|Full Discloser, I am counting down the days until I can upgrade to an iPhone but am hopping for more openness in the app store. i.e. Google Voice!
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