G1s said to be "pouring into China," selling for big bucks

Google may still only be the number two search engine in China, but it looks like it's starting to make some serious inroads into the sketchy cellphone market in the country, with the Android-based G1 reportedly now "pouring into China" though some dubious channels, and demanding some pretty hefty prices. According to China's DoNews, the handsets are selling for upwards of 3,999 Chinese yuan (or just over $580), with shops charging an extra $70 or so to unlock it for you. That, some unnamed sellers say, is likely to keep the cost of the phone high in the short term, despite a reasonably high supply level.

[Via mocoNews.net]

[Kiwi616 @ Oct 27th 2008 5:17PM]

Let the hacking commence!

[d00b @ Oct 28th 2008 2:02AM]

Considering the secret sauce (the Android OS) is free and open, I doubt any hacking will be necessary, as competing unlocked handsets will be out early next year. With the OS being available to anybody, the hardware becomes a commodity and handset pricing will drop like a rock. The only people who will be happy are the carriers with their data plans. iPhone fans should be the happiest of all, as this will force Apple to compete on price.

[Jash Sayani @ Oct 27th 2008 5:18PM]

Unlocking method is revealed now. Just 5 simple steps... So the $70 can be saved....
Unlocking: digg.com/gadgets/T_Mobile_G1_gets_Unlocked

[Andy @ Oct 27th 2008 11:36PM]

thats not an unlock you tool shed, that just allows you to use the phone without the g1 data package.

[ILoveApple @ Oct 27th 2008 5:18PM]

More betterer, Its a Necessity
Imagine If This Phone was Endorsed By Celebrities
HipHops Stars would face a conundrum
Cause there’d be more than 1G who wants the G1

[DirtyVegas @ Oct 27th 2008 5:27PM]

Maybe HTC can auction off a special edition OG - with bling and all.

[StalematE @ Oct 27th 2008 5:51PM]

yeah and a huge clock.

[StalematE @ Oct 27th 2008 5:53PM]

and yes, I mean CLOCK.

[holycow @ Oct 27th 2008 6:04PM]

@ StalematE
just cause of your correction to CAPS, i thought you wrote something else the first time!

[holycow @ Oct 27th 2008 6:06PM]

crap nevermind... i Fail basically.

[qrius @ Oct 27th 2008 6:08PM]

are you some aspiring rapper?

[wootman @ Oct 27th 2008 6:14PM]

Its from the android rap which can be found on youtube.

[rento @ Oct 27th 2008 5:26PM]

You fail

[Tom G @ Oct 27th 2008 5:27PM]

Ha, that's interesting it's usually the other way around.
The Chinese phone market is quite strange, iPhones aren't technically allowed to be sold in China, wonder if these are?

[iEye @ Oct 27th 2008 5:33PM]

No WIFI is allowed on phones sold in China...

[StalematE @ Oct 27th 2008 5:32PM]

nope, Taiwan

[lolcat @ Oct 27th 2008 5:41PM]

Same difference really...China, Taiwan, China, they're all chinese after all

[iEye @ Oct 27th 2008 5:41PM]

What a competely tasteless attempt at comedy, you must be a writer for "Family Guy"

[StalematE @ Oct 27th 2008 5:42PM]

or Taiwanese

[Andy @ Oct 28th 2008 2:22AM]

Did you mention that you can't buy a wi-fi phone in Taiwan?

[Jon @ Oct 28th 2008 5:03PM]

@ Andy

You mean, the "law" in China prohibits the sale of wi-fi phones.

And besides, there's tonnes of wi-fi phones in Taiwan and China already. I don't seem to see that law in mainland China being effective. The officials probably have phones with wi-fi too.

[scoob @ Oct 27th 2008 5:49PM]

Shame the G1 looks like something circa 1999. Awful, just awful.

Jesus phone > all

[mercurysunblast @ Oct 27th 2008 6:03PM]

Ugh, give over already...it's not THAT bad!...jeez.

[wootman @ Oct 27th 2008 6:15PM]

Like the newton?

[iEye @ Oct 27th 2008 7:36PM]

The newton was revolutionary for its time, unfortunately people were not ready for its awesomeness

... just like the iPhone, people cannot believe they can actually own something so wonderful, so they shy away...

[TareX @ Oct 27th 2008 5:56PM]

Pub-lican comment

[Alex @ Oct 27th 2008 5:57PM]

G1 people check out g1tricks.com

[phanbouy @ Oct 27th 2008 6:11PM]

G1's turning tricks now? I knew the launch was a letdown but...

[iEye @ Oct 27th 2008 7:38PM]

A slide-out keyboard is not a trick....

[thesaneguy @ Oct 27th 2008 6:06PM]

"..into the sketchy cellphone market in the country..""

You mean like a contract free, pre-paid dominating market that allows tethering, cheaper rates and unlocked phones?

[Vander @ Oct 27th 2008 6:09PM]

Regular chinese's opinion...(guess so):

Dude,
What's up?
The G1 is now on china...
For Real?
Sweet dude, now I can feel the Android experience on a cellphone for just $580...cof mmmmmmmm.....

Yeah, i'll just wait the clone
Yeah, me too

[bangladeshiluv @ Oct 27th 2008 6:11PM]

*lol*

[happy_penguin @ Oct 27th 2008 6:14PM]

I wonder how many readers you've offended with that comment. That was incredibly lame.

[Paul @ Oct 27th 2008 6:19PM]

I'm Asian, and I'm offended by the lack of comedy not the racism.

[Valicore @ Oct 27th 2008 6:21PM]

If you're gonna make a racial joke, at least make it worth it, i.e. funny.

http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/103431 start at 0:24 lol

[Smith @ Oct 27th 2008 6:24PM]

I'll buy one just as soon as the price is fair($~$200). List a million of them on ebay already.

[grull27 @ Oct 27th 2008 6:48PM]

If Google is their 2nd most used search engine, what is there first?!

[Larry @ Oct 27th 2008 7:45PM]

Dude, how much effort does it take to type "search engine china" into Google? I got the answer in about five seconds... it's baidu.com.

[grull27 @ Oct 27th 2008 8:02PM]

You used Google (China's 2nd most used search engine) to find their 1st most used.

I lol'd. :D

[Tony @ Oct 28th 2008 12:14AM]

How can you use 'their' properly the first and third times, but not the second? Are you just guessing?

[Blazeitup123 @ Oct 27th 2008 6:55PM]

wow, this will be the next Keepin' in Real Fake in less then a month.

[Blazeitup123 @ Oct 27th 2008 6:56PM]

it :p

[Paul @ Oct 27th 2008 6:57PM]

You must really have no sense of humor if you're getting a kick out of those jokes.

[happy_penguin @ Oct 27th 2008 8:18PM]

I sometimes work with an Asian named Paul. :D

[Discosis @ Oct 27th 2008 8:49PM]

I'll confirm the story (as if it needs confirming).

I'm in Hong Kong at the moment, and saw a G1 on display in a store window in Sincere Podium (large mall full of cellphone stores) on Saturday.

Every handset in the building has a price on it, except the iPhone 3G and the G1 (and I didn't stop to ask).

[Peter @ Oct 27th 2008 9:38PM]

Well done. The over the top blatant racism made that hilarious

[CP @ Oct 28th 2008 12:55AM]

well, most of Taiwanese are ethnic chinese, but taiwan is totally different from China.

Taiwan is developed 1st world while China is not. Taiwan has a democratic government. The only reason its not recognized as a country is because of the political pressure from China.

acer, asus, htc, msi...all taiwanese brands.

[Reader @ Oct 28th 2008 1:20AM]

The Republic of China and the People's Republic of China.

[yellowfever @ Oct 28th 2008 4:23AM]

I would hardly call Taiwan 1st world - Taipei and Taizhung maybe but all the rest is 2nd world at best. Really quite poor as soon as you leave the cities and salaries are also not very high. Beautiful country though

[CP @ Oct 28th 2008 10:52AM]

you might not agree with me but its the fact...taiwan is indeed 1st world developed "region" in the world. :) While the suburb in Taiwan might be poor but alot of 1st world countries also have poor regions. One of the economic miracles in Taiwan is that you rarely see homeless ppl on the street (as least not as many as in New York where I currently live).

Im just trying to differentiate Taiwan from China. Im tired of ppl assuming "chinese" are all from China.

Also, Singapore is a developed country w/ largely ethnic Chinese.