I am a Chinese college student living in Canton,China, using a 2G iPhone bought at ebay. A few of my friends love all the apple's stuff, and they all bought iphone during 2007~2008. So I don't think the the China Unicom's iPhone will be hot in the Chinese Market. Because the core users who really love iPhone have bought it at ebay, or Taobao (A chinese ebay-like website)....and i think nobody like the iphone without WIFI.
PS: The Chinese goverment thinks the WIFI standard is not secure at all,and is easily hacked into. so they brought out a "Chinese standard WIFI" called WAPI, and set up a rule that cell phones with Wifi are not allowed to sell in China. However, many Chinese bought the US version cellphones, and you can find the WIFI hot spots everywhere in some big cities. In a word, the Chinese WAPI standard is nothing but shit.
WAPI died before it was born. It came out at the same time as the original Centrino from Intel was shipping and Intel just said they would not sell all Centrino products in China - as well as other complaints. And WAPI died as quick as it came - just like Green Dam.
Many people WILL get an iPhone this way as they can get it free or subsidised on contract. An iPhone now costs about 150% of the US price with the black market surcharge. There is a risk of breaking and no after sales support or help. For a MAJOR investment for some people, to be able to get it with warranty, repairs and aftersales support, as well as subsidised is a good deal.
My mobile bill is about 1,300 RMB per month. The largest contract on offer is 500 RMB per month and that entitles one to a 1K USD phone for FREE. I would expect people that sign up for the 500RMB plans to get a free basic iPhone and people with lower plans (2-300 RMB) would be happy to pay the 1000 RMB out of pocket.
Not to mention too - that many of the phone companies do deals with banks where people can pay a certain amount now for the phone and then GET THE MONEY back in 1 year at the end of the contract. I do this all the time. I get the phone that requires the up front 1000 RMB extra payment - pay it into the special bank account and then at the end of a year and I go and get it back.
Not sure why they do this - maybe a way to raise liquidity between bank and telco.
And @Richard Ford- Nope, the largest contract available is 1686RMB (top-tier Unicom 3G plan). And how much do you TALK to get a bill that high? Are you on the phone 24/7 or something?
You might want to think about going with China Telecom instead then. They have an "international pack" which gets you 120 minutes to North America and parts of Europe for less than 50RMB, I think. But you'd have to switch phones since they're CDMA.
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I am a Chinese college student living in Canton,China, using a 2G iPhone bought at ebay. A few of my friends love all the apple's stuff, and they all bought iphone during 2007~2008. So I don't think the the China Unicom's iPhone will be hot in the Chinese Market. Because the core users who really love iPhone have bought it at ebay, or Taobao (A chinese ebay-like website)....and i think nobody like the iphone without WIFI.
PS: The Chinese goverment thinks the WIFI standard is not secure at all,and is easily hacked into. so they brought out a "Chinese standard WIFI" called WAPI, and set up a rule that cell phones with Wifi are not allowed to sell in China. However, many Chinese bought the US version cellphones, and you can find the WIFI hot spots everywhere in some big cities. In a word, the Chinese WAPI standard is nothing but shit.
WAPI died before it was born. It came out at the same time as the original Centrino from Intel was shipping and Intel just said they would not sell all Centrino products in China - as well as other complaints. And WAPI died as quick as it came - just like Green Dam.
Many people WILL get an iPhone this way as they can get it free or subsidised on contract. An iPhone now costs about 150% of the US price with the black market surcharge. There is a risk of breaking and no after sales support or help. For a MAJOR investment for some people, to be able to get it with warranty, repairs and aftersales support, as well as subsidised is a good deal.
My mobile bill is about 1,300 RMB per month. The largest contract on offer is 500 RMB per month and that entitles one to a 1K USD phone for FREE. I would expect people that sign up for the 500RMB plans to get a free basic iPhone and people with lower plans (2-300 RMB) would be happy to pay the 1000 RMB out of pocket.
Not to mention too - that many of the phone companies do deals with banks where people can pay a certain amount now for the phone and then GET THE MONEY back in 1 year at the end of the contract. I do this all the time. I get the phone that requires the up front 1000 RMB extra payment - pay it into the special bank account and then at the end of a year and I go and get it back.
Not sure why they do this - maybe a way to raise liquidity between bank and telco.
Point is - they will fly off the shelves.
No, they just can't sell WiFi-enabled phones without WAPI too. See the Motorola A3100.
And @Richard Ford- Nope, the largest contract available is 1686RMB (top-tier Unicom 3G plan). And how much do you TALK to get a bill that high? Are you on the phone 24/7 or something?
Ah I only know the CMCC ones..... yup lots of calls and international....price of business is sore tonsils.
You're a shill. That is not the reason why China demanded their own addition to WiFi devices sold in China.
Did you really get all the way to college without figuring out the way the world works?
You might want to think about going with China Telecom instead then. They have an "international pack" which gets you 120 minutes to North America and parts of Europe for less than 50RMB, I think. But you'd have to switch phones since they're CDMA.