While the iPhone got
an official announce for China last month, its retail pricing and delivery date have remained a mystery. That's going to change later today when China Unicom is expected to announce an October 1st launch for Cupertino's darling. Eight service packages ranging in price from 126 yuan (about $18) to 886 yuan (about $130) per month will be available to Unicom's 141 million subscribers from a pool of 700 million cellphone toting Chinese. How much will it cost? 5,000 yuan or a steep $733 green retail. Subsidies of about 893 yuan (about $131) to 4,253 yuan (about $623) will be offered for those signing to long-term plans on Unicom's fledgling 3G network. Looks like somebody's standard of living is on the rise.
posted Sep 28th 2009 3:35AM
If it's anything like the market in India, this will be a bust there too.
Are you implying that selling social elitism for 1/3 of one's annual income won't ACTUALLY work, even for a few of the 141M subscribers?
Haha, maybe they should sell more WinMo phones there, ey?
Lucky for Apple then that China has a much more robust consumer market than India.
For one thing the Chinese have a larger automotive market than even the US now, let alone India. The Chinese are pretty big consumers now. I don't think it'll do as well in terms of percentage of the population as it has in the US of course, but with so many people I suspect that it'll still sell a fair number of phones.
One thing that's probably going to hold it back is just how painful it probably is to try and type in Chinese on the iPhone.
iPhones have been in China (unlocked) for about 2 years now. They're everywhere.
Sorry to disappoint.
Just like they've been in Russia way before 3G was officially released last year. Seen alot of them there myself.
And yes, there are no bears in Russia. :(
Middle class is building up... Look at the numbers, hehe.
P.S. I don't like the battery life.
Wishful thinking MS fanboy! iPhone has left WinMo in the dust!
No one, not even MS can stop the iPhone Cyclone now.
The velocity just picking up! HAHAHA!
China is not India so there is less chance of the iPhone being a failure. There are millions of people in large cities that can afford iPhones in China. Whether they want them is another story all together. China Unicom wouldn't have made such a committment if it didn't do any market research. I'm sure they found there must be some demand. In six months we'll know for sure.
@the4thheat
iPhone already has official phonetic inputs and hang writing recognition for both traditional chinese and simplified chinese. If that's not enough, there are a lot of other IME one can installed in a jailbroken iPhone. So, typing chinese will be as hard as typing english, really.
To me it looks like somebody is trying to rip someone off!
The last stronghold of world without iPhones falls.
But well uh... Now that we've got HTC Leo... who cares about iPhone?
An OMGWTF* amount of people care.
* just an estimate
By the way, Oct. 1st is the 60th anniversary of Communist China. Yes. An excuse to go absolutely crazy in China.
Steve Jobs, what have you done. Mao must be spinning in his grave at 9000 RPM.
Yes, "with your new iPhone you can access only our communist party propaganda for the next week!"
I just got back to States from China, the standard of living is definitely raising at an amazing rate over there. More Mercedes and BMW on the streets than in the States...
People spend way more than $5000 yuan to buy cell phones, and it's nothing... A bottle of knock off vodka or scotch would easily run well over $150 at normal clubs. and people ordering them like crazy.
The gap between the rich and the poor is getting bigger also though...
$5000 yuan? it's pretty confusing.
Many people don't see the new china, i didn't really think of china much before until i came back here a year ago, things are really going. The iPhone is gonna sell like mad. In Shanghai right now you can go onto the streets and you can see iPhones almost everyday. The iPhones unlocked right now are pretty expensive too at around 7000 RMB. If u see the younger 20,30 year old people they are crazy about little gadgets. The phone is probably gonna SELL and might even get very close to the sales in the US. The Nokia N97 when realeased sold out in 2 weeks and that phone at the time was around 8000 RMB. I do have some doubts about the network though, its pretty new and many need some more time to get to some of the other smaller cities but i think at the rate that china can build things now it should take around a few months.
I so agree with Li ,same i was living in china for a few years ,when i came back,i was in shock ,how simliar and the truth be told how many living standards we don't in fact have compared to them,yes give it a few years or now depending on what your living standards are everyone wants different things from living standards (if you poor ,normal Not high Yet) but i love my birth country,but truth is we are turning into (for lack of a better word) we will be a second world country,asia (some of em) will be first world countries,africa,etc( the rest of em) will continue to be the third world.
Lol.
Pls be aware the model launching in China is the 2G model and with Wi-Fi removed. Apparently Chinese govt wants to ban all Wi-Fi capable phones...
Rumors indicate there is another model of the iPhone to follow using the Chinese standard of WAPI. Supposedly they are now being tested in China. If the present WiFi-less version sells in quantity, the WAPI version will go into production.
WAPI is the wireless standard developed by the Chinese govt. Just another step towards State-controlled information flow.
Also a correction: the Chinese iPhone is the 3G model (but not the 3GS). Although most of China is still covered by 2G network only.
WAPI is not another wireless standard, it's just another encryption protocol similar to WEP and WPA we use today, the wireless standard is still 802.11a/b/g/n.
Why didn't Apple just start selling unlocked iPhones in China 2+ years ago? By haggling with China Mobile and Unicom for literally years they lost a lot of time. There was no need to go through these carriers for handset distribution; that's simply not how it's done in China.
I wonder how long it will take for whatever share of Unicom's iPhone subscription revenue Apple gets to make up for the lost iPhone handset sales while Apple struggled to export the repugnant US/ATT model to China. And notice Apple finally ended up with number 2, not the gargantuan China Mobile.
To me it's just a shame to see the US/ATT model being exported to China . . . not the phone, but the model of slaving devices to carriers. One of the delights of Asia is that you buy your phone, then your network access (and change either as you wish). It's one of the reasons device uptake is stronger in China (it's common in HK for people to have multiple phones), and it makes travel across countries so much easier. The greed of carriers who want to lock consumers into long term deals (and device makers who want part of that carrier revenue stream) is causing the anti-competitive, anti-innovation US wireless telecom model to be exported.
Hope phone freedom continues to be at least one area where China outshines the US.
All mobile companies in Chain are State owned, so not much difference there....
And the delay was mainly due to the unwillingness of Apple to remove Wi-Fi.
There will be no revenue sharing with Apple, no Apple-controlled app store and itunes, that kinda explains why the initial cost is so high.
China/Apple Perfect Together!
Now Chinese folks can live behind the same walled garden they were only allowed to build before!
Plans starting at 126 rmb a month ($18). Wow Piss off ATT, we need china unicom to be allowed to operate in the states.
We have the cheapest plans in the world in the US when you look at the cost of minutes.
This $18 plan is probably 0 minutes and 150 texts.
Wow, you need to travel more :)
The US has some of the highest rates & most restrictive policies for cell phones.
2 year contracts ( i just wanna make a few calls, not marry the phone company - that's a long time)
locked phones (these policies make cell phones disposable - what wrong with competition)
about as many network standards as thier are phone companies (settle on 1, make manufacturing a lot cheaper, help the consumer)
as for the chinese unicom iphone plan $18 will get you. 330 minutes, 120 sms,15 mms & 450mb data, the other package go up from there (not too shabby)
I was in China this past Febuary got a new sim card & plenty of minutes for $10, friend loaned me an old Nokia since only staying a few weeks.
Why is pip-boy on the flag? I'm so confused.
That's not pip-boy, you silly, that's Steve Jobs in his younger years
it's Vault Boy, not Pip Boy... noob
Does this mean no more KIRF iPhones?
Now with that fresh minty fresh Communist smell!! When you power on the device does it play China's national anthem and does it come preloaded with The Little Red Book?
Nope. You may return to your CIA controlled propoganda now.
When it comes to controlling propaganda, the CIA can't carry the China Communist Party's jock.
Does the iPhone come preloaded with Green Dam-Youth Escort, too?
No, but it comes damn close:
http://lambdajive.wordpress.com/2009/09/26/isinglepayer-iphone-app-censored-by-apple/
no wifi.. i can hardly image apple's iphone work without wifi...what's worse is the 3G service in china is just at the beginning now
Are they gonna have the full App Store? Without it, It's just not worth it.
I'm sure our eastern counterparts will be excited, good for them. Oh wait...now their going to unlock time 1000? Their good like that..
You say batman I saw Vawncast the world changes..
I don't understand the pricing here. I know you can get a 3G for around 5000 RMB and a 3GS for 6000 RMB; and these are unlocked… so what's the incentive to buy one under contract and be subjected to those fees?
And the App Store… unless Apple decides to release an iTunes store for China, I don't see it working out very well.
Obviously someone doesn't have a life ^ to know what that was. I tip my hat off to you, dear sir.
Misleading picture, I thought it would be Fallout: China
Lol