Sinobytes

iPhone for China priced; October 30 launch, Wi-Fi ripped out

Oct 16, 2009 22:52

China's second-largest mobile telco, China Unicom, began taking orders for the first official release of Apple's iPhone in China on October 1. But only this week do we know that October 30 will be the official launch date, when Chinese consumers can get their hands on this once forbidden fruit that previously had to be bought as a gray import from Hong Kong.

Indeed, there are believed to be 1 million iPhones in use in China already, all of which are gray imports, bought as unlocked phones outside Mainland China, and now running on either of the country's two mobile telcos.

The official China Unicom iPhones face this challenge, then, of entering a market where a lot of the target middle- to higher-income consumers already have the device. Nonetheless, China Unicom is saying it aims to sell 1 million--yes, that same number again--of its offical iPhones in the first year.

So, the iPhones have been priced, and its plan rates outlined in full (see table below): 



First bit of bad news: It's pricey. Gadgets tend to be cheapest in the US, or in VAT-free Hong Kong, but I wasn't expecting China Unicom to slap such a huge tag on its iPhones. 5,999 to 7,999 yuan is US$880 to US$1,180 at today's rate; and that's for a device with a contract, not unlocked pay-as-you-go. In fact, China Unicom's prices are pretty much the same as getting one unlocked from Hong Kong. Signing up for a 3G data plan with a telco is supposed to bring short-term benefits--see the 16GB iPhone 3GS on AT&T in the US for just US$199 with a two-year contract--but it seems no one has told China Unicom about this.

Practically all phones in China are unlocked and pay-as-you-go; and 3G was only launched in China this year, so it's new territory for a lot of people, and there's the possibility of this sea change being rebuffed by consumers.

Second bit of bad news: No Wi-Fi on any of the official iPhones in China. Yes, Wi-Fi has been completely ripped out. Since it has been removed at the hardware level, there's no chance of some crafty hacker re-enabling it. This tear-down, with photos, on Chinese site IT168.com proves it.

China has a home-brewed wireless standard dubbed WAPI, so it's possible this alternative standard is getting a leg up from Chinese regulators by forcing compliance among hardware manufacturers. So WAPI-Wi-Fi could appear on a future iteration of China Unicom's iPhones; likely in early- to mid-2010.

Look out for a full review of China Unicom's iPhone, including Unicom's "Wo" portal, after October 30 to see how Apple's precious baby has been modified and localized for the difficult Chinese market (i.e. difficult Chinese regualtory system).

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