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Update: Apple and China Unicom – Significant progress made, but reports of a signed agreement are premature

Mar 25th, 2009 by Dan Butterfield

 

iphone-china-unicom-11apple_unicom2China Unicom to launch iPhone on May 17?

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Update: Sina.com is quoting a China Unicom official who states that while significant progress has been made, an agreement between Apple and China Unicom to release iPhone in China has yet to be formally concluded. Sina.com states that today’s press reports of a “finalized deal” contain factual errors. The Sina.com post can be found > HERE with a Google translation > HERE

As KenC points out via a MacDailyNews comment (see Ken’s comments below), the Shanghai Unicom spokesperson’s statements may have been taken out of context.  
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iPhonAsia comment: A China Unicom official, associated with the Shanghai Unicom subsidiary, announced today (spokesperson’s comments were apparently taken out of context) that China Unicom will offer iPhone on May 17 … the same day China Unicom will begin a trail launch of their new WCDMA 3G network in 55 major cities. While this news may be true, it may be preliminary, as China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has to give a formal approval to iPhone in PRC and that has not been made official yet (it could have been granted but there have been no press reports). 
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NOTE: iPhonAsia is looking for the official PR … It is not yet on the China Unicom website. JLM Pacific Epoch has a report > HERE. The parent company has not offered any comment.(the parent company is correcting the record – statements were taken out of context). iPhonAsia will keep the question mark on this post until we get the official word from Apple and/or China Unicom executive management in Beijing.
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picture-62SHANGHAI, Mar. 25, 2009 (Xinhua News Agency) — China Unicom (OOTC:CHUFF) (0762.HK; 600050.SH; CHU.NYSE) confirmed Wednesday that it would start to sell Apple’s iPhone in China on May 17.

China Unicom will see both chances and challenges if introducing iPhone to China, according to Gui Kai, an analyst from Guosen Securities.

By introducing iPhone, it will attract more clients, expand its market share and improve its business performance in a short term. However, it might also have to give away large revenue share.

Wan Jinjin, an analyst from UBS (NYSE:UBS) Securities, said earlier in a report that China Unicom might have to shoulder a heavy burden, since iPhone is likely to be highly subsidized. Besides, it could limit the business expansion by setting a threshold of average revenue per user (ARPU) for its iPhone users.

According to Yi Difei, a China Unicom official in charge of news release, the company will start trial operation of commercial 3G business in 55 cities across the country on the same day. The concrete time for official operation depends on results of the trial operation.

Users need not to worry about shortage of terminals, since there are plenty of WCDMA phones on the market at present.

An insider from China Unicom said that all the WCDMA phones sold in China have been tested before and are qualified to be used for 3G services.

Source: Xinhua News Agency (March 25, 2009 – 7:50 AM EDT) 

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Posted in Apple, China Unicom, iPhone in China

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