Chinese iPhone coming in within months [u]
updated 04:10 pm EDT, Fri July 10, 2009
Chinese iPhone in months?
(Updated with Wi-Fi info) A Chinese iPhone is due by the end of the year, and possibly sooner, according to Wedge Partners. The research firm says it has performed a series of checks, which reveal that China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has received an iPhone for testing. Apple should thus be in position to receive a network license in 2009, possibly within three to four months.
The major complication remains the lack of a carrier deal, though the prospect of a license may spur faster negotiations, analysts at Wedge suggest. No added progress is said to have been made in talks with China Unicom, generally considered to be the leading candidate for hosting iPhones in the region; the company is the only one with an iPhone-compatible 3G network, and it is thought to be more willing to submit to Apple demands. Other reports have claimed that China Mobile is persisting in negotiations, wielding the benefit of having more than three times Unicom's subscriber base.
Update: Wedge analyst Matt Mathison adds that the phone received by the MIIT appears to lack Wi-Fi reception. The Chinese government has traditionally objected to Wi-Fi on cellphones, as much over potential revenue loss to VoIP as the desire for a surveillance state. The country recently, however, began allowing Wi-Fi on phones with the proprietary WAPI standard, which could in theory be supported by an iPhone. Apple may have been forced to remove Wi-Fi due to strict restrictions on who can carry WAPI.
too bad
07/10, 05:09pm reply
The Chinese people won't be able to see their screens through all that smog...
LouZer
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Joined: Nov 2000
ToLouZer
07/10, 05:50pm reply
To LouZer:
If "Chinese people won't be able to see their screens through all that smog" I supposed they can't see their hands, faces, feet, or anyone else. Right? Well, they might as well be living in h*** then, right?
What is your comment supposed to mean?
thibaulthalpern
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Joined: Feb 2008
The picture
07/10, 06:00pm reply
He was commenting on the picture accompanying the article (although to me, it looked more like fog than smog).
vasic
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Joined: May 2005
Joke?
07/10, 08:00pm reply
I know that this is an article about China and maybe you are just being ironic, but the person that wrote this needs a long refresher course in English. The title and at least three of the sentences don't make any sense at all, and the semi-colon used as a period is just insane. Are you just pulling our legs or do you really write like that?
Gazoobee
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Joined: Feb 2009
There already is a ....
07/11, 06:30am reply
Chinese iPhone ---- ALL iPhones are Chinese since that's where they are made!
HA!
msuper69
Mac Elite
Joined: Jan 2000
China is going through
07/11, 10:05am reply
an industrial age just like the U.S. had back in the mid-1900s until all the steel mills and manufacturing plants started closing down. There were many places such as Pennsylvania and Michigan that looked just like those places you see in China with all the smog and carbon granules from the manufacturer's mills and plants. I'll give them about 20 more years before they quit pumping that c*** into the air.
Anyway, come on.... ChinaPhone. Bring some revenue to papa.
Constable Odo
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Joined: Aug 2007
Go to Wal-Mart...
07/12, 03:56am reply
buy your cheap c*** and complain about the Chinese pollution. It has to come from somewhere doesn't it? Constable Odo is right. When we did the manufacturing the pollution is here, now we export it and import the stuff (from iPhones to worthless gewgaws).
As for the pic, that accompanies all the China news on MacNN. What the h*** is it? Looks like a snap from some post-apocalyptic Mad Max flick.
thebiggfrogg
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Joined: Jul 2007
Headline... 1 IN 2 many
07/12, 11:05am reply
"Chinese iPhone coming in within months, say analysts"
Coming within months
chotty
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Joined: Jan 2003