Chinese iPhone doing better than anticipated

China Unicom has sold over 100,000 iPhones since it first launched the device on October 30th, the carrier now says. While sales have been slower than in some neighbouring countries, namely South Korea, the new figure suggests that sales have not been as poor as has generally been assumed. Just 5,000 iPhones were sold on launch weekend, and an official auction site sold less than a handful in a space of two weeks.

In the UK, Tesco Mobile has meanwhile revealed that it will begin selling the iPhone on Monday, December 14th. Among options from the company is a one-year, £20 per month contract, with a year of unlimited data, including access to BT Openzone Wi-Fi. The monthly fee nets £60 of credit on texts and voice, at a rate of 10p per text and 20p per minute of voice. An 8GB iPhone 3G under this plan costs £222, while stepping up to a 3GS costs £320.

Subscribers can alternately choose a Triple Credit Pay As You Go plan, under which an iPhone 3G costs £342, and a 16GB 3GS is priced at £440. As with the contract option, buyers get 12 months of unlimited data. The Triple Credit component stems from bonuses, which will for instance give £30 of extra credit for a £15 top-up.

by MacNN Staff