China Unicom Ready To Sell iPhone in October

Posted 09 29 2009 11:35PM

China Unicom will sell the iPhone in China beginning next month, the company confirmed Monday. The deal between Apple and China Unicom was officially made public in August after news leaked that employees were being trained on the iPhone.

The first leak came when a company insider from subsidiary Guangdong Unicom said it had reached an agreement with Apple to purchase five million iPhones worth approximately $1.5 million. Then last month China Unicom confirmed the rumors with an earnings announcement that it had inked a deal to buy iPhones wholesale.

Although it came clean about the deal, China Unicom left out some significant details, including the price and the launch date. Now the Hong Kong-based company has confirmed it will sell the iPhone for 5,000 yuan (US$732), through a three-year service deal with Apple beginning Oct. 1, according to The Wall Street Journal. The company will offer a choice of eight service packages.

Apple Stores in China

The iPhones will be sold at Apple retail stores in China as well as through China Unicom, which will be the exclusive carrier for now.

One major question that remains unanswered is how much iPhone the 5,000 yuan will buy, since no official details have been released on whether the company will sell an 8GB, 16GB or 32GB version of the iPhone or all versions.

The iPhones were purchased from Apple for $292 each, Yu Zhaonan, manager of Guangdong's consumer department, told China Business News. At that time, the newspaper said a 16GB iPhone would sell for $702 and an 8GB $351, both more than Apple charges for the iPhones in the U.S.

China Unicom's exclusive deal gives the wireless carrier a boost against rivals China Mobile and China Telecom and gives China Unicom a chance to increase its 142 million mobile subscribers and 36.6 million broadband subscribers.

Tapping the China Market

While China Unicom will benefit from the iPhone, Apple will also benefit by tapping into China's mobile market, which is nearly 670 million subscribers strong, according to China's Ministry of Information Industry.

The market isn't easy to get into, according to analysts. But once in, a company can benefit from China's subscriber base. Mobile-phone sales in China are expected to increase to 192 million units, up from 180 million this year, according to Gartner.

While China may have the largest mobile market, it's not recession-proof, according to China Unicom. The company's earnings report noted the national economy continued to see challenges brought on by the international financial crisis during the first half of the year.