China Unicom confirms itself as iPhone carrier to largest market on earth, sales begin May 17th

Quincy Pince-Nez
|
March 25, 2009
|
Share

Yesterday was no fluke. China Unicom, with its 150 million subscribers (much more than AT&T), has confirmed that it will be selling the Apple iPhone beginning on May 17th, 2009 to China's 1.3+ billion potential customers. 

With a likely iPhone 3.0 coming out this summer and 3G roll outs just being tested in 55 Chinese cities, it isn't clear how many of these devices will get swooped up right away and how many customers will wait (for the models their compatriots are building!).

China Unicom 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 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.

Comments (11)

Hansköbi | March 25, 2009 - 12:17pm

" likely to be highly subsidized",

well isn't it sure that it going to  be subsidized? it's subsidized in all the other countrys....here it's about 300 Dollars (converted) a phone

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | March 25, 2009 - 1:05pm

Why bother with the 3G when the next version will be out in a couple of months?

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | March 25, 2009 - 1:50pm

Why bother with the 3G when the next version will be out in a couple of months?

Yeah, a new version, but the only difference is NEW COLORS, the loss of the chrome buttons, and a 32 GB option.

The hardware functionality (except as offered by OS 3.0) will be IDENTICAL to the existing handset.

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | March 25, 2009 - 1:13pm

Well that is theoretically true... In reality, not at all! How many of the 1.3 billion people living in China could afford an iPhone 3G? Not a lot...

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | March 25, 2009 - 1:54pm

How many of the 1.3 billion people living in China could afford an iPhone 3G?

Given the wealth distribution in China, only one half of one percent. That's only 6.5 million potential customers. They're very likely to have a Smartphone, but how many will choose an iPhone?

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | March 25, 2009 - 1:19pm

Hey, now the largest market in the world will have access to a shitty phone!

BB Storm FTW!

Blobfish (not verified) | March 25, 2009 - 3:39pm

I love you.

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | March 25, 2009 - 1:35pm

Do you know how much is an unlock iPhone in China? It's about $600-800. Yet, they sells like hot cake there. Hmmm, let's see, 1% of 1,300,000,000 is 13,000,000. Isn't that a good sales figure by apple standard? :-)

Olly (not verified) | March 25, 2009 - 3:43pm

If the details are removed by the weekend then Apple has moved its hand and removed it. That would really be the only way of proving what they're saying is true, without a reliable source from China Unicom.

Olly (not verified) | March 25, 2009 - 3:47pm

Plus (sorry to post in my own post)... the fact that China Unicom is the official Carrier for the iPhone in China, why would they go to the bother of making the nice little flash animations for the "new" features if they were not true? It seems like Apple got Unicom by telling them what features would be announced with the iPhone V3.0; features which are the norm for most Asian users. :-) Intellectual rant over, back to the rumour mill.

Dan Butterfield (not verified) | March 25, 2009 - 4:30pm

The reports of a "done deal" are a bit premature
http://idannyb.wordpress.com/2009/03/25/iphone-officially-in-china-on-ma...

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.

What's really going on? Unicom's Shanghai subsidiary was a bit over eager and splashed iPhone all over their website to promote their forthcoming WCDMA 3G network launch. They're having a hard time keeping the "iPhone deal" a secret and they want to tease what will soon be. Reporters got curious and a Shanghai Unicom spokesperson talked about the May 17 WCDMA launch date and expressed optimism over an iPhone deal. Then reporters interviewed analysts who made very presumptive statements about a "done deal" and May 17. These analysts, however, were not affiliated with China Unicom. News service reports were then miss-read by other news services ... sort of like a game of telephone. And then next thing you know we have reports of an official deal and a May 17 launch.

End result is that Apple is more than a bit miffed and now China Unicom HQ in Beijing is doing damage control.

All that said ... my view is that the deal will happen in a matter of weeks, after:
1. MIIT approval
2. Senior Apple execs go to Beijing to reciprocate the China Unicom visit to Cupertino
3. Signatures

The deal will most likely be formally announced on May 17 for launch later in the Summer.

Full backstory >
http://idannyb.wordpress.com/2009/03/23/apples-iphone-in-china-negotiati...