By: Angela Soric
After months of speculation, it’s official; The Apple iPhone will officially be available in China.
China Unicom, the country’s second largest wireless carrier, revealed a three year deal with Apple. The iPhone offered through China Unicom will have the WIFI disabled, which is required by government regulations.
Unicom’s executive director Lu Yumin revealed that the company aims to take more than one-third of China’s third generation mobile market next year. “China Unicom will likely catch up with China Mobile if our profits grow by 40% with the boost of iPhones,” said Yu Zaonan, general manager of the customer development department of China Unicom in Guangzhou.
The move will likely put China Unicom and Apple in direct competition with China Mobile, which is set to launch a range of Smartphones based on Google’s Android operating system.
According to Forbes, shares of China Unicom rose 2.7% to $14.13 during Thursday afternoon’s trading after news broke in Hong Kong that Unicom could announce the launch of the iPhone in China.
But is this deal exclusive? The Financial Times previously stated that China Unicom had a “multi-year” exclusive deal with Apple. Various sources report that this is not true which could mean that Apple has the opportunity to also sell the iPhone with China Mobile, China’s biggest carrier.
China Unicom’s release merely stated a 3-year agreement with Apple to sell the phone there — it said nothing about exclusivity.
