There's a lot of room to grow in China and Apple's story has hardly been told there so far.

Lenovo's CEO said that Apple "doesn't care about China" and If Apple were to spend the same effort on the Chinese consumer as we do, we would be in trouble.

Big trouble. Right now. And I still think all the rumors of a CDMA iPhone could be caused by a CDMA iPhone for China Telecom first, then Verizon later. China Telecom has 75 million subscribers, Verizon has 90 million. Plenty of incentive for Apple to build a CDMA iPhone, even if it's only going to have a short lifespan before the full all-IP all-packet-switched 4G networks become widespread.

Here's my silly wild ass guess about iPhone versions and release dates:

Jan 2011 - CDMA iPhone 4 for China Telecom
Jun 2011 - CDMA iPhone 5 for Verizon, GSM iPhone 5 for AT&T and T-Mobile (all with NFC "iWallet")
Jun 2012 - 4G iPhone 6 for all carriers with 4G

And I wouldn't be surprised if some of the CDMA chips Apple has supposedly ordered are headed for a Verizon iPad 2. My guess is that it would be released simultaneously with the AT&T iPad 2. This would help set the stage and start the hype rolling (along with the CDMA China Telecom iPhone) for a Verizon iPhone in June...

This is how the release will go..

Apple: Boom! Two new iPhones for you guys!
Chinese: Great, iPhone 4 and 3GS.
Apple: No. Two iPhone 4s. Limited supply.
Chinese: What? Only two. But we are so many.
Apple: You want one? Wait until the end of times. Free shipping.
Chinese: When is that?
Apple: Boom!


Supply in countries around the world are thin at best. 7-10 weeks wait, and now they release
in the biggest country in the world..
Great.

If they recently a wifi enabled 3GS does that mean the chinese iPhone 4 has wifi too? And what about macs? Are they going to have 25 stores selling non-wifi enabled macs?

Panic much? The Chinese government backed off, and that was only with regards to the iPhone. Macs have always been selling in China with WiFi for several years now.

Short answer, Apple FTW in China. Plus 25 of their own stores to further establish the brand and capture the high-end market, damn, 2011, 2012 will be nice big years in China. Assuming the world economy doesn't implode again so soon, especially China. Although, even if the global economy sucks people will still be buying Apple stuff. iPhone4 and

iPad continuously sold out with 3-4 week waiting times in some cases, with still plenty of countries left to launch.

Apple was previously notoriously conservative when it came to international expansion. For example, they have talked frequently in the past about not being too thrilled with Japan. Australia was left out in the cold for many years, but now Apple has 5-10 official Apple Stores there.

It's all a matter of how many iPhones and iPads Apple can make, and where they decide to allocate them globally. It will be interesting how this plays out. It looks like the projected growth of the middle/middle-upper class in China for 2010 to 2020 will dwarf that of other major economies. Apple is loading the cannons right now. Once the fuse is lit...

My sentiments exactly, can't see the logic in this when the wait is 3-4 weeks in the uk and I think I was quoted either 7 or 9 in Germany. I hope they are ramping production and while they are at it coating the antenna...

Why do they need to coat the antenna? There is no antenna issue for 99.5% of users, those who are in poor signal areas and have this issue have the option of a free bumper. Simples.

Thankyou for saying that so I didn't have to

i will also be interested to see if apple coats or does something else to modify the current hardware. especially since there is no problem its all 'psychological' warfare by the media.