Sam Oliver
Taiwanese industry publication DigiTimes reported Thursday that Fang Zhongua, vice president of Founder, a China-based PC maker, confirmed that his company is in negotiations with Apple to distribute the iPad. The company is already one of the four major distributors of other Apple products throughout China.
"Founder is already developing applications for Apple's iPad and is also providing its Chinese e-books to iPad users," the report said.
The news confirms a report from last week that said Founder was in negotiations to provide e-book content to the nation of over a billion. It was speculated that Apple wants to work with companies in order to localize content to fit the cultures of different regions.
In addition, China Unicom, which was the first carrier to offer Apple's iPhone in China, hopes to offer the iPhone 4 this fall. The carrier also hopes to offer the 3G capable version of Apple's iPad in the near future.
It is unknown whether the iPhone 4 could have Wi-Fi in China. The previous iPhone released in the nation was released withoug Wi-Fi due to a temporary ban on the wireless standard. It has since been repealed, and a Chinese iPhone with WAPI Wi-Fi was given regulatory approval, but has not been made available for sale.
Apple is set to open a new underground retail megastore in Shanghai by mid-July. Like the company's iconic Fifth Avenue store in New York City, the Shanghai store has a dramatic giant glass structure that serves as the entrance to the underground store. But it is not expected that customers will be able to purchase the iPhone 4 or iPad at the store's launch, as neither product is yet available in China.
Bon Adamson
Wesley Hilliard
Christine McKee
Malcolm Owen
AppleInsider Staff
Amber Neely
13 Comments
A Chinese PC maker is in talks to distribute the iPad in China with localized content, while Apple's existing wireless carrier partner hopes to carry both the iPad and iPhone 4 in the near future.
I apologize for my ignorance, but what exactly is "localized content"?
I like the idea very much. And, I hope this is really an Apple objective. Information in the internet today is too focused on Western culture. While the propagation of Western culture should not be discouraged, there must be an equal focus to foster the propagation of indigenous content. An even better goal would be to have translations of indigenous literature and information so that they are understood by other peoples of the world -- maybe translations into English, French, Spanish, Chinese and other major languages.
I like reading translations of original literature from other cultures. My hope is that there will be less of the traditional (previous) Anglicization (Westernization) of names of people and places or events.
This will foster globalization of exchange of information and perhaps a better understanding of the cultures of the world.CGC
I can tell you that they have a go on the WIFI module. that's for sure. I know this from someone in Unicom.
I apologize for my ignorance, but what exactly is "localized content"?
Content tailored to a specific localization?in this case, content specific for China; content which ideally holds a wide appeal to the Chinese audience. Emoji would be an example of a localized feature, for example.
Sorry to speak off-topic but does anyone know why AI pulled the just-released article about a guy (Burford) trying to sell his email-rant to Steve Jobs for the highest bidder? Was there a problem in the article?