Daniel Eran DilgerA report by MarketWatch, citing the Chinese Caixin media group, said a China Unicom source acknowledged that iPhone 4 will ship in the world's largest market shortly, followed by the Chinese release of iPad.
The two products won't be launched at the same time however, and no timeframe was given for the iPad launch.
China Unicom just began selling a WiFi enabled iPhone 3GS earlier this month after Chinese regulators approved the model for sale in July.
China had earlier banned the sale of WiFi products in an effort to promote its own alternative WAPI wireless networking standard, but later relented.
Apple
The company has experienced major new growth in China; Apple's chief operations officer Tim Cook reported 144 percent growth in the country in the most recent quarterly earnings conference call.
Malcolm Owen
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
24 Comments
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?
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.