Wi-Fi-free iPhone officially lands in China

A saleswoman introduces Apple's iPhone to customers in Chengdu in southwest China's Sichuan province on Saturday.

(Credit: Zheng Duo/ColorChinaPhoto)

It could be the Year of the iPhone in China, as Apple officially started selling its iconic smartphone in the world's largest mobile market Friday night.

While China saw nothing near the frenzy of the first iPhone launch day here in the U.S., crowds there did honor the tradition of lining up for the phone many hours in advance at several locations. A few hundred people queued up in the rain and cold outside The Place shopping center in Beijing, for example. There, Zhi Xianzhong became the first person to get the iPhone from Apple partner China Unicom after waiting 7 hours and 40 minutes, according to China Daily.

As expected, China Unicom, the country's second largest telecom operator after China Mobile, is selling two versions of the iPhone in China under a three-year deal with Apple. But cost could prove to be a deterrent. Prices range from 4,999 yuan (about $732) for the 8GB 3G model to 6,999 yuan (about $1,025) for the 32GB 3GS phone (sans contract).

Consumers can get cheaper, cracked, gray-market iPhone models at local electronics stores or bring them in from other markets. But price isn't the only potential obstacle here. In accordance with Chinese government regulations, the handsets also lack a key feature--Wi-Fi capability, though reports say China Unicom hopes to offer Wi-Fi-enabled iPhones within a few months.

China Unicom is starting off by selling the iPhone in 285 cities. The carrier hopes to sell 5 million devices in three years, according to Chinese news reports, but the company wouldn't confirm that figure.

[stubbyns]

Why is the wi-fi not enabled?

[Perry_Clease]

From the article: "In accordance with Chinese government regulations, the handsets also lack a key feature--Wi-Fi capability, though reports say China Unicom hopes to offer Wi-Fi-enabled iPhones within a few months."

[codynews]

yeah, but what's China's beef with wifi?

[ikramerica--2008]

They can't control usage individually or monitor speech easily with wifi enabled. This is an authoritarian communist dictatorship. People often don't want to believe it, but they block content, track people, spy on people, block websites (even tiny ones), etc. They have a large government agency in charge of controlling their people's speech.

With wifi hotspots, VoIP, etc. it's harder to work out who to oppress due to what actions. My guess is that the wifi phone won't arrive officially until they determine a solid way of tracking user actions when on wifi instead of 3G.

[regulator1956]

China has come out with their own version of WiFi. They don't want to have to deal with outside royalties and licensing. To push their "standard" forward, they have outlawed the WiFi known/used by the rest of the world.

[lmasanti]

quote:
"But price isn't the only potential obstacle here. In accordance with Chinese government regulations, the handsets also lack a key feature--Wi-Fi capability, though reports say China Unicom hopes to offer Wi-Fi-enabled iPhones within a few months."

I did read that the wi-fi prohibition was removed a couple of months ago, but production was already on.

[stickfu]

Once they get all the MAC addresses of the wifi enable iphones tied to user accounts it`l be included.
Big Brother won`t be denied.

[ctekjeff]

You can spoof those too.

[stickfu]

Yes you can, but generally it`s not part of the lay person`s skillset

[AppleSuxLeo]

Japan went crazy over the iPhone when it made its debut in summer last year, but China as another big Asian market for Apple seems to react differently. The iPhone officially launched in China today, offered by China Unicom, one the country?s three big cell phone carriers. But our friends over at major Chinese news portal 163.com are reporting [Google machine translation] that not too many people were actually queuing up to get one, at least in Beijing.

[AppleSuxLeo]

They should have paid some people to stand in line and make it look better.

[cbscowards]

Exactly how many shares of AAPL did you short, Leo? Didn't you ever hear that old adage "The downside potential of shorting stocks is infinite"?

[Random_Walk]

"They should have paid some people to stand in line and make it look better."

...or given them free concert tickets to some no-name pop star, eh?

[ctekjeff]

Another report already has the count of black markek/unlocked iphones in China at 1.5-2 million. No need to stand in line when they already had them and the unlocked version is selling for 20% less without a contract in China. I did see another picture in another report that showed people queued up well in advance of the sale and no free concert tickets to some teen-bopper like the ms store just had.
http://brainstormtech.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2009/10/30/photo-chinese-queue-up-for-iphone/
http://www.macrumors.com/2009/10/30/iphone-launches-today-in-china/
-Ctekjeff

[frozenjello]

Leo, care to predict how long the lines will be for the Verizon Droid on the first day? I predict it will be around the same level as the Sprint Palm Pre. In other words, in front of each store will be a dozen tech geeks who've suffered from 2 years of iPhone envy.

[extramoderate]

Japan hardly went crazy. They use another type of phone that can do much more than our phones. They can use it as a boarding pass for airlines, use it to enter the subway system, it has a television etc.. Also, Apple picked a less than popular company as its exclusive partner. iPhones are gaining a little popularity but to say the people are crazy is just wrong.

[ballmerisanape]

A few ********* = a lot of people ;)

[windooor7]

With extra ordinary service provider,WIFI can be pretty much be usless. However after u loses ur service , iphone is never the same without wifi.

[codynews]

Meh, the only time I've ever used wifi on my iphone is if I'm DL'ing some app that's over x GB (10?) and the app store tells me I have to turn it on. But that's a carrier limitation I'd assume. If not for large apps MAKING you turn on wifi for their download I'd never use wifi.

Cody

[yottabyte21]

3G drains the battery much faster than wifi, lets not forget that.

[amsardesai]

I'm just wondering, will the wifi-only apps from the app store such as Skype work on the chinese iPhone?

[Zanny_Blowzsteve]

China is an authoritarian communist dictatorship. People often don't want to believe it, but they block content, track people, spy on people, block websites (even tiny ones), etc. They have a large government agency in charge of controlling their people's speech.

Should fit quite well with Steve Jobs & Apple's ongoing desire to control their users way of thinking.. or lack thereof.

[ikshields]

Really!

So, let me get this straight, anybody who chooses a computer based directly on its beautiful design, ease of use, ability to run multiple operating systems, and seamless integration with other devices, is just an unthinking drone, while...

... those who just settle for whatever everybody the crowd is using, regardless of its crappy quality, is an independent thinker.

I get it. Double-speak.

Thanks, Mr Orwell, for your contribution.

[AppleSuxLeo]

Exactly why "the people" will embrace Android.

[AppleSuxLeo]

Apple and the iPhone are "RED" that`s the shorter version.

[chinafan]

Apple's iPhone has an uphill battle here between the "grey" & counterfeit phones that have already flooded the market, not to mention China Telecom's competing "OPhone". Rumor has it the OPhone's vibrate feature will be a hit ... ;-)

[karenhuangliwen]

wifi is not so convenient use in some place of China.

[cnetpre]

Only 5,000 iPhone's were sold on it's release in China. It's clear that the world's largest mobile market doesn't want an overpriced, Wi-Fi-less iPhone. The iPhone launch in China is a completed failure!

With these negative reports combined with iPhone's new competitor the Motorola Droid, Apple's stocks have been dropping all week!