29 August 2009 / AP, HONG KONG
China Unicom Ltd. said Friday it will sell Apple Inc.'s iPhone in China this year, ending months of rumor about when the hit phone would make its long-delayed debut in the world's most populous mobile market.
The phones are expected to go on sale in the fourth quarter under a multiyear deal struck between the two companies, Unicom executives said in Hong Kong. They declined to give financial details or reveal how much the iPhone would cost, saying only that the price would be “compe-titive.” Unicom, one of three major state-owned carriers, would be the first Chinese phone company to formally support the iPhone, though thousands of unlocked iPhones brought in from other markets are in use in China. It is the only company in China that supports the network standard needed for the iPhone, known as WCDMA. China's mobile market trails the United States, Japan and some others in financial size but it has 650 million mobile phone accounts and is seen as a major prize for foreign firms.
