Via China Unicom

Jul 20, 2009 10:41 GMT  ·  By

Apple has been rumored to be getting ready to launch its popular iPhone 3G on the Chinese market for quite some time now, and it seems that the rumors might turn out to be true in the end. According to China Business Network (CBN), a deal between Apple and China Unicom, one of the mobile phone carriers in the country, has been already inked, and the device has all the chances to become available for purchase in the area in September this year.

Moreover, CBN also points out that a Chinese version of the iPhone 3G is already being tested in the China Telecommunication Technology Labs (CTTL), under Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT)'s authorization. While the handset would include all the features that the original version sports, it won't come to the Chinese market with Wi-Fi capabilities.

This iteration of the handset has been manufactured by Foxconn, and will be in compliance with the demands of MIIT. Although the lack of Wi-Fi might seem like a setback for the device, it looks like this version is expected be a little cheaper when compared to the WLAN-enabled one ($695 for the 16GB model).

At the same time, the feature might not be a necessity, Dan Butterfield states over at iPhonAsia: “While some consumers in China may prefer grey-market iPhones with WiFi, there are many millions that have never used WiFi on their phones and have only experienced 2G speeds. For this group, WiFi might be a less important feature. They may be more interested in iPhone’s enjoyable user-experience, entertainment value and status.”

In addition, Butterfield also notes that Apple might be able to gain as much as 2 percent market share in China with the device during the first year of availability, which would account for a number of 14 million iPhones sold in the country. Considering the fact that a large number of iPhones are also entering the country via grey-market sales, the market share would rise even higher, he adds.