14 DAY TRIAL // The agreement between Apple and China Unicom for the distribution of the iPhone on the Chinese market seems to have been confirmed through the fact that the iPhone model that will be launched in the country has just received regulatory approval. Although Apple and China Unicom stated that the deal between them wasn't final yet, an official announcement might arrive soon after the news on the new model's approval.
According to some of the reports around the web, the device should include GSM and WCDMA connectivity capabilities, while operating on the 900MHz, 1700MHz and 1900MHz bands. In addition, users will also enjoy the Bluetooth functionality, though there will be no Wi-Fi connectivity on board. China's State Radio Regulatory Commission has approved the device since May 7, Engadget has discovered, and it can be used in the country for the next five years.
A few images with the Chinese iPhone 16GB model that should work on the 3G spectrum have also emerged. According to the news, China Unicom's GSM/UMTS 3G mobile network makes use of the same signaling technology as the one featured by AT&T's network in the US, and it seems that the iPhone is already compatible with the technology, even if WCDMA is a third-generation GSM standard. The deal between the two companies was rumored to refer to a number of one to two million iPhones sold in the country each year.
China Unicom is the second largest mobile phone carrier in the country, with a number of 135 million subscribers as of February 2009, which means that it has about two times more users than AT&T has in the US. The largest carrier in China is China Mobile, which has a number of 471 million subscribers. It seems that the deal between Apple and China Unicom is not based only on the network compatibility, but also on the fact that the carrier would offer it the possibility to run its own software portal in the country, something that another possible partner, China Mobile, wasn't willing to do.
