联通欲引入iPhone助力3G

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继中国移动之后，联通也正与苹果公司洽谈引入iPhone。作为启动国内3G市场的重要一步，抢占潜在的巨大市场。由于联通WCDMA网络现在还处于测试阶段,引进iPhone并非一朝一夕之事。并且,联通与苹果公司是否 也会存在分成意见差异也是未知。 2008互联网大会23日在南京开幕,大会上,获得WCDMA 3G牌照的联通首次开放并测试了WCDMA网络。

China Unicom, the country’s second largest mobile provider, said it was in talks with Apple to introduce the iPhone to the huge market. Rival China Mobile, the world’s No.1 mobile company with more domestic subscribers than the US population was in negotiations to sell the iPhone, but has not come to an agreement.

Apple’s multi-media smart phone was launched worldwide in 2007, but is yet to issue licenses in China largely due to a lack of 3rd generation mobile services. A competition is growing. Unicom announced earlier this year it wants to roll out coverage to 280 cities by the end of 2009 with 3G users, expected to account 20% of all China’s mobile users within three years.

China has around 640 million mobile subscribers, but analysts wonder if an Apple deal will be an earning catalyst for either company as the Apple ground is not particularly strong there. Many Chinese are already using iPhone brought in through private channels or various local versions. The competitors are already on the market.