As consumers worldwide flock to purchase the iPhone 4, China Unicom is still talking with Apple about bringing the latest iPhone and the already-released iPad tablet to the giant Asian marketplace, according to a Friday report. As happened with the China launch of the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS, the carrier could start out already behind the flood of gray market competitors.
According to the Wall Street Journal, China Unicom faces a repeat of previous iPhone launches, when it introduced the handsets without Wi-Fi and priced higher than those bought in other nearby countries. Although the government has officially lifted the ban on outside Wi-Fi versions, it’s unknown whether the carrier can cut its $730 price tag on the iPhone to a level that would spur massive sales.
The China Unicom deal was criticized for a tepid iPhone launch which sold just 100,000 handsets in six weeks. By comparison, Apple sold 270,000 iPhones in 30 hours when the original iPhone went on sale in 2007.
For the iPad, China Unicom and Apple will also face competition from Dell, which announced it’s Streak tablet would also come to the nation.
The WSJ report coincides with an analysis from ABI Research indicating Apple, RIMM and other smartphone makers face increased competition from so-called ‘White Box’ handsets carrying such names as the “BlueBerry,” a BlackBerry Bold look-alike with less features and a lower cost. ABI estimates 219 million such handsets will sell in 2010.
[via WSJ]
