iPhone 4 Coming Soon in China?
7/30/2010 07:14:00 PM - 0 comments
A top executive of Apple’s partner carrier in mainland China flew to the United States to finalize negotiations for the iPhone 4. SinoCast Daily Business Beat reported that Li Gang, the deputy general manager of China Unicom Ltd., flew to the US on July 27 to seal the terms for the phone's launch in China.SinoCast Daily Business Beat also mentioned that, “The terms of the agreement will be announced on August 1.” The negotiation is “said to include discussions on the selling prices of the iPhone 4 and iPad in China and whether to extend a 2009 contract between the two parties.”
China Unicom signed a contract with Apple in October 2009 to sell two million iPhones within a year. It currently has 7.56 million 3G subscriber base as of June’s end. Reports indicate that it has sold about 700,000 iPhones by the end of June.
In preparation for the expected positive outcome of the negotiations, China Unicom “pushed all its branches to sell out all WiFi chipset-unequipped iPhones by the end of July, so that it can innovate with the new iPhone 4.”
It aims to meet its sales quota with a price-reduction on the 32G iPhone by CNY 1,000, and targets a zero-inventory goal by reducing the price of the iPhone from CNY 6,999 to CNY 5,999. SinoCast Daily Business Beat reported that “China Unicom currently has inventory of 150,000 iPhones.”
China Unicom is the only Chinese carrier offering the iPhone despite pronouncements from one of its biggest competitors, China Mobile Ltd., that they have been talking to Apple to distribute the iPhone.
China Unicom is also relying on the increasing popularity of the latest Apple iOS devices -- iPhone 4 and iPad -- in Hong Kong to provide its entry into mainland China. It hopes to launch the iPhone 4 between mid August and the beginning of September.
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