China Unicom to offer 3G service to compete with rivals

China Unicom is finally set to launch the first official iPhone sales in the country this week. And with the biggest carrier in the world as their competition, as well as the 1 million gray-market iPhones already proliferating in China, the company is preparing for battle.

So how did they plan to do it?

Because unlocked iPhones and other high-end phones sold in China’s gray-market only use China Mobile’s 2G network (that uses GSM and GRPS standards), Apple’s official carrier in China for the iPhone will be offering China-developed 3G service to users of any handset that supports 3G, including those gray-market iPhones

I would like to stress out however, that despite China Unicom being the first to officially sell iPhone in China, its contract with Apple is not exclusive. Its main competition, China Mobile, has said last month that they are also in talks with Apple about distribution.

Another probable distributor of the iPhone in the country is Hon Hai Precision Industry (also known by the trade name Foxconn), a major contract manufacturer of Apple gadgets.

Source: http://tech.yahoo.com/news/pcworld/20091026/tc_pcworld/chinaunicomaimsforrivalsgraymarketiphoneusers