China Unicom Confirms in Talks with Apple of iPhone Sale
China Unicom's chairman Chang Xiaobing has confirmed that the company is in talks with Apple over an option to sell the iPhone handset in the country. He did not elaborate on the talks, citing confidentiality agreements.
China Unicom is a distant second to China Mobile in subscriber numbers, but the iPhone is already hugely popular in the country thanks to gray-imports and being the official carrier is expected to be able boost the operator subscriber growth markedly.
Last year, research firm In-Stat estimated that 20% of handsets sold in China in 2007 cost more than 4,000 RMB (US$533). In another words, there are an estimated 28 million potential users for the iPhone in China.
