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China Unicom: 5 million Chinese iPhones? What 5 million Chinese iPhones?

By: , IntoMobile
Friday, August 14th, 2009 at 4:03 PM

Just yesterday we reported on a rumor from the China Business News that China’s stat-owned wireless carrier had purchased 5 million custom-made iPhones from Apple. China Unicom was said to have paid 10 billion yuan ($1.46 billion) for a shipment of 5 million WiFi-less iPhones. Today, the Chinese carrier has publicly denied any and all reports that have China Unicom wrapping up an iPhone deal with Apple and buying up massive iPhone inventory.

“Talks between us and Apple have been going on for some time, but no agreement has been reached yet,” said Unicom spokesman Yi Difei. “There are all kinds of possibilities. There is no particular timetable for the talks.” As for the report that China Unicom purchased iPhones from Apple, Yi says “the report is not true.”

The China Business News said cited a sales manager for China Unicom’s subsidiary in Guangdong. The rumor had China Unicom launching the iPhone in China as soon as September. But, today’s rebuttal seems to have stopped those rumors dead in their tracks.

One way or another, the iPhone will eventually hit China. It’s only a question of which Chinese iPhone rumor turns out to be true.

[Via: CellularNews]

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About The Author

Will Park

Will hails from The City of Angels - Los Angeles, California. He spends his time playing with his numerous gadgets and looking forward to seeing what future holds for mobile technology. An avid promoter of a fully "digital" life, he promotes the widespread adoption of truly mobile, paper-less living. He dreams of the day when he can go completely digital. No more snail mail, paper receipts, bound books, notepads/spiral notebooks, credit cards, hard currency. He's a digital warrior - fighting for the converged life. He is an idealist and a realist - he has a perfect view of what the world should be but knows that the world is not perfect. Can we ever hope to see Will's dream become reality? We'll see...

  • idlemall

    iPhone is very good. China Unicom snags 5 million Chinese iPhones from Apple, it’s just a rumor, none of our business.