China isn’t just some foreign country with a penchant for censoring their citizens into oblivion and peddling counterfeit handsets on the cheap. The land of dim sum and stubborn Communist politics has become the latest country to launch the iPhone. As expected, the iPhone is now ready to cater to the single-largest wireless market, by way of China Unicom’s network (China’s No. 2 wireless network). The 8GB iPhone 3G will cost $732, with the 32GB iPhone 3GS commanding a $1,025 price tag.
Now, considering how all that hard-earned cash will only buy a China Unicom iPhone that lacks WiFi support, it’s hard to see the handset making it big in China. There are gray-market iPhones that cost less, come unlocked and actually support WiFi. Good luck, China Unicom.