A China Unicom executive has denied that the company had reached detailed agreement with Apple on iPhone's entry into China. There is still no time table for iPhone's launch in the Chinese market.
The Chinese media reported that China Unicom and Apple had signed a three-year exclusive sales agreement, and that the 3G iPhone might hit the Chinese market by the end of September.
It was also reported that the preliminary agreement reached between China Unicom and Apple did not include the profit sharing mode. The report said that China Unicom would buy the iPhone from Apple at 3000 yuan per phone and guarantee annual sales volume of about one million to two million phones, with sales income of no less than 5 billion yuan. Apple would then share the income from iPhone sales and additional services based on iPhone.
"It's sheer nonsense," the China Unicom executive, who is close to the negotiation circle, told China Business News. "We are still negotiating with Apple, and we will issue a declaration once the agreement has been reached."
According to China Unicom insiders, the 3G iPhone will be introduced to the Chinese market in the fourth quarter. China Unicom has already prepared its sales and promotion schemes. Apple's COO also said recently that it hoped to introduce iPhone to China within a year.
The iPhone needs testing before it can go on sale in China. At the beginning of July, an iPhone specially designed for the Chinese market was sent to CTTL, a lab under the administration of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. At present, details for the cooperation between the two sides as well as the mode for the introduction of the iPhone are still a mystery, but it is commonly believed in the industry that there are two possible introduction modes. First, the iPhone may be sold together with the operator's service, meaning each iPhone user should sign long-term contract with China Unicom, and Apple will share the income from the user's monthly consumption. Second, Apple could sell iPhones exclusively to China Unicom and not share China Unicom's service income.
The iPhone is now the world's most popular cell phone, and its sales volume has exceeded 13 million units. It is estimated that about one million bootlegged, decoded iPhones are already in use in China.
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