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does china have 3g rolled out?, sorry for my ignorance

so apple will reach the 10 million phones sold target just by launching in china then really

Apr 12, 08 - 10:59 am Comment from: BiZarRo BaLlmEr

Chinas 3G status

China could buy all America... i don't think their really that eager to follow all Apple's wishes...

thanks for the link, any idea how the market works is china, what i mean by this is, are contract phones subsidised by the network operator like they are in europe or do customers pay full price as in the united states.

this is important as one of the reasons the iphone hasnt done well in europe is that rival phones to the iphone are often free and have 3g as standard

whereas in the united states rival phones arent as attractive as they are similarly priced and having 3g on the handset means nothing as the coverage is poor.

I do kind of feel that the iphones business model is going to hold back its growth outside of the US

Apr 12, 08 - 01:33 pm Comment from: Crabs

Does anyone else just find it crazy that there are more people on China Mobile than there are people in the United States? Crazy China and it's billion people...

Apr 12, 08 - 01:46 pm Comment from: Crabs

**its billion people.

Guess I gotta watch more Strong Bad Emails

china and india are vital markets that are actually more suited to the current iphone than europe was/is

especially as it would enable apple to secure even better bulk buying discounts

Apr 12, 08 - 03:11 pm Comment from: ichi

i live in strongbadia!

Apr 12, 08 - 03:12 pm Comment from: ichi

ok, i live near strongbadia. :(

China mobile just wants to hold off talks about the iPhone until a worthy competitor comes along and makes having an exclusive deal on the iPhone less attractive.... and thus easier to bargain on how much contractually Apple gets per contract.

Apr 12, 08 - 03:46 pm Comment from: ichi

*then* china will never get the iphone, is my prediction.

Apr 12, 08 - 03:54 pm Comment from: Anonymous©

I was just there for 10 days, and I brought along my iPhone, and added the 20Gig for $25 int'l data plan.

I saw one fake iPhone ad in a computer store, but wasn't really looking. I saw a european tourist show his tour guide his iPhone, only to have the Chinese tour guide pull out his iPhone. They were talking about bluetooth, which made me think the euro didn't know he could use the iPhone with a bluetooth headset.

AT&T;'s roaming was over China Mobile's network, and that network was STRONG, with 4 and 5 bars just about everywhere I went from downtown Shanghai to the burbs to the poor and remote countryside. I got better signal there than in my hometown in eastern NC!

I suppose the thing that surprised me the most was Google Maps, which worked great and the location triangulation was neat.

The phones there are not subsidized, but pay as you go. You buy a phone. You buy a sim card and you buy a minutes card. AT&T;'s international calling rate was $2/min. I'm thinking that in the future I may just jailbreak my iPhone if I go again, and put in a China Mobile sim while I'm there. It was annoying to have a phone, and not be able to use it for voice calls, but only data.

Wifi coverage was spotty.

Typical Chinese doublespeak. I have dealt with these folks many times. Always give confusing, twisted answers, say yes and no in the same sentence, etc.

They dont want to pay Apple a piece of the action. Apple needs to cut a deal with their main competitor, though that is not ideal either.

China Mobile has connections high up in the government, they can make sure that no other carrier gets an exclusive deal with Apple, if they cant make a deal with Apple themselves.

Don't kid yourself thinking that China is a free market in this sense, China Mobile has no real need to sign a deal with Apple out of fear of losing customers to other chinese carriers.

FWIW ...
iPhone in China Update: April 12, 2008
http://idannyb.wordpress.com/2008/04/12/iphone-in-china-update/

this is NOT a news.

Apr 13, 08 - 07:46 am Comment from: Denny

@Anonymous©

I just came back from 9 days in Sicily and the AT&T;program worked great. I used the 25 mb plan as well as 95¢/minute calls back to the US. Roaming signal strength was excellent vis Vodaphone for Catania, Mt Aetna, Siracusa, Agrigento and Caltigirone. I emailed several photos back home.

iPhone and AT&T;are great for European travel!

Apr 13, 08 - 05:15 pm Comment from: Ray

Mao says "One iPhone!"

Just my $0.02