BEIJING, Oct 30, 2009 (SinoCast Daily Business Beat via COMTEX News Network) -- iPhone will be on sale in China from the evening of October 30, 2009, announced China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd. (NYSE: CHU; SEHK: 0762; SHSE: 600050).
As early as June 2007, five months after Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) released iPhone, there were rampant talks saying that China Mobile Ltd. (SEHK: 0941; NYSE: CHL) intended to introduce the smartphone into China.
In November of the year, China Mobile President Wang Jianzhou disclosed that both sides were holding talks. However, on January 14, 2008, the two parties announced to terminate negotiations relating to possible cooperation.
In October of the year, reports said that China Unicom began contacting with Apple. Then, until August 28, 2009, both sides announced that they had inked a three-year agreement.
A month later, China Unicom announced that the commercialization of its WCDMA network would start from October 1. Meanwhile, the leading mobile carrier promoted special service packages designed for iPhone, saying that the presale of the smartphone will begin on the same day.
Source: www.enet.com.cn (October 30, 2009)
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