China

In spite of a slow sales start, China Unicom continues to hold high hopes for the iPhone with an unnamed senior executive citing that the handset will carry 10% of China's 3G users within two to three years. In addition, China Unicom Chairman Chang Xiaobing publicly said this week that he expects the iPhone to be the best-selling smartphone in all of China.

Despite official iPhones not having Wi-Fi, a large population of jailbreakers and rampant app piracy, the Chinese App Store is managing to grow at a healthy rate. Meanwhile, China Unicom is optimistic that the iPhone will become the device top-selling smartphone in China.

Wireless carrier China Unicom announced that it plans to offer five versions of Apple’s iPhone through an array of two-year service plans when the operator puts the smartphones on sale next month. According to Macworld, China Unicom initially said the iPhone 3G would be priced at around 5,000 yuan (US$732) when it goes on sale in October, though the operator didn’t offer detailed pricing for the eight service plans that it will offer customers. On Tuesday, China Unicom offered more specifics of its pricing plans, saying it would begin taking preorders for the phones on Oct. 1, when it launches its commercial 3G service.

According to China Business Times, China Unicom is pushing for an October 15th launch date for the iPhone 3GS on their network. It will allegedly be priced starting at 1,999 yuan (US$293) for the 8 GB, and 2,999 yuan (US$439) for the 16 GB model. Both models will require two-year contracts with the most basic offer starting at 186 yuan (US$27) per month.

Wireless carrier China Mobile has confirmed that the company is still in talks with Apple about offering the iPhone in China even though rival China Unicom last week announced a distribution deal for the handset. According to Macworld, the talks between Apple and China Mobile, the world’s biggest carrier by subscribers, yet to reach a conclusion, as confirmed by a China Mobile spokeswoman on Tuesday. An Apple spokeswoman confirmed the company's three-year distribution deal with China Unicom is not exclusive, but did not say if the company is in talks with other potential partners.

Following last Friday's announcement that the iPhone would become available in China late this year, Apple has confirmed its agreement with China Unicom is not exclusive to the carrier. Per CNNMoney, an Apple spokesperson confirmed that the China Unicom contract is not exclusive. The person declined, however, to detail whether or not Apple is in negotiations with other possible carriers.

At long last and after months of rumors, China Unicom has reached a 3-year deal with Apple to offer the iPhone in China. According to Macworld, the company is expected to launch the phone in the fourth quarter of this year, it said in a statement. The deal brings the iPhone to a huge market in a country with nearly 700 million mobile subscribers.

Per TheStreet.com, an official representing China Unicom confirmed that the wireless carrier is currently in talks with Apple to function as the exclusive carrier of the iPhone in China, but denied that the company recently purchased five million handsets.

It appears that the rumors of an impending Chinese iPhone have been true. Chinese news portal Sina.com.cn has posted a series of photographs of an iPhone with Chinese text printed on the back and running a Chinese language version of the iPhone OS. Not long after, the images were pulled, possibly at the request of either China Unicom or Apple, which may confirm their authenticity.

Fortune summarizes numerous reports on the ongoing negotiations between Apple and China Unicom to bring the iPhone to one of the largest cell phone markets in the world. Both Reuters and AFP report information from a China Unicom spokesperson that the companies are still in negotiations, while Shanghai Security News says they have already reached a conclusion and a deal has already been made.