Apple Progressing Toward iPhone Release in China?

[MacRumors]

SinoCast Daily Business Beat reports that Foxconn, Apple's Taiwanese manufacturing partner for the iPhone, has begun production of a China-specific iPhone lacking Wi-Fi connectivity.

Two production lines in the Foxconn Shenzhen plant are producing 90-coded mobile phones, device that looks like iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS, said one source.

The mysterious products might be the very model designed for Chinese users, according to another source, noting that the massively-produced device has no Wi-Fi functions, just like the A1324 model, the Chinese version of 3G iPhone being sent to the China Telecommunication Technology Labs (CTTL) for a test.

The news comes on the heels of a report from research firm Wedge Partners claiming that Apple has officially applied to the Chinese government for a Network Access License to began selling the Wi-Fi-less iPhone there by January 2010. The Chinese government has adamantly objected to Apple's desire to include Wi-Fi on iPhones sold there, desiring to route all Internet traffic through state-controlled cellular networks.

The Chinese version of the iPhone reportedly will run using the same GSM network standard as existing models, preventing it from being deployed on several of China's largest carriers, such as China Telecom, that utilize the CDMA standard. Consequently, Apple appears to be moving toward a deal with GSM carrier China Unicom for the iPhone. Apple had reportedly initially targeted China Mobile, China's largest carrier, for the iPhone, but extended negotiations between the two companies broke down in the wake of disagreements over revenue sharing, subsidies, and App Store control.

Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook noted during the company's April earnings conference call that the company hoped to have the iPhone released in China within a year, and Apple seems to be rapidly progressing toward meeting that goal.

Article Link: Apple Progressing Toward iPhone Release in China?

[the-oz-man]

About time to tap that 1.5 billion market!

[zombitronic]

No Wi-Fi? The evil Chinese leaders must be afraid of something.

[donlab]

too bad its crippled. bad for chinese consumers. good for stock price.

[zombitronic]

Anyone who can make a little WiFi peripheral add-on, get on that! Free the blind masses...and get rich!!

[scottuf]

i would think that apple's refusing to implement cdma for china, even though that is the predominate system there just goes to show that until verizon's switch to LTE, they won't be getting it any time soon.

[sniperkuiper]

Excellent, i hope Apple continues to take over the world

[Michael73]

I'm not sure if the Chinese market sales projections has yet been baked into Apple's stock price. If not, this could be a good time to pick up more apple stock as this is sure to increase revenue and translate into increased EPS.

[BornAgainMac]

iPhones today, Macs next. I hope they get MMS and Tethering at least.

[bytethese]

Oh this should be great. This'll hopefully put a damper on those Chinese knock off iPhone's.

[3247]

Originally Posted by scottuf

i would think that apple's refusing to implement cdma for china, even though that is the predominate system there just goes to show that until verizon's switch to LTE, they won't be getting it any time soon.

Leaving out WiFi is easy and requires nearly no engineering effort.

Making a CDMA (CDMA as in cdmaOne/CDMA2000, not as in W-CDMA aka UMTS) phone would require a complete redesign.

[phillipjfry]

no wi-fi? man, tough crowd

i've been around enough wifi spots wherever I go, I can really tell the dragging of the 3G speeds in comparison

[muskratboy]

sweet, another company willing to help oppress several billion people just to sell more stuff.

why stop there, apple? why not add remote eavesdropping and tracking, so the chinese government has an easier time of tracking, controlling, and killing it's people?

i'm sure the engineers at apple can come up with MANY interesting ways to help freedom-hating governments around the world oppress their people. just think what they could do in the congo!

hey, i get it... it's the bottom line. what's a few human rights here and there, right? and everyone here can cheer that the stock is going up. good world citizenship, guys.

[dwman]

Originally Posted by muskratboy

sweet, another company willing to help oppress several billion people just to sell more stuff.

why stop there, apple? why not add remote eavesdropping and tracking, so the chinese government has an easier time of tracking, controlling, and killing it's people?

i'm sure the engineers at apple can come up with MANY interesting ways to help freedom-hating governments around the world oppress their people. just think what they could do in the congo!

hey, i get it... it's the bottom line. what's a few human rights here and there, right? and everyone here can cheer that the stock is going up. good world citizenship, guys.

Oy, no need to be so melodramatic.

[muskratboy]

Originally Posted by dwman

Oy, no need to be so melodramatic.

again, sure... why bother worrying about those silly chineses?

i mean, we get to sell more STUFF. sweet!

it says right in the story... the chinese government doesn't want wifi SOLELY to better control ALL INFORMATION.

yup, melodramatic alright. stupid people who aren't americans. they suck.

[rmcjls]

Originally Posted by muskratboy

again, sure... why bother worrying about those silly chineses?

yup, melodramatic alright. stupid people who aren't americans. they suck.

What is your proposed solution to the problem?

If Apple doesn't follow Chinese law, then they don't get to sell phones there.
If they do follow the law, they can sell the phones.

Those are the only two options. Where, then, do they make a difference for the freedom of Chinese? At least they can provide the best possible communication device, and hopefully Chinese citizens can use that to alter their autocratic government. You can't impose democracy on a country, it has to happen from within.

This is a technology website, not a political or international affairs website. Please take your melodrama (and yes, it IS melodrama) elsewhere.

[zombitronic]

Originally Posted by muskratboy

again, sure... why bother worrying about those silly chineses?

i mean, we get to sell more STUFF. sweet!

it says right in the story... the chinese government doesn't want wifi SOLELY to better control ALL INFORMATION.

yup, melodramatic alright. stupid people who aren't americans. they suck.

Apple is not the oppressor here. It is the Telecoms paired with the Government. The lack of Wi-Fi ensures that all data goes through the Telecom's network. This way, they can charge for and filter the info going in and out of the network.

I'm not in favor of this, either, but you're barking up the wrong tree. Wi-Fi would, of course, be better because it would free people from solely relying on the mobile provider for their data, but even with Wi-Fi, it would be hard to escape the clutches of the Chinese ISPs.

No matter how you look at it, the consumers of China lose, but it would be this way with or without Apple. At least with Apple, they can have an iPhone in their hands.

[sjo]

Originally Posted by scottuf

i would think that apple's refusing to implement cdma for china, even though that is the predominate system there just goes to show that until verizon's switch to LTE, they won't be getting it any time soon.

The article is incorrect. CDMA is not the predominate system in China, it's the minority, having about 40m subscribers out of nearly 700m total mobile subscribers. The largest Chinese mobile carrier is China Mobile, not China Telecom, there's some other misunderstandings in the original articles as well.

The problem for Apple in choosing an carrier in China is the 3g standards each of them is adopting, only China Unicom is taking the W-CDMA route, and thus the most realistic partner for Apple.

[MacIllini]

cha-ching! $$$$

[DELLsFan]

Originally Posted by the-oz-man

About time to tap that 1.5 billion market!

Amidst the chortles and guffaws from all the "experts" here, I called it ... months ago.

[swingerofbirch]

Originally Posted by muskratboy

sweet, another company willing to help oppress several billion people just to sell more stuff.

why stop there, apple? why not add remote eavesdropping and tracking, so the chinese government has an easier time of tracking, controlling, and killing it's people?

i'm sure the engineers at apple can come up with MANY interesting ways to help freedom-hating governments around the world oppress their people. just think what they could do in the congo!

hey, i get it... it's the bottom line. what's a few human rights here and there, right? and everyone here can cheer that the stock is going up. good world citizenship, guys.

a few things:

we all support china. we can't help it. iphones are *made* in china. the war in iraq was largely funded on money the US borrowed from china. china saved the world from global economic collapse.

the US has also eavesdropped on american citizens in collusion with att and verizon. and we also kill our own people. not as much. but we do imprison the highest percentage of our own citizens. we don't allow our citizens to travel to certain countries like cuba. there are laws that apply to women that aren't applied to men. the degree is different, but the essence is similar.

[seedster2]

Boy are they late! A lot of the tardiness can be attributed to their ludicrous profit sharing attempts.

At this point, I thought all the Chinese who wanted iphones already had an unlocked version running? Anyhow, I imagine they would experience a lot more success there than they did in other asian markets like Japan.

[autrefois]

Originally Posted by rmcjls

What is your proposed solution to the problem.

Apple could just not sell the iPhone there and continue to make billions of dollars, as they have been. Or they could announce that they are not selling the iPhone in China because the Chinese government wants to cripple it and look elsewhere for parts in the future.

They don't want to because of trade and money issues. I completely recognize this, and it's Apple's right to try to make money off of selling a crippled iPhone in China that the Chinese government can shut off, control, or monitor at any time, but that doesn't make it moral.

If people (including government officials in the US) can come out against the regime in Iran for blocking Internet and cell phones after the elections, why can't they come out against the regime in China for wanting to permanently keep WiFi off the iPhone? Money, pure and simple.

The same argument about "they're a company, get over it" always comes up in cases like this. Anyone who thinks that the sole reason people like Apple is because they make money hasn't been paying attention. The Mac community is about more than that. Besides, Apple makes political statements (same sex marriage, environment, etc.), so its supporters should be allowed to as well when relevant to the story at hand.

[muskratboy]

Originally Posted by swingerofbirch

the US has also eavesdropped on american citizens in collusion with att and verizon. and we also kill our own people. not as much. but we do imprison the highest percentage of our own citizens. we don't allow our citizens to travel to certain countries like cuba. there are laws that apply to women that aren't applied to men. the degree is different, but the essence is similar.

1) yes, we do messed up stuff too. and this makes it ok... how?

2) at least here you are able to talk about the problems openly, and even read that the problems exist. china... not so much.

hey, i know this is a messed up situation. but first google and now apple... american companies are all too eager to jump through whatever hoops the chinese government sets up.

if you asked steve jobs "is it ok to limit speech and freedom, control information to the people, etc." he would certainly say "NO!" ... so, why is it ok to bend over backwards to help the chinese government do exactly those things?

stock price? really?

do no evil, indeed.

[zombitronic]

Originally Posted by muskratboy

1) yes, we do messed up stuff too. and this makes it ok... how?

2) at least here you are able to talk about the problems openly, and even read that the problems exist. china... not so much.

hey, i know this is a messed up situation. but first google and now apple... american companies are all too eager to jump through whatever hoops the chinese government sets up.

if you asked steve jobs "is it ok to limit speech and freedom, control information to the people, etc." he would certainly say "NO!" ... so, why is it ok to bend over backwards to help the chinese government do exactly those things?

stock price? really?

do no evil, indeed.

That's Google.

Anyway, muskrat, what do you want? You like to complain but you don't have any alternative ideas. The choice seems to be either no iPhone, or iPhone with no Wi-Fi. Are you calling for no iPhones in China?

And again, even with Wi-Fi it's pretty hard to move your data in China without going through an ISP. Do you think that there's not a watchful eye in the ISPs, also? It's Chinatown, man. If you're this upset about it, complaining about a Wi-Fi-less iPhone isn't the best thing that you can do about the situation.