If sales were to remain steady, they would be able to sell 365.000 units in one year...
True, but considering that the Wi-Fi ban was lifted in May and the currently shipping units were already in production, it seems likely that Wi-Fi enabled iPhones will come to China "officially" well before the end of this 12 month window.
Considering that there are already about 2 million Wi-Fi capable iPhones in China, if China Unicom were to sell official Wi-Fi capable iPhones, it seems likely that this number could be met.
Also, note that the article you linked to only stated that China Unicom purchased 5 million iPhones. It also said that the phones would start selling in September. The credibility of this report is flawed. Regardless of whether or not the 5 million purchase number is true, China Unicom already paid for them. They will likely drop the price on these models when the Wi-Fi capable model officially becomes available.
One more thing about this entire thread. The report states 5,000 new iPhone users. It
also says that it signed up 1 million 3G customers. Presumably, if people were waiting for this specific weekend to sign up, many of these new subscribers could likely be customers who bought their unlocked Wi-Fi enabled iPhones on the grey market.
Add that to the 2 million iPhones already in use from earlier this year, and there may be about 3 million iPhones in use in China. Unicom Chairman Chang Xiaobing also had this to say: "We are satisified with iPhone sales so far, and we aim to have an additional 1 million new 3G subscribers each month in the near future." Legitimate or grey market, iPhones are coming to China.
This, of course, is admittedly speculation and reading between the lines on my part. Still, it's no less speculation than a contrarian view which is based on a loose understanding of the facts.
