Chinese queue up for iPhones-CNN

Despite high prices and lack of Wi-Fi, hundreds line up in Beijing to buy Apple's smartphone.....
Screen shot 2009-10-30 at 5.32.59 AM

iPhone buyers in Beijing. Photo: it.chinanews.com.cn

Nobody camped out overnight and the lines didn't stretch for whole city blocks, but an hour before the iPhone was set to make its official debut in China, reporters in Beijing counted nearly 300 customers queued up to buy it, according to ChinaNews.com.

The first sale was scheduled to be made at 6:30 p.m. Friday Beijing time following an elaborate launch ceremony at the "The Place," China Unicom's flagship store. Apple vice president Greg Joswiak spoke at the event, calling it "an extraordinary day."

The line at Apple's all-glass store in the Village at Sanlitun retail development was smaller, but at one point grew to at least 150 customers long, according to a late update on MobileCrunch. Customers at the Sanlitun store told reporters they hoped to get better service by buying directly from Apple.

Although China is the world's largest cellphone market with more than 700 million subscribers, Western press reports have suggested that China Unicom (CHU) might have trouble attracting buyers under the terms of the deal it struck with Apple (AAPL). Due to restrictions imposed by the Chinese government, the iPhones being sold Friday won't have a Wi-Fi receiver.

They also cost from 4,999 yuan ($730) to 6,999 yuan ($1,025) for a 32 gig iPhone 3GS without a service plan. That is 20% more than the 5,700 yuan ($835) street merchants are changing for an unlocked gray-market 32 gig iPhone 3GS with Wi-Fi. China Unicom's iPhones are much cheaper — in some cases, free — when purchased with a long-term service contract.
China Unicom press event

Reporters crowd China Unicom chairman Chang Xiaobing. Photo: ccidnet.com

Earlier this week, iPhonAsia's Dan Butterfield reported that China Unicom is offering an amnesty program to entice the estimated 1.5 to 2 million gray-market iPhones already in China to sign up for its services. Under the "upgrade to 3G" program, owners of older iPhones can sign a contract and pop in a Unicom 3G sim card to take advantage of the carrier's WCDMA speeds and a variety of new 3G services

At the ceremony Friday, China Unicom officials announced that they now have more than 1 million iPhone 3G subscribers.

MEIZU Lost the Chance....
Link to CNN Article:
Photo: Chinese queue up for iPhones - Apple 2.0 - Fortune Brainstorm Tech

I wonder why the Chinese government isn't allowing phones to have wifi receivers, harder to keep track of anticitizens if they aren't sat down somewhere maybe

if i am correct that is because they are scarred to many people would use VOIP applications and this means there is a revenue loss for the cell phone providers .. :-)

Funny, in this German article, they say that so far only 5'000 people have bought an iPhone in China via Unicom, and they call it a failure compared to Europe/USA, where they sold over one million iPhones within the first three days.
(This does not involve the gray-marked iPhones).

heise online - Keine iPhone-Manie in China

I totaly cant understand that...
a phone that cost only 1000US$ when you buy it
and then (up to) cheap 130US$ per month,
has no WLAN, can rarely use 3g (because that net in china is by now quite inexistant)
and has a totaly closed software should attract customers like horse manure attracts flies ...

@Loonix: well, that's one of today's phenomena: Apple sells a phone that wasn't better than any other phone when it was released a few years ago, but somehow they managed to create an unparalleled hype around the phone. And they still do. Remember the release presentation this summer, about the 3GS? The new version is, well, so-so, but you should have read the comments on certain Apple/technology websites...

Now I don't know about fanboyism in China, but I imagine that somehow, they, too, see Apple as something "special" in terms of prestige. So instead of buying Chinese copies, those who can afford it can now finally buy an official iPhone.