As of 9pm Beijing time, Apple.com.cn officially lists the iPhone’s arrival to Mainland China. From Apple: “尽早获知:iPhone 即将来到中国, 想尽早获详情？即刻注册，我们会在iPhone上市时的第一时间通知你”.
It is basically asking people to register their name and email to find out details of the iPhones arrival in China. As of this writing, the iPhone is not listed in the online Apple Store in China.
No more time for rumors, it is now official. China Unicom and Apple has officially announced the settlement of a multiyear agreement to sell the iPhone in China today. As our sources have confirmed with us earlier, they are gearing up for a fourth quarter launch this year.
Over the past few months, China Unicom kiosks have been popping up in Carrefour (the French version of Walmart) and Best Buy locations all over the Mainland after China Unicom has made agreements with both companies to help promote and sell their 3G service. The wide availability of the iPhone at these higher end locations should help obtain the right target market as well as defend against China Mobile’s Android based OPhone (the supposed China iPhone killer) also making it’s debut around the same time. The 8GB version of the iPhone (around 2,400 RMB) and 16GB version (around 4800 RMB) will also be sold at official China Unicom locations.
China Unicom press release:
UPDATE: iPhone in China is officially listed on Apple.com.cn
If you are one of the unlucky ones, you may be asking yourself ‘Why is the internet so slow in China today?’ Many people are unable to use MSN Messenger, some VPN services, nor able to access sites such as Yahoo and Apple.com. The good news is it doesn’t have anything to do with the Great Firewall. The bad news is it is apparently caused by seabed movements from Typhoon Morakat and affecting several countries Asia wide.
According to China Unicom the FNAL / RNAL cable from Hong Kong to Taiwan, an important information channel, has been damaged on August 12th by typhoon Morakot. However routing was not interrupted due to certain protections so there was no impact on communications at that time. Today at around 14:20 Beijing time, the cable protection routing China’s gateway to North America, Europe and other international communications via Pusan, South Korea was damaged, caused by impacts of varying levels.
The International Business Department of China Unicom said there are currently related organizations and outside partners taking necessary measures in order to resume normal communication as soon as possible.
Although you may have trouble getting on your favorite sites today, please keep in mind there are several people who are suffering much worse due to the typhoon and I ask that you keep them in your thoughts.
虽然把中国版iPhone的Wifi功能移除的准确原因尚不清楚，但是很多人都猜想是中国政府为了通过他们的服务器来监视网络信息。毕竟，在苹果商店里出售的iPod和Touch是具有Wi-Fi功能的。在我看来，这是一种让大陆的手机经销商谋取更多利益的方法，他们可以通过销售上网套餐来取得更多的利润，但是，这个想法在某些程度上并不正确，因为决定移除Wifi功能的是中国政府，而不是中国联通。
不论原因是什么，以下的这个方法将会告诉你如何翻墙访问被禁的网站，比如Facebook和Twitter. 并且，无论你使用何种传输方式：Wi-Fi,GPRS还是3G， VPN能够提供匿名并安全的网络连接，特别是当你访问受政府监控的网站时，这一特性显得尤为重要。
请按照下面的步骤在你的iPhone上设置Hotspot Shield. 只需要简单的几步就可以建立VPN连接。
1. 设置iPhone
首先在设置->Wi-Fi中将Wi-Fi关闭
然后找到VPN的设置项：
设置->通用->网络->VPN->添加VPN配置…:
选择L2TP选项，描述: HotspotShield
服务器: 64.55.144.10
帐户：[点击“获得一个帐户”按钮]
RSA SecurID: 关闭
密码：[点击“获得一个帐户”按钮]
密钥: password
发送所有流量: 开启
2. 获得一个帐户
点击这里 在网页的中部有一个2. GetAccountID 点击下面的按扭。页面刷新后，你会看到你的用户名和密码。第一行的粗体部分是用户名；第二行粗体部分是密码。
3. 保存
现在你已经完成了设置。保存当前的设置然后再将Wi-Fi开启。
4. 激活
为了在iPhone上激活Hotspot Shield, 需要把VPN的设置开启。从菜单中选择”设置”， 这时，你可以看到一个VPN选项，将这个
选项开启。这时你的状态会变为“已连接”, 而且这时会有一个VPN的图标出现在iPhone最上面的状态栏中。如果你连接失败，你需要重新启动iPhone，然后再在
“设置”中把VPN设置开启
While it’s not known the exact reason for removing Wi-Fi capabilities on the Chinese version of the iPhone, many people speculate it is because the PRC government wants to monitor all traffic through their servers. After all, the iPod Touch sold at the Apple stores are Wi-Fi enabled. In my opinion, it was a way for the cell phone providers on the mainland to make more money selling internet plans, however the idea is somewhat flawed since it was the government who established the rule and not China Unicom.
Whatever the reason may be, Anchor Free allows a free VPN solution that will allow you to access Twitter and Facebook which happens to be blocked by the Great Firewall. A VPN will also anonymize and secure your internet connection while accessing any other censored sites using any data service over Wi-Fi/GPRS/or 3G. Point your browsers to HotSpot Shield to get started.
We reported earlier that one of the reasons for investing in China Unicom (CHU) may not be a good idea because of their official stores being sparsely located throughout major cities. Today we learn that Best Buy in China has been preparing for the iPhone release as early as May when Apple received a 5 year license from the national radio frequency spectrum monitoring and testing center. Along with the iPhone, Best Buy will also sell other 3G Unicom products such as data cards and service plans. The Apple Store in Beijing brings the total to three official retailers for the Chinese iPhone.
There will also be 2 versions of the iPhone set for release in China which sport different model numbers then their parallel devices in the rest of the world. The Chinese version of the iPhone 3GS Model is A1325, and the Chinese version of the iPhone 3G model is A1324. The iPhone 3GS elsewhere such as the US and Hong Kong is the A1303, the second generation iPhone 3G and first-generation iPhone only supports the 2G mobile phone models are the A1241 and A1203 respectively. According to the screenshot below from the National Radio Authority web site, the Phone will be on the GSM standard.
Apple COO, Tim Cook in an interview with iPhoneAsia Editor Dan Butterfield also said Unicom reached a sale agreement with Apple and will see the formal launch of China’s first Apple iPhone mobile phone the autumn of 2009 .
最新的iPhone OS 3.1 beta版包含对”iProd1,1,”的设置，这意味着有一个神秘的产品即将发布. 那个神秘的产品是上网本还是其他产品仍然不得而知.
[via ARS Techinca]
Yesterday, China Mobile Research Institute disclosed insiders, “this year there will be several formal Ophone phones coming to market with 40 different varieties” Last week, Lenovo Mobile said, a high-level “Lenovo will be the TD version Ophone available in September.” when the 2G version of TD-SCDMA and Ophone Lenovo will be listed for sale at the same time. If so, then Ophone positive encounters with the iPhone will be inevitable. However, some informed sources said the iPhone version of the earliest Unicom to be available for sale in the fourth quarter of this year.
It is reported that Lenovo will use super-phone Ophone hardware configuration, such as with 3.5-inch touch HVGA ultra-high-definition widescreen, 634MHz processor, 8GB/16GB mass storage, , Micro SD, 5 megapixel autofocus camera, support for GPS / Wi-Fi / digital TV, using 1500mAh/2000mAh removable battery. It is easy to see from the configuration, Ophone is directed to the iPhone.
OPhone Although the iPhone is more similar in appearance, but is used OPhone China Mobile Google Android platform-based operating system developed by OMS (Open Mobile System), and China Mobile will be built in which a number of business, such as flying letter, newsletter, mail, such as mobile phones.
Here is a video from Sina Tech:
The Chongqing Morning News this morning reported China Unicom will definitely use a subsidized bundled sales approach for the iPhone. “Consumers who buy the actual product will not pay more than 3000 rmb. Also for customers who sign higher priced subscription contracts, the cost of the purchase of iPhone mobile phone will be much lower.”
Yesterday, the reporters came to town a computer Jiefangbei parallel asked Apple iPhone mobile phone.
A sales staff in Jiefangbei said that the latest 16GB 3GS of the iPhone will be more than 5,000, while the 32GB price of the iPhone 3GS in more than 6,000 and must also be ordered in advance.
According to the latest network debut of a “Unicom iPhone” the back of the phone introduced simplified Chinese text which says “美国苹果公司 Apple Inc WCDMA 数字移动电手机 ” which is translated to “USA Apple Inc Apple Inc WCDMA Digital Mobile Phone”.
From the pictures of the 16GB Unicom version we reported earlier, which broke the story to the Western world, there is not much difference in style other than the missing Wi-Fi option in the settings menu. Market analysts believe that a lack of Wi-Fi may reduce the iPhone’s attractiveness to users.
Chongqing Unicom insiders who told reporters that iPhone in China may have some built-in applications and designs that are more specific to users in mainland China.
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