Unicom buys 5 lakh iPhones for Chinese market

BEIJING, CHINA: China Unicom, the potential exclusive distributor of iPhones in China, is banking on an iPhone frenzy this September, as the mobile service provider has bought five million of the handsets from Apple, according to media reports.

China Unicom has reportedly paid $1.46 billion (about 10 billion yuan) to buy the units from Apple. Earlier there were reports that the companies have signed a three-year deal that gave China Unicom exclusive rights to sell the iPhone in China.

Media reports, citing Yu Zaonan, general manager of the customer development department of China Unicom in Guangzhou, said WCDMA standard 8GB model iPhone would be sold for around 2,400 yuan, while the larger 16GB model will sell for approximately 4,800 yuan.

Though iPhone is not officially available in China, reportedly there are many smuggled iPhones in the country, which challenges the legal copy with lower prices.

iPhone Explosion

Even as China is getting ready to embrace iPhone, a French teenager claimed that an Apple iPhone explosion has shattered in his face. According to Marie-Dominique Kolega, of Aix-en-Provence in southern France, his 18-year-old son was struck in the eye by a piece of glass when the screen shattered on his girlfriend's iPhone.

According to an AFP report, he has threatened to file a complaint against Apple following the incident. The report is the first such incident involving an iPhone.

So China welcome the iPhone with all fireworks, maybe!