Over on the China State Regulatory Commission web site (basically the Chinese version of the FCC), the government has apparently approved a GSM/WCDMA cell phone complete with Bluetooth, an internal model number A1324 by Apple Inc. According to Engadget, the device was approved on May 7th, 2009 with the approval certificate set to expire in five years.
That being said, China Unicom should have plenty of time to capitalize on its reported three-year deal to offer the phone in mainland China.
And to sweeten the deal, an image of what may be the Chinese iPhone…
One reply on “Chinese iPhone Gains State Approval”
IMHO I think the restriction was orchestrated by the Government and it’s Gov’t run carrier China Mobile. It might be a big brother issue wanting to restrict the populace from truly communicating with the outside world. But in reality it’s China Mobile trying to get it their way, Gov’t controlled App Store, Phones that only work in China using China Mobile’s government-supported TD-SCDMA, and killing the competition by forcing it to overtax it’s wireless network by allowing cellular connection. Jjust look at what has happened to AT&T, and they allow WiFi to the extent of providing FREE WiFI hotspots across the country. Can anyone say bring China Unicom network to it’s Knees and frustrate all CHU subscribers. If AT&T can’t readily upgrade it’s Network to meet the demand of a couple Million iPhones how is a country that is just emerging into the 20th century going to handle possibly 10’s of millions of subscriber demands. Result – Network meltdown.