China Unicom likely to start selling iPhone in Q4

Published: 21 Jun 2009 20:10:22 PST

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Jun. 22, 2009 (China Knowledge) - China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd<600050><0762><CHU>, the country's second largest telecom operator, is expected to become the exclusive seller of Apple Inc's iPhone in October, a Merrill Lynch analyst said, Reuters reported.

The analyst said that it is very likely that China Unicom and Apple have agreed on a two-year exclusive agreement, to launch three iPhone models in the country on Oct.1.

A spokesman for China Unicom declined to comment on the report and said the two sides were still in talks.

China Unicom was set to release the iPhone in China in May, when the telecom operator officially launched 3G services nationwide. However, the deal was not closed as the two sides had not fully worked out the revenue-sharing model.

Apple COO Tim Cook last month said that the company is working on the introduction of the iPhone into the Chinese market and would like to officially release it in 2010.

About 1 million Chinese consumers already own an iPhone.

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