China Unicom to give free iPhone with pricy packages

Oct. 7, 2009 (China Knowledge) - China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd<600050><0762><CHU>, the country's second largest telecom operator, has started taking pre-orders of Apple Inc's iPhone from this month, in a bid to boost its sales during the National Day holiday.

The telecom carrier will give the 32-gigabyte iPhone 3GS for free to customers who select the two-year service plan priced at RMB 886 per month. In addition, customers will have to pre-pay the monthly bills for a total of RMB 7,999.

Under the cheapest contract, which costs RMB 126 per month, customers who buy 8GB iPhone 3G can get RMB 3,099 back, while the 16GB and 32GB versions of the iPhone 3GS will be priced at RMB 3,999 and RMB 4,999, respectively.

The pricy packages are targeted at high-end users in China, where China Mobile has the largest market share.

Without a contract, the 8GB iPhone 3G is priced at RMB 5,999, while the 16GB and 32GB iPhone 3GS are priced at RMB 6,999 and RMB 7,999 respectively.