Shanghai gets iPhone 3GS with WiFi today
Better late than never: the iPhone 3GS with WiFi is now on sale in China. Although iPhone 4 China release rumors are still spinning, one piece of Apple news that you can take to the store is that China Unicom will be selling the Apple iPhone 3GS with WiFi starting today.
Wen Baoqiu, a spokesman for China Unicom, announced that starting today, China’s second largest telecommunications company will offer the 8GB iPhone 3GS with WiFi capability. The 16GB and 32GB models without WiFi will still be available.
The iPhone launched in China in October 2009 without WiFi capabilities due to a temporary ban on the IEEE 802.11 WiFi standard. This hindered the sale of iPhones in China, with a reported 5,000 models sold in the first four days.
Even with WiFi the iPhone 3GS stil faces challenges in the Chinese market, namely its price tag. The WiFi-enabled phone is being sold with a 24-month contract for RMB 4,999 (US$735). With AT&T in the United States, the 8GB iPhone 3GS starts at just US$99 (RMB 672) with a service package .
