According to Engadget, recently a listing was discovered on China’s State Radio Regulatory Commission (SRRC) website which revealed information indicating that the iPhone is definitely coming to China sooner rather than later.
The listing included information that a phone from the company Apple Inc. featuring GSM / WCDMA, Bluetooth, having an internal model number A1324 was approved by the SRRC on May 5. This certificate expires in five years.
China Unicom, China’s second largest wireless carrier will bring the iPhone to China. It has an exclusivity agreement with the iPhone for a period of three years. The iPhone 3G should start shipping by the end of September.
Apple had first considered launching the iPhone on China Mobile, China’s largest carrier. However, there were differences in revenue sharing and bonus arrangements. Also, China Mobile operates a TD-SCDMA network which is not compatible with the iPhone.
China Unicom utilizes a standard GSM/UMTS 3G mobile network which means Apple wouldn’t have to modify iPhone’s wireless chip.