China Unicom has great expectations for the iPhone despite lackluster sales, projecting that the device will represent 10 percent of all 3G phones in the People's Republic within two to three years. The chairman of China's second-largest wireless carrier also said that he expects the iPhone to be the top-selling smartphone in the burgeoning Chinese market.
In spite of intense interest in the initial offering of a legitimate iPhone after years of black-market devices trickling in from Hong Kong and abroad, China Unicom only gained 5,000 new subscriber since the device was released in October. However, the company is reportedly pleased with the sales and is claiming that the October launch of its world-standard WCDMA 3G network was also a success, with over a million new subscribers added each month.
Apple is also in talks with Unicom's competitor China Mobile, the world's largest wireless carrier with 475 million subscribers as compared with 141 million for China Unicom...