China Unicom iPhone Sales to Start in October

China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd. said Monday it will begin offering Apple Inc.'s iPhone in China in October at a retail price of around 5,000 yuan ($732).China Unicom in August signed a three-year deal with Apple to sell iPhones in China.Unicom, China's second-largest wireless operator by users after China Mobile Ltd., will offer a choice of eight different service packages with the phone, ranging from 126 yuan to 886 yuan per month. A woman applies a screen protector to a customer's iPhone at her shop in Shanghai.The rollout of the iPhone coincides with the official launch of China Unicom's third-generation wireless network on Oct. 1. The iPhone will be sold in Apple retail outlets, through China Unicom's own network of stores, and through major independent retailers, Unicom's statement said. Unicom is also developing an online application store based on Apple's model.Unicom hopes the iconic phone will give it an edge over China Mobile, though analysts have speculated the iPhone could also show up at China Mobile, and China Mobile Chairman Wang Jianzhou said earlier this month that the company remains in talks with Apple over selling iPhones in China.China Unicom also said it will sell a phone by Samsung Electronics Co. that runs on Google Inc.'s operating system from December, for around 4,500 yuan. It is set to launch a series of other 3G phones over the next few months.Unicom launched an experimental trial of its 3G network in May and to date it has 530,000 users, the company said, including 430,000 handset users and 100,000 users of data cards for computers.