Apple iPhone 4 Available in China by September

China Unicom, China's second-largest telecommunications operator, may start selling Apple Inc's iPhone 4 in the mainland market in September, state television reported on Thursday.
"China Unicom has reached an agreement with Apple, and the iPhone 4 may enter the mainland market by as early as next month," the report said, citing a company statement released to the ongoing China Internet Conference in Beijing.

China Unicom officials in Beijing and Hong Kong declined to comment. Apple could not immediately be reach for comment.

"The rumor has been out for the last couple of days. It is something positive for China Unicom but not very significant as I think most subscribers find the price of the iPhone too high," said Victor Yip, a Hong-Kong based analyst with UOB Kay Hian.

Various news media have reported this week that China Unicom may become Apple's vendor for its popular iPad and iPhone 4 products. The reports have been unconfirmed by the company.

China Unicom, the sole telecom distributor of Apple's iPhone, has seen slow sales for the popular handset because of high subscription fees and stiff competition from lower priced Android handsets.

China Mobile Ltd, the country's largest provider, has also expressed interest in bringing in Apple's iPhone and iPad products.

Apple opened its second flagship store in China last month and is on track to have 25 retail outlets in the country by the end of next year. Apple executives said in April that they saw the Chinese market as a major growth opportunity.

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China to Setup New Search Engine

Yes you have listened it correct. Now China is going to launch its own Search Engine to compete with Google in search engine market. China Mobile, the world's largest mobile phone company, has signed a framework agreement with the nation's official Xinhua news agency to set up a search engine. After Google closed its search engine in China this is somehow expecting by many experts.

The deal comes as US Internet giant Google surrenders share of the world's biggest online market to its Chinese rival Baidu, following a battle with Beijing over censorship and cyber attacks that Google says originated in China.

Xinhua announced the deal in a brief statement and a spokeswoman for Hong Kong-listed China Mobile confirmed its parent company had signed the agreement.

Shares in China Mobile, which had 554 million subscribers at the end of June, ended up 2.5 percent at 84.15 Hong Kong dollars (10.8 dollars) on the news, reversing earlier losses.

Google's share of the world's biggest online market fell to 24.2 percent in the three months to June, from 30.9 percent in the first quarter, research firm Analysis International said last month.

At the same time, Baidu increased its dominance with its market share rising to 70 percent in the second quarter from 64 percent in the first three months of the year.

China's search market was worth 2.67 billion Yuan (394 million dollars) in the second quarter, up 48 percent year on year.

The number of web users in China now stands at around 420 million, according to official figures released last month.

In March, Google said it would no longer bow to government censors and effectively shut down its Chinese search engine, automatically re-routing mainland users to its uncensored site in Hong Kong.

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