What Lies Ahead As Android Phones and the iPhone Square Off in China?

by Sam Dean - Aug. 31, 2009Comments (0)

Slowly but surely, Apple has been trying to crack the Chinese market with the iPhone. There have been many obstructions, and China Mobile has already expressed its desire to push Android-based phones, such as Dell's, throughout the country. As MacNewsWorld reported late last week, though, the "iPhone's slow boat to China" has finally arrived. China Unicom, the second largest wireless provider in China, announced on Friday that it will start carrying iPhones in this year's third quarter. Is there likely to be a smackdown between Android-based phones and the iPhone in China, and how free and open will China's government allow cutting-edge smartphones to be?

According to China Unicom's announcement: "On 28 August, the company and Apple reached a three-year agreement for the company to sell iPhones in China." Obviously, this is good news for Apple, given the massive size of the Chinese market. Still, questions are swirling about what kinds of restrictions the Chinese government might put on smartphones. According to MacNewsWorld's report: "All iPhones legally sold in China must exclude their WiFi feature by Chinese law." That's undoubtedly because if users could access the web with Wi-Fi, they would be much less easy to monitor. The report also speculates that China's own Wi-Fi standard, WAPI, may run on iPhones. It makes it easier to monitor usage.

It's almost certain that China won't allow full, free access to Apple's App Store, which is loaded with applications that the government would likely find offensive and/or illegal. Without a robust App Store, and without Wi-Fi, does the iPhone stand a chance? It's slick technology, and China Unicom has pledged to sell the phones for low prices, so Apple has a chance.

Meanwhile, Andy Updegrove has a very good post up on the iPhone's Chinese prospects, and the square-off with Android phones that we're likely to see in China. "A smartphone based on an open source platform clearly offers more opportunities for creativity, extension and (in China) hacking to get around government-imposed technical requirements," he writes.

I couldn't agree with that more, and I suspect Chinese users will have the opportunity to buy Android phones for prices competitive with China Unicom's iPhone prices. China Mobile, which is backing Android-based phones such as Dell's, is the largest wireless provider in China, and is state owned.

I'm betting that Android will be a big smartphone winner in China, and the iPhone less so. Surely, Chinese  smartphone users will grasp the types of greater freedom that they can enjoy on an open source platform.



 


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