iPhone 4 First Weekend Sale in China

This past Saturday (September 25, 08:00 China Standard Time) we saw the official release of the iPhone 4 in mainland China.

It was welcomed by thousands of Chinese Apple fans, who camped out at the 3 Apple Stores in Beijing and Shanghai respectively. The actual launch had the fanfare of launches in New York City, London and Tokyo. This is even with gray-market iPhone 4’s from Hong Kong and other countries sold in mainland China since it the initial launch in the US.

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China iPhone a Non-Event?

iPhone3GSThere was an article on Engadget about the mainland China version of the iPhone. I thought it was necessary to create my own post to clarify the situation as I see them, after reading the postings and comments on various sites like Modmyi.com about this Engadget article.

First of all, there have been real [manufactured by Apple] iPhones available in mainland China for some time; since 2007. These grey market iPhones came from both Hong Kong and else where around the world. In the past, Hong Kong versions; prior to iPhone 3GS, were more expensive than its counter parts from other countries. With the introduction of the iPhone 3GS, the Australian and New Zealand versions had also became desirable, due to their equally SIM unlock feature.

It is true that the Chinese government requires WAPI authentication in all wireless devices: client, access points, and routers, but this requirement caused an up roar among Chinese and foreign businesses, who would have to equip their employees requiring to travel to China with dual WiFi standard devices. In 2006 the WAPI proposed standard was rejected by ISO as an International standard in favor orf 802.11i.

China disclosed the WAPI technology to only 7 Chinese companies, and required any foreign companies to work with one of these 7 Chinese companies if they want to build WiFi devices for use in China. Of course, these foreign companies will also have to pay WAPI licensing fees. It is only recently; this year, that China was allow to resubmit the WAPI standard to ISO. So China’s insistent on the WAPI standard rekindled.

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MMS With iPhone 3.0 On iPhone 3G [Updated]

iPhone 3G With 3.0When I the create the post, To iPhone 3G S or Not?, I was not able to enable the MMS function on my iPhone 3G.

Before I explain how to enable MMS on an iPhone 3G running the iPhone 3.0 firmware, let me explain my context.

My iPhone 3G is the officially “SIM unlocked” version of the iPhone 3G directly from Apple Online Store Hong Kong. It capacity happens to be a 16GB version. I installed the iPhone 3.0 firmware “Golden Master” version onto my iPhone.

The following applies to any carrier situations, no matter whether the carrier in question is an official carrier partner with Apple in the country.

[Update: 12:10, June 18, 2009]
Added MMS settings for PCCW. Please note that these settings had not been tested on the iPhone. Please leave a note in the Comment section if you’re a PCCW customer and tried it on your iPhone 3G.

[Update: 13:01, June 18, 2009]
Thanks to reader Jon for pointing out the typo in the MMSC for Smartone-Vodafone.

[Update: 14:01, June 18, 2009]
I just received some news from Smartone-Vodafone that contradicts the information I received from them in two separate occasions, which is the fact that they do not charge their customers for receiving MMS.

The latest information is that they will charge HKD0.04/KB; a maximum of HKD12.00/MMS, to receive MMS.

This comes back to my original point I always had with MMS, the technology will not get wide adoptions and acceptances by consumers until the carriers remove these ridiculous pricing.

I for one will not use it!

I encourage all to not use it and ensure you do not pay the fees to show our disgust.

[Update: 17:11, June 18, 2009]
Thanks to reader Karay who pointed to a person calling himself “markmall_hk” on UWants.com, I have now updated the MMS settings for all mobile carriers in Hong Kong.

[Update: 01:10, June 20, 2009]
Added settings for CTM in Macau.

[Update: 01:20, June 20, 2009]
Thanks to reader Niels for the China Unicom 3G settings in mainland China.

[Update: 01:30, June 20, 2009]
Thanks to reader Ju for confirming the settings for PEOPLE.

[Update: 15:10, June 20, 2009]
Thanks to reader Todd for confirming the settings for CSL

[Update: 22:00, June 23, 2009]
Thanks to the folks at iPhoneHacks.com we now have a set of instructions for our US friends who are stuck with AT&T.

[Update: 12:15, June 24, 2009]
Thanks to reader Filipe for supplying the settings for CTM Macau non-prepaid SIM card customers.

[Update: 16:00, June 25, 2009]
I just double checked Smartone-Vodafone’s web site and it clearly states that “3G SmarTone-Vodafone customers” can receive MMS for FREE.

So I do not understand why the previous Customer Service representative claims that I have to pay the HKD0.04/KB when I clearly told her that I was on a 3G plan, plus she had my account opened in front of her.

[Update: 12:00, June 26, 2009]
Added the instructions to enable to the “Cellular Data Network” option within the Network settings pane.

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iPhone Officially in China

… Well not quite.

AppleInsider reported that:

…China Unicom has tentatively reached an agreement and could start selling iPhones as early as May…

Since China Unicom’s 3G network is a WCDMA standard unlike China Mobile’s TD-SCDMA standard, the current iPhone 3G sold worldwide will not require modifications to be sold in China.

If this report is true, then I would recommend anyone in Hong Kong considering selling their iPhone (1st generation), to do so as soon as possible. As the used market for iPhone are mainly in China, most if not all iPhone collected in Hong Kong are brought into mainland China and sold at a high margin.