AfterDawn: News

China Mobile to strip 3G and Wi-Fi from iPhone?

According to the South China Morning Post, China Mobile is set to start selling the Apple iPhone 3G, but stripped of its 3G and Wi-Fi capabilities in order to comply with Chinese regulations.

It may not be a difference to China Mobile however, which is excited to sell the popular handset in the most populated country on the planet. The carrier says there are already 400,000 jailbroken iPhones on its network however, despite no official launch in the nation.



One of the reasons behind stripping out the 3G is that it is widely expected that the carrier will build its 3G network using the TD-SCDMA standard. Rival China Telecom is expected to use the W-CDMA standard so stripping out the 3G will make the phone less appealing to users who plan to buy it and jailbreak it for use on the rival carrier.

Researcher In-Stat says the potential market for the iPhone is about 28 million Chinese, a huge reach by any standards.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 26 Sep 2008 18:03

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• 7 comments

• 1bonehead

  Only in China could this happen

  26.9.2008 19:54 #1

• DXR88

  Import Them, then jail break them. Simple Solution.

  26.9.2008 22:42 #2

• susieqbbb

  Import Them, then jail break them. Simple Solution.
  
  Sounds simple but remember it has to meet chinese regulations.
  
  and without a 3g network whats the point

  26.9.2008 23:11 #3

• DXR88

  Originally posted by susieqbbb: Import Them, then jail break them. Simple Solution.
  
  Sounds simple but remember it has to meet chinese regulations.
  
  and without a 3g network whats the pointthere stripping it because it could be used on a rival network and does not meet standards.

  26.9.2008 23:59 #4

• susieqbbb

  But you don't strip 3g functionality out of a device.
  
  That is the whole point of a iphone 3g

  29.9.2008 04:10 #5

• joliverio

  Yes, in China everything is possible!
  
  I am living here for a while and I bought a N-95 through China mobile and they fu%&$%g remove the Wifi and 3G capability from the N-95!!!!
  
  And they talk with you like you are crazy, "this mobile do not have such function"!! Yeah, in China do not have!!!! Sucks!

  1.11.2008 09:58 #6

• ayesha khan (unverified)

  It does seem that everybody is into this kind of stuff lately. Don’t really understand it though, but thanks for trying to explain it. Appreciate you shedding light into this matter. Keep it up

  30.12.2010 09:03 #7