Is China Ready for the Iphone?

Apple wants in on the world’s largest mobile market, China. At least that’s what China Mobile wants the world to know. With a 523 million subscriber base in mainland China alone, that’s a lot of iPhones.

If current talks gain any positive ground, that would bring Apple to a brand new market larger than the total population of Europe. But the question remains. Is China ready for the iPhone?

Chinese mobile subscribers are not used to having locked in contracts, much less long term contract obligations. The iPhone is network locked everywhere else. In the United States, AT&T has exclusive rights to the iPhone. Elsewhere in Europe, the iPhone is locked to France’s Orange, T-Mobile in Germany and O2 in the UK. For China, it’s either China Mobile or the slightly smaller China Unicom based in Taiwan.

Although Apple usually gets its way, dealing with the Chinese nation state may be an entirely different thing. Apple has already announced plans of making the iPhone available in Asia by 2008.