iPhone 4 units in China to come with cases
It looks like China Unicom, Apple’s partner in China, may be trying to avoid the problems that Apple faced in the U.S. over antenna problems by shipping iPhone 4 handsets to customers with cases already attached.
Although the severity of Apple’s “Antenna-gate” problems vary according to who is telling the story, there is no disagreement about the significance of the problems caused by the iPhone 4 antenna. At the worst, according to Apple detractors, the handset’s antenna design was critically flawed and requires remediation. At the other end of the spectrum, the problem was primarily a story cooked up by competitors based on a very small actual issue. The truth is almost certainly somewhere in the middle, but Apple’s (so far) exclusive wireless provider in China has decided to take the bull by the horns as the iPhone 4 launch nears in that country.
The latest Apple handset is due to go on sale in mid-September in China. China Telecom has already announced that they will be providing a free case to solve any antenna problem with every iPhone 4 sold, according to an AppleInsider article. Apple shipped their cases after the fact, although it also provided them for free. It is not known if China Unicom will ship the cases with the phones or if they will send them along later. Either way, since the insulating case is thought to totally take care of any reception problems caused by the antenna design, China Unicom’s preemptive strike will probably short-circuit (pun intended) any problems that they may have had.
As an aside, another Apple product is scheduled to go on sale in China shortly after the iPhone 4. It is expected that China Unicom will begin offering the iPad in the huge Chinese marketplace shortly after the new iPhone. There are no antenna problems to confront in that case, but pundits are looking forward to seeing how the Apple tablet computer, which is wildly popular elsewhere, sells in China.
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August 26th, 2010
if the Apple don’t offer free cases , the consumers of course complaint the antenna issue again ~but i heared that the High imitation mobile market is very hot in China . i worried which will affect the sales of iphone 4 and ipad !! good luck! Apple! lol ~ but if Chinese puchase a iphone or ipad , i suggest them get a Aneesoft iphone/ipad converter like me~~