Apple's iPhone 4S Goes on Sale in China

Apple iPhone 4S

The Apple iPhone 4S smartphone went on sale today at Apple Store stores throughout mainland China & on China Unicom's (NYSE: CHU; 0762.HK; 600050.SH) web-site.

Apple iPhone 4S handsets now on the market online through China Unicom are obtainable as a standalone gizmo with either 16 GB, 32 GB or 64 GB of internal memory, or at no cost for the handset under a 3-year contract at RMB 286 per month or higher for either the 16 or 32 GB version, or a every month rate of RMB 386 or higher in a 2-year contract for the 16 GB version. Consumers can pick a payment plan & buy a specific Apple iPhone 4S model at China Unicom's authorized online service middle, 10010.com.

A China Mobile (NYSE: CHL; 0941.HK) spokesperson has revealed that support for both the new Siri speech recognition engine & iCloud cloud storage functions introduced with the Apple iPhone 4S will be obtainable through China Mobile's WLAN network, adding that current subscribers can now swap their present SIM card for personalized for full compatibility with the new Apple iPhone 4S features. A source at a China Mobile base in southern China has said that to mark the launch of the Apple iPhone 4S, the telecom operator recently developed a CMMB mobile TV player that China Mobile subscribers with an Apple iPhone 4S can download & use with additional hardware to get CMMB digital TV programming.

China's Ministry of Industry & Knowledge Expertise (MIIT) also published the network access permit for the CDMA version of the Apple iPhone 4S on its web-site today, as well as a Guangdong Telecom executive claimed that a CDMA version Apple iPhone 4S will soon reach the market. Industry speculation suggests that China Telecom (NYSE: CHA; 0728.HK) will launch the CDMA Apple iPhone 4S sometime in February.

Editor's Note: Sina Tech has reported in separate articles that the Apple iPhone 4S sales page on China Unicom's 10010.com customer support web-site was inaccessible for short periods this morning due to excess traffic, & also that the Joy City shopping mall in Beijing's Xidan district, limiting each customer to Apple iPhone 4S handsets apiece, sold four,000 units in the first hour of sales. Meanwhile, the Apple Store in Beijing's Sanlitun district cancelled its sales of the Apple iPhone 4S today following scuffles overnight between scalpers gathered outside the store.

For more background on this topic, please see "China Unicom Announces iPhone 4S Contract Plans" MD 1/06/12 issue and "iPhone 4S to Launch in China on January 13" MD 1/05/12 issue.

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Apple iOS 5.0.1 Update Not Solved Battery Issues For All Users

Apple rolled out their new iOS 5.0.1 update this morning in an attempt to help stop batteries draining quite so fast on their iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch devices, after battery problems were reported by a number of users using iOS 5 over the last couple of weeks.

Siri Apple iPhone 4 hack gets Apple server support

Apple disappointed many iPhone 4 owners with the news that Siri, the digital personal assistant technology, would only be available on the new Apple iPhone 4S, and efforts quickly began to hack Siri onto the older smartphone. Developer Steve Troughton-Smith got the local app running with no problems, but faced Apple’s servers refusing to play ball with anything but the newest iPhone. Now, with the judicious application of some validation tokens from an Apple iPhone 4S, it’s possible to get Siri on the iPhone 4 and iPod touch up and running, even without official support from Apple itself.

“It does require files from an Apple iPhone 4S which aren’t ours to distribute, and it also requires a validation token from the Apple iPhone 4S  that has to be pulled live from a jailbroken Apple iPhone 4S, and it’s about a 20-step process right now” Steve Troughton-Smith, developer

Still, you shouldn’t expect to see a public release of this particular Siri hack any time soon, at least from its original developer. Troughton-Smith told 9 to 5 Mac that he viewed it as a proof of concept more than anything else, to demonstrate that the iPhone 4′s single-core processor was up to the task of running Siri and that, in short, Apple’s decision to limit it to the Apple iPhone 4S  was one of product positioning.

Siri on iPhone 4:
Meanwhile, a second video has already demonstrated Siri running on the iPod touch, though in this case there are some hardware limitations. That’s around the iPod’s microphone, however, which is less sensitive than that of the iPhone 4/4S: Siri demands a strong, clear voice if it’s going to pick up any commands. No word on whether it’ll run on the iPad yet, though the local app has already been demonstrated as functional on Apple’s tablet.

Siri on iPod touch:
Siri is expected to be Apple’s primary strategy with the oft-rumored Apple television, with the latest rumors suggesting Steve Jobs envisioned a voice-controlled HDTV running iOS and using the intelligent spoken command system to bypass the traditional remote. More on Siri in our full Apple iPhone 4S review.

Apple iPhone 4S (Steve)

A total of four million units of iPhone or Apple iPhone 4S 4 Steve has been sold after the third day of the official launch on October 14.

Apple Company also received an order of 1 million units through on-line sales for the Apple iPhone 4S, more than 600 000 thousand units compared to earlier models.

Apple iPhone 4S was introduced to the public the day before the death of its chairman Steve Jobs, this model was initially regarded as not appropriate for the customer for their physical appearance is similar to earlier models of the Apple iPhone 4.

However, the unique feature of voice recognition applications are known as the Series has received positive feedback from users to help increase its sales.

Credit: Resources & Images, Reuters