Apple iPhone Nearly Ready To Launch In China

The Apple iPhone will soon be launching in the most populated country in the world.  A testing center for the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has confirmed a government license for an iPhone prototype that was modified for the Chinese market.

It is uncertain how many licenses Apple must receive in order to sell the mobile device in China.  But Apple has nearly completed the negotiations necessary to have China Unicom distribute the phone.

An analyst Merrill Lynch in Hong Kong anticipates that the phone should be available as early as October.  China currently has about 687 million mobile phone users whereas the U.S. has about 270 million.