The Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone 4S has been given clearance for debuting in China. About 4 days ago, the China Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has issued a network access permit for the iPhone 4S. China Unicom is preparing for the iPhone 4S to be released by Christmas or sometime early next year.

China Unicom sold 100,000 iPhone 4 devices in four days. China Unicom is sold out as of right now. About 200,000 people pre-ordered the device. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) started selling the device this past Saturday and the second shipment is expected to arrive on October 1. [PCWorld]

The original iPhone was not greeted well in China. Supposedly China Unicom signed up only 5,000 subscribers. The iPhone 4 was launched this past Saturday in China. Over 200,000 people in China pre-ordered the iPhone 4 according to China Unicom. At 8AM when China Unicom opened the doors to the new Apple store at the Joy City shopping mall in Beijing, there was a line of about 1,000 people.

China Unicom (NYSE:CHU) plans to launch an application store this month. The China Unicom Unistore will offer applications for smartphones and tablet computers. China Unicom has about 10 million 3G users.

Ericsson has announced a deal with China Mobile and China Unicom that is worth $1.8 billion. Ericsson will provide China Unicom with a faster 3G network. Ericsson will also provide China Mobile equipment to boost their capacity for mobile networks. “The signing of the significant frame agreements is a manifestation of our continued strong co-operation with our Chinese customers,” stated Ericsson head of China Mats Olsson. [BBC]

China Unicom (Hong Kong) Limited (ADR) (NYSE:CHU) has sold about 100,000 iPhones since the device became available in the Asian country this past October. Shortly after the launch of the iPhone, China Unicom said that about 5,000 of them sold in the opening weekend.

In South Korea, the iPhone sold slightly better. In the opening weekend of the iPhone’s availability, KT had about 60,000 pre-orders for the device in South Korea. In total China has about 700 million mobile phone users.

China Unicom sells both the iPhone 3G and the iPhone 3G S. However China Unicom removed WiFi from the iPhone as part of government regulation compliance. China Unicom is selling the 32GB iPhone with no contract for 6,999 yuan (a little over $1,000).

In the United States and several other countries, Apple has sold millions of iPhone devices. But in China there has not been a good number of sales whatsoever. China Unicom reportedly sold only about 5,000 iPhones in a week. Two of the biggest problems with selling the iPhone in China so far is that the price is too high and it does not come bundled with WiFi.

The iPhone costs $1,025 in China while it costs $299 in the United States with an AT&T contract. China Unicom is selling the iPhone for a price that is 26% higher than what it is selling for in Hong Kong.

“We believe that eventually China will emerge as a major market for iPhone sales, but it could take a year or two to gain meaningful unit traction as it did in the U.S.,” stated Piper Jaffray & Co. analyst Gene Munster.

The Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone is now available in China through the China Unicom telecommunications company. The problem with the iPhone in China is that there isn’t any built in WiFi. Apple did this in order to comply with a government regulation. In China the iPhone costs between 4,999 yuan ($730) to 6,999 yuan ($1,025).

Given the high price in China, it seems unlikely that the phone will be as big of a hit there as it was in America. That seems unfortunate considering that the iPhone is manufactured in Shenzhen. WiFi was banned by the Chinese government in order to replace it with WAPI technology. WAPI stands for WLAN Authentication and Privacy Infrastructure. WAPI was rejected by the ISO and was one of the reasons for a U.S. and China Trade dispute.

“We are talking with Apple and expect the problem to be solved by the end of this year,” stated Unicom spokesman Yi Difei. Do you think that this will hinder people in China from buying the device?