Apple's iPhone 3G officially launches in China

The phone went officially on sale Friday for the first time but grey-market versions have been available for a long time

Apple’s iPhone officially went on sale in China on Friday night for the first time. Its debut was greeted by raining Beijing and queues set stretch to fill around two thirds of an outdoor sales space set up for the launch. The 8 gigabyte iPhone 3G will be sold by China Unicom Fed around 5,000 yuan. That’s about 730 US dollars with no service contract. The 352 gigabyte iPhone 3GS will cost the equivalent of over a thousand dollars. Whole Friday marked the official debut of the iPhone gray market versions from overseas have long been available and cost around 4,000 yuan, cheaper than the official handset. More than a million of the gray market models the estimated to already being used in China and they also come with wifi which is been locked out of the official version to comply with local regulations. And an attempt to snug those customers, many of whom are using rival carriers, China Unicom is offering to sign up gray market handsets to its 3G service. With reporting by Owen Fledger in Beijing, this is Martin Williams, IDG News Service.