Apple To Sell Wi-Fi-less iPhone In China

Hugh Pickens writes "Business Week reports that the Chinese government has received an application from Apple seeking a Network Access License to sell the iPhone for officially-sanctioned use in the country. However, the application is for an iPhone that does not include Wi-Fi connectivity, a sticking point in negotiations with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, which wants the phone to only run on the cellular networks. 'Apple was hellbent on having the iPhone be Wi-Fi-enabled,' says analyst Matt Mathison. 'The Chinese government has been just as adamant that it not be.' For many years now, China ministry officials told wireless consumers that Wi-Fi would not be allowed on mobile phones for fear that consumers might be tempted to illegally load VoIP apps and make calls over the Net, undermining carriers' interests. However Glenn Fleishman says that China uses WAPI, a homegrown proprietary extension to Wi-Fi that only a handful of Chinese manufacturers have access to, and that equipment sold in China must have WAPI support and chips made in China. Fleishman speculates that China's WAPI standard contains backdoor technology to allow China to monitor any communications sent over 'secure' links."

Comments

Double hobble

[MadFarmAnimalz]

It's bad enough that Apple loads their phone with anti-features, here's an edition which the Chinese government also gets the privilege of crippling even further. What's next, a special edition shipped with elephant poop? Knowing Apple and knowing consumers, that will just make it sell better... *sigh*

Re:And what does our FCC think about this?

[countertrolling]

Honestly you don't have an even casual acquaintance if you think they're fundamentally similar.

Fundamentally they are identical. One is an iron fist. The other is the velvet glove. One uses the raw force of indoctrination. The other uses the even more effective power of dazzling distraction. But the common mission is still control.