UPDATE: China Unicom To Sell iPhone For Around CNY5,000

China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd. (CHU) said Monday it will begin offering the iPhone in China in October at a retail price of around CNY5,000 ($732).

The company will offer a choice of eight different service packages with the phone, ranging from CNY126 to CNY886 per month.

The rollout of the iPhone coincides with the official launch of China Unicom's third-generation wireless network on Oct. 1.

China Unicom, the country's second-largest wireless operator by users, hopes the iconic phone will give it an edge over larger rival China Mobile Ltd. (CHL).

The phone will be sold in Apple retail outlets, through China Unicom's own network of stores, and through major independent retailers, the statement said. Unicom is also developing an online application store based on Apple's model.

The company also said it will sell a phone by Samsung Electronics Co. (SSNHY) that runs on Google Inc.'s (GOOG) operating system from December, for around CNY4,500. It is set to launch a series of other 3G phones over the next few months.

Unicom launched an experimental trial of its 3G network in May and to date it has 530,000 users, the company said, including 430,000 handset users and 100,000 users of data cards for computers.

-By Aaron Back, Dow Jones Newswires; (8610) 6588-5848; [e-mail]