China Unicom

Turns out you can't download that Dalai Lama iPhone app if you live on mainland China. Interested in Rebiya Kadeer, the exiled leader of China's Uighur minority? If you live in China don't look for any apps on your iPhone that mention that person, either.

You won't find them because Apple is likely complying to local laws banning specific political or religious beliefs in the Chinese version of its App Store. The Chinese government is infamous for its "great firewall" and routinely blocks large portions of the Internet with which the governing party disagrees.

The deal was a long time coming but the iPhone has now officially been launched by Apple in China. By some estimates there are 2 million grey market iPhones in operation within the country already.

High prices and the lack of Wi-Fi on Chinese models may have shortened lines. The 32GB iPhone is retailing for the equivalent of $1,025 with no service contract.

There's an interesting article featured on Wired right now that puts some hard numbers up against a question many of us have been asking since Apple broke down talks with China Mobile late in 2007. That question, is simply, what the #$%! was Apple thinking? China Mobile is not only the largest wireless communications provider in China, it is the largest wireless communications provider in the world.

Wired's article offers up some interesting statistics, a few of which are: