You’ll read a lot of stories talking about who is winning the smartphone race in China. The statistics are helpful, but they don’t always tell the whole picture when you consider factors in the market like product launches, network availability. The first quarter of 2013 should be the market’s best indicator of where the major companies stand now that many have put their best players in the game.

Apple has passed the final hurdle and received approval from the Ministry of Industry and Technology of the People’s Republic of China to sell the iPhone 5. Apple announced the iPhone 5 will be available on the Mainland by December 14 in a press release last Friday. As mentioned in previous posts, the new phone will be made available on China Unicom and China Telecom. However, the iPhone 5 remains unavailable for China’s largest telecom, China Mobile, for now.
Much has been made about it since the device was first released five years ago, but T-Mobile is the only major carrier in the US not to offer its customers the Apple iPhone. While a new model is set to be unveiled later today T-Mobile customers wanted the hard sell for the smartphone.
You would have thought the carrier was offering the iPhone though as according to Businessweek the company has been busy promoting the device. From today the carrier will be carrying the iPhone 4S in its retail stores unfortunately not to sell it, but to demonstrate how the handset works on its network.
Depending on where the store is located the handsets won’t be limited to 2G data speeds, as the company has revealed that it has switched on its HSPA+ network in areas of New York, Seattle, and Las Vegas. The carrier has even got an iOS version of its Bobsled VoIP calling application that will support the one million unofficial iPhone users that the carrier already has.