Cult of Mac has a piece today quoting In-stat claiming that apparently there are 400,000 rogue iPhones on the China Mobile network (iPhones are not currently legitimately available in China). I find this very easy to believe, I personally know 3 people on China Mobile with iPhones and the demand clearly runs far, far greater than that. During spring festival in ‘hometown’ D’s cousin ‘little brother’ was beside himself to learn that you can get iPhones in Hangzhou and has been in touch several times since for more info.

As the Cult of Mac piece points out, what exactly is Apple gaining from this strategy of going with one network in each market, which is presumably what’s slowing their entry? I for one would have probably bought one if they’d been available in China a few months ago. Instead I bought a Nokia N95 which is easily replacing my old Nokia 6230 as best phone I’ve ever owned. The iPhone is very cool, I’ve played with one, a rogue one at that, but aside from oozing cool there wasn’t anything that made me want to switch from my N95 now.