The iPhone has gone on sale in China, ushering in a new wave of American – Chinese relations, based not on cold war tensions or brinkmanship, but on smartphone technology.

There was a time when gunboat diplomacy was the order of the day in United States – Chinese relations. Then came the much more formal Nixon and Kissinger show, with much pomp, circumstance, and gnashing of teeth. Now America is undertaking another cultural and commercial invasion of the giant of Asia, led by Apple and the iPhone, although the soldiers in the battle (the iPhones themselves) are not all they could be.

The iPhone has now officially gone on sale in China. However, the smartphone handset from Apple did not kick up near the ruckus it generally does in the U.S. when a new iPhone model is introduced. There were not gigantic lines of people waiting for the iPhone to go on sale, nor did anyone camp out overnight in order to be the first to get their hands on the new phone. Still, reporters in Beijing reported that about 300 people were lined up at opening time to buy an iPhone on the first day of sales, according to a Fortune story.

The iPhone is one wave in what has to be seen as the Americanization of China, although the Chinese version of the Apple smartphone is not all that it could be. As a part of its agreement with the Chinese, Apple agreed to remove WiFi functionality from their handset. This is in line with the Chinese government’s desire to keep a firm ideological hold on their citizens, which includes keeping them away from that nasty and insidious World Wide Web.

It is difficult to see that there will be a real winner in this part of the East vs. West societal conflict, though there is clearly a loser. Apple and the U.S. get a $1.5 billion initial order for smartphones in the world’s most populous country. China and China Unicom negotiate a new way to keep a stranglehold on the “freedom” of its citizens and customers. Politics as usual, business as usual, with a government and a giant corporation holding the winning hands and the citizenry gaining only an extra helping of repression.

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Entry was posted on Saturday, October 31st, 2009 at 10:52 am under Apple, Cell phones, Politics, Wi-Fi, business.

Read more entries by Michael W. Jones.
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