WAPI, China's answer to Wi-Fi, has users struggling for easy mobile Internet access.  Even worse, their Wi-Fi has been disabled, at least on many foreign-model phones.

For non-Chinese cell phone makers, too, this Jam + Preempt is hitting the bottom line. Apple’s iPhone has suffered mediocre sales since its October launch principally due to high costs that, in part, are the result of the stripped Wi-Fi feature.

Mobile users have voiced their concerns through a combination of safe and suggestive Pings and higher risk Call Outs – and with some success.  It seems now that officials are giving in by way of the Disco. China Unicom, the iPhone’s carrier in China, announced on Monday it will enable Wi-Fi to save consumers money. 

Watch for China to Pause as it re-thinks its strategy.  Will it swallow its pride and welcome Wi-Fi?  Or face increasingly unhappy customers who, for now, see WAPI as barrier to entry more than a boon for business?
 

Posted by: Alice Hu

Phot Credit: filphonetones.com