China Unicom enters three year deal to sell Apple's iPhone

China Unicom has announced an exclusive three-year agreement with Apple to sell the iPhone in China, with an initial launch in the fourth quarter, according to a press release.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the carrier will purchase the phones at wholesale and will not share revenue with Apple. By Chinese regulation, the phone's WiFi functionality will be disabled.

As recently as last week, China Unicom denied speculation that it had purchased 5 million iPhone smartphones, saying that though they were in talks, the companies had not yet come to an agreement on how to share revenue, as we reported.

Because the company expects the phone to increase its average revenue per user, China Unicom said it will offer subsidies for the phone, but pricing has not been announced. The carrier will launch its new 3G network on September 28 in 285 cities with plans to expand to 335 by the end of the year.