Like a premature bird with stunted wings, the original iPhone’s 2G suckiness was a real sore spot in smartphone history. The hardware was great, yeah, but the speed sucked. And yet, 10 million Chinese iPhone owners still ride EDGE. Blech.
Reuters reports China Mobile — which has no official deal with Apple — has 10 million iPhone-wielding customers. That’s a lot of iPhone customers! Except no version of the iPhone supports China Mobile’s 3G network, leaving all 10 million stuck at speeds just above dial-up. There’s always Wi-Fi, sure, but my god. It’s not Apple’s fault — and not really China Mobile’s either, if people are bringing unlocked, unsupported handsets to the party. Plus, China Mobile says Apple’s promised an LTE version for them, someday. But it’s sure as hell a testament to Apple doing something right in China if 10 million humans are willing to endure EDGE in 2011. [Reuters via Cult of Mac]