2010-08-06 14:30

In this file photo made June 7, 2010, Apple CEO Steve Jobs, left, demonstrates the FaceTime feature on the iPhone 4 during the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco. [Agencies]

BEIJING - Apple's Chinese partner says it will sell iPhones with Wi-Fi starting Monday.

China Unicom Ltd started selling the iPhone in October but early models lacked wireless connections due to Chinese regulations.

Unicom will sell eight-gigabyte iPhones with third-generation service and Wi-Fi throughout China starting Monday, a company spokesman, Wen Baoqiu, said Friday.

Wi-Fi is a part of the iPhone's appeal elsewhere and allows phones to use free wireless networks in cafes and offices to download e-mail and the latest applications.

Beijing barred use of Wi-Fi while the government tried to develop a competing Chinese system, dubbed WAPI but regulations issued this year allow Wi-Fi.

Unicom also sells 16- and 32-gigabyte iPhones without Wi-Fi.

China has the most populous mobile phone market, with some 600 million accounts.