如果说中国联通（China Unicom）是苹果（Apple）在中国的AT&T，那么它已经作为苹果唯一的官方运营商在中国这个世界最大的手机市场上垄断了iPhone长达一年半之久。但是现在，中国电信（China Telecom）刚刚变成了苹果在中国的Verizon。

    中国电信于一周前开始接受iPhone 4S预订，截至上周五，该公司2,850家零售店开门营业之时，据称iPhone 4S预订量已经超过了20万部。

    虽然中国电信只是中国第三大移动运营商（总用户数为2.16亿），但它坐拥中国最大的Wi-Fi网络（3万个热点）以及3,870万3G用户——和中国联通4,300万3G用户数旗鼓相当。

    中国最大的运营商中国移动（China Mobile，6亿用户）已和苹果谈判多年，期待能够销售LTE版iPhone，时间可能会定在今年晚些时候。中国移动用户对苹果iPhone极为热衷，他们不惜在落后的2G网络中使用来自黑市的iPhone，据称数量已经超过了1,500万。

    If China Unicom (CHU) is the AT&T of China, having enjoyed an 18-month monopoly as Apple's (AAPL) only official iPhone carrier in the world's largest mobile phone market, then China Telecom (CHA) just became its Verizon.

    The carrier began taking orders for the iPhone 4S a week ago, and by the time doors opened Friday at China Telecom's 2,850 retail outlets, pre-sales had reportedly passed 200,000.

    It may be the country's No. 3 mobile operator (total subscribers: 216 million), but China Telecom has the largest Wi-Fi network (30,000 hot spots) and 38.7 million 3G subscribers -- nearly as many as China Unicom's 43 million.

    China Mobile (CHL), the country's largest carrier (600 million subscribers) has been talking to Apple for years and is expected to start selling the iPhone when an LTE version arrives, probably later this year. Meanwhile, so eager are its customers to get their hands on Apple's pocket computer that more than 15 million are using gray market iPhones on China Mobile's sluggish 2G network.

    整个中国都患上了“苹果狂热症”，今年1月，iPhone 4S发售时引来的汹涌人潮已充分说明这一点。摩根士丹利（Morgan Stanley）分析师凯蒂•休伯蒂预测，等到中国三大移动运营商全部都开始销售iPhone后，iPhone销量在中国或将迅速攀至每年4,000万部。

    相较之下，苹果2011财年全球iPhone的销量也只有7,230万部。

    译者：项航

    China has caught Apple fever, as the massive crowds that gathered for January's iPhone 4S launch made clear. Morgan Stanley's Katy Huberty estimates that when the device is available from all three mobile carriers, sales in the country will quickly reach 40 million a year. 

    To put that number in context, Apple's worldwide iPhone sales in fiscal 2011 were 72.3 million.