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Apple's iPhone went on sale in China for the first time on Friday night. China is the world's largest mobile phone market and crowds of shoppers eagerly answered the call to buy Apple's newest gadget.

The iPhone also went on sale at 2-thousand stores around China, even as far as Tibet.

Apple's local service provider, China Unicom, hopes the iPhone will give it an edge against rival network, China Mobile.

Liu Xinling, Iphone Customer, said, "I've always liked this mobile phone and I've always thought of buying it. I think this phone is very good and it is definitely worth the wait."

Some news reports say Unicom hopes to sell 5 million iPhones in three years. The company declined to confirm that.

Song Limei, Deputy General Manager, Personal Comm. Dept., China Unicom, said, "We not only provide the hardware such as mobile phones, but we also provide our customers with all-round after-sales support and a full support system for the Iphone. This is an all-round service. We believe that our customers will have an excellent user experience and the iPhone will have good prospects in the market."

But analysts fear the iPhone's higher-than-expected price tag could hinder its reception in China.

Unicom's prices for its 32-gigabyte iPhone 3GS range from 4,999 yuan to 6,999 yuan for the high-end.

China Mobile has launched its own brand Ophone. China Telecom has confirmed it will introduce a new Blackberry handset from Canada.