Apple iPhone comes to China, but the price isn't right -- and there's no Wi-Fi

If you live in China, you can now get an Apple (AAPL) iPhone. But you have better have a lot of cash, since the best data plan is going to cost you some $3000 smackers a year.

On Friday, state-run China Unicom, Apple's partner in the Middle Kingdom and the second largest player in the Chinese market, launched the device at some 1000 "points of sale." It's a major milestone for Apple, which now gains access to a gargantuan mobile market -- some 710 million mobile-phone subscribers. But the launch immediately met a barrage of criticism over the high price and the lack of Wi-Fi service.