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iPhone in China was slow, slower than many people expected. But is it picking up, slowly. Here is the news from ApleInsider.

While the six-figure sales in China suggest demand for the device has grown since its launch, some still believe it’s not enough. One analyst noted that an additional 100,000 iPhone users among China Unicom’s 144 million wireless subscribers will not make a huge difference for the company.

But part of China Unicom’s strategy is bolstering its brand-new 3G network, which launched alongside the introduction of the iPhone. The company stated it hoped to add over 1 million 3G users every month, and it reached that goal in October.

China Unicom is also a beneficiary of China’s broad gray market, where many unlocked, no-contract iPhones are believed to be purchased at prices cheaper than what the wireless carrier offers. At the moment, those users are most likely to use their handset on China Unicom, which is the only network that supports the phone’s 3G capability.

In November, China Unicom executives revealed that the iPhone had sold just 5,000 units in its first four days. Analysts believe the device was held back by its lack of Wi-Fi — excluded because of a temporary ban on the technology by the Chinese government — and the availability of devices on the gray market. Still, officials with China’s second-largest wireless provider have high hopes for the iPhone, predicting that 10 percent of their 3G customers will use Apple’s smartphone in the next three years.

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HANGHAI, July 28 (Reuters) – China Unicom (0762.HK), one of China’s top three mobile carriers, has reached a deal with Apple (AAPL.O) for the exclusive sale of its iPhones in China for three years, the official Shanghai Securities News reported on Tuesday.

A spokeswoman for China Unicom had no immediate comment. Apple could not immediately be reached for comment.

The paper said the deal did not include revenue sharing arrangements that media reports said had become a sticking point in discussions between Apple and Chinese mobile companies.

The U.S. company insists on a revenue-sharing model with its cellular partners that offer iPhones but media reports have said Beijing objected to them.

Under the agreement, China Unicom will purchase iPhones from Apple for 3,000 yuan ($439) each and guarantee annual sales of 1 million to 2 million units and at least 5 billion yuan in annual revenue, the newspaper said.

China Mobile (0941.HK), China’s dominant mobile carrier, was also in talks with Apple to sell the iPhone in China, but the paper said the talks broke down. ($1=6.831 Yuan) (Reporting by Melanie Lee; Editing by Edmund Klamann