iPhone Apps Hit in China iPhone App Store Sales Doing Well in China

Despite the large shadow of censorship looming over the Chinese
internet, the iPhone and it's library of apps have become very popular
in the People's Republic. Backing that up, mobile application company
9thQ has reported that this year the legitimate Chinese iPhone apps have
accounted for about $1 million, with projects to hit $6 million USD next
year.
And the reason why sales have been modestly successful so far, is
piracy. When we release apps targeting users here, we're usually not
able to get reasonable returns because of piracy, 9thQ CEO Shi Weixing
told the Wall Street Journal.
One cause of the common piracy in China's iPhone community is that the
iPhone was only put on sale (officially) less than a month ago by telcom
provider China Unicom. It's also a fact that it has been released much
earlier in nearby tech hubs likeย Hong Kong and Singapore, which led to
most of the 2 million Chinese-owned iPhones to be 'jailbroken' and use
illegitimate apps.
To further add complications, apps from the Chinese app store must be
purchased with a Chinese credit card, which isn't yet popular in the
Communist country.
Despite the rampant piracy and the point-of-purchase issue, Chinese
mobile software companies seem to be pleased with the app sales. The
most popular applications are reportedly city mapping software, a dating
application, and Chinese-to-English translators. Speaking of
translators, they may come in handy as the prices in the app store are
listed in American dollars.
Although the iPhone has had a rough launch in China, the app sales are
satisfying the software developers, and apparently, the Chinese tech-savy.