It was just two days ago the iPhone 3G was spotted on the China Unicom website, now it seems they would come with an available status and a price tag soon. TMC News reports, China Unicom has confirmed that they would start to sell iPhone in China on May 17.

Wan Jinjin, an analyst from UBS Securities, said earlier in a report that China Unicom might have to shoulder a heavy burden, since iPhone is likely to be highly subsidized. Besides, it could limit the business expansion by setting a threshold of average revenue per user (ARPU) for its iPhone users.

China's second-largest carrier has 130 million subscribers. China Unicom is expected to launch its 3G/W-CDMA trials in May, which is popular outside China and supported by the iPhone 3G.

[TMC News via iPhoneFreak]