(1) it's more profitable for Apple to sell phones in the US and have them greymarketed to China then to increase the direct supply to China.
(2) Apple wants to (eventually) expand the iPad data only plan available to phones and this is a first step towards that. And if they did this I would jump on it in a second.
Not sure I understand point #1. iPhones are built in China. Also, the profit margin is about the same as if they were selling non-unlocked iPhones as they get subsidized profits from the carriers to make up for the discount the carriers give in exchange for the two year contracts. The average profit for iPhone I think was reported to be $625 on average.
(1) it's more profitable for Apple to sell phones in the US and have them greymarketed to China then to increase the direct supply to China.
(2) Apple wants to (eventually) expand the iPad data only plan available to phones and this is a first step towards that. And if they did this I would jump on it in a second.