The Apple iPhone isn’t legally available in China, but that hasn’t stopped really determined people there, according to BusinessWeek. Both unlocked Apple iPhones and illegal clones made in China are available.

For those who just can’t wait for Apple to open its store in Beijing next year, there are places where one can buy an unlocked iPhone, set up for Chinese character input, for US$680.00. The Apple phones are smuggled into China.

Many of the 160 million Chinese who are now on the Internet just can’t wait to get their hands on one. "The iPhone is considered by many Chinese to be the best phone out there," said Shaun Rein, marketing manager at China Market Research Group in Shanghai.

Authors Bruce Einhorn and Chi-Chu Tschang wrote that Apple doesn’t seem to be in any hurry to enter the market there, with 528 million mobile phone users, even as negotiations with China’s number one operator, China Mobile, are rumored to have been taking place. Neither China Mobile nor Apple has made a public statement.

The thinking has been that China Mobile isn’t in any great hurry either to give in to Apple’s revenue sharing demands. "There is no need for it to make the kind of deal that American and European operators have been making," said Dave Carini, an analyst with the Beijing-based research firm Maverick China.

Meanwhile those who just have to have an iPhone can go into Liu Yong’s shop in Beijing and cough up US680.00.