Siri, how do you say profit in Chinese? 
 
 One answer Apple's digital assistant might consider giving is: start selling the iPhone 4S in China. And starting on Jan. 13th, Apple will do just that. 
 
 The company said Wednesday that China will be among 22 countries that soon will get the newest iPhone, one of Apple's hottest-selling yet. The iPhone now accounts for nearly half of Apple's annual revenue, and some analysts believe it earns the company more than 60% of its profits. 
 
 China is one of the world's largest mobile device markets, with close to a billion cellphone users by some estimates. Apple currently partners with China Unicom, one of the larger carriers with close to 200 million cellular subscribers. 
 
 Apple said Wednesday it had no current plans to announce a partnership with China Mobile, the country's largest carrier with more than 630 million subscribers (a user base that, somewhat amazingly, is more than twice the size of the U.S. population). But for months now Apple has been rumored to be nailing down a deal with China Mobile, and millions of the carriers' customers are already using the iPhone by modifying the device to work on their network. 
 
 Will Siri actually be able to speak and understand Mandarin? Eventually, yes. An Apple spokesman said the company plans to add official language support in 2012 — and that will include Chinese. But Siri won't yet be multilingual when the phone hits Chinese stores this month. 
 
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 Photo: A couple look at an iPhone in Beijing in November. Credit: Diego Azubel / EPA ||||| Computerworld - Apple today announced it would start selling the iPhone 4S in mainland China a week from this Friday -- Jan. 13. 
 
 The iPhone 4S was expected to eventually make it to the People's Republic of China (PRC) -- it debuted in Hong Kong on Nov. 11 -- but some analysts had forecast that Apple would move faster. 
 
 Two months ago, Brian White of Ticonderoga Securities said he expected the iPhone 4S to reach China before the end of the calendar year. 
 
 Today, White noted the Chinese iPhone 4S launch, but maintained that his projection of a faster iPhone 4S rollout had come true. 
 
 "As we expected, this represents the fastest iPhone launch in Apple's history with availability in over 90 countries," White told clients in a short research note today. 
 
 By comparison, Apple had placed the iPhone 4 in 105 countries by the end of September 2011, more than a year after its introduction. 
 
 Apple launched the iPhone 4S on Oct. 14. 
 
 Siri, the voice-activated assistant -- and the most-lauded feature of the iPhone 4S -- won't be able to understand Mandarin when the smartphone launches next week, White said. Apple today stuck to its previous commitment to bring Mandarin comprehension to Siri some time this year. 
 
 China Unicom, the only Apple-sanctioned carrier on the mainland, will start selling the iPhone 4S on Jan. 13 as well. 
 
 Talk of other Chinese mobile carriers, including the country's largest, China Mobile, remain just that for now. "We expect China Telecom to be added this year and we believe China Mobile will eventually become part of the Apple ecosystem," White said today. 
 
 Based on the quick sell-out of the iPhone 4S in Hong Kong -- supplies were exhausted within minutes at its one Apple store on launch day -- White also anticipates a run on the iPhone 4S in the PRC. "We believe the demand for the iPhone 4S in Mainland China to be unprecedented," White said. 
 
 China has increasingly been a major factor in Apple's massive revenues. In the quarter that ended Sept. 30, 2011, China, Taiwan and Hong Kong generated 16% of the company's total income. 
 
 And China, White reminded clients today, is the largest smartphone market in the world. 
 
 "The total mobile phone subscriber base in China was 963.7 million in November, and [the] high-end mobile phone market in China is estimated at 100-125 million subscribers or ~$70 billion," said White. 
 
 Apple has not revealed prices for the iPhone 4S in China, but most experts believe it will carry the same tag as the iPhone 4 did in 2010: 4,999 yuan ($793) for the 16GB model and 5,999 yuan ($952) for the 32GB model. Those prices are sans a long-term carrier contract. 
 
 The 8GB iPhone 4, which sells for $99 in the U.S. with a two-year contract, goes for 3,880 yuan ($633) in China without a contract. 
 
 More than 20 other countries -- including Bolivia, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and Senegal -- will also see the iPhone 4S selling on Jan. 13. 
 
 Gregg Keizer covers Microsoft, security issues, Apple, Web browsers and general technology breaking news for Computerworld. Follow Gregg on Twitter at @gkeizer, on Google+ or subscribe to Gregg's RSS feed . His e-mail address is gkeizer@computerworld.com. 
 
 See more articles by Gregg Keizer. 
 
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– Apple is about to get more than a billion new potential customers for the iPhone 4s—but many of them may find it tricky communicating with Siri just yet. The smartphone will be launched in China and 21 other countries next week, and while its voice-activated virtual assistant currently only speaks English, French, and German, Apple says it plans to add Mandarin later this year, the Los Angeles Times reports. "Customer response to our products in China has been off the charts, " Apple CEO Tim Cook said, noting that the iPhone 4S will soon be available in more than 90 countries and regions, making it the fastest-ever iPhone rollout. Apple currently partners with the carrier China Unicom, but insiders tell Computer World that it is close to forging a deal with the country's behemoth carrier, China Mobile, which boasts a whopping 630 million subscribers.