The official launch of Apple's iPhone in China has been disappointing at best for mobile operator China Unicom, with the grey market still booming.

Unicom unveiled Apple's iconic handset in Beijing October 30, but met with lukewarm responses from Chinese consumers .

Vendors and experts say the high price and disabled WiFi have so far dogged sales in the world's biggest cell phone market of nearly 720 million users.

"The introduction of a more expensive, less usable iPhone with fewer functions is not going to be very exciting for the market," said Bertram Lai, a Hong Kong-based analyst with CIMB-GK Securities.

Unicom is offering a number of contract deals that bring the price of the iPhone down, but it still costs more than $500.

iPhone's WiFi functions have been disabled to comply with Chinese government regulations, making tech-savvy buyers easily find fake and smuggled versions that will offer them more complete options.

Unicom has said it wants to sell five million handsets over three years to boost its revenue per user, but analysts are not so sure it can meet that objective.

"Smuggled iPhones beat Unicom's in terms of cheap price and WiFi, but Unicom may be able to compensate with better after-sale customer service and maintenance," said Wang Guoping, a Beijing-based analyst for Galaxy Securities.