But the iPad with 3G functions costs at least US$630, way out of reach for most Chinese consumers. On the other hand, it often takes a long time for an overseas player to cooperate with Chinese carriers in getting domestic 3G services in its products.

It took two years for Apple to introduce the No-Wi-Fi iPhone into China, with the cooperation of China Unicom. Amazon also can't launch Kindle on the Chinese mainland though it kicked off the international version of Kindle last year. Imagine the fate of iPad ? an iPad without Wi-Fi?

Without fast Internet services, Chinese consumers prefer installed applications and downloaded content, rather than the "purchase-and-download-online" model.

A driver will choose a GPS with installed maps, even if they contain older data, rather than waiting for half an hour or even longer, often with limited success, to get the latest maps provided by Google, which is a built-in service in iPod Touch, probably in iPad.

"Cloud computing represents the future of IT," said Wei.

"But 'the future' is still far further in China."