400,000 iPhones in Use in China?

There may be as many as 400,000 iPhones in use in China, according to market research firm In-Stat. This is especially noteworthy because Apple has not officially made the iPhone available in that country and has, reportedly, been engaged in discussions to do so.

If the report is accurate, these phones would account for some of the 800,000-1.5 million iPhones that analysts suspect have been unlocked for use on the networks of carriers other than official Apple partners like AT&T in the US, O2 in the UK, and T-Mobile in Germany.

The continued success of the unlocking efforts, and the potentially large lost customer base in the world's most populous country strike me as further indications that Apple's strategy of tying the iPhone to a single carrier in each country may not be sustainable for much longer. Carriers were hesitant to meet Apple's demands for the phone (install our servers on your network, give us a share of monthly customer revenues), but now that the iPhone has proven itself to be a success, perhaps their stance has changed. But, Apple and AT&T reportedly have a 5-year contract for the phone. I wonder if there are escape clauses in that contract or whether having a single initial partner, a company Apple needed to take a risk on the phone, will ultimately hamper the success of the phone?