Just days after China Mobile's negotiations stalled with Apple, an insider from China Unicom has confirmed that China Unicom has started negotiations with Apple for iPhone's entry into the Chinese mobile market.

China Unicom's negotiation team, according to the unnamed insider quoted by China's First Financial Daily, is led by its chairman Chang Xiaobing with the participation and coordination of general managers from relevant departments, which shows that China Unicom attaches great importance to the iPhone.

However, China Unicom's spokesperson says the group has no official comment on plans to work with Apple in China.

China Mobile's recent third round of discussions with Apple was stalled after Apple insisted on selling iPhone's application programs to its users directly via its online shop, the Apple App Store. China Mobile wanted to have a share of that revenue.