The 5C is important for one big reason: China. I expect the "unlocked" price won't reflect the kind of subsidies and discounts that China Mobile and Apple can give to make it affordable for their customers.
I think the "C stands for China" is fair, but I don't expect Apple to break with their multi-decade tradition of maintaining the highest margins that are compatible with a viable market presence. Yes margins will be lower in aching than elsewhere, but they are not going to even attempt to compete with Android for market share because it would be utterly pointless.
The Chinese mass market is dominated by extremely poor bargain bucket Android devices with invisibly thin margins that can barely scroll a web page. It is true that Samsung has a strong presence over there and Apple needs to deal with that, but the premium end of the market is big enough for both to do well. The kind of people who are likely to prefer an iPhone over there aren't as price sensitive as the average and charging them less just to also sell a few more units down market would just be leaving money on the table. That's not something Apple has a habit of doing.
There's enough money in China that Apple can make some in roads but a bulk of the phones selling there are sub $200 (off contract) non-Google Androids. The 5C isn't going to take anything out of that market.
Rather boringly I suspect the C stands for colour (or color if you must).
1. The spec published today is not suggesting that iPhone 5c/s would support TD-SCDMA networks which CMCC is bound to due to regulation reasons. And LTE-TDD is light year ahead for CMCC.
2. A difference of mere 800 CNY in price between 5c and 5s is not attractive enough to those who can afford 5,000+ CNY(, i.e. the iPhone 5s) in China. And in the past, smugglers carrying duty-free iPhones from Hong Kong in the first few months of sales may reduce the high price caused by the tariff and VAT. Now, Hong Kong is NOT even in the initial list!
1. China Unicom...3G is much better than TD SCDMA anyways, which almost never delivers even with a compliant phone.
2. I agree. The 5C occupies no interesting niche in the Chinese market beyond its unique styling. Besides, the yellow one looks too much like a xiaomi to be attractive.
