Even though the Chinese iPhone had a decidedly poor showing at launch, provider Unicom is predicting great things for the handset. The chairman of the company has stated he thinks the iPhone will be the highest selling of all Chinese smartphones, and with it they plan to grab 10% of the 3G market in the next two or three years. These rosy predictions are hampered by the fact that the official iPhone price in China is more than USD$1000 without a contract, and the handsets are crippled to remove WiFi. Due to this, there is a booming market it grey market iPhones, sourced internationally, without the restrictions and that come at a lower price.

This week’s best iPhone app releases include experimenting with 50 Cent, random flying kittehs invading your fotos, and custom playlists for wining and dining.

GQ | Dec 09 | Men of the Year Issue

Price: $2.99

Writing from a female perspective, what could be better than having GQ’s men of the year just a few inches from your face on your iPhone? Well, actually, a print magazine probably is better. But that’s beside the point. This is GQ’s first whack at taking the magazine digital, and it’s actually quite a pleasurable experience. Flip through the five covers of the special issue (including President Obama, the guys from The Hangover, Chris Pine [Star Trek], Clint Eastwood, and Tom Brady) and browse through all of the featured articles in the print mag through the table of contents. Also check out the exclusive photo and video content only offered through the app.

CatPaint

Price: $0.99

If you’ve ever looked at a photo you’ve taken and thought, “The only thing this is missing is an obese cat flying toward my head,” then you’re in luck. The CatPaint app allows you to incorporate a cat of your choice from its gallery into your iPhone photos. You CAN haz magical kitteh iPhone photos! (Go check out the CatPaint gallery if you don’t believe me when I say the photos are magical.)

Image via CatPaint Gallery

Social DJ

Price: FREE

Finally, an easier way to share what you’re listening to on your iPhone with friends and followers on Facebook and Twitter. Open Social DJ while listening to a song on your iPhone, and the app will detect the song, provide album cover art, and type your Tweet or Facebook update for you. Example: “I’m listening to (song) by (artist) from the album (album name)” on Twitter. Your Tweet will also include a link to that artist in the iTunes Store. It’s fast, it looks great, and now you can remind your phones how you are so much more musically inclined than they are.

Wine DJ

Price: FREE

No matter the occasion, this app claims to have the perfect ideas for which songs you should play while sipping on wine. Wine DJ provides streaming playlists of songs catered toward specific wines enjoyed on specific occasions. So set the mood, hit the play button, and enjoy that bottle.

50 Cent “Baby by Me” Sound Lab

Price: FREE

It really doesn’t matter if you don’t care for 50 Cent, hate this song, or don’t even know who 50 Cent is. This is a FUN app. Fiddy broke down his new single, “Baby by Me,” for you to remix by adding whichever instruments, sound effects, and voice effects from the original song that you choose. I particuarly love to tap the “Fifty so crazy” voice effect over the drums and synthesizer. Oh, and if you actually take this seriously, Fiddy is offering to fly the creator of the best remix out to New York City for some one-on-one time with the man himself.

TomTom have designed a GPS cradle specifically for the iPod Touch, and it’s substantially cheaper than the iPhone model. The cradle is smaller than the one designed for the iPhone, works with both first- and second-generation iPod Touches if they’re running 3.0 firmware.

The real kicker is that it costs $99.95, $20 less than the iPhone version, even though the iPhone has a built-in GPS receiver. The given reason, is that the iPhone model has bluetooth capabilities. Any readers have the iPhone version, and can comment on what the bluetooth functionality is? Because the iPod Touch version is smaller, and cheaper. The $100 price tag probably won’t include the app itself either, which is also expensive. I wonder what would happen if you plugged an iPhone into the cheaper iTouch base…

[via AppleInsider]

Looking for a navigation app for your iPhone, but was hesitant given the hefty pricetag? Navigon’s MobileNavigator (App Store link) is one of the better navigation options for the iPhone and for a limited time it’s priced at $69.99. Still an expensive app, but this offer shaves $20 off the normal price. If you’re looking for more information on Navigon, check out Marianne’s review at Macgirl.net, where she suggests this app over the $99 TomTom’s app and Sygic’s Mobile Maps. We’re thinking this price break further tips the scales in favor of Navigon’s app.

Thanks Ramesh!