Apple’s iPhone made its long-awaited formal debut in the world’s most populous mobile phone market, without a key feature and at higher prices than widely available black market models.

An aggressive TV ad campaign from Verizon Wireless is adding to the support building for a software package from Google Inc. that is shaping up to be the most formidable challenge yet to Apple Inc.‘s iPhone. The commercials for the Droid phone, being made by Motorola Inc., list features that the iPhone lacks, such as a physical keyboard and the ability to run applications simultaneously. It ends with the tag line “Everything iDon’t. Droid does.“

PepsiCo Inc. is facing criticism for an iPhone application that promises to help men “score” with two dozen stereotypes of women by giving users pickup lines and a scoreboard to keep track of their conquests. The company has apologized for the app “Amp up before you score,“ used to market its Amp energy drink, but is sticking by the app nevertheless.

PepsiCo is facing criticism for an iPhone application that promises to help men “score” with women.

China Unicom Ltd. said Friday it will sell Apple Inc.‘s iPhone in China this year, ending months of rumor about when the hit phone would make its long-delayed debut in the world’s most populous mobile market.

An employee at a factory that makes iPhones in China killed himself after a prototype went missing, and Apple Inc. responded Wednesday by saying its suppliers are required to treat workers with dignity and respect.

Federal regulators appear to be drawing a bead on one of the more frustrating features of the cell-phone business: exclusive deals that tie certain cell phone models to a particular carrier, such as the one that makes Apple’s iPhone available only at AT&T. The Federal Communications Commission has said it will explore the issue, and a congressional committee held hearings last month. The U.S. Justice Department reportedly has opened an initial review of the telecom industry that could explore if those exclusive deals violate antitrust laws.

Apple Inc. sold more than a million units of its latest iPhone model in the first three days, making it the most successful model yet.

Kathy Truesdale of Henrico County says her iPhone, purchased only a couple of weeks ago, is an obsession. “It’s on my nightstand and the first thing I look at in the morning,“ she said. “It’s changed my life.“ Truesdale and thousands of other iPhone devotees were able to feed their obsessions yesterday as Apple rolled out it newest version of the popular smartphone.

When Palm Inc.‘s and Sprint Nextel Corp.‘s latest bundle of smart-phone joy, the Pre, arrives Saturday, it will enter an increasingly crowded market backed by parents that have a lot riding on its success. The Pre—which costs $200 with a two-year service plan and rebate—might be most important to Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Palm, the very company that helped usher in the handheld computing era with the original Palm Pilot in 1996. These days, Palm needs a resurgence in a market largely dominated by Apple Inc.‘s iPhone and Research In Motion Ltd.‘s BlackBerry devices.