The long-awaited entry of the iPhone to China, at least in non-jailbroken and non-unlocked form, is at the brink, according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the news. China Unicom plans to start selling two versions of the iPhone in the fourth quarter, under a three-year deal.

China Unicom is the second-largest wireless carrier in China, but it has less than 1/3 the number of subscribers as China Mobile (CMCC). Still, China Unicom had 141 million wireless users at the end of July. There is reportedly no revenue sharing in the deal.

China Unicom also said on Friday that its 3G network will launch commercially on Sept. 28th, just in time to be overloaded, similar to AT&T, by the iPhone. Of course, the iPhone has already been “imported” into China in large numbers by those buying the device in supported countries and returning to the country.

As expected, and in accordance with Chinese regulations, the iPhone will be sold with their wi-fi functionality disabled. Given this, one would expect the aforementioned “grey market” of imported iPhones to continue to exist. Research firm BDA China estimates there are as many as 1.5 million iPhones already in use in China.

China is, without a doubt, a country associated with piracy of many types. It will be interesting to see how many of these phones are jailbroken. It is unclear exactly when the iPhone will launch, aside from Q4, or what pricing will be.