Location-based social networking firm Gypsii has announced that it's working with China Unicom's Shanghai Unicom subsidiary on the latter's new Unispace service for iPhone.

The Chinese operator has just started selling Apple's handset, and is offering its own Unispace social client "on-deck" - which we presume means on the Chinese version of the App Store.

The Unispace client hooks into Gypsii's global network, letting Chinese iPhone users upload and geotag their photos, videos and status updates.

"Gypsii was the natural choice as a mobile lifestyle and social networking solution partner," says Lu Dongliang, deputy general manager of Shanghai Unicom.

"We expect the new Unispace offering to play an important role in driving the success of Unicom's iPhone 3G Value Added Service."

It's a potentially big deal for Gypsii, giving it a leg-up on any mobile social networking rivals in China. Shanghai Unicom is heavily promoting the new service with print (see above) and TV ads. An example of the latter is embedded below.