[ke_ivan]

Taken From: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...Y6PI_blog.html

http://birdabroad.wordpress.com/2011...ng-steve-jobs/


Inside a fake Apple store in China. (BirdAbroad) It has been mentioned before that innovation is often born of copying the accomplishments of other successful people and organizations. While imitation has been said to be the sincerest form of flattery, the creators of the fake Apple store in China are probably hoping Apple will be flattered rather than litigious over the new, fake Apple stores that have been popping up around China.

A blogger who did not wish to share their real name but goes by the name “BirdAbroad,” posted these photos of a fake Apple store in Kunming, China.

“They looked like Apple products,” writes the blogger, “It looked like an Apple store. It had the classic Apple store winding staircase and weird upstairs sitting area. The employees were even wearing those blue t-shirts with the chunky Apple name tags around their necks.”

But the entire store is a fake, writes the blogger. “This was a total Apple store ripoff. A beautiful ripoff – a brilliant one – the best ripoff store we had ever seen (and we see them every day). But some things were just not right: the stairs were poorly made. The walls hadn’t been painted properly.”

The emergence of fake Apple stores in China is interesting to note in light of the company's record earnings announcement Tuesday, and the fact that Apple’s Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook cited China as a main driver of the company’s growth in the last quarter. Apple also plans to open a store in Hong Kong in September.

(BirdAbroad via MSNBC)

[ZergGirl]

The funny thing is the workers at the store don't even know it's fake...

[Next_rim]

Any hardware company makes big chunk of its profits off accessories rather than the product itself. R&D that went into making an iPod barely make room for per-product return.

Most of Apple's accessories are manufactured in China. I guess the market got heated so much, that entering barriers for accessory business became too high. So someone decided to flood the market with the product first.

Would be a perfectly viable idea, if Apple wasn't sitting on 76 billion of cash. I smell new product soon. With features different enough, that re-setting production lines of 'em Chinese fakers will drive them out of business. If legal teams don't make it first.

These fake Apples are wasting their money. Better be making extra batteries and headphones. I always suspected some Chinese suck at entrepreneurship.

[HDPhoenix]

Originally Posted by Next_rim

These fake Apples are wasting their money. Better be making extra batteries and headphones. I always suspected some Chinese suck at entrepreneurship.

You're assuming that they made these fakes from scratch. Rather, knowing China, it is the original manufacturer making these "fakes", which are identical to the originals, but they can sell it at 3-4 times the price they sell to Apple. Manufacturers traditionally make just 10-25% of retail price, so if they can sell it at 50% of retail, they make a huge killing

While unscrupulous, that's really entrepreneurship at its core =P Just saying

[Paroxysm]

I find it funny that there were three of the same stores within such a short distance of each other.. Seems kind of pointless!

[ke_ivan]

probably owned by the same guy lulz

[AxSGRiM]

roflmao. China is just fucked up.

[dippa]

Apple Stoer FIGHTING~

[Nobunaga]

What would be funny if the people inside were all fake.

Communist conspiracy bro.

[Next_rim]

HDPhoenix,

If it is the original product that is sold behind Apple's back off the back door of the factory in violation of distribution agreement, then it's not a fake product, it's screwing with legal liability. The consumer is not really getting cheated, as they are getting same quality product. I don't mind this practice, it's the matter of lawyers to sort out. In fact, I'd never know if it's fake, if it works the same way, and gets serviced by Apple.

I read it one way - fake (read - brand name stolen) store selling fake (read - copied without acquiring license for tech, in other words bought one, took it apart, figured how to make it, and set up production) products. Usually quality goes down the drain, and consumer gets a worse product. Now that's a problem, and it's called piracy. As I'm 4 hours drive from Chinese border, I get to deal with these all the fuckn time. It says "Samsung", it looks like Samsung cell phone, but it falls apart in mere weeks, the battery leaks, antenna doesn't have the reach it is supposed to, and it's sold at half the price.

[FSDarkNemesis]

All China crap... I find it very disturbing. Seriously indeed.

[vpatrickd]

Yeah I understand the reasons behind setting up a fake Apple store -> better money overall.
Looks so real though. Wonder what the real Apple is gonna do to them.

[dannnyds]

Gotta love knockoff's of stuff, but this is a whole new level

[SkyBreaker]

That's crazy! I've seen knock-offs before, but never anything taken to that extent... I don't blame people for not being able to notice the difference (other than the person who noticed the differences in signage between the real and fake Apple store(s)).

[XiaoHaiZi]

do they actually sell the original product ?

[nirvAnA]

from what i read in the newspapers the chinese gov closed down the ones which were selling the fakes and the ones that weren't are under review but still operating

all this we because of a seemingly innocent blog by an american living there and the outrage that followed.

the power of bloggers!

[LennX]

yes somehow they do sell the real products.