Posted on 08/10/2011 6:22:58 AM PDT by xzins
Reuters) - The newest version of Apple Inc's popular iPhone has already hit the Chinese market -- the fake market that is.
The 'hiPhone 5' is selling for as little as 200 yuan ($31) on China's top e-commerce platform Taobao, which is owned by Alibaba Group.
But one has to pay around 800 yuan for a more "genuine" one, according to some shop clerks at a mobile phone market in Shanghai.
"Look at this. It's not the same as the 300-400 yuan ones," Shanghai-based daily Metro Express quoted a clerk as saying, pointing to one originally priced at 850 yuan.
The 'hiPhone 5' is based on leaked images of the yet-to-be-launched iPhone 5 and is thinner and with less rounded edges than the existing iPhone 4, according to the newspaper. However, it is extremely light, almost like a plastic toy, like most pirated mobile phones, it said.
Western governments have repeatedly criticized China for widespread violation of intellectual property rights, but pirated goods from branded watches, to bags and computer software can be easily found in shops.
Last month, an American blogger set off a media storm after she posted pictures of an elaborate fake Apple Store in Kunming, selling genuine if unauthorized iPhones, Macbooks and other widely popular Apple products.
Reuters also uncovered a look-a-like of the Swedish furniture giant Ikea in the southwestern Chinese city.
Apple, which is expected to roll out the latest version of the iPhone 5 smartphone within a few months, sold a record 20.34 million iPhones during the last quarter, even though its newest model is over a year old.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Chinese theft of Apple products —> Job theft
(Steve)Jobs theft
LOL.
Good catch.
The chinese have been doing this for years. Frankly any company that is stupid enough to setup a production line gets what they deserve. The only way that we will ever get china to respect ip rights is if enough companies quit producing there stuff over there.
The way we churn through mobile phones, I’d pay $31 for this if it lasted just a year or even less. I wonder if AT&T or Verizon would allow this on their networks if they knew it was a “hiPhone5”.
This is the consequence of sending all our technology and Jobs overseas, the Anti-American Unions have destroyed the Job force in America.
Friend of mine works for Toshiba machine tools, got sent to china to repair a unit and half the factory was equipped with crummy knockoffs of the unit they sold the factory. They rip everyone one off.
Every time we buy a cheap China knock-off we support their slave wage economy.
Moreover, we put our companies in competition with slave wages.
How can they compete other than to go overseas or to begin driving toward minimum wages themselves?
It is a moral issue NOT to support slave wages. It’s really no different than supporting slavery itself.
it is not always slave wages.
if a company subcontracts to china or ANYWHERE in asia, quite often the factory produces the order by day and produces a knockoff by night. Sometimes it is a family affair with one brother producing the genuine article at factory a with the other brother producing the knockoff at factory b.
Calloway clubs are so well knocked off that the only way to tell the copycat is to havt the club tested at the factory.
There are no courts in china, no lawyers to sue, and no means of enforcement.
consider mexico and louis vitton factories, the workers would actually steal the genuine parts and assemble the bags at home. so you had a knock off made of genuine materials by the actual workers.
Like buying Southern cotton circa 1850’s, inctead we are buying Cheap Crap from China Circa 2010’s....
Prolly unlocked, too.
What do American companies expect? I just 25 min on the phone with apple to try to get my lousy 2 year old mac book fixed or replaced..i told them their product is expensive junk now that it is made in China..
They give the blueprints of their money makers to a people that do not respect private property and of course they will make it..
Our American companies LIKE APPLE are paying slave wages to the Chinese to build the computers/phones/pads that they will sell at american labor prices ..
That is a sin
You speak deep truth, Sister, and not many in America have figured it out yet.
If you purchase products made at slave wages, then you cast a vote for slave wages to appear in our own country.
hiPhone 5! ROFLMAO!!! That’s rich!
They’ll figure it out soon enough. They don’t realize we as a nation have been subsidizing cheap crap from China for decades because we want our $30 DVD player. That’s all about to change, and a lot of people will learn the hard way just how unrealistic we’ve been.
Good to hear from you, Fru. I agree. We buy that Chinese crap without thinking of anything except the price tag. In my experience, it breaks much faster than other stuff I buy.
Then there’s the whole idea of subsidizing slave labor. If you sow slave wages, then you’ll reap slave wages.
Wow good to see ya around Fru
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