Chinese Counterfeiting of Apple Products Is So Last MacWorld, Apple Stores Are Next - The UpStream

Chinese Counterfeiting of Apple Products Is So Last MacWorld, Apple Stores Are Next

posted Wednesday Jul 20, 2011 by Jon Wurm

Chinese Counterfeiting of Apple Products Is So Last MacWorld, Apple Stores Are Next

China has been the leader in imitation ever since the Western World discovered it was cheaper to have all their stuff manufactured in the East. With imitation iPhones, golf clubs and crab out there, it seems to me that if it exists, there is probably some factory in China spewing out knock-offs. The electronics industry is more than familiar with combating production of counterfeit products but it's a costly process that is largely out of their control, especially when it comes to China. The more popular the product, the more of a problem counterfeiting is. That's the good news; the bad news for Apple is that counterfeiting their products is so last MacWorld.

There is indeed not one but 3 fake Apple Stores within walking distance of each other in Kunming. This suggests they are taking the same approach Starbucks used a couple years back to crowd out competition and gain market share. There is certainly a healthy demand for Apple products in China as just recently we've seen people are willing to sell their virginity and kidneys just to get their hands on one. That is assuming they don't sell their hands as well.

The only thing more impressive than Chinese peoples' need for Apple stuff is their ability to reproduce entire retail stores. Hit the break to find out just what I mean.

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Just by looking at the picture it's easy to tell the people behind this had easy access to pretty much everything that goes into a real Apple Store. According to BirdAbroad who was physically in the fake store, minus some outdated pink iPod posters, everything else was pretty much spot on. For example, the wooden tables are really close if not the exact tables included in real stores. They also have the actual Apple patented display holders. There are several rooms that house products where the lighting and grey stone/wood floors are nearly identical to the real thing. All signage is a direct copy of current Apple-issued signage.

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They even went as far as to include the spiral staircases which, despite being in a fake store, seem to be real. Of course, it wouldn't be a fake Apple Store without a fake Genius Bar supplied by real employees. Finally, the icing on the cake is that the employees, who are all dressed in blue shirts and blue jeans just like real Apple Store employees, think they are in fact legitimate Apple employees.

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