
Fake apple stores - barron
http://birdabroad.wordpress.com/2011/07/20/are-you-listening-steve-jobs/
======
mechanical_fish
_We struck up a conversation with these sales guys who, hand to God, all
thought they really worked for Apple._

Now I'm wondering how I know who _I_ work for.

Now I'm wondering if I could have faked this entire blog post by photoshopping
up some pics of a real Apple Store.

Now I'm wondering if I've been reading too much Philip K. Dick or too little.

~~~
fonosip
these look like apple distributors though. as the products are apple original
right ?

or are they using second hand apple products ?

~~~
liedra
I suspect they're using "second hand" Apple products. If you know what I mean.
Nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more.

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noonespecial
_I seriously thought that it had simply been torn down and replaced with a
bank in the mean time – hey, it’s China. That could happen._

It used to be "Only in America" that the world muttered in disbelief. This
century, I'm thinking "Hey, it’s China. That could happen" might just be the
new black, as it were.

~~~
stcredzero
Were we Americans this crass and exploitive in the late 1800's? Not
rhetorical, but a genuine question. I've heard the opinion expressed that we
indeed were.

~~~
gamble
America used to be notorious in the 18th and 19th centuries for ignoring
copyrights and patents filed in Europe.

For example:

"Johns describes how the first generation of American publishers came to
constitute themselves as book pirates who openly violated British copyright
law by systematically reprinting works that the British publishers considered
their own lawful property. This laid the foundations for a vital but highly
controversial book market in the new world and Johns concludes that by “the
1820s, Jacksonian America had a secure and vibrant public sphere – but to
European eyes an utterly piratical one”.

Source: [http://web.mit.edu/comm-forum/mit7/papers/Fredriksson-
Draft-...](http://web.mit.edu/comm-forum/mit7/papers/Fredriksson-Draft-
MiT.pdf)

~~~
cookiecaper
Evidence that our current intellectual property regime is simply not practical
in a quickly emerging economic powerhouse?

~~~
gamble
I think it's more a result of the fact that China produces little intellectual
property of its own right now. Enforcing copyright would raise costs, hinder
development of copycat industries, and deplete the mountain of foreign
exchange they've accumulated through exports. In addition, unlike most small
countries that don't have domestic IP industries, China is not susceptible to
US and European pressure.

The US eventually became a champion of IP laws once its own IP industries
became globally dominant. China will discover the joys of copyright and patent
lawsuits once they dominate the IP industries.

~~~
afterburner
"once they dominate the IP industries"

Well English isn't the primary language there, that should probably make a
difference in how things play out compared to the US.

EDIT: (compared to the US pirating British works)

~~~
stcredzero
From what I've seen, the Chinese don't "get" the aesthetic systems of other
cultures as readily or completely as the Japanese did. The Japanese seem to
have a distinct edge over everyone else in East Asia in this regard.

------
kitcar
When I was in China in 2006 I wondered into a fake Nike store of similar
quality (In a residential neighborhood of Beijing). I too thought it was a
real store, the only thing that gave it away was when I actually picked up the
shoes in the store, I noticed all the swooshes were upside down!

Almost seemed like a waste to go through the whole effort of knocking off an
entire store, only to fill it with obviously fake merchandise.

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Robin_Message
I misread the title as "Fake apple _stories_ " and thought "how interesting
can that be?"

Very, it turns out. It seemed a shame in cultural terms that saying "We work
for Apple in the US and are making an on-site inspection" was enough to
convince security to respect them, but actually, if you have the balls to pull
it off, I bet that would work anywhere.

~~~
brk
I figured that some of the higher-level employees would have to be in on it,
and any people from the REAL Apple would send them into a panic. In this case,
maybe all the store employees, from top to bottom, really were clueless.

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pom
This reminds me of how Tower Records opened their first store in Japan, when a
fake Tower Records store was already operating in Sapporo... (see
[http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/MTS-Inc-
Com...](http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/MTS-Inc-Company-
History.html)) Interestingly enough, the Japanese branch became independent a
few years ago and is still in business, when the US stores have now
disappeared.

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janesvilleseo
This is simply amazing. I can only imagine how quickly these initial stores
will be closed down. They will spring up again like weeds, but these first
ones will be probably be closed with in a few weeks.

I really love that last picture with the spelling mistake "Apple Stoer".

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pohl
I have actually been in a fake Apple store. It was eerie. Same decor, the
staff all wore the same tshirt uniforms...amazingly, they had set up shop
within sight of a real Apple store, in a big mall in Denver. The only real
giveaways that it was not real were that they had these big-ass multitouch
tables with $10k price tags and there were very few customers in the store.

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jaysonelliot
I feel really terrible for the employees who work at these stores, thinking
they are working for Apple. I think about how I felt when I got a job I really
wanted at that age, and the joy they must have felt when they were hired, and
telling all of their friends and family that they were Apple employees.

Look at the photos of the employees. They look so sincere and earnest. I can
only imagine the disappointment they will feel one day when they find out
they're working for a con man.

I'd love it if this story ended with "and then Apple, seeing how badly Kunming
wanted to have an Apple Store, came along, built a real one, and hired all the
employees at the new, legitimate store."

~~~
sbierwagen
Real, legitimate Apple products are going to be something like six times more
expensive than the counterfeits.

It's not out of pure malice that prevents Apple from segmenting markets-- if
the iPad sold in China is too much cheaper than the iPad sold in America, then
people will just purchase iPads by the thousand to resell them in America.

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megablast
Doesn't actually say whether it sells actual Apple stuff, or knock-offs, or if
it did I missed it.

~~~
meatsock
of course it's actual apple stuff, it comes from an actual apple store.

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danilocampos
Yay for yet another interesting blog post wrapped in OnSwipe's miserable,
unnecessary iPad theme.

~~~
swombat
Yeah, I have to say I don't quite get the point of that. The original WP theme
would look absolutely fine on an iPad. Otoh, the onswipe theme looks a bit
weird and has annoying scrolling issues, and takes ages to load too. Not quite
sure what it adds to anything other than a vague sense of frustration...

------
blhack
How do the people doing these knockoffs miss the little details like "stoer"?

They're obviously putting a tremendous amount of work into the clone, is
hiring a native English speaker to look at it and make sure the English looks
like English _that_ much of an extra expense?

When I'm sending posters and promotional materials to our printer (as in: the
company that does printing, not the device), I go over it again and again,
then usually get a second and third set of eyes to triple check it for
spelling errors.

These knockoffs are really _good_ , it's kindof sad that they're so close, but
missing it with the little stuff.

Or do they not really expect any English speakers to show up? If that's the
case, why the English words at all?

~~~
rglovejoy
> Or do they not really expect any English speakers to show up? If that's the
> case, why the English words at all?

Because it makes the store look trendy and sophisticated. Sort of like how
many Americans will think some product is "upscale" if it has a French name or
the voiceover actor in the ad has a British accent.

~~~
smackfu
Yeah, if you go to a French bakery in the USA, and everything is labelled in
French and in English, does it even matter if the French is correct?

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TorKlingberg
It looks like they are selling genuine Apple products. So the only thing this
store is guilty of is using the "Apple Store" name without permission. There
is nothing illegal about running a store that sells only Apple products, and
decorating it in a matching way. It is quite common in China to see small
stores that sell only Lenovo, only Dell or only Sony products, and they are
not usually run by the brands.

~~~
sbierwagen

      It looks like they are selling genuine Apple products. 
    

Oh please. What evidence are you basing this judgement on, the blurry
cameraphone pictures from this blog post? Magic? Intuition that of _course_ a
counterfeit store, operated by a third party, will only carry genuine items?

~~~
geon
Actually, what would a counterfeit macbook look like? An amumimum colored
generic laptop running XP with some OS X theme?

I have seen videos of ( _very_ obviously) fake iPhones, where they look pretty
real until you start using it.

Would they actually sell anything if all they had was obviously fake crap?

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luke_s
Funny I should see this today. I was just reading the wikipedia page on
"Simulacra and Simulation":

"Simulacra and Simulation is most known for its discussion of images, signs,
and how they relate to contemporaneity. Baudrillard claims that our current
society has replaced all reality and meaning with symbols and signs, and that
human experience is of a simulation of reality. Moreover, these simulacra are
not merely mediations of reality, nor even deceptive mediations of reality;
they are not based in a reality nor do they hide a reality, they simply hide
that anything like reality is irrelevant to our current understanding of our
lives."

Edit on further thought:

If the products are the same, how is this more 'real' than a genuine apple
store? They are both just a collection of signs, branding, processes and
marketing.

What happens when stores in even smaller towns spring up, copying this fake
apple store? What then is the reality? How far along do the copies of copies
need to go, before they are totally divorced from the originals in America? Do
they then become 'real' and genuine their own right?

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mattblalock
I'm wondering if this isn't a real Fake Apple Store... as in, Apple recognizes
the need to develop that market and also recognizes the fact that their
products are prohibitively expensive for those customer - to avoid diluting
the Apple brand, build "Apple Stoers" selling the merchandise at a deep
discount.

These new Apple Stoers would be very functional and serve the company on many
levels. Quickly test new markets with low risk, introduce the Mac at a lower
price point, and eventually could be replaced with Real Apple Stores in strong
markets.

As the Chinese economy develops, the price of the merchandise increases (maybe
shifting from store to store?) and in a few decades they have a stronghold on
the edgy cool market of top-of-the-line-computers in the new world market, but
also have one on the lower-end Apple Stoer brand.

Sounds like a good plan, just seems strange that we're all talking about it
though...

------
joshwa
I was in this "Apple" Store 2 weeks ago (I live in Kunming). They didn't have
the airline magsafe adapter in stock.

The thing that gave it away for me (besides it being in _Kunming_ ) was the
non-Lucida-Grande typeface everywhere.

If anyone wants me to go in there next week when I get back to the mainland,
let me know.

------
mailanay
Are these fake apple stores selling genuine apple products? Or the products
themselves are fake?

------
smackfu
A lot of the official Apple resellers in non-US countries have also lifted the
entire Apple store look -- wood tables with products, white walls, lots of
glass, white banner signs. The only difference is they don't call it an Apple
Store.

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lambersley
There are countless examples of this. I too was amazed at how widespread the
cloning was when I visited China. I recall this massive 'Hazma 6' billboard
along one highway in Shanghai and being warned not to drink a particular
bottle of water in Dalian. Who rips off bottle water? China!

Who can forget the ripoff X5 that they attempted to put on display in
Frankfurt? (<http://goo.gl/oPD5y>) BMW wasn't having it.

Oh, have you seen the poorly cloned Disney World? (<http://goo.gl/DO6Ii>)

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crocowhile
I don't get it: do they (re)sell genuine apple products or ripoff too?

~~~
brk
Most likely they are selling genuine products stolen from the factory or
shipping containers.

~~~
joejohnson
What are you basing this on?

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olalonde
Somewhat related:
[https://plus.google.com/108481435543473632495/posts/aQJGcM3L...](https://plus.google.com/108481435543473632495/posts/aQJGcM3L4dx)
(pizzeria in China)

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oasisbob
Well, it's more convincing than the last time:

<http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2007/10/fake-apple-stor/>

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ltamake
They're gonna be raided like meth labs once Apple gets wind of this (if they
haven't already).

~~~
redthrowaway
I seriously doubt the Chinese police will care. Maybe if it was in a city
where Apple had a factory and they had cultivated relationships with local
officials, but out in the boonies they have no power.

~~~
Alex3917
Kunming is a huge tourist city that a lot of Americans go to when they visit
China. This makes it easier for Apple to put pressure on them.

~~~
redthrowaway
Maybe slightly, but no more than it would be for some chinese company to put
pressure on the local police in San Francisco, and likely quite a bit less.

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MNUO
how long has this gone unnoticed

