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Are you listening, Steve Jobs? Fake Apple Stores in Kunming, China.

Are you listening, Steve Jobs? BirdAbroad

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"It’s an Apple store!

Or is it?

RP and I went inside and poked around. They looked like Apple products. 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."

"We proceeded to place a bet on whether or not this was a genuine Apple store or just the best ripoff we had ever seen – and to be sporting, I bet that it was real.

I know, you guys are laughing: an Apple store in Kunming? No one who doesn’t know me personally has ever heard of Kunming before. Kunming is the end of the Earth. It’s all true – but seriously, China warps your mind into believing that anything is possible, if you stay here long enough."


That is so true. :D

"When we went back to this store 5 days later and couldn’t find it, having overshot by two blocks, 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.

You have already guessed the punchline, of course: 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.

Apple never writes “Apple Store” on it’s signs – it just puts up the glowing, iconic fruit."


"Being the curious types that we are, we struck up some conversation with these salespeople who, hand to God, all genuinely think they work for Apple. "

BTW there is a large two story high 'Apple' billboard on a department store, five minutes walk from where I live:
apple products billboard xilinhot.jpg
Thing is, just like Kunming, Apple does NOT have a presence in this city. One can't actually buy Apple products in Xilinhot, just replica iPhones(with Android) and iPods.

GO CHINA!!!! :)
 
That's unbelievable... a whole store that's a fake!!

Do I take it that the products are fakes too??

Grey imports probably, back into the country where the things where made. TBH I've not seen a counterfeit iMac yet, although they probably do exist. Fake everything else though, including unibody Macbooks. The fake Macbooks can look extremely convincing except for one thing, Windows keys. Needless to say these Macbooks do NOT boot into OS X.
 
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You would have thought though that, if they were official Apple re-sellers and had to use Apple branded stuff, etc. that they would have had to have the same high standard finish to the store that you would have in a real Apple store.

From reading what you have linked, I thought that an official Apple re-seller couldn't claim to be an Apple store, but they quite clearly have (from one of the photos).
 
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I guess you live and learn... just hope that people who think they are buying Apple products don't get duped too badly!

Not an apple fan myself, but wouldn't want anyone to spend their hard earned on something that isn't what it seems!

From what you've said though, it seems pretty obvious on how to spot the fakes!

362567556_bb31376cb5.jpg

Usually it's quite easy. Although I did see quite a convincing looking white iPad replica in a local store this afternoon. Packaging was good and very Apple like, and the construction of the tablet itself appeared to be excellent. However it was somewhat smaller than the real thing, maybe 7-8 inches, but no prizes for guessing what OS it was running, it wasn't iOS.

amani shoe.jpg
China is basically a country of brand whores. Many will knowingly buy knock-offs just because they bare the logos and names of famous western brands, e.g. Apple, LV, Gucci, Armani, Prada, Burberry.

shorts3.jpg
The tags from a pair of shorts I bought recently. AFAIK Burberry doesn't actually make shorts. "Respectable High Character Gentle Men's Collection".. hmmmm!
 
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362567556_bb31376cb5.jpg

Usually it's quite easy. Although I did see quite a convincing looking white iPad replica in a local store this afternoon. Packaging was good and very Apple like, and the construction of the tablet itself appeared to be excellent. However it was somewhat smaller than the real thing, maybe 7-8 inches, but no prizes for guessing what OS it was running, it wasn't iOS.

View attachment 20417
China is basically a country of brand whores. Many will knowingly buy knock-offs just because they bare the logos and names of famous western brands, e.g. Apple, LV, Gucci, Armani, Prada, Burberry.

View attachment 20416
The tags from a pair of shorts I bought recently. AFAIK Burberry doesn't actually make shorts. "Respectable High Character Gentle Men's Collection".. hmmmm!

I have a mate who's currently in Chengdu and so I know that China can be bad!

Loving the "Respectable High Character Gentle Men's Collection" phrase though!! :D
 
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I have a mate who's currently in Chengdu and so I know that China can be bad!

Loving the "Respectable High Character Gentle Men's Collection" phrase though!! :D

That is quite amusing isen't it. I had a pair of jeans which had 'The fashion is your excellence choic' printed on the rear label, near the belt loops. Funniest one though, is an oversized t-shirt worn by one of the English teachers at my school, which has 'New York Citi Fason Wek' printed on it in enormous Helvetica. I've got so used to this sort of stuff now though, probably just like your mate in Chengdu.
 
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Not just China, it seems there are fake Apple Stores elsewhere in the world.

Blogger sparks hunt for fake Apple stores CCTV News - CNTV English

"Not just in China
After the stir provoked by her first blog, titled "Are you listening, Steve Jobs", the woman invited readers to send their photographs of fake Apple stores worldwide - and has received responses from place including Costa Rica, Caracas and Vietnam.
"You just made me realize, I, too, have been in a fake Apple Store without knowing it! While I was living in Bogot, Colombia last year I found an Apple Store in the middle of a very trendy area of the city," wrote a reader named Laura.
"I swear to you it looked like any store I've been to in the States. But nowhere does it show on the Apple website that there is a store in Colombia, nor did I find any authorized resellers there. This is too funny!!!!"
The blog also has a picture of a fake Apple store in Hanoi."


No fake Apple stores in Xilinhot though, just a fake Disney store.
 
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There is no end to the counterfeit business is there?

I personally don't like Apple but shit, that's a lot of money lost there. Even seeing a pirated/counterfeit Windows grinds my gears.

Well, guess that's China, but the thought of fake, non authentic stuff is really unnerving.

Just the other day, a kid at a restaruant had a "iPod Shuffle" that said "I pod", like that, with the letters incorrectly capitalized. Not as funny as the one guy who had an "I po" the d fell off..stickers.:eek:
 
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I personally don't like Apple but shit, that's a lot of money lost there. Even seeing a pirated/counterfeit Windows grinds my gears.

I have trouble with this sort of statement being made even in piracy situations. In no way am I attempting to justify either, but it's hard to say how much money, if any, is lost here. People may very well just live without these products, PERIOD, if the counterfeit wasn't available.
 
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There is no end to the counterfeit business is there?

I personally don't like Apple but shit, that's a lot of money lost there. Even seeing a pirated/counterfeit Windows grinds my gears.

Well, guess that's China, but the thought of fake, non authentic stuff is really unnerving.

Try living in China for a couple of years. You'll soon come round to a different way of thinking.

To quote the original BirdAbroad posting. "...but seriously, China warps your mind into believing that anything is possible, if you stay here long enough."
 
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In general, do a lot of Chinese want the fake stuff or are they settling with the fake stuff?

Many Chinese people are basically brand whores. However most can't afford the real-mccoy, but they love to show off famous western brand names and logos, whether it be on phones, MP3/MP4 players, handbags, sneakers, shirts, coats, glasses.

I've even seen people put Apple stickers on their Lenovo laptops. Pretending they're Apple laptops.

IAre they well aware that it's fake?

Yes.

This is a billboard on an upscale department store('upscale' for Inner Mongolia that is). I can see it from my living room.
apple products billboard xilinhot.jpg
There's NO genuine Apple products on sale here, only fake iPhones and iPods.

Here's another department store billboard I can see from my apartment.
armani bird thing.jpg
Looks very much like the 'Emporio Armani' eagle logo. There's no Armani here, well nothing which is remotely genuine.
 
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