China discovers another 22 fake Apple Stores
An investigation into retail stores purporting to be run by Apple in the southwestern Chinese city of Kunming has identified 22 phony storefronts operating under the company's logo.
According to a report by Reuters the stores have been ordered to stop using Apple's logos after Apple China complained of unfair competition and violation of its registered trademarks.
The investigation was tipped off by a blog post by an American living in the city who reported on knockoff Apple Stores that were so convincing that even their employees thought they were working for the Cupertino-based company.
The outlets appear to be selling actual Apple products, although they are in many cases smuggled into the country to avoid paying taxes. Customers who discovered the stores were not really begin run by Apple ranged from upset and demanding refunds for their purchases to being unfazed by the ownership of the store, as long as the merchandise was legitimately from Apple.
Apple only operates four stores in China, although it announced plans to open 25 in the near future. The company's revenues in the Greater China region (including Hong Kong and Taiwan), have exploded by a factor of six to reach $3.8 billion in the last reported quarter.
Credit: BirdAbroad
Credit: BirdAbroad
According to a report by Reuters the stores have been ordered to stop using Apple's logos after Apple China complained of unfair competition and violation of its registered trademarks.
The investigation was tipped off by a blog post by an American living in the city who reported on knockoff Apple Stores that were so convincing that even their employees thought they were working for the Cupertino-based company.
The outlets appear to be selling actual Apple products, although they are in many cases smuggled into the country to avoid paying taxes. Customers who discovered the stores were not really begin run by Apple ranged from upset and demanding refunds for their purchases to being unfazed by the ownership of the store, as long as the merchandise was legitimately from Apple.
Apple only operates four stores in China, although it announced plans to open 25 in the near future. The company's revenues in the Greater China region (including Hong Kong and Taiwan), have exploded by a factor of six to reach $3.8 billion in the last reported quarter.
Credit: BirdAbroad
Credit: BirdAbroad
Comments
Chinese Steve Jobs must be really angry right now!!
Chinese Steve Jobs must be really angry right now!!
I'm wiping my drink off my monitor right now! Too funny.
Are there fake rumor sites that publish info about when the next fake Apple product will be released or where the next fake Apple store will open?
And are there posters on those fake rumor sites whining and complaining about why they will never buy another fake Apple product because the fake Steve Jobs did not announce all the features in the new fake product that they wanted?
Maybe there are fake Android fanboys who troll the fake Apple rumor sites?
Maybe there are an infinite number of fake Apple stores in fake parallel universes that could theoretically exist?
It is all too overwhelming.
China is an unimaginably huge nation, so it wouldn't surprise me if there were more fake Apple Stores than KFC's.
Maybe in population, but not in size. China and the US are roughly the same size.
China is an unimaginably huge nation, so it wouldn't surprise me if there were more fake Apple Stores than KFC's.
I may have posted this here earlier, but it bears a repeat...
[This is someone else's anecdote, not mine]
"I heard a funny story around the time of my last trip. KFC wanted to open their first restaurant in China and sent a representative to scout for a suitable location. When the representative got there, someone told him there had been a KFC running there for years. Apparently, someone had bought the official uniforms and design materials from the local manufacturers and opened their own KFC."
Somebody else somewhere else pointed out that this means that there are more fake Apple stores than there are real MS stores.
http://daringfireball.net/linked/201...a-apple-stores
http://daringfireball.net/linked/201...a-apple-stores
Ahh thankyou! I couldn't remember where I'd read it and couldn't be bothered checking all my news sources. Of course I should have guessed from the fact it was both insightful and funny that it was from Gruber.
I was in one of these fake Apple stores just this afternoon. The people there are actually really knowledgeable and extremely nice. They bend over backward to help you...
Well, the guy in the top photo is certainly bending over backwards.
(Has he become an Internet meme yet? Is there a name for him?)
--------------
It's not surprising that they are knowledgeable and helpful. They're probably huge Apple fans and if there were a legitimate Apple Store in the area I'm sure they'd be the first to apply for a job.
I can understand that Apple has to crack down on these fakes to set a precedent, but I also hope they're using this experience to plan for when they build official stores in the area, and not hold it against the 'fake' employees who have thus far shown such initiative, misguided as it may seem.
I was in one of these fake Apple stores just this afternoon. The people there are actually really knowledgeable and extremely nice. They bend over backward to help you find the things you want and explain everything when you have questions. They're really very well trained employees.
To be perfectly honest, the service I got there was far better than the real stores I went to when I visited the west coast. Especially the ones in California. A quarter of them were snobby and made you feel bad for asking questions while another half of them seemed like they were tired of doing their job.
That's very interesting. I am glad you signed up to warn us.
Can you tell us which Apple stores those are on the west coast so we can avoid them?
Thanks so much for your contribution. You are a valuable member of the fake Apple fans community.
That's precisely the attitude they had at Palo Alto! You really captured their condescension well.
And you've really captured their trolling.
What? Do they have a factory somewhere that cranks out fake Apple stores?
Are there fake rumor sites that publish info about when the next fake Apple product will be released or where the next fake Apple store will open?
And are there posters on those fake rumor sites whining and complaining about why they will never buy another fake Apple product because the fake Steve Jobs did not announce all the features in the new fake product that they wanted?
Maybe there are fake Android fanboys who troll the fake Apple rumor sites?
Maybe there are an infinite number of fake Apple stores in fake parallel universes that could theoretically exist?
It is all too overwhelming.
Check out Alibaba and you'll find tonnes of them that you can handle!!!
I was in one of these fake Apple stores just this afternoon. The people there are actually really knowledgeable and extremely nice. They bend over backward to help you find the things you want and explain everything when you have questions. They're really very well trained employees.
To be perfectly honest, the service I got there was far better than the real stores I went to when I visited the west coast. Especially the ones in California. A quarter of them were snobby and made you feel bad for asking questions while another half of them seemed like they were tired of doing their job.
Oh, and how was the fake AppleStore's response to your AppleCare warranty? Did they bend over backward to fix or replace your product even thought you bought it at a real Apple Store?
Troll.
It seems like there is a lot of insecurity going around here.
What the hell is it with all the people calling Abbadabaddodoo a troll? He/she reported an experience in China and compared it to some in the US. Not everyone in the real Apple stores is a great employee, believe it or not. (Most are, however, in my experience.) But if someone says anything critical about Apple they get flamed whether it's deserved or not.
It seems like there is a lot of insecurity going around here.
Now you are the troll, because Tallest Skil said so. There were obviously fake Apple employees inside those real Apple Stores. So which employees in the store were fake, the courteous ones or the snobby ones?