Counterfeit Apple Stores Popping Up In China

By Duncan Geere, Wired UK

Update: Wired.co.uk hasindependently fixed store referred to in the story to be an without official authorization Apple Store.

Chinese counterfeiters have a long story of cloning hardware from leading tech manufacturers, but right away they're going a step serve by cloning whole stores .

A US blogger living in Kunming in Southwest China beheld what appeared to be an Apple store cocktail up in her town, total with the store's heading spacious, ethereal interior, blue-shirted staff, products to fool around with, and the upper story seating area.

"We proceeded to place a gamble on either or not this was a real Apple store or only the most appropriate fraud you had ever seen," mentioned the blogger, who hasn't disclosed her identity but goes beneath the pen name BirdAbroad. It incited out to be the latter - a rapid peek at Apple's website shows that there are only stores in Beijing and Shanghai in China.

Even more curiously, the staff believed they honestly were working for Apple . "I attempted to suppose the practice that they went to when they were hired," says the blogger, "in that they were pitched a few large debate about how they were working for this innovative, universal firm - when unequivocally they're only stuffing the pockets of a few shyster living in a prefab palace outward the town by station around a counterfeit store disinterestedly selling what might or might not be actual Apple products that fell off the back of a lorry somewhere."

There is a few debate as to either the store in subject is a "Premium Reseller" receiving the work far as well seriously. ( Not any more there isn't. See the on top of update.) The blog's writer addresses this in the comments, adding: "What these stores are carrying out is evidently not similar - they are perplexing to pretence people in to considering this is an actual Apple store. The employees all regard they obviously work is to American firm Apple, when they seemingly do not."

You can see lots of images of the store on BirdAbroad's blog , along with deliberation in the comments.

It isn't the initial time cloning of this scale has been claimed. In 2006, for example, it was reported the whole of NEC, the wiring firm, was cloned .