Thursday, July 21, 2011

Knockoff Apple stores in China (updated)

[Thanks to TCGirl]
Knockoff Apple stores in China, article.
I knew they shamelessly copy fine art and electronics, but whole Apple Stores? Holy Moley.
Be interesting to see if Apple can do anything. A friend of mine makes fine art bronze statues, and he's devastated to see rip-offs of his work in shoddy materials come from China at a third of the price. But of course he can't do anything about it. If Apple can't either, I doubt anybody can, and we just have to hope that this is a "phase" China is going through until the day they are proud enough to really want to sell their own original stuff. Might take a while, I haven't heard rumors of big waves of Chinese engineers and designers. But maybe "proud enough to want to sell only legit stuff" will be good enough.

Update:
TCGirl found this new article. The blog post has had influence.
The proliferation of the fake stores underlines the slow progress that China's government is making in countering a culture of a rampant piracy and widespread production of bogus goods that is a major irritant in relations with trading partners.

Indeed. I am sure it brings a lot of money to the country, so they are probably not trying all *that* hard.

6 comments:

Philocalist said...

I get the impression that people in China are coming around to the idea of a 'Western' world very quickly. We have a Japanese friend staying for a while, until she finishes her (English) language course at one of the local universities: in each of seven different classes she attends, more than 9 out of ten pupils are Chinese nationals, over in the UK studying English language ... and it's not exactly a 'cheap' option, either; even with 'budget' accomodation, the costs run easily into 5 figures for an 8-month course. Add in additional costs for travel, food etc and return flights, and learning English suddenly starts to look very expensive ... and many of them are into their third 8 - month sessions!

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

Just for the language? Wow!!
I have a feeling there's a need for English teachers over East.

Philocalist said...

There is .. we were approached .. but the money is not exactly brilliant :-)

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

Strange, considering the need and how much the students could save.

Philocalist said...

I agree, but potential employers over there see wages in Chinese terms, which are a very small percentage of what a worker makes in the UK, even on minimum wage.

TC [Girl] said...

Looks like someone read the chick's blog and actually went to investigate!