BEIJING: China’s passion for iPads and iPhones has triggered widespread cloning and even brawls. Now, it has gone further with a fake Apple store so convincing even the staff think they work for Steve Jobs.
The store, in the southwestern city of Kunming, was uncovered by an American blogger who was initially fooled, before she noticed not everything was as it seemed.
At first glance, the signs, computers and layout of the shop all look exactly like a genuine Apple store, says the blogger, who posts under the name BirdAbroad.
Photos posted by the blogger show the employees wearing Apple's trademark blue T-shirts with name badges hanging around their necks.
But a closer look reveals the winding stairs going up to the chill-out area are poorly made, the walls have not been painted well, and the shopfront sign says “Apple Store” whereas the real deal just sports the now-famous fruit logo.
The employees, meanwhile, all genuinely believe they work for Apple, said BirdAbroad, who asked to remain anonymous when contacted by AFP on Thursday.
“I do not know if the computers were real or fake -- they seemed real, but it can be hard to tell,” she said. “As of last night, the store was still open.”
She added that a quick walk around the corner revealed two other rip-off Apple stores -- one of which sported a sign saying “Apple Stoer”.
The Apple website lists four official stores in China -- two in Beijing and two in Shanghai, and none in Kunming.
It has a list of approved retailers that sell its products, but none of those in Kunming corresponds to the fake store's address, according to the blogger.
A spokeswoman for Apple China declined to comment when contacted by AFP.
China is home to the biggest counterfeit market in the world, and despite repeated government pledges to root out fake goods, these are still widely available throughout the country.
As the craze for all things Apple slowly spreads around China, fake iPhones and iPods have also emerged.
Out of the five self-branded “Apple Stores”, only two were told to shut, officials said. Officials are investigating whether Apple had applied with the Chinese government to have its store design and layout protected by law.
'LOOK AND FEEL'
In addition to protecting trademarks, Chinese law prohibits companies from copying the “look and feel” of other companies' stores, but enforcement is often spotty.
The United States and other Western countries have often complained China is woefully behind in its effort to stamp out intellectual property (IP) theft.
“We hope that they will take continuous action against other Intellectual Property Rights violations,” said Ioana Kraft, general manager of the Shanghai chapter of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China.
In May, China was listed for the seventh year by the U.S. Trade Representative's office as a country with one of the worst records for preventing copyright theft.
Piracy and counterfeiting of U.S. software and a wide range of other intellectual property in China cost U.S. businesses alone an estimated $48 billion and 2.1 million jobs in 2009, the U.S. International Trade Commission has said.
Countless unauthorized resellers of Apple and other brands' electronic products throughout China sell the real thing but buy their goods overseas and smuggle them into the country to skip taxes.
Angry customers berated staff and demanded refunds at one of the fake stores late last week, uncertain of legitimacy of the products on offer.
All the five unauthorized Apple shops in Kunming were selling genuine Apple products bought from other authorized resellers in China, Huang Yinghui, an official at the city's business bureau, told Reuters.
Apple has just four genuine Apple Stores in China, in Beijing and Shanghai, and none in Kunming in Yunnan province. The company, which has 13 authorized resellers in Kunming, could not be reached for comment.
Apple's brand is the world's most valuable, worth some $153 billion, according to a study earlier this year.
