China Investigates & Shuts Down ‘Fake’ Apple Stores

July 25th, 2011 By: THN News

(The Hosting News) – Officials in China are said to be investigating various Apple retailers in the country after a blog post last week exposed a fake Apple store in Kunming, China.

The investigation has already resulted in two unauthorized Apple retailers shutting down. According to a Reuters report, the two were cited as failing to have a proper business license.

In a post last week, American blogger BirdAbroad (who lives in Kunming) described visiting a supposed Apple store in the city.
Even though having the Apple Store name, the products, and general layout, the blogger noted some obvious things that pointed towards the store being a fake. In fact, besides the one she initially posted on, BirdAbroad found another fake store with the obvious misspelling, “Apple Stoer.”
Despite the initial blog posting, it’s been reported that the two closures didn’t include the ‘fake’ Apple store initially described by the blogger.
Following the news, that store is said to be working on an Apple reseller application (according to the same Reuters report).

Apple currently has four ‘real’ Apple stores in the country, two in Beijing along with two in Shanghai. It’s unknown whether Apple played any part in the investigation and closures.

China is known as a hotspot for various counterfeited and copycatted items.
Recently AFP (Agence France-Presse) reported that last year EU officials seized fake items that accounted for a billion euros, 85% of which were from China.
However, entire counterfeit stores posing as the real thing appear to be less widespread.
It’s also important to note that the stores in question appear to have been selling actual Apple products.

Besides that, the country is known for its censorship of particular internet websites.
Blocked sites in the country have included the likes of Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter.
The country has also banned popular video game consoles including Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Nintendo’s Wii (the latter of which has led to a low quality Chinese rip-off system called the “Vii”).

Countries including the United States have criticized China over its rights record in the past.
Even with such tech limitations, Apple has seen progress in the Chinese market in the area of manufacturing. The company has various facilities, some of which are responsible for production of  Apple products like the iPad.

To view to the initial blog posting on the fake stores by BirdAbroad, visit:  http://birdabroad.wordpress.com/2011/07/20/are-you-listening-steve-jobs/

  
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