Posts Tagged ‘China’

iPhone, jPhone, kPhone, and all the way to zPhone

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January 5th, 2012

They are pouring out of China

We all knew it would happen so why are we surprised to hear that there are iPhone copies? These copies are pouring out of China at a fraction of the price. Beware, they are expected to work fractionally compared to the real thing. An iPhone is an expensive item. It is sweeping the world. Everyone wants one, from the smallest kids to the golden agers, and of course, many people cannot afford one. This is where the copies and the fakes come into their own.

The gadget fans

Long, winding queues of gadget fans are lining up to throw their money at the latest flashy i-product, a treatment usually reserved for Apple. But here in China a home-grown brand is inspiring its own platoon of highly-motivated buyers. More than 300 people lined up around the block in Hong Kong on January 1st to get their hands on Meizu’s latest phone. And that was mirrored in cities across China. It’s all for this: the Meizu MX.

Is this an iPhone?

The easiest way to handle the design was obviously to make an exact copy so it’s difficult to know if you are looking at a genuine iPhone or a knock off. It’s easy to see where the company found its inspiration. Some Chinese consumers love it. Among those lined up today, aviation management student Kenny Tang said, "It looks like the iPhone but inside the software, the UI, the design is completely different. "Three days on from its launch, people are still lining up here in Hong Kong for the Meizu MX. It looks like an iPhone, but it only costs 400 dollars."

Latest hardware

Loaded with the latest hardware, it’s a lot cheaper than the iPhone 4S at 650 U.S. dollars or the Samsung Galaxy Nexus at 700. And that’s helping these so-called "shanzhai" firms – the Chinese term for manufacturers known originally for knock-offs. Now they’re moving up the value chain to sell their own branded products.

Salaries in China

"As everyone knows, the average salary in China isn’t that high right now. So this is definitely more affordable than some of the other mainstream phones in the market. But at the same time we don’t sacrifice on specifications." The problem, though, is scale. Big players like Apple and Samsung pay far less for the components inside their phones than smaller handset makers. And that means tighter profit margins for the shanzhai players, says Analyst Mark Newman. “I don’t think these Chinese brands are going to compete head-to-head in the mainstream market but more in the mid to low end, especially in China – in the domestic market. But they don’t have a lot of scale and so it’s going to be difficult for them to compete with Samsung."

The Huawei phone

There is hope though. Huawei was once a small player. It now commands eleven percent of the mainland market. With more than 950 million mobile phone users in mainland China, shanzhai firms like Meizu have plenty of room to grow. Especially as more consumers look for smartphones at reasonable prices.

Tags: Cheap phones, China, Fake phones, iphones
Posted in Business, Economy, Employment, Personal / Internet, Technology | No Comments »

China, Copiers Par Excellence, Take Their Art to a New Level

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August 1st, 2011

They have copied an entire store

In China, the “Copy pirates” can copy anything. We’ve all seen the watches and pens, the handbags and luggage and thousands of other items, copied so perfectly that it’s not easy to pick the out the original. Once upon a time the Chinese were the developers of such items as the compass, gunpowder and papermaking, among some of the great inventions that shaped world history.

Today

Now some ‘business’ people in the US are copying not just the products of hot Western brands, but entire stores. In the southwest China city of Kunming, officials found five Apple stores last month, including one near flawless "branch". None of these were authorized by the U.S. electronics company. Another fake Apple store operates in Chongqin City, the China Daily newspaper reported. A photo exposé posted by an American expatriate blogger in Kunming recently became a global Internet sensation and prompted the government’s own belated inspection. For those in the front-line fight against China’s pirates, these bad apples taste all too familiar.

Copying everything

"You get everything from McDonald’s and Starbucks lookalikes to whole hotels copied," says Chris Bailey, a China-based executive at intellectual property consultancy firm Rouse. "It’s pretty normal, not just the look and decoration but fake certificates too, and good enough to fool people," he says. And why so brazen? "The penalties don’t outweigh the benefits." Last week, an entrepreneur in the southern city of Zhongshan faced trial for running an Abercrombie & Fitch store, packed with fake merchandise, reported the Zhongshan Daily newspaper. The U.S. clothing company has yet to open a China store.

Counterfeiting

China is well-known for counterfeiting. For decades, it has exported knock-offs of high-end designer bags such as Fendi, Louis Vuitton and Coach, as well as fake Rolex and Omega watches and cigarette brands such as Marlboro. Pirated DVDs of American films can be bought on streets and the Web. Even fake collectible U.S. coins are minted. But with China’s economic rise, there been a boost in demand for Western brands. Snoopy and the Playboy bunny logo are often stitched onto clothing. If consumers can’t find or afford KFC or McDonald’s, lookalikes include KMC and MKC, while several coffee chains mimic Starbucks’ logo. Plants in China’s southern provinces near Hong Kong have been caught producing imitation Windows software, Duracell batteries, Chanel fragrances and even Viagra.

Shanzhai culture

A major obstacle is China’s shanzhai culture, whereby some Chinese delight in making cheap imitations, sometimes in parody, of expensive, famous brands. At its most innocent, shanzhai celebrates the Chinese office worker who last month surprised colleagues by turning up in his homemade Iron Man suit.

Fake products

Fake Chinese products, such as food and medications, threaten consumers. "There is too much tolerance of the shanzhai," says Paul Ranjard, a lawyer at Beijing’s Wanhuida, a law firm and intellectual property agency. "It’s infringement, but there is an ambiguous attitude" in Chinese society and its courtrooms, he says.

Apple

Even at Apple’s flagship Beijing store, one of only four nationwide, there appears some grudging respect for the Kunming copycat. "We were surprised, and had to laugh, as it looks just like our store, but I hope it is shut down soon," salesman Ge Heng says.

Tags: Apple stores, China, Copies, Copywatches, Counterfeiting
Posted in Business, Economy, Finance, Money, Personal / Internet | No Comments »