Kunming Fake Apple Stores- Oh, China
In the past few days, a few of my friends have asked me to comment on the now-viral story of fake Apple Store outlets in Kunming. For those who haven't been following: an American blogger in Kunming visited what appeared to be an authentic Apple Store in Kunming only to discover that it was in fact fake. The store sold real Apple products but wasn't actually authorized by Apple, whose only official stores in China are located in Beijing and Shanghai. The story has attracted considerable attention in the international press.
Alas, flagrant violations of intellectual property is nothing new in China. Medium-sized cities in China that do not have a Starbucks typically have a chain called SBC instead. From the logo to the internal decor, SBC quite obviously is trying to rip off Starbucks. In Lianyungang, a fast-food chain had literally taken a McDonalds golden arch and turned it upside down, selling chicken burgers to eager customers. Even the Apple area of Beijing's massive electronics market at 百脑汇 is designed to resemble the atmosphere at an Apple Store.
Seeing such places shocked me at first, but they're not incongruous in a country where fake software, DVDs, and CDs proliferate and quite a few college graduates are given fake diplomas for their efforts.
UPDATE: For a more comprehensive explanation for why the fake Apple Stores story isn't really "news", here's Stan at China Hearsay.
July 27th, 2011 - 20:49
I’m currently living in a small town outside of a major city in China, and our new addition is a ‘McTuckey’ complete with all the same pictures off the board
Chicken burger and french fries. sooo good!