China Bootleg - Chinese Pirated iPad and iPhone

Chinese piracy has increased exponentially along with the Chinese economy success story. Chinese piracy in its infancy was music, movies and software. Chinese bootlegs and knockoffs have now expanded to luxury goods and high end electronics. Apple has been the other marvel since 2000. It makes sense the Chinese bootlegs of Apple products would also explode.

There are now complete replicas of the trademark Apple shops in China, stocked with Apple products and mimicking Apple sales techniques. Bootleg iPads were selling in China only three weeks after the iPad was launched. Such is the speed of piracy today. The matter is also shocking when you consider that Apple cannot keep up with legitimate demand in America and globally. With iPad they had to postpone planned international pre-releases. The release of iPad 2, iPhone 4 and iPhone 5 were all shrouded with secrecy.

Piracy has been a hot political issue for China in the houses of parliament in Europe and US Congress. Software developers and musicians have been loudest in their outrage. It should not surprise you the catalog of bootleg versions available. Apples products including the latest iPhones and MacBooks are for sale in China. The Bootleg iPad 2 selling in China seems like business as usual.

The prices are cheap and the copies replicate the original. The Windows 7 operating system goes for just US$2.00. The other hot Apple product MacBook Air is also readily available. Shenzhen is the hotbed for all the latest pirated gadgetry. They quickly find themselves for sale in other markets throughout China and on-line.

Online there are descriptions of the pirated iPads, it’s prices and differences from the authentic iPad.

One description from Reuters describes it as “ hefty and thickset with three USB ports and a more rectangular shape than the original.” It also is said to run on a Windows operating system, no surprise when they retail for $2,00 here! Reuters also described it as a “ a giant iPhone.” Most likely this is what it is taking the iPhone’s they have and up scaling them initially.

The price however is not dramatically cheaper than from the Apple store in the United States. They are being sold for 2,800 Yuan (US$412 against the $499 to $699 in America.

Chinese salesmen even are as brazen to say their iPad is not only cheaper but is better than Apple’s version. That is the iPad you can’t get legitimately anyway because it is out of supply. The scary thing is for manufacturers are how quickly these versions are on the market and the ease of their distribution. Granted a journalist from Reuters has greater information and access than Joe Average it seems readily available tot the knowing or connected. How quickly customs agents around the world will watch these become available outside of China.

To see how easy the pirated iPad are to get hold of just search Taobao online and you will find hundreds of iPad’s for sale. Taobao is China's largest online marketplace. These iPad knock-offs also are offered for 2800 Yuan each. On Taobao the genuine iPad (if it is) are offered for 4,000-6,000 Yuan.

Edward Yu from Beijing researcher Analysys International made an interesting observation; 'I don't think piracy is a bad thing for the iPad given that China has a huge population, maybe the clone iPads will give more of the potential users a look and feel.' These gives rise to theories that iPad is intentionally leaked to get free market penetration or developer add-ons that Apple can take into its genuine upgrades.

Lets keep our eye open for bootleg iPads selling in China, any upgrades and whether there is any political noise over it. iPad is the hottest gadget in America right now; currency manipulation by China is the hottest international political agenda for the Democrats. It will be interesting if the two collide.