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本帖最后由 vivicat 于 2009-8-4 18:12 编辑
Move to end flow of fake iPhones
http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25877235-15306,00.html
Andrew Colley| August 04, 2009
APPLEis working with the Australian Customs Service in a bid to stem theflow of thousands of counterfeit iPhones entering the local market fromChina.
An Apple spokeswoman said the companyhad supplied Australian Customs authorities with details of itstrademarks in a bid to help the agency block the entry of iPhonecounterfeits into the country.
Apple was acting on a tip from The Australian, which conducted astreet-level investigation of an illegal operation to sell the fakephones in Sydney's pubs and to travellers at backpacker hostels.
Counterfeit sellers were asking for up to $400 for the fake units onthe street, to take a margin of nearly $345 on the $55 wholesale pricequoted by illegal importers.
One seller said he sourced his supply from an employee withinCustoms. The seller, who refused to supply a name, claimed that theemployee used his position to circumvent Customs' usual vettingprocedures to import the contraband in shipments of 5000 and 10,000each.
He said his supplier acquired the phones in China at a cost of $18.50 per unit.
If the claims are true the scale of the operation dwarfs any that the Customs has recently discovered.
Customs said that last year it confiscated 3200 suspected counterfeit mobile phones and MP3 players in 83 seizures.
The tout The Australian spoke to said he recently narrowly missed out on securing a deal to purchase a shipment of 5000 units.
The Australian had an opportunity to compare the unit with anauthentic iPhone. Superficially, it was hard to distinguish from a realiPhone and it seemed the counterfeiters could be using the shellsintended for the assembly of authentic units.
On closer inspection of the fake phone, an obvious flaw wasrevealed. It carried markings identical to those of Apple-authorisediPhones. But a portion of the shell that contains a small access recessfor a switch on the authentic unit is left empty, exposing theelectronics inside.
Its touch-screen and application icons were nowhere near as polishedas those in authentic units, but it did offer equivalent features. Itcould play music transferred to the phone from a computer by USB cableand its seller claimed the software could be updated and improved.
"(The customers) generally want to have something that looks likethe real thing, so they can say that they have an iPhone," the sellersaid.
The tout said the fake units were popular among travellers and thatsome sellers were able to use the units as a form of portable wealth tofund their world trips.
The sellers courier a small amount from their supply of units aheadto their next destination to avoid passing through customs with largeamounts of cash, and then sell them on arrival to finance their stay.
Recent media reports indicate that the fake units are gaining asmuch acceptance as the authentic units. Web users have startedshowcasing an iPhone "Mini" -- Apple doesn't manufacture a miniatureversion of the iPhone -- and other fake units on YouTube. |
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狗仔卡
发表于 2009-8-4 15:59
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发表于 2009-8-5 17:57