We all know that unofficial Apple products are rife in China but it may surprise you to know that they aren't sold at dodgy markets or in secret rooms in the back of restaurants, the Chinese are much blatant about their sale of bootleg iPads, Macs and iPhones which are in fact sold in, you guessed it, a fake Apple store. (In fact, 3 fake Apple stores.)
A 27-year old American woman who is working over in China spotted the 'Apple Stoer', the first clue that something wasn't quite right, the second being the lack of name badges on the staff. But apart from these little errors, the disguise is perfect.
So perfect in fact, the staff genuinely believes they are working for Steve's corporation. A little browse on the Apple website would however reveal the truth. There are only four stores in China, two in Beijing and two in Shanghai, none in Kunming home to the unbelievable forgery.
The American who discovered the illegal trading centre described it as: "A beautiful ripoff -- a brilliant one -- the best ripoff store we had ever seen (and we see them every day). But some things were just not right: the stairs were poorly made. The walls hadn't been painted properly. Apple never writes "Apple Store" on its signs -- it just puts up the glowing, iconic fruit."
It's a clear sign of China's appetite for Apple, whether it's real or fake. So the question is how long until Apple bring the bulldozers out?