Apple has the technology game on lock. With all that popularity its understandable that fakes would exist. Check out how Apple is cracking down on counterfeit Apple products after the jump.
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How does Apple fight against Chinese counterfeits? Well, looks like there’s a detailed explanation on that, according to the documents from U.S. diplomatic cables published by WikiLeaks last week. The details? Apple assembled an anti-counterfeit team that includes a former FBI special agent.
CNN is reporting on details of Apple’s anti-counterfeiting efforts centered in China. All details come from the recent diplomatic messages published by Wikileaks. The cables have revealed that Apple assembled an anti-counterfeit team in 2008 to combat counterfeited iPhones and iPod touches that may cause explosion.
“The technology giant eventually organized a team in March 2008 to curtail the explosion of knockoff iPods and iPhones, according to an electronic memo from the Beijing embassy dated September 2008.
Yet, three years after Apple moved to crack down on widespread counterfeiting and put pressure on China, progress has been slow. Gadget piracy isn’t a high priority for the Chinese government, the U.S. reports and experts say.â€
Apple’s battle with counterfeits in China is not simple. There are 3 main steps to hunt down the fake Apple products. First, Apple has to go after the Chinese retailers and street vendors who are selling the fake Apple products. These retailers and vendors are based in China’s Guangdong province, the country’s most populous region that includes Shenzhen. Since the Shanzhai industry is also based in Shenzhen (check out our previous coverage for more info), Apple needs to put more efforts to track down those evil counterfeiters. So, here comes the second step — work with police to raid manufacturing facilities.
You probably know that The Foxconn Technology Group, which assembles products for Apple, operates factories in Shenzhen and Chengdu. According to an international business professor for Baruch College in New York, Chinese workers typically smuggle parts from the facilities in order to make replicas. That’s true. Workers who work for the Chinese counterfeiters will use their “own ways†to smuggle parts from Foxconn without getting discovered. These people will then use their “creative†mind to create their so-called “iPhone 5†in their own factories or workshops. Did Apple managed to raid these Shanzhai factories? Well, the Shenzhen police officers have successfully bashed in one of the Shanzhai workshops and confiscated 656 fake iPhones with 140 cases. Amazing.
