skoorbevad
macrumors member
How so?
Fake Apple Store Employee: We Just Want To Do A Good Job
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How so?
yanksrock100
macrumors 6502a
this guy sounds cool. so what if its a fake store? he still wants to help the customer!
i think we should bring him here!
i think we should bring him here!
Surely all they'd have to do to avoid being shut down by Apple is take the names 'Apple Store' and 'Genius Bar' away from their shops? The minimalistic design elements are not copyrighted are they? Apple products don't HAVE to be sold in an official Apple reseller do they?
Where i live there is no official Apple store, but we have a shop that is pretty much an Apple Store in everything but name. The shops design elements are the same, they have a 'Genius Bar' of sorts but call it something else. It can be done. I'm not sure why they insist on pissing Apple off by calling it an 'Apple Store'
Where i live there is no official Apple store, but we have a shop that is pretty much an Apple Store in everything but name. The shops design elements are the same, they have a 'Genius Bar' of sorts but call it something else. It can be done. I'm not sure why they insist on pissing Apple off by calling it an 'Apple Store'
Woah... Hahahaha
I find the smugness and audacity of an Apple Store employee increases with the distance from Cupertino and distance from a tech industry hub. A friend of mine was back east, I think Rochester, NY, to visit family and help get a printer for his mother who owned a Mac. My friend is no civilian and has done several designs in Silicon Valley that are on retail shelves.
They get to the local Apple store and this Apple store employee, a kid just out of high school, starts to talk down to my friend's mom on what kind of printer to get. My friend interjected knowing this guy was just trying to up-sell a higher end printer with features that are not needed. The kid, in a smug note, starts to talk down to him when questioning the selection. My friend then firmly says, "That is it! Quit with the up-sell and I doubt if you know more about the Apple product line that me." Post-high school red-shirt kid totally breaks his game face and says, "Oh yeah smart-ass, prove it!"
In that moment, my friend pulls out a photo in his iPhone of himself and Woz at a party up in the Los Gatos hills. He then tells the kid he has consulted in Cupertino and if he wanted, could get him fired with a few phone calls for being such a dick. High school kid is wigged out and gets someone else in the store to help out getting the printer.
Was told he didn't get him fired by his next review wasn't the best.
1/ these stores buy non-fake apple products from authorised stores in hong kong
2/ these stores are not doing anything wrong. jobs loves these stores. see the link below on apple's own site.
3/ they sell the same apple care box as any other store
http://www.apple.com/hk/en/reseller/index.php
2/ these stores are not doing anything wrong. jobs loves these stores. see the link below on apple's own site.
3/ they sell the same apple care box as any other store
http://www.apple.com/hk/en/reseller/index.php
Seems like this is an opportunity for Apple's top lawyers, a U.S. State and/or Commerce Department official or two, and perhaps Tim Cook himself to schedule a "sit-down" with the necessary apparatchiks in China and negotiate an agreement that would seem fair to all.
It might keep the store owner from getting executed/a heavy prison sentence, it allows for China not to "lose face," and Apple should get the healthy increase to their bottom line.
No need to shut it down. Co-opt it, put the necessary Apple brand on it, then Apple can use the leadership that they hire and keep the employees who are experienced in selling Apple stuff.
Win-win for everybody, save maybe a bootlegger or three.
It might keep the store owner from getting executed/a heavy prison sentence, it allows for China not to "lose face," and Apple should get the healthy increase to their bottom line.
No need to shut it down. Co-opt it, put the necessary Apple brand on it, then Apple can use the leadership that they hire and keep the employees who are experienced in selling Apple stuff.
Win-win for everybody, save maybe a bootlegger or three.
mr.steevo
macrumors 65816
My thoughts too.
What's Steve going to do if he doesn't get his way? Shut down operations and move his stuff to another country?
marksman
macrumors 603
Haha, and the warranty of the sold products are...?
How can this store still exist? It can only be a matter of time.
Maybe. China is not the United States. There is a pretty big cultural divide still between East and West on some issues, and I think things like this have a different level of priority.
WardC
macrumors 68030
So, apparently these are not fake stores but instead Apple-sanctioned resellers. They give the Apple Store appearance to have the Apple Store appeal and attract sales. These are not illegal stores.
You need to lighten up.
farmboy
macrumors 65816
Curious, how is Apple over-regulated here in the US? Also a 2005 Congressional Budget Office report showed that US corp statutory rates were about the same as the rest of the G7 nations, and as a percent of GDP were significantly less (US 1.8 vs 2.5 for most other industrialized nations). Not saying all this is perfect, but let's get on the same page.
Will do good
macrumors 6502a
Since there's a physical location, it must be easy for Apple to shut it down and bring lawsuit to anyone who's associates with it.
Go Apple, bring them down.
Go Apple, bring them down.
cantthinkofone
macrumors 65816
Haha, and the warranty of the sold products are...?
How can this store still exist? It can only be a matter of time.
It's in China....What would happen?
"Cease and desist immediately or we will sue you into oblivion"
"No"
"We're serious! Read this document"
"We don't care"
I doubt the Chinese government would give a darn either.
*LTD*
macrumors G4
Do you seriously need to ask this??
TallManNY
macrumors 601
You are very confused about the amount of pull Tim Cook or U.S. Commerce Department has in China regarding pirated goods. It may not be stated, but the official policy of China's government is that the only way for its fairly impoverished working class to be able to enjoy western intellectual property is for wholesale pirating to be fully allowed. They know their people want to watch Harry Potter and play Grand Theft Auto. They also know that their people can't afford to pay western companies for those goods and China doesn't want them to do so anyway as it would be payments going by and large to western companies. IP rights are not protected in China and certainly not in a case of local Chinese business against a big western corporation unless the theft gets too outrageous. I
Also I can assure you that whatever ruling elites are located in the city where this shop is located, they like having an "Apple store" in town. So you have the rich and powerful on the side of keeping the store in place as well. Yeah, maybe if an international incident is made, something would be done. Maybe even this type of publicity is enough. But really China doesn't want its citizens paying money for stuff that they can just steal from western companies.
And it seems that Apple doesn't mind that much either because it just expands the brand awareness. Probably that means that Apple is getting some money some how out of these sales or at very least they aren't paying to have these items constructed (i.e., Foxconn isn't both charging Apple for these and diverting them to the fake stores).
jackc
macrumors 65816
So the "non-civilian" couldn't just tell his mom what printer to get?
Dr Kevorkian94
macrumors 68020
they play a good game, saying they provide the best service and authentic products. Even tho it loos exactly like an apple store, they get more $ because of the brand and publicity, if apple doesn't do anything then good for them but still very sneaky. just think if a lot more of high quality fake apple stores pop up, apple could just buy them and have a big amount of stores there. that is to say they buy them in the first place and dont knock the m down and re build them or just sell the property. its probably easier to buy them than sue them.
verbalhijacker
macrumors newbie
The Hell with Apple then
A fake Apple Store, with Fake Apple but real sales people selling...what for it, genuine Apple products...making Apple MONEY. Why can't some of the idiots on this form(esp the ones from the US) understand that this does not hurt Apple, since it is their products that they are selling.
If Apple feels hard done by then I would advise the fake store to become a HTC, or Samsung store instead I'm sure those companies will appreciate their products being sold instead of Apples.
'Oh Ye Americans, a little wisdom can never hurt you."
A fake Apple Store, with Fake Apple but real sales people selling...what for it, genuine Apple products...making Apple MONEY. Why can't some of the idiots on this form(esp the ones from the US) understand that this does not hurt Apple, since it is their products that they are selling.
If Apple feels hard done by then I would advise the fake store to become a HTC, or Samsung store instead I'm sure those companies will appreciate their products being sold instead of Apples.
'Oh Ye Americans, a little wisdom can never hurt you."
from the WSJ article:
Many of the Apple products carried by resellers are purchased from the company’s retail outlets in China, while others are bought overseas and smuggled in. In some cases, the products on offer are second-hand or even knock-offs.
IMO, It's always about the money.
Aside from the obvious tainting of Apple image, here my take:
As long as they sell Apple computers/phones, Apple makes profit. However, Apple stores also sell a lot of non-Apple things - say speakers or headphone, and cables. It is my belief that Apple markups the prices heavily and makes a lot of money from these extra peripherals.
When a re-seller sells their own (un-authorized) peripherals (whether it's legit or not) at Apple prices, they are getting these profits under Apple's name. And of course it's natural for many sales people to up-sell the consumer with these extras.
.
Will do good
macrumors 6502a
I'm sure you'll be fine with other people ripping off your idea and brand.
You must be cool with stealing, right?
Steve's Barber
macrumors 6502a
Not understanding all the angst.
They're real Apple products. From a consumer's viewpoint, why should anyone care who sells them as long as the warranty is legit?
I don't see anyone shutting down the international e-bay sellers.
They're real Apple products. From a consumer's viewpoint, why should anyone care who sells them as long as the warranty is legit?
I don't see anyone shutting down the international e-bay sellers.
What is being stolen?