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So a 17 year old can do it but a gigantic company with $50 billion lying there can't. Seems logical to me. :rolleyes:

Wake up Steve. Seriously.

i'm sure all these white cases are the ones that Apple didn't want

i would buy a kit, but not for that much. i know it includes the digitizer and LCD. still not worth it
 
Baller, $280 for that though? And you gotta do all the work yourself? Weak.

I'm sure apple is pissed because he is helping delay the white version by buying all the cases.

There wont be a white iphone 4
 
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That $130k will all go to the lawyers, even if he is able to establish that he has a legal "right" to sell those parts, and I think that'll be a challenge.
 
That's some good initiative, maybe next time he can do it without stolen goods and earn back the money he's going to lose from the impending court case.
 
White iPhone is sexy. Not to mention that cases ...especially that stupid bumper attract dust that scratch the phone. My metal antenna band already has tons of scratches from it.
 
I'm pretty sure these are all of the covers where the tint wasn't "just right" for Apple's standards. If that's the case, I can understand why they'd care, but they shouldn't.

I hope nothing legal happens to him, all he's doing is making a business off of something that wasn't going to be used but people wanted that specific customization that Apple suggested they would provide twice, but didn't.

Good for him! Wish I could come up with something like that and pay for school...
 
So a 17 year old can do it but a gigantic company with $50 billion lying there can't. Seems logical to me. :rolleyes:

Wake up Steve. Seriously.

No, there's a slight difference. He's simply selling the parts with no control on quality or guarantee that white glass will negatively affect the iPhone. Apple isn't selling the white iPhone 4 because there are quality issues that the suppliers can't overcome. Rumor is that the white glass on the iPhone 4 isn't consistently white and allows light to bleed through to the camera sensor. Apple had enough problems with the antenna "issue", so I imagine that'd take precautions with the white glass...
 
well mine does too without a case....:cool:

and mine, even after having the phone replaced. It's not FUD, lol, it's fact. Not everyone will see it, but denying it happens because you don't see it is pretty close-minded of you.
 
It smart for a teen, who is close to my age (20), to get into contact with a friend to get duplicated iPhone 4 cases in white, The look on the back looks original from Apple. I see Apple suing him for selling copy right infringement material. That would suck for him. I also see a issue for a Foxcomm employee letting material go out the door and Apple would get pissed over that. Apple has no power against the people. Only thing they can do is say "Oh well." :D

Unfortunately, you're wrong on most if not all counts.

First, it would be patented material, not copyrighted material. And patent infringement, especially design patents, is really quite easy to pursue.

Second, the Chinese supplier is "Foxconn", not "Foxcomm".

Third, and finally, in cases like these, as a general rule, even though Foxconn is the supplier, Apple is the owner of the parts. If Apple ordered that the parts in question be destroyed, putting them in a box and taking them home doesn't count, and certainly neither does selling them to a friend in the US. If they are the actual parts produced for Apple, then it is quite likely that they are, indeed stolen goods, and both this boy and the employee who got the parts for him are in trouble.

However, if the people involved were a bit smarter, then these parts would be from a production run not ordered by Apple. Under those circumstances, depending on how the contract is worded, there may have been enough wiggle room for them to sell these parts, especially given the fact that the actual Apple parts never went into formal production.

Finally, while it's arguably quite impressive that this kid was able to sell about 450 kits, to the tune of $130K, it's important to remember that this doesn't mean that he's made $130K. I would think it much more likely that he's getting maybe 10%-20% of that. Still, $13,000-$26,000 is not a bad haul for a couple months work...
 
Unfortunately, you're wrong on most if not all counts.

First, it would be patented material, not copyrighted material. And patent infringement, especially design patents, is really quite easy to pursue.

Second, the Chinese supplier is "Foxconn", not "Foxcomm".

Third, and finally, in cases like these, as a general rule, even though Foxconn is the supplier, Apple is the owner of the parts. If Apple ordered that the parts in question be destroyed, putting them in a box and taking them home doesn't count, and certainly neither does selling them to a friend in the US. If they are the actual parts produced for Apple, then it is quite likely that they are, indeed stolen goods, and both this boy and the employee who got the parts for him are in trouble.

However, if the people involved were a bit smarter, then these parts would be from a production run not ordered by Apple. Under those circumstances, depending on how the contract is worded, there may have been enough wiggle room for them to sell these parts, especially given the fact that the actual Apple parts never went into formal production.

Finally, while it's arguably quite impressive that this kid was able to sell about 450 kits, to the tune of $130K, it's important to remember that this doesn't mean that he's made $130K. I would think it much more likely that he's getting maybe 10%-20% of that. Still, $13,000-$26,000 is not a bad haul for a couple months work...


Do you have proof apple ordered the destruction of the products?

There are a few outlets to get the same products but they are in China.
 
So a 17 year old can do it but a gigantic company with $50 billion lying there can't. Seems logical to me. :rolleyes:

The kid didn't "do it". He is just reselling what was rejected by Apple. Apple has higher standards for the color matching, durability and such. They've rejected the units he's selling because there are problems such that the units don't meet their quality control.

Lam intends to secure the services of a lawyer to defend himself against any possible action.

There goes all his profits.

In the words of the great bard, "First, we kill all the lawyers."
 
So a 17 year old can do it but a gigantic company with $50 billion lying there can't. Seems logical to me. :rolleyes:

Wake up Steve. Seriously.

Don't fault apple for insisting that the white iPhone parts match perfectly.
You can bet that if the suppliers could make parts to apples standards, then apple would sell white iPhone.
If someone does a conversion and then has minor issues such as light leak and parts not matching 100%, they will most likely put up wih it.

If apple sold white iphones with the same issues, it would be a disaster and a public relations nightmare. So many people who read these forums complain about things so minor, and yet they will put second rate parts on their iPhones and be happy with them.
I don't blame apple one bit for scrubbing the white iPhone.

Go figure!
 
There is no way this is legal, and he is now going to have the wrath of Apple's legal department coming at him... and probably also the FBI since this is an international deal. If Foxconn sold him the parts, then they are likely violating all kinds of things with Apple.... so they would never do it legitimately. Had he designed and manufactured his OWN white panels and design, he'd be fine... but this is a young kid that doesn't have the maturity to realize he's into something that he shouldn't be and he's probably going to be paying dearly for it. His best move would be to disappear as quickly as possible.

Just for those who thing this is a hand-slap kind of thing, I worked on a project where someone leaked an industrial design on a product and the FBI arrested them and they were facing 75 years in federal prison for it. This kind of stuff can get you more years than killing someone.
 
So a 17 year old can do it but a gigantic company with $50 billion lying there can't. Seems logical to me. :rolleyes:

Wake up Steve. Seriously.

Well, if rumours about the reason for white iPhone delays are correct (i.e., leakage from the white casing affecting camera performance), then he's just selling Apple's rejects. Fair enough, I suppose, if people are willing to pay for them (especially that much $$$). It would be interesting to hear reports about camera performance after the conversion.
 
That $130k will all go to the lawyers, even if he is able to establish that he has a legal "right" to sell those parts, and I think that'll be a challenge.

Yeah, that's the sad part; lawyers will walk away with all the profit. How absurd is that?

I suppose if these casings were literally thrown away by Apple, and he's able to prove it, then it wouldn't be any different than those people who go through the bins and pawn off the treasures they find... Mind you, I don't know whether that's legal either.
 
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