Imitation versions of the iPad have been spotted on the streets of Beijing. The fakes run Android, and cost between $125 and $200.
No matter how hard it is to get the new “it” gadget of the moment, no matter how much you see those first few units selling for on eBay, no matter how long the backorder waits get, odds are that there will be a fake version of it waiting for you on the streets of Beijing.
There is a certain warped logic to it. China is the world’s largest manufacturer, and most of the hot electronic devices that we salivate over are at least partially (if not totally) manufactured there, so it makes sense that China would also be a world leader in black-market forgeries. The newest confirmed fake on the market is the iPad, which can be yours for$125 after a little bit of haggling.
The iPad, which has not yet officially been launch in China, nor is there a set date for release, joins the “Hi-Phone,” a fake of the iPhone 4, which was available weeks before the first official iPhone 4 shipped. According to a reporter from the Wall Street Journal, who had no trouble at all finding an iFake, the units looked identical to the authentic iPads. Right up until you turned them on.
The “iPads”, which run an Android operating system are said to be slow and unresponsive, which is not surprising, since they are bottom basement fakes. The size is slightly off, and the units come in an imitation iPad box.
“The fake iPads were labeled as having 64 gigabytes of memory – unlikely given their low price – and their screens appeared a little smaller than that of a real iPad.” The WSJ’s Owen Fletcher said. “Their desktops displayed applications such as Google Maps, the Android Market and Chinese instant-messaging program QQ, but their touchscreens could be unresponsive. Dragging a finger sideways to open a new section of the screen didn’t always work.”
It was recently announced that the iPhone and iPad’s production is finally catching up with demand, but if you absolutely must have one now, and you don’t mind that the internal hardware is cheap junk, then all you need is a plane ticket to Beijing and a brand new “iPad” can be yours!
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