Edible Apple

Some of the couterfeit gadgets and knockoffs you can find on the streets of Beijing are truly astounding. It often doesn’t take too long for Apple to release a product before images of homegrown imitators start making the rounds. In some cases, such as the iPad, counterfeiters got to work well before the device was even released. And they haven’t slowed down since.

ChinaDaily recently reported that sales of fake iPads on the streets of Beijing are thriving, and can often be bought for as little as 650 yuan, or $95.67. The fake iPads, on first glance, look everything like the real deal. With the Apple logo emblazoned on the back, and the product packaging nearly identical, you often have to put the product to use in order to discern if it’s an impostor.

The fakes at the Silk Street Market are slightly smaller and, when switched on, display a logo saying they run on Google’s Android system. A test of the product showed the Internet connectivity and WIFI functions worked very well, music and video could be downloaded and played and photos displayed well. All the fakes had USB portsand memory card sockets. Staff said the batteries lasted two hours before requiring a recharge. They are not capable of downloading Apple applications from the iTunes Store.

So yeah, the actual user experience is nowhere near what you’ll find on a legit iPad, but as long as folks are interested in buying cheap knockoffs, there’ll be no shortage of manufacturers to create them.

On a related note, though iPhone sales in China have subsequently begun to flourish, things were a little patchy at first for Apple. In addition to a few other factors, one reason why it’s believed the iPhone struggled to take off immediately in China was the fact that the country was already awash in iPhone knockoffs.