What is a Goophone? It sounds absolutely filthy, but the Goophone i5 is the first of what will undoubtedly be many flagrant Chinese rip-offs of the upcoming design of the new sixth-generation iPhone, set to be unveiled next month. Expect to see a lot more of these going forward, but credit where credit’s due: these Chinese counterfeiters certainly have their acts together if they can steal the design of a phone that isn’t even out yet.
The São Paulo electronics stores are set up like mini-malls. @Nicole Martinelli.
São Paulo, Brazil - The arrival of the much-awaited Brazilian iPad may be in doubt – although our trip to the Foxconn factory showed that an local iPhone is in the works – one thing is certain: there’s a huge market for gadgets here.
Brazilians pay some of the highest prices in the world for their iDevices, but many of them buy alternatives – black or gray market goods and fakes.
Commerce hub São Paulo has a whole neighborhood dedicated to selling these off-market electronic items called Santa Ifigênia, where I paid a visit with Alessandro Salvatori of Blog do iPhone.
Look, we hate crappy iPad knock-offs as much as any red-blooded Apple fan, but we’re going to make an exception in this case. Why? Sure, the knock-off tablet looks gaudy, but the Chinese student who built it didn’t make it to cash in on Apple’s brand: he made it for his girlfriend out of love.
One of these iPhone 4s is the real thing. The other’s a fake so good that it’s actually compatible with Apple’s own 30 pin iPhone connector, as well as its headsets. Are you savvy enough to spot the fake?
This isn’t a 3GS tarted up by Colorware, it’s the “iPhonc,” a little no-name Chinese cell phone looking to capitalize upon a bit of brand confusion with a stolen Apple logo (albeit, one with a reversed stem) and the elimination of a single stroke from the product name’s typeface.
I would be curious one day to pick the brain of one of these iPhone knock-off designers. They really are ingenious. If only they used that same ingenuity to design capable smartphones instead of dancing around trademark infringement.
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