Coming from a country known as the world's factory of fakes, an administrative order from a regional patent tribunal in Beijing that officially called for the halting of sales of Apple's top iPhone models, boggles the mind, to use a vulgar expression.
A little-known Shenzhen-based company Baili, alleges the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus designs infringe upon its own 100C smartphone intellectual property, according to a Wall Street Journal report. That a tribunal should even admit this claim in the first place is amazing, considering what goes on in China.
For years, China has allowed an entire industry of fake iPhones to go ahead and thrive. It's probably the only place in the world with full-fledged chains of fake Apple stores. It's no secret that you can get a fake iPhone, looking for all the world like the real thing, at markets specialising in them.
On the outside, the fake iPhones can hardly be told apart from the real thing. After all, the originals are also manufactured in China. On the inside, some of these phones don't initiate and set up in the usual way with all the permissions and processes that you would go through with an actual Apple product. Preloaded apps could be dummy ones or connect to dubious stores. There are also some that are real enough on the inside but can be told from the real thing in the Settings application.
In some instances, an iPhone has had fakes out ahead of its own launch. The famous Goophone i6S which was available for less than Rs 5,200 in India before the iPhone 6s was is one example. Indian tourists to China proudly come back all the time with 'iPhones' that cost that little.
Chinese phone manufacturers also ape the iPhone design and have done so ad nauseum until it's time for Apple to move to another look, so many lookalikes are there flooding the markets.
Against that backdrop, one is all the more incredulous that any authority in China should take up the case of a small phone maker against Apple. It's another sign of the hostile barriers that China puts up against Western tech companies.
China is Apple's biggest market after the US, which is all but saturated. So it's very important to the company. No doubt the spot of trouble will blow over one way or the other before it does any damage. The iPhones are actually very much available, according to reports and the order to halt has been stayed. However the situation is diffused and resolved, the fact remains that with its economy not being the sure bet it once was, China should be avoiding unnecessary spats with the outside world.
BW Reporters
Mala Bhargava has been writing on technology well before the advent of internet in Indians and before CDs made their way into computers. Mala writes on technology, social media, startups and fitness. A trained psychologist, she claims that her understanding of psychology helps her understand the human side of technology.
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