“Living in China and reporting on gadgets, we get to see our fair share of unofficial merchandise from Chinese manufacturers,” Andi Sykes reports for Gizchina.
“Sometimes though a Chinese made gadget crops up which combines the ancient Chinese art of the knock off with a complete lack of consideration for the law and copyright infringements,” Sykes reports. “This ‘Commemorative’ Steve Jobs Android tablet is a perfect example.”
“Not only have Shenzhen Lingyun, the company behind this 7-inch Android tablet, made a tablet which resembles the look of the iPhone 4 and 4S, but they have gone the whole hog and place[d] the image of the late Steve Jobs on the screen and are marketing it as a ‘Commemorative Steve Jobs Android Tablet’!”
The tablet’s specs and more info in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Attention Apple Legal: Abomination Alert!
Thays bull crap.
The thing is, there are a lot of people out there who don’t know that Apple doesn’t make Android.
A preview of the iPhone 5, no doubt. 7″ of goodies.
Hmm I think I just threw up little
Yeah, ‘Ballmer’s left nut’ has that effect on all of us.
“complete lack of consideration for the law and copyright infringements” Not to mention a complete lack of respect for the dead! What a damned insult! Talk about sticking someone’s nose in it.
I wonder if anyone has tried to make and sell a Chairman Mao android tablet?
Tasteless crap, makes me sick
Appaling.
Leave it to the filthy Chicoms.
Steve would not be happy about this, he would eviscerate them using Larry Ellison’s samurai sword.
I just don’t understand how so many companies in Asian countries have zero concept of or respect for intellectual property. Or any kind of product quality in general, for that matter. Their ripoffs are truly awful, yet they continue to churn them out. I always thought Asian culture was based on pride and honor. It seems like some of them have lost that.
You don’t understand their mentality. They feel this is payback for all the terrible things the British did to them. They consider all white people the same as the Brits (well, considering how America supports the UK that is not incorrect). I guess it’s sort of the same as how some Jews today still feel about Germans.
I don’t recall the Japanese being like this. I remember decades ago they had a problem with perceptions of quality, and they did manufacture a lot of cheap junk. But that is long gone, and they are synonymous with well made products now.
It seems like the Japanese place a much higher value on honor and integrity than the Chinese. Hopefully they will see the light as they progress.
Chinese at times treat copying as paying respect to the original, id est as flattering act. However, this ancient tradition of pupil and teacher mentality does not cross well with contemporary business practices. It should not be applied to something that you can sell — or else it is just a rip off.
The Japanese were just like the Chinese copiers of today, only worse. The Japanese actually renamed a town USA (not U.S.A.)
and would print “Made in USA” on products. That changed, I’m sure, after significant U.S.A. pressure.
Haha! Classic urban legend: http://www.snopes.com/business/genius/usa.asp
Most of the reason Japan was known for crap was because of two things… they had very little in the way of quality raw materials after they’d been completely destroyed by the USA and xenophobic tendencies in the USA which prevented people from paying higher prices for higher quality.
Japan is a culture of improvement. They take an idea and improve upon it. They do it with everything, including food, religion (Zen Buddhism), cars and other domestically sold goods.
Small improvements are a big deal, even if they cost more initially to make. Much of Steve Jobs inspiration for perfection comes from admiration of the Japanese way of production and continuously changing it. It’s not done until it ships!
Japan’s culture puts a HIGH value on quality over quantity. For example, they appreciate french cuisine for its emphasis on quality. Japanese bakeries rival the ones I’ve been to in Paris.
When they were exporting cheap goods like cameras to the USA, building their economy they kept the quality stuff domestically. Their citizens wouldn’t buy the cheap stuff. It wasn’t until the Korean war when Americans saw the equipment the Japanese were using and said… holy crap, that’s really good. This, as well as other things changed the perception of Japanese goods.
The pursuit of perfection in Japan is a very strong cultural value. And no, they’re not all 70-hour workweek workaholics.
You are right on. Plus they adopted the teachings of one W. Edwards Deming with a vengeance, a man largely ignored by American industry. I’ve heard American managers in companies attempting to improve their product quality by adopting Demings methods say “We don’t have to do that, do we?”. And thus the seed is sown.
I agree with much of what you say, except for the broad cultural brush you paint implying all Japanese or all Americans are this or that. Every culture has its high and low moments. Good point on the general move toward quality production in Japan. Yes the Chinese (and Indians) build a lot of cheap knock-offs. It causes a lot of problems protecting their own industry. They want to become the world’s designers, like an Apple has become, not the world’s manufacturers. Asia is not one country with one mindset. China has a long way to go to do world class business, though it dominates manufacturing. The annoying Steve Jobs Android is a glaring example of an inept system of standards that is not really helping China. At least Apple and others set a good example.
Any developing industrial area rips off the IP of a more established one until they’re big enough to buy legislation and legal backing to prevent upstarts ripping them off.
Publishers and theatre companies upstart American colonies ripped off UK works, and you got the big publishing houses and Broadway in New York. When they got big, they tried enforcing patent and IP laws on audio and motion picture equipment makers. They moved en masse to the west where the laws weren’t as established, and that’s why music and movie studios are in California.
Japan did the same to the US industries after WWII. And now it’s China’s turn.
It’s not just an Asian thing, and Americans are not innocent in this if you know your history.
I just threw up in my mouth
@Tony
I agree with you 100%.
If you don’t have trust, honesty and respect you can not have a relationship of cultures, business, or people.
We should not do business with anyone who lacks integrity.
… like Samdung, some companies in China etc.
Sickening. It’s as if some of the Asian countries lack any sort of moral compass.
They feel it’s payback for all the stuff the West did to them before
The Japanese are not in the same class as their neighboring countries. They respect hard work and originality. Completely different class of people and business.
The Japanese after WWII were where the mainland Chinese are now. Check my comment further up on why America isn’t innocent of ripping off the IP of others either.
Not quite. The Japanese economy had been completely destroyed. Their cities were completely destitute. Their land was occupied by American forced. Their constitution was changed by the USA. They were NOT in the same class as China is now.
During the war, the Japanese Navy had some of the most advanced ships out there. They saw that the future was in Aircraft carriers, not battleships.
The reason they were able to revive themselves was solely due to the will the people to make it happen. Basically, they didn’t give up.
Japanese culture is about as similar to Chinese as Swedish is similar to Greek.
Whoever holds the copyright on that photo (probably Apple, but it may be some news organization), should come down on these guys like a ton of bricks.
-jcr
Wow! A new low…
No wonder no one cares in China when a 2 year old girl gets run over by a van in the middle of the street.
This is wrong on so many levels…
It would be like Honda producing a Camaro with Mustang emblems in honor of Henry Ford.
Ching-chang,
Chinkie-chinkie chang-chang,
Chinkie-chinkie chang-chang, we love you!
Then again….
I like Chinese.
I like Chinese.
They only come up to your knees,
Yet they’re always friendly, and they’re ready to please.
I like Chinese.
I like Chinese.
There’s nine hundred million of them in the world today.
You’d better learn to like them; that’s what I say.
I like Chinese.
I like Chinese.
They come from a long way overseas,
But they’re cute and they’re cuddly, and they’re ready to please.
They have no shame. In fact, they don’t. What the Cultural Revolution did was to remove the moral compass if the people.
To those of you who see this as a peculiarity of Asian culture, let’s all remember that unfettered capitalism wrought some horrific abuses on consumers, workers and the environment in the US until the citizenry rebelled and imposed limits on corporate behavior. Companies exist to make money, and they will often do whatever is required and allowed toward that end.
Let’s not forget unfettered Socialism, shall we?
20 million murdered by Stalin.
40 million murdered in China.
And now we have citizenry around the world (does that include you, Majikthize?) claiming that capitalism is teh Evilest Thing Ever Invented.
Governments (leftist ones in particular) exist to perpetuate themselves, and they will murder anyone to achieve that end.
WOW, what next, “Christian” condoms with a picture of Jesus on them?!?!?! LOL!
And the question would become: “HOW would Jesus do?” LOL
Anyway, all this talk of cultures, honesty, shame, respect. Take a chill pill. There’s a billion people in China, so you’re going to see all kinds of people. A man’s gotta eat, y’know!
There’s no doubt the Chinese will do some things that leave you aghast (e.g. thousands of birds were released as part of the Beijing Olympics opening. When they tried to recover those – I suppose those were expensive birds – they found most had been shot out of the sky, captured on the ground – and eaten).
But this high moral bull coming from people who, among other things, invented and perfected the art of mass online theft of intellectual property is pure hypocrisy.
I’m Chinese, born in China, schooled in China, worked in China, and had a home in China until recently. And, in my opinion, 90% of the comments here are appropriate.
It’s your comment that sticks out for being wrong.
So you’re OK with the whole Chinese nation and all Chinese people being condemned because one company found a less-than-tasteful way to make a quick buck? Did you see some of the horrid stuff people were hawking on American TV when Obama became President? Give me a break.
In fact, I find your self-qualification (Chinese, born, worked and lived in China) to say what you did kind of suspect. It’s like the old “I’m not a racist, but ….” line some people use before launching into racist tirades.
No,generalizations are always wrong. But when people make casual statements on a message board you accept it for what it is.
Just because some Americans are crass, has nothing to do with this idiotic Android tablet.
There are clearly some insulting and racist comments in this thread, but I can’t see the point in getting worked up about it. If the MDN take had been racist that would have been another matter. You can’t go around wasting all your time in life policing comments.
As for the notion that I’m a racist and posing as Chinese in order to make racist comments is ludicrous. Where did I make any racist comments? I can assure you my passport says born in China.
Some people who may have read a couple articles I wrote on the opinion page will know from my name that I am clearly Chinese no matter how you want to justify why my opinion differs from yours.
You should practise what you preach. I’m not “worked up” about the “clearly … insulting and racist comments in this thread”. It’s no skin off my back.
I think to say that “they have no shame. In fact, they don’t. What the Cultural Revolution did was to remove the moral compass of the people” sounds like a sweeping, mass-condemning statement that easily fits into that category.
I’m assuming of course that the “they” you refer to is the Chinese people/nation. I don’t believe any connection has been made in the article between the Cultural Revolution and the specific people behind this tablet.
If you are Chinese, well, good for you, although I don’t see how that qualifies you better to pass a sweeping comment about one billion people just because some Chinese are crass enough to come up with a tasteless product.
My point in my original comment was just to point out that crassness is a human trait, not necessarily a Chinese trait. Since I’m assuming that most comments here are from Americans – a fairly logical conclusion considering that this appears to be largely an American forum – I think my point is better made by pointing out instances of crassness in America.
And believe me, I’m not spending sleepless nights “policing” comments. I’m here just like everybody else, because I’m a long-time fan of the Mac and Apple. As this thread shows, it’s a lively forum where things often go beyond all things Apple.
At the end of the day, I enjoy the give-and-take that goes on here. And if there’s something I disagree with, I try to present what to me is a reasoned response to that – which is what I think I did in the comment that you’ve chosen to respond so strongly to.
Finally, please do not twist my words. Maybe you didn’t understand, but I was just questioning whether your claim to be Chinese was just a way of pre-qualifying yourself as being legit and above-board in making a sweeping statement about the whole Chinese nation.
And I was simply comparing it to people I’ve met who preface a racist diatribe by first giving the “I’m not a racist, but …” line. Perhaps in order to keep things completely separate, I should have substituted the word “racist” with something like, oh, “expert” or something (as in “I’m not an expert but ….”), but I was really not expecting to run into somebody who would get this worked up over what was meant to be a mildly humorous, partly serious response to some of the comments here.
OK Guys, fact is, any company trying to knock off Apple fails to do so. Yes, China may have over a billion people living in it, but most are extremely poor and most likely never heard of Apple, unless you mean the fruit. These companies can do whatever they want, but once they cross the border to where the real market share is, they will be faced with one lawsuit after anohter 🙂 Peece!
“But this high moral bull coming from people who, among other things, invented and perfected the art of mass online theft of intellectual property is pure hypocrisy.”
Exactly! Just ask most musicians.
good article
you can also find more on the latest Apple and jailbreak news on http://www.igaze.net/
I’m sure Apple knew about the chance of their products will be copied. Every f… co. knew that when the greed of making more and more money made them move thousands of american and canadian companies there about 20 years ago.
It’s payback time.
Nobody mentions how many innovations came out of china. These could be small and big, all kinds, in all areas of life, but they were and are innovations. Unfortunately most people have no idea.
So, IMO, this IS GOOD, Excellent!
After all china now is in capitalism business.
Well, it’s the best-looking Android tablet I’ve ever seen
Exactly!!!