“From futuristic Google Glass headsets to smart watches like Samsung’s Galaxy Gear, wearable gadgets are billed as the next big thing in technology,” Johan Nylander and Justus Krüger report for CNN. “But China’s tech counterfeiters — notorious for having a nose for what’s hot and what’s not — appear for now at least to be giving wearable technology the cold shoulder in what one expert calls a ‘serious warning signal’ for market players.”
“One might argue, if there is one thing worse than being copied, that is to be ignored. And that seems to be the case with Samsung’s new Galaxy Gear smart watch — one of the first wearable devices to be made commercially available and as such an indicator for the emerging category,” Nylander and Krüger report. “A visit to the shops of Shenzhen’s Huaqiangbei commercial district — a tightly packed group of malls surrounded by high rises that form the epicenter of China’s trade in electronic knock-offs — suggests demand for Samsung’s smart watch is ice-cold. ‘You won’t find any copies of the smart watch here. I’ve never seen or heard of any,’ said a young man who was busy shipping off boxes, that he said were filled with counterfeit mobile phones, at a local logistics center. ‘Thinking about it, I’ve never even seen anyone wear one,’ he added.”
“The device was conspicuous by its absence in Huaqiangbei’s market halls, logistic companies and workshops,” Nylander and Krüger report. “‘I’ve never seen a knock-off Gear in this whole town,’ said a young woman working in a shop full of Samsung products. Her shop is one of the few outlets that sell the real Gear but she said ‘they don’t sell well.’ ‘[Counterfeiters] don’t care about the Gear as consumer demand is too weak,’ said another shop assistant in his early twenties, who was selling a number of what he said were real Samsung products, but not the smart watch. ‘We don’t sell it anymore. It was not popular.’ Out of 20 shops visited by CNN, not one sold fake Samsung Gear smart watches and none could offer leads on where to find copies.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Separately, they’re just stupid, but if U.S. Federal Puppet Denise Cote ever strapped on a Samsung Galaxy Gear, the resulting supernova of stupidity would obliterate the planet.
[Attribution: BGR. Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Dan K.” for the heads up.]
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AAPL. Has anybody here ever see a panther just before it pronounces? Does catbird seat sound vaguely familiar? Cork Sucking WallShit.
pronunciation …. A Tree Grows In Brooklyn.. Naysayers eat shit.
don’t you mean “pounces”?
Naysayers three states over can tell you about a tree.
iFart in their collective direction. Kkkkaaaaniiighgets!!
Kkkkaaaaniiighgets!!
Read between the lines and I think I see the devil at play here.
Panther before it pronounces what?
Three states short?
See…. Seen…. ? Yeah .. Black Cherry, Crackberry my ass crack. Heins
Who would be so low as to knock off a market flop? It certainly won’t be Asia. But Microsoft might be up for the challenge.
Just livid with the system. My blood is boiling.
Timex just cloned it, “it takes a lickin but keeps on shittin”.
“it takes a lickin but keeps on shittin” on Ballmer’s shoes
I still have the iPod nano 6th generation which I use every day. Still going strong. When I look at the iOS 6 inspired icons I realise why the Galaxy Gear failed. The icons on the Galaxy Gear are as flat and lifeless as iOS 7 icons. That’s your problem right there. iOS 7 is a big flop as a UI.
So you bought a Galaxy Gear, huh?
Returned it as fracking useless. Hated the icons – too flat & obviously designed by a talentless hack.
“The icons on the Galaxy Gear are as flat and lifeless as iOS 7 icons.”
So, you’re saying if your Galaxy Gear had had iOS 6 icons it would have been a hit? You know, you and Thomas seem to think that the better the UI looks somehow gives it an edge over the competition.
Microsoft has been using that logic since they opened for business.
Having icons you can live with on a day to day basis and don’t remind you of an eyesore in a sewer is pretty important in my book.
As for iOS 7, I started my iDevices with iOS 6, loved the experience, and have to grit my teeth every time I have to look at the shitty iOS 7 icons.
You seem to like torturing yourself. You even gave yourself a name that invites taunting.
But by all means keep bleating about it. It’s entertaining.
Well, since you’re still sporting the old 6 color logo (13.5 years dead) it comes as no surprise that change is an issue for you.
Actually, he held on to it because he knew the old logo would be repurposed.
I changed from using Windows 7 to Mac and from using Windows Mobile 6.5 to iOS 6. I’ve never had an issue changing to iOS 6. Not a single one. You would have thought that changing from iOS 6 to iOS 7 would make the transition easier but the opposite has happened.
It’s as if Apple changed my Ferrari to a Yugo and called it a day. Sorry but the UI changes are uglier and less user friendly. They’re moving in completely the wrong direction. Turd can’t be called good under any circumstances.
To each his own. We all know your point of view and quite frankly are tired of hearing your whining. I’ll go out on a limb and say even if the Galaxy watch had iOS 6 icons it still would have sucked.
“iOS 7 is a big flop as a UI.”
Forget iPod Nano Duckweed and buy an iPhone.
I don’t use the iPhone in a gym genius pants. The iPod nano fits right in there.
Yeah, so you bought this big awkward watch for your wrist?
Develop any limp wrist problems wearing that horrific piece of crapware?
I can’t believe you bought one of those? Did you also buy a Kin?
“iPod nano fits right in there.”
Yeah, I’ll bet it does. Does it affect your run times?
As usual, the “pundits” have it all wrong. The sentence should read:
…appear for now at least to be giving crappy, ugly wearable technology the cold shoulder in what one expert calls a ‘serious warning signal’ for stupid market players.
The galaxy wear is simply crap.
No one wants it, no one cares about it.
Can Apple change Time?
Can Apple enter the wrist watch market and change it the way they’ve change every industry they’ve entered?
Samsung isn’t competing exclusively with Apple, they’re competing for a 60-billion dollar watch market who was caught snickering at Samsung’s offering. However, that same group is still holding its collective breath in anticipation of what Apple unveils.
Every sale of an Apple watch takes a sale away from a time piece maker. I believe an Apple watch will achieve a faster rate of adoption than iPod and will garner Apple a twenty-percent share of that 60-billion dollar watch market within 10-years. Go AAPL!
Apple may not produce a diamond-encrusted iWatch but someone will take one and glue some jewels on it and sell it for tens-of-thousands.
I predict iWatch Red sells for a 100-grand.
I hope this is the year. Damn, Apple is good at keeping its plans under wrap.
iwatch = ibait
Right, because every killer product is bait for more revenue.
In some circles, people think Apple is going after the low-hanging fruit. Mobile and now apparel.
What’s next A7 in automobiles? A decoder ring used in conjunction with security measures?
Whatever the bait, it has to play nice in the pool, where turds are easy to spot.
the epicenter of China’s trade in electronic knock-offs
China, criminal nation. 🙄
As for ShamDung’s stupid watch: If no one wants the real thing, of course you don’t bother making a ripoff clone.
I still say digital gadgets are no replacement for great timepieces.
I agree. But nobody will buy an Apple watch because its a fine timepiece. They’ll buy if it for myriad functionality in everyday activities.
Apple consumers know what constitutes a fine timepiece and millions of us own them but may not wear them as frequently as say a sport watch. The point is, men have watches for every occasion and iWatch will serve as a replacement for them all, except a Black Tie Watch, maybe.
A Black Tie watch from Apple is what I need, one to replace the Rolex, right?
Parmigiani Fleurier Bugatti Type 370 is a fine example of a sport watch. This watch was designed to compliment the Bugatti Veyron and sells for $274,000. But outside the car its limited in its value. Can you dive with this watch? Would you want to?
Rolex also makes expensive watches as does TAG Heuer and Apple figures they can design a watch to meet the lifestyles of the rich and famous. A water-proof wrist watch that can be used in an underwater environment would be high on my list of purchases.
We all know, wearers of fine timepieces do so for our benefit, especially old money who can’t even read an analog watch anymore. But an iWatch has the potential to mimic features found only on the most expensive watches, many of which are analog processes related to nautical and aeronautical activities.
“Apple consumers know what constitutes a fine timepiece and millions of us own them but may not wear them as frequently as say a sport watch?” Are you kidding me??? Apple consumers are the ones that are too stubborn to realize that there is more to a phone than a small screen full of icons that has been the exact same since the original Iphone came out. You do know that you’re putting your credibility in a product that hasn’t even been released yet, don’t you? The most Apple has accomplished lately is to make the iphones in different colors. Whoop-de-doo! Before Apple released the Iphone 5, I was expecting a substantial change in the operating system. When I saw the new phone in the store, I could barely differentiate the 5 from the 4. It had the same lack of customization, the same “I’ll probably break this” feel, etc. If the yet-unreleased “iwatch” is anything like the iphone, it will pale in comparison to other companies’ smartwatches, some of which are already released. Oh, by the way… I LOVE your last sentence…”But an iWatch has the potential to mimic features found only on the most expensive watches, many of which are analog processes related to nautical and aeronautical activities.” That’s impressive to say that the iWatch has “potential” –given that it doesn’t even exist yet. I don’t make an argument about how flying cars have the potential to make breakfast for me every morning. I would love for apple to design something original, but so far, everybody has been beating them to it. And apple fanbitches like you just haven’t realized that yet.
Wow, you’re are absolutely jealous of Apple consumers. I suspect because we’re enjoying life right now and you’re sucking wind Dave.
“I don’t make an argument about how flying cars have the potential to make breakfast for me every morning.”
Because no one wants to hear about flying cars making breakfast. What a yard.
“If the yet-unreleased “iwatch” is anything like the iphone, it will pale in comparison to other companies’ smartwatches, some of which are already released.”
“That’s impressive to say that the iWatch has “potential” –given that it doesn’t even exist yet.”
In one breath, you use a non-existent iWatch to illustrate a fail in the market and deny it even exists in another. So you don’t know WTF is going on, do you Dave?
I’ve seen the competition and it all sucks at a point, i.e., batteries, UI, style, functionality, and more importantly proprietary plugs, software, and a severe lack of third-party participation.
If and when an iWatch does appear, it will be the standard for all smart watches and there isn’t a whole lot of room for customization here either, so chances are you won’t be able to tell the difference between iWatch 1 and iWatch 5.
The user will know the difference and so too will the developers.
Have fun with your Galaxy Gear, Dave. Your next Gear will probably look a whole lot better but it will take a while for a decent OS to materialize.
Good Luck. See ya around campus, Dave.
I am living in Korea. In a suburb of Seoul and have never seen a Galaxy Gear in the wild. I very rarely see them on display in stores either. Not even in the upscale areas like Gangnam.
No but you see Nike shoes and luggage and Rolexes sold on on every street corner by the poor who are selling “seconds”.
There are no “seconds” for Galaxy Gear, they sold all fifty of them and no one wants the leftovers.
LOL can’t argue with that. Touche