“When Fei Lam, a high school senior and gadget nerd, got a tip about buying up some white iPhone 4 parts, he saw the opportunity to finally make his passion for electronics pay off,” Ben Popper reports for The New York Observer.
“According to Lam, who speaks fluent Chinese, about six months ago he was able to make a connection with Apple’s infamous overseas supplier. “I knew a guy from a few years back that had somewhat of a relationship with folks in Foxconn,” Lam told The Observer by email,” Popper reports. “Lam created a site, whiteiphonefournow.com, to sell conversion kits that turn regular iPhone 4’s into their elusive white version.”
Popper reports, “His venture was noticed by major sites like TechCrunch, CNET and CNN, helping him to sell more than $130,000 worth of parts since this past August… Yesterday however, Lam received an ominous letter. ‘I got an email from a private investigator accusing me of selling stolen goods, which I’m 100 percent sure is not the case. They are some kind of anti-counterfeit/trademark firm, which sounds ridiculous, similar to what Apple is bringing up to remove White iPhone 4 Listings on eBay. I don’t know how this legal stuff works.'”
Full article here.
thats just wrong.
I got mine from a site which sells them at a very cheap price $48 + free shipping. To my surprise the build quality is also nice, highly recommend . Check here : http://www.slickgate.com_p2344.html
Well, he’s about to figure out REAL quick how this “legal stuff” works.
“I knew a guy from a few years back that had somewhat of a relationship with folks in Foxconn”
yeah, he’s going to jail.
This guy obviously wants to get rid of his unholy money source or to spend some quality jail time. And, it will be a lesson to him, if he is responsible/guilty.
In Communist China, jail goes to you.
Honestly, some of these people do not seriously understand at all that to be a smart-ass crook is not always a way only to a bold cash-in. Sometimes that means to be punished really bad for that “life philosophy”.
I doubt his net is $130,000… perhaps gross. After legal fees my guess is his net will be slightly less.
Yah, it’s interesting that http://www.WhiteiPhoneFourNow.com is no longer online. Hmmm…
give me a break! if a kid can make them, the corporation can’t?
Expensive conversion kit but looks really cool! Good job Fei Lam!
… with the white iPhones (to date) has been matching the “color” of the main shell with the “color” of another part. So I hear. Which means “yeah, they are white, but not good enough for Apple”. Which means that Apple isn’t going to be happy with these things floating around out there. Chances are “good” that the parts were made for Apple and that Apple asked Foxconn to destroy them. Foxconn found a different way to get rid of them. Or the people they hired to do the job did. Whatever, “theft” may be too strong a term, but the legal action is coming either way. Jail is possible, yes. Unlikely, though, unless Apple is going to be seriously hard-ass about it and can show there actually was the intention to steal what they knew to be someone else’s (Apple’s) property.
… with the white iPhones (to date) has been matching the “color” of the main shell with the “color” of another part. So I hear. Which means “yeah, they are white, but not good enough for Apple”. Which means that Apple isn’t going to be happy with these things floating around out there. Chances are “good” that the parts were made for Apple and that Apple asked Foxconn to destroy them. Foxconn found a different way to get rid of them. Or the people they hired to do the job did. Whatever, “theft” may be too strong a term, but the legal action is coming either way. Jail is possible, yes. Unlikely, though, unless Apple is going to be seriously hard-ass about it and can show there actually was the intention to steal what they knew to be someone else’s (Apple’s) property.
“I don’t know how this legal stuff works”
I suggest Lam find out fast. Apple has an ornamental design patent on the casings of all of its products. Without a license from Apple to re-produce and/or sell parts that look like an Apple you are in big trouble.
I went through exactly this scenario in 1989 with a PBX telephone manufacturer. The issues are exactly the same.
Forgot to add that when I replicated the telephone housing I did so for the purpose of providing that telephone in black vs the manufacturer’s tan color.
lol… them apple people are funny.
Everything you need to know about iPhone 4:
http://www.aneesoft.com/tutorials/iphone/index.html
I’d say the release of the official Apple white iPhone 4 is imminent…
Apple commissioned the production of the parts. They paid for them. If they leave the factory against Apple’s wishes, they are stolen. Even Apple can own parts in China. If they were transfered to the US, then it’s international trafficking of stolen goods.
If Apple did not commission the production of these parts, then they are counterfeit. The proof of Apple’s ownership is in the logo’s trademark, form and function of the parts and patents used to make them. Since this guy is selling them in the US, Apple has every right to go after him. Apple has the right to go after other kirfs too.
The proof is on the kid that he did not steel, or accept stolen or commission the manufacture of counterfeit goods. He has quit literally accused himself of wrong based on his own words. Contacting and conspiring with a friend at the factory in China to obtain and distribute the parts.
Apple is the correct place to contact to purchase and distribute these parts. We all know, White iPhones and their parts are not sold by Apple. Distributors need to be licensed, he is just a kid. Two wrongs do not make a right.
Steve & Steve made blue boxes, that trend should stop right there. No hypocrisy here.
watch his 130k turn to ash as his legal fees pile up
life lesson: sometimes a guy can be too smart
It’s actually whiteiphone4now.com… and yes it is still in existence.
The company involved in manufacturing glass for the iPhone’s signature shell is “still working out the perfect combination of paint thickness and opacity” to achieve Apple’s trademark “absolute whiteness.”
http://renadexwarning.com/
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We always replace the glass and digitiser together when repairing your touch screen,
we do not just replace the glass. We have parts in stock,
and when we say fast we mean fast. When fixing screens we do not make you wait up
to a week for the part to arrive.
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