*In the streets, hands-on with black globalization. Jan Chipchase is a heck of a guy.
http://www.janchipchase.com/fake-nokia-apples
(...)
"There are three broad categories of fake mobile phone:
"Any old phone with a Nokia/Motorola/Apple logo or two printed on the side. In India these are referred to as ‘China Mobile’ (no relation to this China Mobile) - phones that may or may not last out the month. These sometimes fool first time consumers in markets with low mobile phone penetration. Top photo on this page shows a fake 'Nokia'.
"Where the industrial design is copied, the device includes Nokia/Motorola/Apple logo but the device itself tends to be poorly manufactured. Some of the designs are based on products already on the market, but all the industrial designer needs is a leaked photo or official press release from another country to be able to manufacture the hardware - sometimes offering it for sale in a local market before the official device is launched. (((Why not fake entirely imaginary products, one wonders.)))
"Recently the quality of fakes/copies have reached the point where many consumers will assume they are holding the real thing in their hands - phones that look, feel and behave like the real thing – right down to start up sequences, graphical assets, user interface modalities for the the top-level user interface elements - the so-called Super Fakes."
(...)
"Every mobile phone market has people ‘in-the-know’ – the wholesalers, retailers, entry level street-hack repair guys, savvy consumers, who have ways of 'testing' the authenticity of the products they are handling: from typing in short-codes; to checking serial numbers; the placement of the made-in-xland sticker; right down to the colour of circuit boards.
"Interviews with many of the players in the space - revealed that the accuracy of these methods is largely based on hearsay and not a little street-level bravado. It should of course be apparent to anyone who offers phone-flashing services. Of course the retailers relationship with the wholesalers is paramount to understanding what they are buying and what they are able to sell it on as - stiffing loyal customers is not a smart strategy in any business. Generally the level of consumer awareness of what they’re getting for their money grows as they move onto the second, third, … tenth mobile phone – numbers that are just as valid for consumers in Kenya as Kunming...."
"As with the rest of the industry the ‘fake’ corner of the mobile phone market is about to undergo its own seismic disruption...."
