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Fake Apple Store, Real Hysteria.

The NY Times website recently published a story about "The Rise of the Fake Apple Store".

Um, there are "fake" Apple Stores everywhere, including in the US. There is even a "fake" store up the street from my Dad's house in Erie, Pennsylvania.

The real story isn't "Asians are Slavishly Copying American Creativity", but "Local Entrepreneurs Meet Demand for Apple Retail Experience when Apple Doesn't".

Basically, even in places where Apple doesn't set up shop like Erie, PA, Kunming, and Seoul (which I know also has plenty of Apple Store-like stores) there is still a latent demand for well designed modern places to try and buy Apple products. Look-a-like stores are just filling this demand. Since (all the ones I've ever been to) sell actual Apple products what is the harm in this?

However, the comments on both the NY Times site and at Slate (where it is largely reprinted) have largely picked up the "Slavish Asians" reading and become kind of hysterical about Chinese counterfeiting.

The NY Times article, based largely on one blog post the reporter read, doesn't actually give any evidence that the products sold at the look-a-like stores, even in Kunming, are fake.

I just don't see how selling real Apple products at a store that looks like an Apple Store is a bad thing either for Apple or for consumers, especially when the consumers live in areas without Apple Stores.


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