Chinese Knock-Off iPad Launch in August

09 Jun 2010 | News |

Call it another shining example of how China doesn’t need the United States to get what it wants when it wants. Chinese demand for the Apple iPad – which international launch was delayed – is so big that knock-offs have already made it to some of the dark-lit back rooms where vendors sell all sorts of bootleg digital devices.

ipad-tablet

Well look here, it seems that the land where counterfeit products outnumber the aggregate of legitimate electronics, software, clothes, accessories, etc. (etc. etc.) has just started making their own Apple iPad, only it’s called the iPed and it doesn’t come from Apple.

In the same Chinese city that Apple’s iPhone and iPad manufacturing plant calls home, the Chinese iPed has just started getting some serious traction. Reports have Chinese news stations covering the launch of this obvious iPad rip-off, which uses the Android mobile operating system in place of the Apple’s iPhone OS.

A review of the iPed on tech website TECHi says ‘the iPed is exactly what you’re thinking: a Chinese knock-off’.

So, what’s different about the iPed? According to kotaku, this clone is on sale in Shenzhen, which is the location of the largest Foxconn plant in China. Yeah, the same Foxconn we’re hearing about every single day. The device comes in a box that looks just like the iPad’s one, but instead of having the traditional iPad icon in the dock, it has an iPed one. Also, the instruction manual says A Pad, Entertainment and Internet Device.

Well, it runs Android OS and it’s slightly uglier than the iPad. On the one hand, you gotta hand it to these Chinese rip-off artists for their ambition and creativity.

The price for the counterfeit is slightly cheaper, at $410, compared with the real thing, which ranges from $499 to $699. Still real Apple fans in China rely on iPads even though their prices can go up to $960 for the 16GB 3G version.

With 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB models available, with Wi-Fi or with added 3G capability, there are a total of six iPads available. Like the iPhone, the iPad will use WCDMA as its 3G standard which makes China Unicom the only suitable partner in China. This company is already testing the new device, as this summer it will finally arrive to the country.

 

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