Three in China convicted for iPad2 design theft

BEIJING (AFP) – A court in south China has jailed three people for stealing the design to Apple's iPad2 tablet computer and using it to manufacture counterfeits, state press said Wednesday.

The theft from a plant run by Foxconn, a contract electronics manufacturer, in Guangdong province late last year resulted in fake iPad2s being sold in China before Apple's official launch of the product, the Guangzhou Daily said.

Rampant piracy of everything from consumer electronics to luxury handbags and apparel have caused friction between China and its trade partners, leading to billions of dollars in losses annually to intellectual property theft.

A court in Shenzhen city last week sentenced Xiao Chengsong, the legal agent of Maita Electronics, to 18 months in prison and fined him 150,000 yuan ($23,000) for buying the design from two Foxconn workers, the report said.

Xiao allegedly paid 200,000 yuan for the iPad2 design, it said.

Foxconn employee Lin Kecheng, was sentenced to 14 months and fined 100,000 yuan, while another worker identified as Hou Pengna was given a two-year sentence suspended for one year and fined 30,000 yuan, it said.

All three were convicted of the crime of violating commercial secrets, it said.

The iPad2 was officially launched in China, the world's biggest Internet market, in May.

In 2010, Apple's iPad, the first generation of the tablet computer, was also pirated before its official launch in China and sold as the "iPed" for only a fraction of the cost of the real product.

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China jails three for stealing iPad2 info

SHANGHAI, CHINA: A Chinese court has sentenced three people to prison for stealing commercial secrets regarding Apple Inc's iPad2 from a main supplier in Taiwan.

The Shenzhen Bao'an People Court said that the head of a Chinese electronics-accessories maker paid a former employee and a then-active worker at Hon Hai Precision Industry for information months ahead of the release in order to produce protective cases for the iPad2.

The three were fined and sentenced to prison terms on Tuesday ranging from 12 to 18 months for stealing commercial secretes valued at about 2 million yuan ($308,000), the court said via Sina's Weibo, a Twitter-like microblogging service in China.

A Hon Hai spokesman said the company respected the ruling of the court and had no further comment.

Hon Hai, a unit of Foxconn Technology Group, makes the iPad2 and other gadgets for Apple in its factories in mainland China.

The court said that Xiao Chengsong, general manager of Shenzhen MacTop Electronics Co, in July, 2010, bribed former Hon Hai employee Hou Pengna for information about iPad2.

Hou then paid Lin Kecheng, a Hon Hai research-and-development employee, to get digital images of the device's back cover last September, half a year before the iPad2 was officially released.

Xiao was sentenced to 18 months in prison, and fined 150,000 yuan ($23,142). Lin was sentenced to 14 months and fined 100,000 yuan while Hou was sentenced to a year in prison and fined 30,000 yuan, according to the court.

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China jails three for stealing iPad2 information

SHANGHAI - A Chinese court has sentenced three people to prison for stealing commercial secrets regarding Apple Inc’s iPad2 from a main supplier in Taiwan.

The Shenzhen Bao’an People Court said that the head of a Chinese electronics-accessories maker paid a former employee and a then-active worker at Hon Hai Precision Industry for information months ahead of the release in order to produce protective cases for the iPad2.

The three were fined and sentenced to prison terms on Tuesday ranging from 12 to 18 months for stealing commercial secrets valued at about 2 million yuan ($378,000), the court said via Sina’s Weibo, a Twitter-like microblogging service in China.

A Hon Hai spokesman said the company respected the ruling of the court and had no further comment.

Hon Hai, a unit of Foxconn Technology Group, makes the iPad2 and other gadgets for Apple in its factories in mainland China.

The court said that Xiao Chengsong, general manager of Shenzhen MacTop Electronics Co, in July, 2010, bribed former Hon Hai employee Hou Pengna for information about iPad2.

Hou then paid Lin Kecheng, a Hon Hai research-and-development employee, to get digital images of the device’s back cover last September, half a year before the iPad2 was officially released.

Xiao was sentenced to 18 months in prison, and fined 150,000 yuan. Lin was sentenced to 14 months and fined 100,000 yuan while Hou was sentenced to a year in prison and fined 30,000 yuan, according to the court.

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China jails 3 for iPad knockoffs

A court in south China has jailed three people for stealing the design to Apple's iPad2 tablet computer and using it to manufacture counterfeits, state press said Wednesday.

A man navigates through the new iPad2 during its launch in the Philippines at an Apple store in Manila on April 29, 2011. A court in south China has jailed three people for stealing the design to Apple's iPad2 tablet computer and using it to manufacture counterfeits, state press said Wednesday.

The theft from a plant run by Foxconn, a contract electronics manufacturer, in Guangdong province late last year resulted in fake iPad2s being sold in China before Apple's official launch of the product, the Guangzhou Daily said.

Rampant piracy of everything from consumer electronics to luxury handbags and apparel have caused friction between China and its trade partners, leading to billions of dollars in losses annually to intellectual property theft.

A court in Shenzhen city last week sentenced Xiao Chengsong, the legal agent of Maita Electronics, to 18 months in prison and fined him 150,000 yuan ($23,000) for buying the design from two Foxconn workers, the report said.

Xiao allegedly paid 200,000 yuan for the iPad2 design, it said.

Foxconn employee Lin Kecheng, was sentenced to 14 months and fined 100,000 yuan, while another worker identified as Hou Pengna was given a two-year sentence suspended for one year and fined 30,000 yuan, it said.

All three were convicted of the crime of violating commercial secrets, it said.

The iPad2 was officially launched in China, the world's biggest Internet market, in May.

In 2010, Apple's iPad, the first generation of the tablet computer, was also pirated before its official launch in China and sold as the "iPed" for only a fraction of the cost of the real product.

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Three in China convicted for iPad design theft

BEIJING - A court in south China has jailed three people for stealing the design to Apple's iPad2 tablet computer and using it to manufacture counterfeits, state press said Wednesday.

The theft from a plant run by Foxconn, a contract electronics manufacturer, in Guangdong province late last year resulted in fake iPad2s being sold in China before Apple's official launch of the product, the Guangzhou Daily said.

Rampant piracy of everything from consumer electronics to luxury handbags and apparel have caused friction between China and its trade partners, leading to billions of dollars in losses annually to intellectual property theft.

A court in Shenzhen City last week sentenced Xiao Chengsong, the legal agent of Maita Electronics, to 18 months in prison and fined him 150,000 yuan ($23,000) for buying the design from two Foxconn workers, the report said.

Xiao allegedly paid 200,000 yuan for the iPad2 design, it said.

Foxconn employee Lin Kecheng, was sentenced to 14 months and fined 100,000 yuan, while another worker identified as Hou Pengna was given a 2-year sentence suspended for one year and fined 30,000 yuan, it said.

All three were convicted of the crime of violating commercial secrets, it said.

The iPad2 was officially launched in China, the world's biggest Internet market in May.

In 2010, Apple's iPad, the first generation of the tablet computer, was also pirated before its official launch in China and sold as the "iPed" for only a fraction of the cost of the real product.

View the original article here

China jails three for stealing iPad design

15-Jun-11, 8:21 PM | Agence France-Presse BEIJING - A court in south China has jailed three people for stealing the design to Apple's iPad2 tablet computer and using it to manufacture counterfeits, state press said Wednesday.

The theft from a plant run by Foxconn, a contract electronics manufacturer, in Guangdong province late last year resulted in fake iPad2s being sold in China before Apple's official launch of the product, the Guangzhou Daily said.

Rampant piracy of everything from consumer electronics to luxury handbags and apparel have caused friction between China and its trade partners, leading to billions of dollars in losses annually to intellectual property theft.

A court in Shenzhen city last week sentenced Xiao Chengsong, the legal agent of Maita Electronics, to 18 months in prison and fined him 150,000 yuan ($23,000) for buying the design from two Foxconn workers, the report said.

Xiao allegedly paid 200,000 yuan for the iPad2 design, it said.

Foxconn employee Lin Kecheng, was sentenced to 14 months and fined 100,000 yuan, while another worker identified as Hou Pengna was given a two-year sentence suspended for one year and fined 30,000 yuan, it said.

All three were convicted of the crime of violating commercial secrets, it said.

The iPad2 was officially launched in China, the world's biggest Internet market in May.

In 2010, Apple's iPad, the first generation of the tablet computer, was also pirated before its official launch in China and sold as the "iPed" for only a fraction of the cost of the real product.

View the original article here

Blast forces China iPad2 plant suspension

BEIJING, May 24 (UPI) -- Foxconn announced it had suspended production at a southwest China plant where Apple's iPad2 is made, following an explosion that killed three workers.

The weekend explosion at the plant in Chengdu city in Sichuan province injured more than a dozen others.

A company spokesman said the situation was under control and that the cause of the explosion was being investigated, the BBC reported.

"All operations at the affected workshop remain suspended and production at all other workshops that carry out similar processing functions have also been halted pending the results of the investigation," the BBC reported, quoting a statement e-mailed by the company.

PCMag.com quoted Students & Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior, an advocacy group, as saying in a blog post the explosion was the result of alleged management negligence in maintaining work safety at the factory.

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iPad2 factory explosion: Fire at building in China kills two workers

By Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 9:24 PM on 20th May 2011

The scandal-hit factory where Apple makes its iPads faced a fresh probe today after an explosion ripped through the building killing two people.

A blast rocked a compound at the building in southwest China earlier this evening, sending dozens of workers fleeing into the streets as flames engulfed the electronics inside.

The fire is the latest disaster to hit the cursed Foxconn factory - dubbed Suicide Express - where a string of workers have killed themselves amid appalling working conditions.

Disaster: Dark black smoke billows from the Foxconn building in the Sichuan capital Chengdu where the new iPad2 was being made

Flames engulfed the damaged building was in the Sichuan capital Chengdu and was where the new iPad was being made.

Employees who were inside the building at the time said the explosion, which happened early this evening, seemed accidental.

The workers said that several hundred people were working in the building at the time of the blast.

Calls to the spokesman for the Chengdu fire brigade, who is on the scene, went unanswered.

Emergency: A fire truck arrives at the scene of the explosion as stunned workers who were evacuated form the building lined the streets

Damage: Two people were killed in the explosion and 16 were injured. It is not yet know how many of the tablet computers have been destroyed in the fire

This is the latest incident to hit the embattled Foxconn, after at least 13 of its employees died in apparent suicides last year, which activists blamed on tough working conditions.

Foxconn is the world's largest maker of computer components and produces items for Apple, Sony and Nokia. It employs about one million workers in China.

Technology: Apple boss Steve Jobs shows off a iPad on stage. The devices were made at the factory

Foxconn employs 400,000 young people at the huge factory sprawl where Apple's worldbeating electronics are made.

When the iPad went on sale in America last month, sales exceeded all expectations, reaching one million units in 28 days? -? twice as fast as the iPhone and forcing Apple to delay the UK launch.

In the first three months of 2010, Apple sold nearly three million computers, 11 million iPods and nine million iPhones. It made ?2billion ($2.89 billion) profit in the first quarter this year and is expected to take ?41billion ($60billion) in sales.

Apple's Taiwanese subcontractor Foxconn has been operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to try to keep up with orders.

But the factory ran into controversy after a number of workers killed themselves after back-breaking shifts for the company.

Some blame the harsh working conditions imposed by Foxconn for the deaths? -? conditions first exposed four years ago by a Mail on Sunday article which prompted an investigation by Apple.

The company found there were 'a number of areas for improvement'.

Some blame a kind of mass hysteria spreading among the mostly young workers.

Others accuse modern China's spiritual void. And it has been pointed out that in communist China, suicide is considered a crime against the state, so it is the ultimate form of protest.

The deaths have become so regular that bloggers have nicknamed the factories in the city of Shenzhen the Foxconn Suicide Express, while managers have set up a suicide hotline and even hired monks to exorcise evil spirits.

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Apple Starts IPad2 Sales in China as Lenovo Contests With LePad

May 06, 2011, 6:08 AM EDT By Bloomberg News

May 6 (Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc. started selling the latest version of its iPad tablet computer in China, as the world’s most valuable technology company fends off competition from products offered by local rivals including Lenovo Group Ltd.

Hundreds of people waited in line outside Apple’s store in Shanghai’s Lujiazui financial district before the 8 a.m. opening time. The store sold out of the white-colored version of iPad2 with 16 gigabytes of memory within hours, according to a check by Bloomberg News.

Apple is offering the iPad2 in China, home to its highest- grossing stores worldwide, as demand in the U.S. for the upgraded product surpassed the first version since its debut in March. The Cupertino, California-based company faces increasing competition in China from local vendors of smartphones and tablets including Lenovo and ZTE Corp., according to Shan Chao, an analyst at BDA China, which advises companies.

“They previously had the market all to themselves, but now rival products have sprung up,” Shan said by telephone from Beijing today. “The new upgrades will help Apple, which is already leading local products in terms of technology.”

The new iPad, which comes in white and black, is lighter, thinner, includes a more powerful processor and front and rear cameras, and sells from 3,688 yuan ($568), according to Apple’s China website.

Apple’s stores in China generate, on average, the highest traffic and highest revenue of any company stores in the world, Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer said on a Jan. 18 earnings call.

‘Amazing’ Demand

“We’re working hard to get the iPad2 into the hands of every customer who wants one as quickly as possible,” said Carolyn Wu, a Beijing-based spokeswoman at Apple. Demand for the iPad2 “has been amazing,” she said.

Lenovo, China’s biggest maker of personal-computers, started selling its LePad tablet computer in the country in March. The company will use “better knowledge” of the Chinese market to win sales from competitors such as Apple, Chairman Liu Chuanzhi said that month. Prices for the LePad start from 3,499 yuan, according to its website.

ZTE, China’s second-biggest maker of telephone equipment, said last month it aims to sell a combined 12 million smartphones and tablet computers this year.

Apple expanded sales of the latest iPad to Asian markets including Japan, India, Hong Kong and Singapore last week.

--Editors: Chua Kong Ho, Anand Krishnamoorthy

To contact the reporters on this story: Mark Lee in Hong Kong at wlee37@bloomberg.net; Margaret Conley in Shanghai at mconley3@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Anand Krishnamoorthy at anandk@bloomberg.net

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iPad2 queue turns ugly in China

Beijing (The Star/ANN) - The iPad2 frenzy has gripped Beijing, so much so that a freak incident involving four visitors to an Apple Store at the trendy Sanlitun Village shopping complex in the Chinese capital puts its retail boom in a different light.

Last Saturday, two men and two women suffered injuries in a scuffle with a foreign worker of the Apple Store.

The foreigner came out of the store and bashed a man with a stick for allegedly jumping queue as scores of shoppers lined up to buy the newly-released gadget.

According to news reports, the man was thrown against the corner of an outside wall. The man's mother and aunt as well as another man who confronted the foreigner also suffered some minor injuries during the fracas.

Eye-witnesses said the glass door of the store was smashed as several members of the crowd surged forward to stop security guards from closing the store.

"He (the foreign worker) is about 1.9m tall," Beijing Times quoted the man as saying. "He was saying something, but I do not understand English and ignored him. He grabbed me by the collar and hit me."

Chaoyang district police said the foreigner was maintaining order as some visitors had jumped queue and there were also several touts in the crowd.

Following the incident, the foreigner and injured parties resolved the case for a compensation of 20,000 yuan (US$3,075), the police said. However, police could not confirm the identity of the man involved in the fracas with the foreign worker.

Whether the man was a scalper or a shopper, there is no denying that the tout menace is a big problem in many Chinese cities.

At the theatre, touts would harass those outside the venue. At any sports event or exhibition, too, they would offer to buy a ticket or even accreditation.

A week after the incident, scalpers were still outside Apple Stores in Sanlitun Village and Xidan offering iPad merchandise to visitors to the stores.

"Add 200 yuan more to buy iPad2; each 16G iPad2 costs 3,880 yuan," one scalper said. "Two days later when there is a shortage, it will be more expensive."

Graphic designer Lin Zihan, who plans to buy an iPad2 online, said there was too much speculative buying and selling in China.

The scalpers would usually sweep all the legally imported goods and sell them at a higher price.

However, Lin said that consumers could buy online for less iPad2 that had been smuggled into China from Hong Kong, the United States and other countries.

He added that speculation by scalpers had caused an increase in the prices of the product in China.

"The same thing happened when sales of iPhone4 started in China," he noted. "I would rather wait a bit longer to buy an iPad2 than give the touts the chance to make money.

"I really hate the touts. If you do not crack down on them, they will not only speculate on trivial consumer goods but they might also move on to bigger things, and that could be harmful to the nation."

The Apple Stores have posted signboards warning scalpers that action would be taken against them if they were found selling products at higher prices. The Apple management advised consumers to buy the goods at authorised outlets, and not from scalpers.

Prior to its launch last Friday, Apple Stores in Beijing had limited sales to two iPad2 per customer. But the ruling was subsequently recinded as sales assistants at the stores said consumers could buy as many as they wanted. Industry experts said that the move would result in more goods ending up in the hands of scalpers.

There have been supply shortages of iPad1 and iPhone before when the scalpers took advantage of the situation. Consumers had nowhere to go but the scalpers.

Unless Apple can ensure adequate supply of iPad2, the scalpers will always have a market.

The first Apple Store opened in Sanlitun Village in 2008, and the American company had since added three more stores in Xidan and Shanghai's Huaihai Road and Pudong.

According to statistics provided by Apple, sales of its products in China raked in about US$5bil in the past six months, of which an estimated US$450mil was from the Sanlitun Village store.

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Apple Sells IPad2 in China as Lenovo Contests With LePad

May 6 (Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc. started selling the latest version of its iPad tablet computer in China, as the world’s most valuable technology company fends off competition from products offered by local rivals including Lenovo Group Ltd. Hundreds of people waited in line outside Apple’s store in Shanghai’s Lujiazui financial district before the 8 a.m. opening time. Bloomberg's Margaret Conley reports. (Source: Bloomberg)

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Apple Starts Selling IPad2 in China as Lenovo Contests With LePad Tablet

 People queue to buy iPad 2 at an Apple store in Shanghai, China. Photographer: ChinaFotoPress/Getty Images

May 6 (Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc. started selling the latest version of its iPad tablet computer in China, as the world’s most valuable technology company fends off competition from products offered by local rivals including Lenovo Group Ltd. Hundreds of people waited in line outside Apple’s store in Shanghai’s Lujiazui financial district before the 8 a.m. opening time. Bloomberg's Margaret Conley reports. (Source: Bloomberg)

May 6 (Bloomberg) -- Kirk Yang, managing director and head of hardware research for Asia excluding Japan at Barclays Capital in Hong Kong, talks about Lenovo Group Ltd.'s new LePad tablet computer and Eedoo video game console. Yang speaks with John Dawson on Bloomberg Television's "First Up." (Source: Bloomberg)

Apple Inc. (AAPL) started selling the latest version of its iPad tablet computer in China, as the world’s most valuable technology company fends off competition from products offered by local rivals including Lenovo Group Ltd. (992)

Hundreds of people waited in line outside Apple’s store in Shanghai’s Lujiazui financial district before the 8 a.m. opening time. The store sold out of the white-colored version of iPad2 with 16 gigabytes of memory within hours, according to a check by Bloomberg News.

Apple is offering the iPad2 in China, home to its highest- grossing stores worldwide, as demand in the U.S. for the upgraded product surpassed the first version since its debut in March. The Cupertino, California-based company faces increasing competition in China from local vendors of smartphones and tablets including Lenovo and ZTE Corp. (763), according to Shan Chao, an analyst at BDA China, which advises companies.

“They previously had the market all to themselves, but now rival products have sprung up,” Shan said by telephone from Beijing today. “The new upgrades will help Apple, which is already leading local products in terms of technology.”

The new iPad, which comes in white and black, is lighter, thinner, includes a more powerful processor and front and rear cameras, and sells from 3,688 yuan ($568), according to Apple’s China website.

Apple’s stores in China generate, on average, the highest traffic and highest revenue of any company stores in the world, Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer said on a Jan. 18 earnings call.

“We’re working hard to get the iPad2 into the hands of every customer who wants one as quickly as possible,” said Carolyn Wu, a Beijing-based spokeswoman at Apple. Demand for the iPad2 “has been amazing,” she said.

Lenovo, China’s biggest maker of personal-computers, started selling its LePad tablet computer in the country in March. The company will use “better knowledge” of the Chinese market to win sales from competitors such as Apple, Chairman Liu Chuanzhi said that month. Prices for the LePad start from 3,499 yuan, according to its website.

ZTE, China’s second-biggest maker of telephone equipment, said last month it aims to sell a combined 12 million smartphones and tablet computers this year.

Apple expanded sales of the latest iPad to Asian markets including Japan, India, Hong Kong and Singapore last week.

To contact the reporters on this story: Mark Lee in Hong Kong at wlee37@bloomberg.net; Margaret Conley in Shanghai at mconley3@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Anand Krishnamoorthy at anandk@bloomberg.net

View the original article here

China- iPad2 violence in Beijing

MENAFN - The Peninsula - May 09 2011 A couple carries a new Mac desktop just bought from the Apple store in Beijing yesterday.(MENAFN - The Peninsula) ?Four people were taken to hospital and a glass door smashed as a near-riot broke out at Beijing's top Apple store among crowds rushing to snap up the popular iPad 2 tablet computer, state press said yesterday.

 

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iPad2 expected to hit mainland China in May

Days ago, Chinese Apple fans were still anxious with uncertainty over when the iPad2 would reach the mainland market, but things are looking up now that the iPad2 has been approved by China's 3C product certification and is predicted to be launched on the mainland sometime in May, the Beijing Morning Post reported on April 11.

The report says the Wi-Fi version of the iPad2, model A1395, has been approved by China's 3C products certification for its service platform.

As of now, the release date of the 3G version of iPad2 is unsure due to the unfixed deal negotiation between Apple and Chinese operators. The Wi-Fi iPad2 will appear on the Chinese mainland market as early as May and no later than the end of June, according to a reliable source. However, Apple has not released any official schedule.

3C product certification is an obligatory product certification system in China. It approved iPad2's certification and gave it a five-year-certificate with series number of 2011010902468575 on April 8.

On March 12, Apple officially started selling iPad2 in the American market and priced WiFi iPad2 at 499 U.S. dollars, 599 U.S. dollars and 699 U.S. dollars and 3G iPad2 at 629 U.S. dollars, 729 U.S. dollars and 829 U.S. dollars. And since March 25, another 25 countries and regions around the world started selling the product.

Although the iPad2 still has not entered the Chinese mainland market officially, smuggled products have already flooded the market, causing a period of price reduction.

Take iPad2 (16G) as an example, its price has been reduced from more than 6,000 yuan to about 4,700 yuan. Customers believe the price of it will continue to fall since parallel imports are arriving from Hong Kong.

Also, some sources say that Apple, Inc. has started submitting design specification and shopping for components to build the iPad3. Maybe, the iPad3 would be born in this autumn to surprise Apple fans around the world.

At the same time, the domestic tension over the supply of authentic iPhone 4 products has been relieved quite a lot. China Unicom not only has a plentiful supply of contract products but also will release a new contract program to enlarge promotions on April 12.

A worker in the Sanlitun Apple shop in Beijing told reporters that their reservation time has already advanced from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m.

Now, the prices of bare iPhone 4s on Chinese market have been reduced, and the iPhone 4 (16G) is priced at about 5,400 yuan.

Clearance sales of the iPhone 4 have begun in Hong Kong in anticipation of the iPhone 5, one source says.

By Wang Hanlu, People's Daily Online

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