Chinese consumers appear fixated with Apple’s iconic iPhone. It draws throngs of eager buyers in Shanghai’s Xujiahui computer market. Similarly, at the Canton Trade Fair in October, vendors hawking familiar-looking silver and black slabs were convulsed in crowds, in sharp contrast to the deserted booths of rival brands. So how can it be that China Unicom has seen dismal initial sales under its exclusive arrangement to sell the iPhone in China?

    The explanation lies in China’s huge “grey” market for handsets, which includes some genuine phones imported without the manufacturer’s blessing but is mainly comprised of knock-offs. The iPhones at Xujiahui fall into the former category; those at the trade fair into the latter. Illicit phones comprise a staggering 40 percent of Chinese firms’production and 13 percent of total global prduction, according to research firm iSuppli. It reckons that China would produce 145 million unlicensed phones last year, up by almost half since 2008. This has hit sales of legal phones.

    Grey-market handsets are often simple and cheap. Legitimate manufacturers remain competitive at the bottom of the market, according to BDA, a consultancy firm in Beijing,because the major firms have broad distribution networks across the developing world.

    Grey-market manufacturers are not just copycats. Many of them add innovations to the devices they are counterfeiting. Some fake iPhones in China, for example, can accommodate two SIM cards and thus handle two different phone numbers through the same handset. Chinese grey-marketeers have secured half the Ghanaian market with phones that can do nifty things like receive television broadcasts, said BDA.

    Grey-market manufacturers also pride themselves on their ability to bring models to market quickly. An iPhone clone named a “HiPhone” appeared in China within six months of the release of the original iPhone in America.

    Given their low prices and added features, the spread of grey-market phones might seem unstoppable but, as iSuppli notes, components for the handsets come from brand-name producers that are likely to become less tolerant of pirates. Grey-market phones are beginning to worry governments, like China’s, because they lack the identification codes of legitimate phones and are therefore untraceable.

    The biggest impediment may simply be a lack of quality control. BDA pointed out that despite China’s booming exports of grey-market phones, domestic sales have started to fall. Customers have realized that they break easily and come with no guarantees.

    Source: The Economist

 “山寨手机”难以阻挡

       中国消费者似乎痴迷于苹果公司的iPhone。在上海徐家汇电脑市场，它吸引了大量迫不及待的购买者。在去年10月份举行的广交会上，兜售外形与之之相似的银黑相间的手机商贩被人群前呼后拥，与无人问津的品牌展位形成鲜明对比。中国联通郁闷：为何自己独家代理的iPhone在中国的面市如此令人沮丧呢？

       原因在于中国巨大的手机“灰色”市场，包括一些未经制造商许可进口的真货，但大多数还是仿制品。徐家汇市场的iPhone手机属于前一种；广交会上的手机属于后一种。据一家研究公司调查，非法手机占中国公司产量的比例达惊人的40%，占世界产量的13%。调查认为中国今年将生产1.45亿部这类手机。这已冲击了合法手机的销售。

       灰市手机常常简陋而廉价。但是，北京一家咨询公司说，合法制造商在低端市场仍然具有相当强的竞争力，它们在发展中国家开辟了营销网络。

       灰市制造商不仅仅是仿造者，其中也有很多制造商在仿造产品中注入了创新元素。比如，中国一些仿制的iPhone手机可以使用两张SIM卡，因此同一部手机可以有两个号。北京那家咨询公司说，中国灰市制造商占领了加纳一半的市场，它们的手机具有时尚的功能，比如可以收看电视。

       灰市制造商还以其迅速推出新款手机的能力而自豪。原版iPhone在美国面市的6个月内，一款叫做HiPhone的仿制品就在中国推出。

       鉴于灰市手机价格低廉，且功能增加，所以似乎难以阻挡。但是，正如调查公司指出的，灰市手机的零部件来自品牌生产商，后者很可能难以忍受盗版行为。灰市手机正在引起政府的担忧，因为它们缺乏合法手机的认证代码，因此难以跟踪。

       但是，最大的障碍也许只是缺乏质量控制。北京的咨询公司指出，虽然中国灰市手机出口繁荣，可是国内销售已开始下降。客户已经认识到这种手机容易出故障，而且没有保修。