While Apple iPad tablet has just been unveiled in the U.S., a product of similar appearance strangely there for six months now on the Chinese market. The resemblance has prompted local websites, including Shanzhai.com, technology blog dedicated to Chinese copies, with irony on the turn made by domestic manufacturers now able to clone a product before it has been revealed. Its manufacturer is surprised: “Why Apple did the same thing as us?” According to AFP:
The unveiling of Apple’s iPad tablet computer was one of the most anticipated technology events in recent years, but a similar looking device has been on sale in China for nearly six months.
The touchscreen iPad look-alike marks a new milestone by Chinese manufacturers: cloning a product before it had even been announced, mused Shanghaiist.com, a Shanghai city blog, and Shanzhai.com, a tech blog dedicated to Chinese copies.
But Shenzhen Great Loong Brother Industrial Co. — makers of the Chinese device, which resembles an over-sized iPhone — said Apple appeared to be the copycats.
“We don’t understand. Why did they make the same thing as us?” Huang Xiaofang, an executive at the company, told AFP.
The iPad-like “P88” was launched in August and was on show last year at the Internationale Funkausstellung consumer electronics fair in Berlin, she said.
“We launched it earlier,” she said.
Although thicker and heavier than the iPad, the P88’s specifications boasts a slightly larger screen, faster processor, larger memory and, unlike the iPad, has USB ports, according to the manufacturer.
via Chinese company pre-emptively clones iPad – Yahoo! News.
