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Housewives On Trial In China For Smuggling In iPhones

Posted by timothy on from the random-headline-generator dept.

Quillem writes "Last year, Hong Kong residents were finding it hard to get their hands on the latest Apple iGadget even though supply was plentiful. An investigation revealed that most of the iPhones and iPads that made it into HK were being smuggled sans import duties into mainland China—where the devices were yet to be released—by housewives who were paid around USD 6 per smuggled gadget. Earlier this week, 25 of the suspected smugglers went on trial in Shenzhen city."

4 of 150 comments (clear)

  1. What's that I smell? by Eyeball97 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Ah, roast scapegoat...

    Talk about clickbait headlines... tfa says it's an $80,000,000 smuggling ring that's been busted...

    This isn't some little old ladies smuggling a few iPhones in their suitcase for the price of a meal...

  2. Another Fluff Peice by tuppe666 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Seriously I can't help feeling like Apple propaganda is kind of sad now they are irrelevant. The iPhone is a failure in China and in current news its market share [as everywhere] is dropping YOY [its irrelevant] from 5.8% and by quarter from 6.0 down to 4.2 unlike Android which has gone YOY 46.8% and by quarter 82.8% to 90.1%...Android is outselling Apple 21:1

    1. Re:Another Fluff Peice by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Aren't the facts rather that yes, Android is on most cheaper smartphones, hence they sell a lot in total, but Apple still has a good grip (and profitability) on the high end market.
      I think you can compare Apple to a car manufacturer like BMW. Generally well designed and made, often pointing the way forward, indeed relatively small compared to a mass maker like Toyota yet financially healthy.

    2. Re:Another Fluff Peice by iamhassi · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The iPhone is a failure in China and in current news its market share [as everywhere] is dropping YOY [its irrelevant

      A lot of things are failures in China. Google is a failure in China. Facebook is a failure in China. Does this mean google and Facebook are irrelevant too? If you did world wide market share of social media or search engines I bet you'd discover that whatever is popular in China ends up having the most market share because china has almost 5x more people than the US

      --
      my karma will be here long after I'm gone