The Internet blew up a few weeks ago when it was revealed that there were "fake" Apple stores in some parts of the country. These stores used the Apple logo and had employees in Apple shirts convinced they were working for the company itself. Since then two of those stores were shut down but only because they didn"t have the proper business permits. Now China Today reports that the Chinese government has asked unauthorized Apple retailers to cover up the Apple logo on their store fronts. These same stores have also been asked not to refer to themselves as an "Apple authorized reseller" or an "Apple direct retailer".
However the same story adds that so far enforcement of these warnings has been scarce. The story says that some of these stores are "merely covering their Apple logos with blank sheets of paper, or just covering part of the Apple logo, and employees at unauthorized retailers could still be seen dressed in T-shirts bearing the Apple logo." According to the unnamed manager of one of these stores, Qiao, "If you come back a few days later, everything will be back as it was."
While there are authorized sellers of Apple products in China, one of them feels that the unauthorized stores, who can also sell fake and smuggled Apple devices, are in a "better position." Gao Zhu, the manager of the authorized Apple store Hoosing, says, "It takes some expertise to tell the difference between the three kinds, or you risk being conned."