A few years ago I lived in Shanghai, and it was always fun to stop by the black markets to check out the fake iPhones and Apple gadgets that they were selling.
It was amazing how close they were to copying a real iPhone in terms of the hardware design, but it was always funny to see them run a version of Android. They were selling them for $10 a pop as well. It's incredible to check out these electronic markets in China and see the effort that goes into these fakes.
Yeah, that's the most incredible part for me: I just can't understand the economics that allow such low prices. Every time I read about it, I get strong Neuromancer vibes.
I don't know if this improves your view of the world or not, but filling punching bags with used clothes (or fabric scraps) is actually common practice.
The amazing thing is the customer, who had slowly developed a set of acceptability criteria for desktop computing (basic stuff like "no spyware") and got it all reset to zero for mobile computing, just like that. That was amazing. And scary.
This is the IT story of the century, but it's not often talked about in those terms - I found it horrifying and demoralizing to watch. But perhaps it's not the last time we'll have some sort of discontinuous lurch - perhaps it's a good thing that such resetting of expectations is possible. Perhaps the shoe will move to the other foot with the next wave...
Poke around alibaba and you'll find several companies selling 4-5" touch screens with decent resolutions for around $2-3 a piece for order of 1000+ units. If you're on the ground and speak the language you can certainly get a much better deal than that.
It was amazing how close they were to copying a real iPhone in terms of the hardware design, but it was always funny to see them run a version of Android. They were selling them for $10 a pop as well. It's incredible to check out these electronic markets in China and see the effort that goes into these fakes.