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iPhones, Schematics Stolen From Chinese Factory?

therawfeed.com — Some gray-market iPhones for sale in China may have been STOLEN FROM THE CHINESE FACTORY where iPhones are made for Apple. A distributor claims his source for stolen iPhones showed him stolen internal Apple documents that include iPhone schematics.

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  • techresearcher, on 02/15/2008, -1/+47Where can I get one of these stolen "Schematics" ?
    • bxblox, on 02/15/2008, -1/+8chinatown, theyre printed with lead ink
      • lust, on 02/15/2008, -2/+2Lead ink is too expensive for China. Burnt liquefied human flesh seems about right and it is good for China.
    • TremorX, on 02/15/2008, -0/+9Where are the transmissions you intercepted? What did you do with those plans!?
      • malechite, on 02/15/2008, -0/+9We intercepted no transmissions! *choking* Were on a diplomatic mission
        • NotaFanboy87, on 02/15/2008, -0/+1HAHA! I knew someone would crack that!
      • jh32488, on 02/15/2008, -0/+2im so upset why couldnt i make the joke first
    • netdroid9, on 02/15/2008, -0/+6Alright, you win, I've hidden it in one of these 21 briefcases. *Que quiz-show music*
    • tmessing, on 02/15/2008, -0/+2Pirate Bay, arrrg!
    • crusadernm, on 02/15/2008, -0/+0I don't understand why people here are criticizing China. They should be happy as hell. With all the praising of digital piracy that goes on, don't you want cheaper iphones with better features.
  • Patrikc325, on 02/15/2008, -2/+11We are awakening to the new cold war!!
  • thediggdiva, on 02/15/2008, -10/+0whoa, apple should investigate this! indeed
  • DeskFlyer, on 02/15/2008, -11/+5Are you sure they weren't stolen from the chinese factory WHERE IpHONES ARE MADE FOR APPLE instead?
    • chaseywacy, on 02/15/2008, -3/+3Are you retarded? That's exactly what it says!
      • ViciousSquallD, on 02/15/2008, -1/+2I believe DF was questioning the choice of words emphasized not the words used.
        • chaseywacy, on 02/15/2008, -1/+1Oh. Well he's not very articulate.
    • Grimdotdotdot, on 02/15/2008, -0/+1Lower-case 'A' too, surely?
      • TheSnuffster, on 02/15/2008, -0/+2Yeh I reckon so, and don't call me Shirley.
  • NorthStateGonzo, on 02/15/2008, -7/+1Kewl
  • skunkworker, on 02/15/2008, -1/+5What just a picture?
    • Tenlow, on 02/15/2008, -0/+3You have to click through the blogspam.
  • RegalGSX, on 02/15/2008, -5/+19Chinese = steal
    • TremorX, on 02/15/2008, -2/+2In the 80's it was just pee-pee. Today it's traces of lead and stolen plans. DAMMIT CHINA, LEAVE MY COKE ALONE
    • Hangly, on 02/15/2008, -1/+1YAR!
  • Thex1138, on 02/15/2008, -4/+14No surprises really...just another episode in the long line of 'West-Create East-Duplicate'
    • ZiggityZhang, on 02/15/2008, -0/+5More like East-Create East-Duplicate. Most Chinese counterfeits come from the SAME factory.
  • PPCG4, on 02/15/2008, -2/+11The sad thing is, people who work in that factory (some of them anyway) will endure horrific torture until either someone gives a false confession out of pain, or someone confesses out of shame.
    • mbraynard, on 02/15/2008, -4/+2Yeah, but I think the cuter ones will beg their way out of torture with offers of me love you long time.

      /since we are playing the dumb stereotype game
      • chan0429, on 02/15/2008, -0/+1"me love you long time" is a Vietnamese thing per the Stanley Kubrick film Full Metal Jacket.
        • mbraynard, on 02/15/2008, -0/+1Uh, yes, we all know that, hence it is the 'dumb stereotype game' and it a 'dumb stereotype' in response to an equally dumb one.
    • Hangly, on 02/15/2008, -0/+1I think you might be confusing China with Japan. No Chinese person would be ashamed of a criminal technicality like this.
      I could get a hacked iPhone within 30 minutes if I wanted to, they're sold out in the open, on shelves, right alongside the hacked Wii's and PS3's.
  • shiftt, on 02/15/2008, -1/+40Buried as blog spam.

    The real story is here http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=032 ...
  • scot333, on 02/15/2008, -1/+15can you get lead poisoning from chinese iPhones?
    • dsheli, on 02/15/2008, -0/+1YES!!! ahaha
    • Puppetfunk, on 02/15/2008, -0/+1I think that's part of the check list when making things in a sweatshop
      [ ] To be Applying thickened coat with lead to product
    • jabberwolf, on 02/15/2008, -0/+1You can get lead poisening from regular iPhones. They are all made in China anyway !
  • d0onut, on 02/15/2008, -2/+11What the hell is the gray market?
    • chaseywacy, on 02/15/2008, -0/+2The flow of new goods through distribution channels other than those authorized or intended by the manufacturer or producer. The iPhone is officially on sale only in the U.S., Britain, France, and Germany, where Apple has signed exclusive contracts with cellular carriers.
    • Hangly, on 02/15/2008, -0/+2More specifically, Apple is still in talks with Chinese telecoms to work out some sort of vendor-lock scheme. In the meantime, some Chinese hacker rigged the iPhone so it can take a SIM card, meaning you can use whatever carrier you want. That's pretty heroic, from a hacker perspective.
  • TremorX, on 02/15/2008, -3/+5I only hope that when the data's analyzed a weakness can be found. It's not over yet.
  • gradivus, on 02/15/2008, -7/+5yeah,"stolen". We call that doing business with china where Im from. Do you really think they give a ***** about US patent law?
  • makerandcreator, on 02/15/2008, -0/+2Of course.
  • sajnikanth, on 02/15/2008, -0/+6Ahem...check this out http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_cb00XMTgwMDA2MzI=.htm ...
  • rot13ubercrypto, on 02/15/2008, -1/+7I'm sure the schematics were "stolen." As in "pushed...er...fell off the back of a truck and caught on the third bounce." Authorized manufacturers in a lot of Asian countries paying licensing fees to produce, or being contracted to manufacture a given quantity of a certain good (clothes, CDs, electronics, etc.) and cranking out a couple of units more which they then dump on the black market at dirt cheap prices is not a new phaenomenon.

    These things aren't even "pirated" -- they're the real thing, just sold outside the pricing and marketing scheme of the original brand owner. I expect to see "real" iPhones showing up on markets in Malaysia for $30 a pop not too long from now...
  • Emachine, on 02/15/2008, -0/+6... and the next day, the streets of China are flooded with new speciously familiar looking eyePhones and miiPhones.
  • shanemichael, on 02/15/2008, -1/+3Wow.. this story is really credible.. or... not. Nice picture, it provides both the entire story and detail, as well as adequate proof. Wait, no.. no it doesn't.
  • decepticrat, on 02/15/2008, -0/+8Please don't support link-jacking. Read the story from the original source here.
    http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=032 ...
  • sporg, on 02/15/2008, -1/+7Serves them right for having stuff made in China's slave factories.
    • EdwardsNH, on 02/15/2008, -0/+1Ok, true... but just so you know, that same phone made under more fair labor would cost about $1600
      • Extraneous, on 02/18/2008, -0/+1Yeah, I feel much better about slavery because it makes my technology cheaper.
  • al1encas1no, on 02/15/2008, -2/+8YES we'll get some good iPhone knockoffs now
  • barroni, on 02/15/2008, -0/+3Will the knock off be called iFone ?
  • supermanred, on 02/15/2008, -4/+5Here comes the Zune phone!

    Hey, with the schematics Microsoft cant possibly ***** it up as bad as they did with the Zune!
    • bthug7, on 02/15/2008, -3/+4Zunes rule ipods... well atleast mine does.
      • NotaFanboy87, on 02/15/2008, -4/+3Hey you're the guy with the tattoo huh? You should use your zune for working out, it makes a great freeweight.
        • bthug7, on 02/16/2008, -0/+1Yeah the first gens were big. So were Ipods. The new Zunes are like 1 cm thick. I would also prefer more than 20 minutes of battery life.
    • jabberwolf, on 02/15/2008, -0/+2So far zune made quiet entrance, but has eaten up alot of the market and is in hot persuit.
      Most every review gives Zune a better rating than the comparable ipod.
      So not sure how that is ***** up ?
  • wwnexc, on 02/15/2008, -2/+3pwn3d
  • Flame500, on 02/15/2008, -0/+3I'm not sure if I totally believe this, my father was in the micro-electronics business for 23 years and he told me that when everything was being moved to china that they always took ludicrous security precautions. Things like razor wire fences, massive hydraulic gates, and every mission critical document and schematic was ENCRYPTED so only the machines could read them. This (if true) is really a worst case scenario.
    • likwidfuzion, on 02/15/2008, -0/+4This is China we're talking about here. It's the motherland of bootlegs and knockoffs.
      • Flame500, on 02/15/2008, -0/+1But what I'm saying is the source code and core schematics, the stuff that would take a huge amount of reverse engineering to decipher, are guarded like you wouldn't believe.
        That is unless these "schematics" are just knockoffs which seems quite possible.
    • HappyScrappy, on 02/15/2008, -0/+1If the schematics were encrypted, how would you read them?

      I doubt Apple leaves the schematics with the Chinese manufacturer. Although you could recreate the schematics from the board layout (which the board maker has) and the parts list (which the Chinese manufacturer has).

      Honestly, Chinese knockoff makers would have very little use for the schematics anyway, as they aren't really interested in producing the exact same thing. They instead want to make something that looks like it but is cheaper to make, and so the insides would have to be redesigned significantly anyway.
  • Hangly, on 02/15/2008, -3/+2This is why China is so awesome. Intellectual Property is no match for the rapiers 1.6 billion pirates.
  • likwidfuzion, on 02/15/2008, -1/+19This new chiPhone will go great with my Vouis Luitton wallet.
    • TheSkinsFactory, on 02/15/2008, -0/+4that made me laugh
    • CaviMike, on 02/15/2008, -1/+3Wow, I read that as Louis Vuitton and couldn't figure out what was so funny. I fail.
  • streak, on 02/15/2008, -1/+1Bladox looks like a good legal target for Apple, if there's any correspondence whatsoever with the company where it claims Turbo SIM can unlock the iPhone. That could be aiding and abetting a crime perpetrated by the Turbo SIM user.
    • theducks, on 02/15/2008, -1/+2bzzt. The locking of the iPhone is a commercial contract, not a matter of criminal law.
    • streak, on 02/15/2008, -0/+1Violating copyright is criminal. Hypothetically (because I'm not going to bother reading the terms of service): When upgrading the iPhone software, users are "probably" required to agree to terms of service before the right to install (copy to the iPhone) is granted. Turbo SIM would help users violate those terms of service, thus violating copyright, which is a crime.
  • sandaboy, on 02/15/2008, -0/+0Cheaper iPhones anybody?
  • theradical, on 02/15/2008, -0/+5now we are digging unknown websites with literally five line blurbs of unsubstantiated nonsense with comments as follows:
    ***
    COMMENTS:
    Anonymous said...

    cant trust those nips....

    THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2008 9:52:00 PM
    Anonymous said...
    It was bound to happen, wasn't it?

    THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2008 10:09:00 PM
    Anonymous said...
    naggers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    ***
    So I would just like to know, are we the problem or is the internet the problem?
    • philhatesyou, on 02/15/2008, -0/+5"can't trust those nips"

      You know you're dumb when you can't even be a proper racist.
  • Fremen93, on 02/15/2008, -1/+1Well I knew this would happen
  • sonicularulus, on 02/15/2008, -0/+1pics or it didnt happen
    • brownspank, on 02/15/2008, -0/+1Link to schematics torrent or I will sue.
  • CaviMike, on 02/15/2008, -0/+2Well that's what you get for farming out your work to other countries. No sympathy from me.
  • digitallysick, on 02/15/2008, -1/+5Dear Chinese, people make it exactly the same, but add a micro sd slot, flash support and 3g, thanks. And some stereo bluetooth would be nice.
    • mikenotmike, on 02/15/2008, -0/+2And a removable battery....
    • NotaFanboy87, on 02/15/2008, -3/+1Lame, lame and more lame... micro SD, I totally wanna spend an EXTRA $200 for the same 8 GB it comes with, crappy source code for flash and a high speed internet that's only accessible in highly metropolitan areas. Oh and stereo bluetooth, the greatest audio mistake of the 21st century. Somebody knows what they want. A zunephone. To the guy with the removable battery, iPhones are expensive enough thank you. Having the battery removable makes it last less and look uglier. Does anybody like form over function? I mean really, we get with girls cuz theyre hot then because they can cook meals and make $75K a year, not the other way around. Stop micromanaging apple's good ideas.
      • likwidfuzion, on 02/15/2008, -2/+2*Dear Chinese people,

        That comma splice was irritatingly confusing.
  • bthug7, on 02/15/2008, -0/+0Come on guys a lil defection never hurt anyone, remember the industrial revo
  • pond70, on 02/15/2008, -2/+0HAHAHAHAHHA...... maybe they can improve the design and not make it so ....apple controlling

    SEND IN THE CLONES !!!!!!!!!!!!!
  • stephanieuk, on 02/15/2008, -0/+0A Chinese takeaway ?
  • fucknuggets, on 02/15/2008, -0/+1blogspam
  • macwac, on 02/15/2008, -0/+1This comes as a surprise? Apple hasn't been keeping up with their Guanxi... it doesn't pay off to screw your suppliers ;)
  • anonypanda, on 02/15/2008, -1/+6This is not news to anyone who lives in China. I've been here for near 15 years now and I can definitely vouch for this being true. Its true with other products as well, some of the markets you go to here in Beijing don't sell bootlegged stuff, but instead just "over production" and stolen stuff.

    Basically it works like this:
    lets say Nike orders 1000 sneakers made by their chinese subcontractor. Subcontractor makes 1100. Gives 1000 to Nike, factory owner keeps 100 and puts them onto the local markets and keeps the cash. They add the cost of the additional sneakers into the cost of building the 1000 Nike asked for OR (as was the case with our company) report more defective ones than is true.
    • jim1977, on 02/15/2008, -0/+3Is that a fact?
      • orangetiki, on 02/15/2008, -0/+1my company subcontracts with a print shop in China .We don't do anything hi end, but yes they always report "damages" and you always sees clones. Type in scooter in Ebay, and see how many models look exactly like one another.
    • crusadernm, on 02/15/2008, -0/+0Yes I agree.
  • jim1977, on 02/15/2008, -0/+2What's with the block capitals used in 'some gray-market iPhones for sale in China may have been STOLEN FROM THE CHINESE FACTORY?' Is this blogger so obsessed with CHINA that he has to say CHINESE twice in the same sentence and freak out like iPhones are only STOLEN from CHINESE FACTORIES?
  • kushin, on 02/15/2008, -2/+1This is what happens when you underpay people to produce overpriced crap.
    • crusadernm, on 02/15/2008, -0/+0I agree. You better believe if I was in the same situation, I'd do the same thing with no regrets.
  • GHOVO, on 02/15/2008, -0/+1And now we present the Chi-Phone
  • cr0m, on 02/15/2008, -0/+2thaiphone
  • crusadernm, on 02/15/2008, -0/+1Digg users should be welcoming this crap. Isn't piracy cool here?
  • orangetiki, on 02/15/2008, -0/+1They've had iPhone clones for a while now. The factories probably make their own, and resell them. Happens all the time in Chickety china.
  • NSResponder, on 02/15/2008, -0/+2The schematic is actually a pretty minor thing to lose. To duplicate the iPhone, the hard part is coming up with the firmware that makes it compatible with OS X and the iPhone apps.

    -jcr
  • willgonz, on 02/15/2008, -0/+2Everyone knows the iPhones are made at Area 51.
  • GruntboyX, on 02/15/2008, -0/+2Big deal. A good engineer with a ohm meter can reverse engineer schematics pretty well. You still need the blue prints to the custom asics that are all in the device. This is what is most important
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