Howexactly is this an iPad clone?
That's like saying my lenovo is a MacBook clone because it has an Intel processor, an Nvidia graphics card, a screen and runs a different OS
Apple’s Chinese nemesis Goophone is no slouch when it comes to launching fruity tech clones powered by Android – it’s just taken the covers off an iPad Mini lookalike running Jelly Bean which will sell for just $99. The infamous handset maker, which is already selling devices that bear more than a passing resemblance to the …
Look at some of the vids on YouTube of the Goophone. Not only do the phones look virtually identical but they run reskinned Android firmware which looks almost identical to iOS too. It's actually amazing to see them running side by side since the behaviour and major apps are almost identical between them even though one is just a knock off and is running on a different OS.
It's easy to see why people would inadvertently buy a Goophone, or on purpose for that matter. They sell for about 1/4 the price of the real thing and I expect for Chinese consumers the price disparity is even more pronounced.
Of course if you just want to know the time and not show off you might even buy a cheaper watch than a Swatch. But point well made.
I'd wonder about the quality at that price, and for a very portable tablet I'd like a 3:1 or 4:1 aspect ratio to make the screen enormous but width low enough for pocket.
Get advance notice of the new product specs, build and patent it in a few days. Run it down to the patent office before the Apple units are ready. Get design patent protection ahead of Apple.
If they cared they could probably express freight some prototypes to the US and Europe as well. These plants have the rapid design cycle down so well they can do things like this. Apple can't without revealing in advance what their new products are going to be.
"Is it even possible to buy these in the UK without knowing someone in China? I suppose eBay may be an option."
I imagine they'll appear on eBay in due course, but if not they're bound to be available on places like Alibaba pretty quickly (or copies of the copies). You can generally find some places that will do single piece sales, e.g. for the Goophone a typical one might look like
http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/656358360/GooPhone_Y5_Android_4_0_3G.html
Things to notice would be the terms of shipment and whether they offer an escrow service (some do) - one of the common shipping arrangements is 'FOB' or Free On Board (generally, Google for more gritty details) at a named port. This means the vendor will pay for the goods to be placed on the transport at the named port, you pay for the rest - e.g. shipping to the destination port, clearance costs (if applicable to port/country), local taxes and import duties and delivery to you. There are people who will help you with all this, or you can do some or all of it yourself... or you can try and get someone who includes shipping with the price, far preferable but slightly lower choice in general.
Escrow helps if your gadget goes walk-about on the way over.
Be careful though, Alibaba is a dangerous place - much shinyness at silly prices, it's very easy to get side-tracked....
In general, it's depressing that there's so little distribution (or coverage in the media) for the China Android tablets. Whilst the media are asking whether the likes of the Nexus 7 must be sold at a loss, companies like Ainol are delivering Android 4 tablets with decent specs at even lower costs.
It might be nice if Apple did try to sue this company with the clone - the publicity would backfire, due to all the coverage it would give to decent tablets that are a fraction of price.
There are plenty of rectangle shaped electronic devices that allow you to consume content.
The only difference about this one is that the company selling it are using the competition as part of their marketing strategy. Judging by the responses from the fans of the competition and the fact the media are covering it on the other side of the world - its working for them.
unless they reduce their profit margins.
Here in VietNam there are some Android 'smartphones' which have resistive displays, games, audio playback and SD storage a.. for under USD$40. Good value for money, although they do look cheap. They are popular with school children.