Fake handsets threaten mobile majors

[iinfi]

Fake handsets threaten mobile majors

Mumbai: The increasing number of fake handsets in the market is posing a serious threat to Mobile phone majors, resulting in a considerable annual loss. While a fake of Sony Ericsson W960 is available as Soni Ericsson W960, a dupe of N95 is doing rounds in the name of N95 'g', reports The Economic Times.

Over a million fake handsets are being sold in India every month. Due to this recent trend, branded mobile makers including Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Samsung, could be losing a whopping Rs 400 crore to duplicates, resulting in an annual loss of over Rs 4,800 crore, according to the Indian Cellular Association (ICA), the representative body of mobile manufacturers, distributors and retailers.

Apart from duplicate phones, fakes of batteries, earphones and chargers are also available in plenty in India, affecting the market share of original ones. The sale is done through not only local mobile phone shops but also some specialized retail chains, who stock them discreetly.

Sourced from China and Taiwan, these duplicates don't have even half the features that they proclaim. Model name and numbering on handsets are almost similar to that of the established players.

"A large chunk of duplicate handsets are being sold in small towns. The pricing is less than that of the originals. They also claim to have features that are actually not present in the handset. So customers end up being duped," ICA President Pankaj Mahindroo told ET.

India is adding over nine-million wireless subscribers every month. Buyers in tier II towns and villages, who are driving the current wave of subscriber addition, are falling easy prey to duplicates because of lack of awareness as well as lower prices.

Every genuine handset has an international mobile equipment identity (IMEI) number, which is unique. It is printed on the phone underneath the battery and is used by the GSM network to identify valid devices. However duplicate phones are sold without an IMEI number and without a bill and warranty. Further, they don't have the ICA hologram, which stands for quality and reliability.

[furious_gamer]

Geez... i hate the Fake Handsets....

[parthbarot]

its bad..but wht ppl will do if n95 costs them 30k?obviously they will try to get such things yaar..

its like such things must be banned and restricted..thats the thing..otherwise cheap is what ppl wants...

i m not saying its good thing..but saying why its being popular so much...i thnk the mobile majors shld take steps to make quality fones in lower prices... lowering their profit...

regards.

[dheeraj_kumar]

Yeah, these are very popular - Nakia and Sany Ericsson.

[roshan1236a]

But how come guys buy these fake....mobiles..
they must be fools.

[Charan]

Originally Posted by roshan1236a

But how come guys buy these fake....mobiles..
they must be fools.

UnInformed will be a better word. These guys will love to have a flashy mobile phone in their pocket and these phones are selling at dirt cheap price.

[NucleusKore]

It's not just being foolish. While I was staying at a hotel in Bangalore, I bought a bottle of what I thought was Denim aftershave from a store in the Hotel premises. I was in a mad rush that day and was wondering why it was smelling so bad?! After coming back to Mangalore I realised I was a victim of counterfeiting. How? The picture of the guy with the open shirt on the box, the font, the label on the bottle, everything was the same except for one crucial point, which i overlooked; the name read DONMEN and not DENIM. The use of the same font made me miss the difference in spelling.

[parthbarot]

ha ha.. lol.. thats too much dude... you even haven't read it?
hmm..but its right...such things are sold with names look like originals...
beware and if u r aware then its ok..

regards.

[ajaybc]

I bought an n96 dupe for Rs.3200 last week.

[comp@ddict]

Originally Posted by ajaybc

I bought an n96 dupe for Rs.3200 last week.

^^^^^

[Abhishek Dwivedi]

Originally Posted by ajaybc

I bought an n96 dupe for Rs.3200 last week.

post some pic dude

[ajaybc]

Originally Posted by Abhishek Dwivedi

post some pic dude

I sold it to my friend for Rs.1750 and bough a new N73(This time original).I will post of the pic of n96 in 2 days.pls wait

[comp@ddict]

bought it for 3.2k, sold it for 1.7k????????????

yeah wanna see d pics soon

[furious_gamer]

Originally Posted by comp@ddict

bought it for 3.2k, sold it for 1.7k????????????

yeah wanna see d pics soon

He just loose about 1.5k!!!!!!!
I sell my Mercury PVM7 Mobo for 1.5k two months before and i bought that piece of sh1t for 2.2k two years back...
I think i am good in trading....hehe...

[comp@ddict]

absolutely, u shud have better business skills, or even better, u shud hav sold it to me, then i wudn't day nething

[furious_gamer]

Originally Posted by comp@ddict

absolutely, u shud have better business skills, or even better, u shud hav sold it to me, then i wudn't day nething

EVen the one who bought that cr@p wasn't able to do anything with that sh1t... coz it dont have any PCIe slot... only a 8x AGP Slot and a S3 Unichrome Pro IGP of 64MB.. He aint dreamt abt playing with that rig....

[comp@ddict]

I'm talking abt the dupe N96!!!^^^lolozzz

[casanova]

To save little money, people switch to fakes that are not quality products. Hope these guys understand about what harm these fakes can do. They will be having a bad SAR rating. N0085

[IronManForever]

I dont buy duplicate phones. But I like them. They have a lotta features for their price.

Its amazing that we get phones like N95 for around 75 USD. And guess what, chinese N72 and N95 cost the same.

BTW chinese phones arent as bad as the duplicates.
We have CECT, ZTE phoned retailing and some are iPhone clones if you look at the UI. They dont support any software but have decent PIM functions built-in. I could make GPRS work on one of them. And of course they have analog TV that we can watch off-the-air !!! All for around 120 USD. But if you go wrong, its better to throw it away than try to repair it.

[comp@ddict]

I'm head to toe originalle

Everything original.....Fake f&*^s

[MetalheadGautham]

Fake or not, as long as the N96 F-edition has atleast 2GB memory, a large screen, plays video/audio and plays java games well, its worth it at 3.5K.

[comp@ddict]

^^^^^^^^^^^^
I agree totally, gosh if sm1 cud get a smu***** PS3 for me @ 5k, tht ud be a DEAL in true TERMS

[ajaybc]

Originally Posted by MetalheadGautham

Fake or not, as long as the N96 F-edition has atleast 2GB memory, a large screen, plays video/audio and plays java games well, its worth it at 3.5K.

It has support for 4GB memory,Has large touch screen,plays audio and video.But doesnt support java.
that is the main prob

[ax3]

bt fakes dont satisfy THOSE needs .......

[comp@ddict]

Original

Genuine

Be Like Me^^

[IronManForever]

Originally Posted by MetalheadGautham

Fake or not, as long as the N96 F-edition has atleast 2GB memory, a large screen, plays video/audio and plays java games well, its worth it at 3.5K.

No Java; all else works in them. If JAVA worked; 3.5K is lot less.
You have a phone+PMP for that kinda money. Its good enough.

I personally hate the fakes. But like the cheap chinese touchscreens with analog TV

Originally Posted by ajaybc

It has support for 4GB memory,Has large touch screen,plays audio and video.But doesnt support java.
that is the main prob

We used to have user arunks or something who knew a lot about the chinese phones (not fakes). He had bought some. I dunno if hes still active or not.

[victor_rambo]

Originally Posted by NucleusKore

The picture of the guy with the open shirt on the box, the font, the label on the bottle, everything was the same except for one crucial point, which i overlooked; the name read DONMEN and not DENIM. The use of the same font made me miss the difference in spelling.

Exactly same happened with me happened with me a couple of days back. I thought I purchased Bisleri. I was in a hurry to take the train and so I didn't bother to check every detail of the water bottle, blindly put it in my bag and rushed towards the platform. I boarded the train, relaxed and took the bottle out of my bag to sip. Even by that time, I was yet to realize that it was not Bisleri, but some mimicking 'brook' that was packaged exactly same! I realized that I had bought some counterfeit item only after 15 mins.

[comp@ddict]

Did u get stomach lurches for drinking tht???

Jus concerned

[victor_rambo]

^ I am fine, thanks for your concern . Also, I am healthy. So a bit here or there won't affect much.

Probably, these are small time firms who have products but fail to brand them successfully. Their quality is doubtful in most cases, but a few have quality.

[comp@ddict]

I had probs wid bisleri, but tht was when their products were defective