China 'cracks down on fake iPhones'

Police in Shanghai have arrested five people for making fake iPhones, state media said Friday, just as Apple fans overseas wait with bated breath for the launch of the US giant's newest model.

Police in Shanghai have arrested five people for making fake iPhones, state media said Friday, just as Apple fans overseas wait with bated breath for the launch of the US giant's newest model.

The craze for all things Apple in China has triggered widespread cloning of iPhones and iPads. In July, an American blogger even uncovered fake Apple stores in the southwestern city of Kunming.

Police said the Shanghai gang scavenged parts from discarded iPhones and combined them with counterfeit components to create the fakes, which were then sold, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

The raid on the gang took place in July, and police seized more than 200 fake iPhones and other parts valued at five million yuan ($780,000) from a workshop in a rented apartment, it said.

It was unclear whether the gang members were arrested then or in September, and local police could not be reached for comment on Friday.

The bogus iPhones sold for more than 4,000 yuan each, close to the price for the genuine article, the Shanghai Daily newspaper reported.

The news comes as speculation mounts that Apple may unveil its next generation iPhone as early as October 4, after the US technology giant sent out invitations for an unspecified event on that day.

The launch is sure to trigger huge excitement in China, which has the world's largest online population with over 500 million users.

Some die-hard fans queue for days to get their hands on the latest Apple products.

Apple only has five official stores in mainland China -- two in Beijing and three in Shanghai -- although more shops are authorised to sell its products, while others offer those smuggled in from overseas markets.

Sinohydro Raises $2.1 Billion in Biggest China IPO This Year

Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Sinohydro Group Ltd. raised 13.5 billion yuan ($2.1 billion) in its initial public offering, China’s biggest this year, after selling shares at the low end of their indicative price range as the market slumped.

The country’s largest builder of hydroelectric dams sold the shares at the bottom of a price range of 4.50 yuan to 4.80 yuan, according to a statement filed to the Shanghai Stock Exchange today. The company cut the size of its issuance to 3 billion shares on Sept. 26.

Sinohydro, whose IPO surpassed the 9.5 billion yuan raised by Sinovel Wind Group Co. in January, is planning hydropower dams and wind farms as part of China’s push to rely less on coal. The sale comes at a time when the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index has dropped 16 percent since the start of the year because of higher interest rates and a slowing global economy.

The company had planned to issue as many as 3.5 billion shares, with the proposed price range from its underwriters of 5.3 yuan to 6.4 yuan, according to a prospectus issued in July.

The IPO could have been the biggest since China Everbright Bank Co. raised 18.9 billion yuan in August last year. The exercise of Everbright Bank’s over-allotment option increased the amount it raised to 21.1 billion yuan.

Proceeds from Sinohydro’s share sale will help fund construction of projects including a hydropower dam in southwestern Sichuan province and a wind farm in the northern province of Gansu, the company said in July.

The IPO funds will also be used for a dam in Cambodia, Sinohydro said in July. The company has won construction contracts in Asia, Africa and South America.

This year’s decline in the Shanghai gauge extends last year’s 14 percent plunge, as the government increased measures to cool inflation that’s at the highest in almost three years.