If Apple had designed an iPhone in 1999......

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Comments Posted on Nov 19, 2009 Posted by Song Jiang

Well here's an iPhone clone with a difference. In fact you could well describe this as a fantasy retro phone. Known as the Apple Q300 Ultra, this clam shell cellular does a fairly good job of imitating an imaginary Apple branded phone from about ten years ago would have looked like. Who knows..... Perhaps Steve Jobs has something just like this in his 'shelved product design' bin.

Apparently the Apple Q300 Ultra uses an OS (I bet its the Mediatek bundle) that has no Chinese language or text support, which leads us to the conclusion that it's positioned for foreign, if not necessarily English speaking, markets. Sporting a 2.2 inch screen, a whole bunch of lawyer-tingling Apple logos, this bad boy should retail for approx USD70-80, in what ever market it lands in.

In terms of sheer cloning, the Apple Q300 is actually a fairly original design. Sure, it uses Apple logos with a tangibly abject disregard for intellectual property laws (Western laws too I should add), but nevertheless, there is still a creative element involved that is deserving of some applause. Retro designs are popular in most products line ups. In terms of fashion I think there's definitely a market segment out there that would jump on this or any other retro branded phone. The choice of Apple for this example is clearly based on the fact that Apple have been creating technology as fashion accessories for at least a decade or more, so where's the retro version of the phone? I can buy an iPod classic, but what about a iPhone classic?

q300-ultra-2

Western Opportunity Analysis:

The shanzhai behind this know what they're about. They understand the nuances of retrospective fashion enough to grasp the potential of such a design, and mercilessly go ahead and produce the product with one simply end in mind; to create a phone that fits a niche or gap in the market. This is how many shanzhai make a living and to call it copying or copycat manufacturing , is to miss the point.

Conclusions:

To be perfectly honest, I'm of the opinion that Apple are a rash on the backside of humanity. But that's me. Ironically however, that kind of makes me want this phone. I would truly get a massive kick out pulling the Q300 Ultra out of my pocket in front of my iPhone loving, no .....iPhone worshiping friends. The big cheesy apple logo on the keypad? Wahhhh...I want the Apple cheese...give it to me....give it to me.....

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