Well, that didn't take long

I wrote about iPads on the Beijinger a couple weeks back, so it's good to see that the Chinese are on the ball with this: reports Reuters: "Just three weeks after the global launch, bootleg versions of Apple Inc's hot-selling iPad tablet PCs have begun showing up on the shelves of online and real-world shops in piracy-prone China."

I especially liked this quote:

"This is just the first rough version," says Lin a crew-cut agent speaking in bursts of quick-fire Cantonese.

"While the shape isn't quite the same, the external appearance is very similar to the iPad, so we don't think it will affect our sales that much," he added, explaining the difference was due to the difficulty sourcing matching parts because of the quick two-month turnaround time for the first version's development.

Good to see the people are working hard to improve their craft. Can't wait for the second gen knockoffs of the first-gen product.