A small community of unofficial Apple technicians in Cuba

Post by astrange » Wed, Sep 20, 2023, 1:53 AM UTC

a2tech wrote: post #6

Our old exchange student from Turkmenistan insisted that there was an Apple store in a couple of malls in Ashgabat, but I showed her that Apple doesn't officially sell anything in TM. She sent me some pictures and it was a complete clone of the official Apple store. Down to outfits, displays, the whole thing. Selling brand new, smuggled in, iPhones/iPads/etc. It was wild.

Post by repiret » Wed, Sep 20, 2023, 2:03 AM UTC

ggm wrote: post #5

OfSanguineFire wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I slowly hitchhiked from Europe to West Africa in 2007 and from Western Sahara on, my drivers were all French people driving some old car down to sell for a little quick cash. But already by that time Senegal had said enough already, and so drivers had to head for Mali or Burkina Faso instead. I wonder if the violence in those countries in recent years has put a damper on the used car trade, or if they too banned suc…

ABC news here in Australia has a story about Tonga drowning in 30,000 broken used cars, which has motivated an intervention to get a local crushing plant working so the metals can be sent back to Japan for recycling, and to get productive land back into use. Small pacific island economies are the end of the road in every sense. https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2023-09-19/how-tonga-pla... Africa has different probl…

Post by Scoundreller » Wed, Sep 20, 2023, 2:47 AM UTC

ggm wrote: post #5

OfSanguineFire wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I slowly hitchhiked from Europe to West Africa in 2007 and from Western Sahara on, my drivers were all French people driving some old car down to sell for a little quick cash. But already by that time Senegal had said enough already, and so drivers had to head for Mali or Burkina Faso instead. I wonder if the violence in those countries in recent years has put a damper on the used car trade, or if they too banned suc…

ABC news here in Australia has a story about Tonga drowning in 30,000 broken used cars, which has motivated an intervention to get a local crushing plant working so the metals can be sent back to Japan for recycling, and to get productive land back into use. Small pacific island economies are the end of the road in every sense. https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2023-09-19/how-tonga-pla... Africa has different probl…

Post by pertymcpert » Wed, Sep 20, 2023, 3:09 AM UTC

radicaldreamer wrote: post #7

a2tech wrote: post #6

Our old exchange student from Turkmenistan insisted that there was an Apple store in a couple of malls in Ashgabat, but I showed her that Apple doesn't officially sell anything in TM. She sent me some pictures and it was a complete clone of the official Apple store. Down to outfits, displays, the whole thing. Selling brand new, smuggled in, iPhones/iPads/etc. It was wild.

This was the case in China too until Apple heavily expanded there. There were many knockoff Apple Stores with slightly lower quality outfitting. Here's an "Apple Store" in Iran: https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-tehran-iran-16th-oct-2014-...

Post by yieldcrv » Wed, Sep 20, 2023, 3:32 AM UTC

ggm wrote: post #16

54r4rf wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You got exclusivity on Puerto Rico on the other hand. That didn't get free after the invasion.

FEMA struggling to spend the money to get back on top from Hurricane Ian. If I was Boricuas I'd feel very "are we 2nd class citizens again?" about this.