IFA & Made In China: Apple Is Making Mini-Projectors!

Astonishing is the only word for the Chinese hall at IFA in Berlin. Pierre-Jean Alzieu and I had intended to slip in there for just a few minutes during a coffee break, but we ended up postponing our appointments so as to make sure we hadn't missed anything.

Hall 5.3 is made up of three long alleys, with stands ranging from very small to average. 90% of exhibitors were labeled as being from "Shenzhen". Manufacturers and outsourcers to the big names in hi-tech were there to emancipate themselves, aiming to attract any investors who might happen by with copies or approximations of well-known products.
 

Our first discovery was neither more nor less than an 'Apple' product. Except that this product doesn't even exist in Apple's stocks. A mini-projector! Equivalent in size to the Philips Picopix 1430, with a glossy white finish and a perfectly reproduced Apple logo, the product was sitting on display on one of the stands, there for all to see.

A DLP mini-projector which, with an adapter, can extract the video signal from Apple products (iPod/iPad/iPhone). The main in is a mini HDMI, but other sources can be connected via USB.

A little nugget from the China hall for you to begin with, then. More to come!