Chinese probing 3 reportedly fake Stores

An official with China's State Administration of Industry and Commerce (SAIC) said Thursday that the agency had started an investigation into three reportedly fake Apple Stores. Ning Wanglu, head of the SAIC's anti-monopoly and anti-unfair competition bureau, said the administration has ordered the local industrial and commercial regulator in the southwestern Yunnan Province to investigate and verify the case after it was informed that there were three Apple Stores in Kunming, capital city of Yunnan. Two of the three stores claimed they were Apple's authorized outlets, while the other admitted it was not, according to Ning, speaking to reporters during a press conference. The Yunnan provincial administration of industry and commerce was conducting a further investigation into the claims and would submit the final findings to the SAIC, said Ning without giving a timetable. Apple has four authorized outlets in the Chinese mainland, two in Beijing and two in Shanghai, according to the official website of the company.