Reuters

BEIJING–Apple Inc said on Tuesday it had launched an online shop selling second-hand Apple products in China, offering discounts of up to 22 percent, as it looks to beef up its business in the country.

These are products that were previously sold and returned to Apple and have undergone quality tests, the company’s website said.

The refurbished products available on Apple’s Chinese website ranged from a 308 yuan ($44) iPod shuffle to an iMac computer costing more than 14,000 yuan ($2,047).

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By Marjorie Gorospe
INQUIRER.net

HAVING a hard time with your own PC? Tired of not being cool enough to switch to an Apple computer? Well, you don’t have to go any further to find sexy and cool Apple products located in one store. There’s now one in Alabang Town Center owned by Ben Loo.

INQUIRER.net multimedia reporter Lawrence Casiraya got to talk to Ben Loo and here’s the video interview:

A fan of Apple products, Loo opened an Apple store, dubbed Switch, to encourage more local users to consider switching from using the PC to Apple. The store offers everything from the latest iPod, iPhone, MAC notebooks and other peripherals genuinely manufactured by Apple Inc.

Loo calls his target market “potential switchers.” The store in Alabang may be a long drive for most people. But he wants to concentrate first in small community and not jeopardize their business with the current competition.

Having been an Apple user for a long time, Loo admits that he is always awaiting for the next innovative Apple product.

At the present, he’s very excited and is looking forward to all “switchers” coming to see his store.

“iPhone3G. Twice as fast. Half the price.”

Was there any doubt?

3G, GPS, sleeker, better battery life, US$199/8gb, 16gb white version(!), MobileMe, enterprise support, 3rd party app support, 70 countries …more details here.

It’s 3AM. Gotta sleep. Commentary later.

Apple Stores in Japan are putting out limited edition iPod Touch and nano cases with gold etchings on the back that say which district or area it was purchased from, plus some nice traditional artwork, according to ipodNN.

The cases will only be available for one week, and cost about US$26 for the Touch case, and US$22 for the nano.

In a no-brainer upgrade, Apple has just (belatedly) upped the iPhone’s storage capacity to 16gb, and the iPod Touch to 32gb.

At first, I got giddy with excitement, as a fanboy is wont to do with something new from Apple. But almost immediately that euphoria deflated as I realized how ho-hum the upgrade is. We’ve been waiting for this for at least six months now. No new and impressive features. No 3G, no better battery, no Air-type slimdown. Outside of the 1.1.3 Firmware, it’s exactly the same banana as the current models, only with more space. And they both cost US$499.

I’m stumped why they don’t go whole hog on the phone and bump it all the way up to 32gb. There’s no reason other than they don’t want to kill the iPod Touch, but I think a high-capacity iPhone without the phone will always have a market. I’d buy a 32gb iPhone if they had one.

I’ve learned to live with 8gb on an iPhone. I’ve been idly ruing my decision to move up (down?) from a 16gb iPod Touch to an iPhone with half the storage; as a phone, the iPhone is actually mediocre and subpar in some areas (like I’ve said in a recent podcast I recorded; you won’t believe the ribbing I got). Now that they’ve doubled capacities, I’m just …underwhelmed. I’d rather get the 32gb iPod Touch than a 16gb iPhone, to be honest about it.

I’m sure fanboys who’ve got not much to live for after realizing the new ultrathin Mac is a lot of hot Air for the most part, will fixate on upgrading their phones to the double-capacity ones. Have fun, guys. I think I’ll wait for something a bit more substantial.